Don’t let them give up on us: Jenny Macklin’s challenge to MPs as she exits Canberra

Lamenting the public’s loss of faith, Jenny Macklin left Canberra a challenge: rebuild trust and “get on with” giving parliament an indigenous voice.

Labor backbencher Jenny Jacklin delivers her valedictory speech in the House of Representatives today, flanked by Wayne Swan. Picture: Lukas Coch/AAP

Outgoing Labor MP Jenny Macklin — who played a key role in Kevin Rudd’s apology to the stolen generation — has called on the parliament to “get on” with backing a constitutionally enshrined indigenous “voice to parliament” as she bids farewell to a 23-year career in federal politics.

The member for the Victorian electorate of Jagajaga delivered a teary valedictory in the House of Representatives this afternoon, lamenting Australians had were losing faith in politics and the nation’s institutions.

“They don’t trust the institutions and systems they were told were there to provide for them and protect them,” Ms Macklin said.

“And why would they? What splashed across the front pages during the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and the banking royal commission reinforced what many people had long suspected.

“That the system is rigged. That powerful people can do what they want, take what they want, and nothing will change.

“It is bad enough for Australians to lose faith in us — it is worse still if they give up on us.

“We cannot allow this to happen.”

The former deputy Labor leader fittingly opened her speech on indigenous affairs, of which she was the responsible minister in the entirety of former government.

She urged MPs across the aisle against using the “false dichotomy” between practical and symbolic change for Aboriginal Australians as she labelled the proposed indigenous voice as a potentially “unifying new institution” for the nation.

“A good education is vital, so is health care, so is housing and employment. But so is pride in yourself, power over your own life, a sense of belonging and respect,” Ms Macklin said.

“That’s what the voice to parliament is all about — our First Australians being heard, being included, and being respected. This could be a powerful, unifying new institution for our country — something all of us can be proud of. So let’s get on with it.

Tanya Plibersek embraces Jenny Macklin after her valedictory speech. Picture: Gary Ramage

“I do very much hope that this great new generation of parliamentarians sitting here today will do just that.”

Ms Macklin, who was deputy to Simon Crean and Kim Beazley when the party was in opposition to the Howard government, said there were only four Labor women in the House of Representatives when she was first elected to parliament in 1996.

“Now, we are on the cusp of 50-50 representation, and so much stronger for it. Quotas work,” she said.

Ms Macklin, who was also the social services minister, warned inequality was dragging Australia down and was causing a “poverty of hope” to people being left behind.

“Inequality in all its forms is the driving force behind the divisions in our society,” she said.

“And confronting inequality, wherever it is found, has been my motivation for a career in public policy.

“Because tackling inequality needs government.”

Ms Macklin named the National Disability Insurance Scheme, increases to the pension and a paid parental leave scheme as among her proudest achievements in politics.

“There is nothing wrong with having a big heart in politics. Nothing wrong at all. There are people who really need us, really depend on us,” she said.