Simon Birmingham resigns today after serving as an SA senator since 2007

He served as a senator for 18 years, now Simon Birmingham sends a heartfelt farewell as he bows out from the political arena.

Senator Simon Birmingham giving his valedictory speech in the Senate at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

People can be surprisingly nice. Since announcing late last year my intention to leave politics, I have been struck by the number of people – both known to me and complete strangers – who have thanked me, even asking me not to go.

Maybe 18 years as a senator, and more than 20 years since first contesting an election, builds a thick skin that makes praise all the more unexpected.

These thanks are welcome and quite humbling. But, ultimately, it is me who owes much to so many others, especially the South Australian community.

Our daughter’s school seeks to teach an attitude of gratitude. It is with gratitude that I write this piece, eager to say my thanks to South Australians and all who enabled me to undertake the most remarkable of journeys and, I hope, leave a positive legacy.

Even in his most ambitious dreams, the boy from Gawler High School could not have expected to spend close to a decade serving as Australia’s education, trade and finance ministers.

He would not have imagined daily meetings with our prime minister, or sitting beside him in negotiations with the presidents and leaders of many other nations. However, as I said in my valedictory speech to the Senate, it is not the titles held by parliamentarians that matter, it’s what we do with them.

Just as there are some who will be happy to see the back of me, as not everyone will agree with the policies I instigated or issues I pursued. But I tried never to just tread water.

Water was at the heart of my earliest contributions.

The reforms that delivered the Murray-Darling Basin Plan – ultimately with bipartisan support – haven’t gone perfectly, but they have achieved change unparalleled elsewhere in the world.

Political candidate Simon Birmingham with stepfather Jim Birmingham hanging election campaign posters at Glenelg North. PICTURE: Toby Zerna

A total of 2942 billion litres of annual water licences previously used by irrigators – mostly in upstream states – are now dedicated to environmental purposes. It has been a transformative achievement, though we must acknowledge the cost borne by some communities.

Federal reforms to school funding haven’t ended complaints, but they did draw a line under highly divisive debates by delivering more consistent, needs-based funding across the country.

Phonics checks on early years’ reading skills and minimum standards in teacher training were never going to be magic wands, but they have shown early promise in helping to lift standards.

Securing the world’s largest free-trade deal with partners across Asia doesn’t completely insulate Australia from President Donald Trump’s mistaken tariff hikes or Chinese attempts at coercive sanctions, but our greatly expanded trade networks have delivered big trade surpluses and provide economic resilience for our nation.

AUKUS will not in and of itself make us safe, but by securing the world’s best defence capabilities and enhancing our own industrial capabilities, it will help us to deter conflict and add to the technological sophistication of our economy, especially in SA.

Senator Birmingham said he was grateful for all the opportunities afforded him throughout his career. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

We survived Covid-19 better than most of the world, enhanced equality through same-sex marriage, achieved 50-year lows in unemployment and put the budget on track for consecutive surpluses.

It is for others to judge the true extent of any legacy, and I don’t pretend that anything is perfect. However, I look back with pride in many of these achievements. As politics becomes more fractured, authoritarian states more aggressive, global co-operation weakens on issues such as climate change, and technological advances threaten yet more misinformation, it is easy to be gloomy.

However, Australians should be proud and grateful for all that we have, and should look to the future with determined optimism.

Our country has the 13th largest economy in the world, despite being only the 55th most-populous nation. This gives us a standard of living well above nearly all others.

Australians boast the sixth-longest life expectancy in the world, and we enjoy an environment ranked as the seventh most biodiverse globally.

Governments make for good whipping boys – and politicians should be held to account – but we actually have many of the fundamentals right in Australia.

We can never stand still, must continue to reform, and be as competitive as possible. But there is no reason to believe that we can’t continue to be the envy of the world.

I am grateful for all the opportunities Australia has given me and am determined to find new ways to give back, outside of the partisan contest. But, for now, as I resign from the Senate, two words matter most: Thank you.

Simon Birmingham is resigning today after serving as a senator for SA since 2007.

Originally published as Simon Birmingham resigns today after serving as an SA senator since 2007