This is the maiden speech by Tasmanian Labor Senator Nick Sherry.
Hansard transcript of Senator Nick Sherry’s maiden speech.
Senator SHERRY (3.37) —Mr Deputy President, I extend my congratulations on your election to the position of Deputy President of the Senate; also, my congratulations to Senator Sibraa on his election to the position of President. I also offer my congratulations on the maiden speech of Senator Herron. I am not sure what it feels like to be the first person to give a maiden speech but I certainly know what it feels like to be the last.
It is with a great mixture of humility and pride that I give my first speech here today in the Senate. In particular, it is a great moment for me to be representing my State, Tasmania, and also for me to be representing my Party, the Australian Labor Party, yet again in government.
The State of Tasmania was discovered by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman. He called the island Van Diemen’s Land. Then he sailed away and it was largely forgotten. The next to visit Van Diemen’s Land were the French explorers who left little but names again, such as D’Entrecasteaux and Freycinet. Van Diemen’s Land was also on the visiting list of the Americans and the Russians, but they were beaten by the English, who, recognising Tasmania’s geographical isolation, realised the possibilities of a penal colony to end all penal colonies. Over the next 50 years of first settlement, approximately 40 per cent of all the convicts that were sent to Australia were sent to Tasmania. In touching on the theme of Tasmania’s geographical isolation, I would like to acknowledge and thank the Hawke Labor Government for continuing to recognise the difficulties that the isolation has caused for our State by ensuring that the freight equalisation scheme was retained in full and unchanged in the recent Budget.