“Again, I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them. On the side of their oppressors, there was power, and there was no one to comfort them.”
Ecclesiastes 4:1

That verse pretty much sums up what we’ve been seeing for far too long here in Western Australia, and what we’ve been observing for far too long through the WA Parliament.

The oppression of those without a voice.

The truth is that we have seen indifference from our lawmakers; we’ve seen ignorance from our lawmakers; and in more recent times, what I would describe as ineptness.

I’ll explain those three examples.

I begin with this attitude of indifference to the voiceless – and there are a myriad of examples that could be given.

There is one that just simply has to continue to be talked about. I suspect that the majority of people reading this will already know about it – and yet, I think it is incumbent upon us to continue to raise it each and every time until something is done.

The indifference that I’m referring to is the plight of babies who are born alive and left to die. It is a shocking reality, and I can’t write as the Shadow Minister for Child Protection and ignore that this plight exists.

Now, the role of the Minister for Child Protection isn’t specifically tied to this particular tragedy – but surely there could be no greater tragedy than the idea that a baby could be born alive and left to die. Yet we have lawmakers who have demonstrated year after year after year what I’m describing as indifference.

There’s a political indifference to the plight of these most vulnerable Western Australians – those without a voice. No better example exists than the year before last, when a bill was passed through Parliament, and when a small number of us Members of Parliament sought to have enshrined into this law – a law which we didn’t support, but which could still be improved – the simple principle that every Western Australian baby should be provided the same level of health care, irrespective of the circumstances of their birth.

Something that I would have thought that the vast majority of fair-minded Western Australians would agree with – it was rejected by a large majority of Members of Parliament.

How can you explain that? It can only be explained as political indifference to the plight of these most voiceless children. But it is not just political indifference that we’ve been seeing for a long time in the Western Australian Parliament. We have also had multiple examples of political ignorance.

The example of this political ignorance that I gave you this afternoon occurred only last year, when an episode had its genesis in Albany, involving a group of concerned parents. What were they concerned about? They were concerned about some of the material available in the public library. Now, again, we live in a modern democracy.

​One of the things that happens in a modern democracy is that you’re going to have people with different points of view. That’s okay. That’s healthy.

It’s okay if somebody disagrees. Maryka might say something different to me. That’s okay. That’s healthy. It’s okay for there to be different books out there – but these particular parents wanted to have this book removed from the public library.

Why? Because it was in the children’s or junior section, and it was a book purportedly teaching children about sexual education. Now again, there’s nothing wrong with having a book teaching children about sexual education. In fact, the author of another chapter commends to readers – and I am thoroughly in agreement with him – the work of Patricia Weerakoon, who has done some excellent work in this area.

He commends that book because it is age-appropriate. But again, one person’s definition of what’s age appropriate for their children is likely to be different from another’s in a modern democracy, and that’s okay.

So why were these parents so upset? What gives them the right to be pressing for this book to be removed from the public library? Well you see, we have this ignorance, this political ignorance in the Parliament. It continues to exist, I’m sad to report to you that the first thing that our political leaders did last year, when this episode arose, was to target and to ridicule the individuals – to vilify their reputation. How shameful, they said, that these parents would want this particular book to be removed.

So why is it that I say that they’re politically ignorant? Because part of the book is actually teaching young people how to do something that is illegal: sexting.

Sexting is illegal in Western Australia, and yet this book was teaching these children how to sext. Well, no wonder the parents wanted the book removed.

Now, why did our political leaders then take the opportunity to vilify the parents? Well, it can only be because of political ignorance; because the moment it was drawn to their attention that their ridiculous vilification of these parents was actually about a book that contained content teaching children how to engage in illegal behaviour, we heard not a word from the Government after that.

Interesting, isn’t it? So we have a political culture, for far too long, that has been politically indifferent with respect to the plight of babies born alive and left to die. We’ve had a political culture, for far too long that has been politically ignorant on basic principles with respect to the education of children – what is actually legal and illegal. But we’ve also had a political culture, for far too long now, has been inept, displaying political ineptness with respect to the tragic and difficult circumstances, where children are removed from their own homes.

This takes me really to the heart of the portfolio in which I continue to have the great honour to serve – child protection. Child protection, ultimately, under our system of government, is looking at those circumstances, that should be rare circumstances, where the State intervenes in people’s homes and makes a decision to remove a child from that home, and it is done in circumstances where, of course, the child is at risk.

Now, sadly, in Western Australia, we have more than 5,000 children in the care of the State. That’s been the typical number for quite a number of years, and the CEO of the Department of Communities – the Director-General – is, by law, the person who becomes responsible for the care of those children.

If the State wants to go into a person’s home and remove children from their parents and take them into care, then somebody needs to be responsible. That person, in law, is the Director-General of the Department of Communities. So, for a number of years now, I’ve been asking questions in Parliament in respect to the whereabouts of these 5,000-odd children.

Any responsible parent will know – and want to know – at all times, the whereabouts of their own child. If the State is going to take 5,000 children and be responsible for them, then the State has to assume responsibility for the whereabouts of those children. So I wanted to know how many of those were missing.

Over a period of time, it became clear that – thankfully – the number is small. In fact, when I asked the question again in Parliament this week (at the time of writing), there is one child who is currently recorded as missing and has been reported to WA Police as a missing person. That’s one out of the 5,000.

It’s sad that there’s even one, of course, but it’s appropriate that the Director-General reports it to the police and says:

“There’s one in our care; we don’t know where they are; they’ve gone missing.”

We hope and we pray that the police were able to find that young child as soon as possible.

Why is it that I say that there’s political ineptness that’s been occurring for far too long in this area? Well, first of all, because when I first asked the question in respect to these children missing in the care of the State, one person after another said that they didn’t know the answer, that it would require “the analysis of individual files.” Really? You’re responsible for 5,000 children in the care of the State, and telling me you’re not sure which of them are missing?

Pleasingly, after the exposure of that scenario, there is now – every single day – a report that goes to the Director-General and the Minister for Child Protection about any of those children who are missing in care. That is a good improvement and it shows why it’s important to continue to ask questions in Parliament; to persevere on these matters.

But in more recent times, this ineptness has gone to a whole other level. I’ve been asking whether, when these children return, they have been victims of crime. For example, let’s take the one that I’d been asking about the week prior to writing this. That child was missing and had been reported to the police. I suspect that when I ask the question upon our return to Parliament, the child will have been found.

That’s wonderful. But my question to the Government will be: has the child been a victim of crime during the period of time when you did not know the whereabouts of the child? When I have asked this question in recent times, the consistent answer coming back from the Government – and I’m paraphrasing – is that:

“This is considered to be a diversion of resources to ascertain the answer to that question.”

I have said to the Government, that this is an intolerable situation.

You have taken the children out of the care of their parents because you say that they are at risk. While they were in your care, they went missing. I accept that it’s not always the responsibility or the fault of the Department, because sometimes – particularly children – they vote with their feet.

And so I accept that their whereabouts could be unknown. But you then have a responsibility – surely – when they come back into your care, to find out what exactly went on while they were not under your care, when they were missing. And they are small in number, let me tell you.

The last time I asked about this – how many files they would have to look at – it was 11. Now, as taxpayers in Western Australia, I don’t think that any of us would have a problem with some of our taxes being used to pay an individual to pick up 11 files, look at them, and ascertain – or perhaps even better, sit down with that young person and find out – what went on while they were missing. But there is political ineptness that continues to exist.

We move from the political indifference about babies born alive at the very beginning of life – almost pretending it’s a tragedy that doesn’t occur in our own State – to children growing up while parents are consumed by books teaching children about illegal practices. We see this political ignorance. Then, in the most tragic of circumstances – where a child is taken out from their own family for their own safety – and then they go missing, we now have this political ineptness where the Government won’t even invest the time to open a file and find out if they were a victim of crime.

That’s why at the beginning of this session we read Ecclesiastes 4:1, because that’s how it often feels in the Parliament. There’s no one there to comfort those voices.

But friends, there’s a season for everything, and I’m pleased to say to you this afternoon that in this new Parliament, things are starting to change.
After mine, you’re going to read Maryka Groenewald’s chapter, and she is but one of these fresh new voices already making a big difference to the culture in the Parliament. It’s the culture in the Parliament that’s allowed this indifference, this ignorance, and this ineptness, to go on for far too long.

On 22 May 2025, the new Upper House was sworn in. That happens every four years, but what’s particularly interesting is that – to the best of my understanding – this is the first time a majority of the Upper House, the majority of the Legislative Councillors, are new. Maryka is new, Phil Twiss is new, and the total quantity of new members is greater than the “old guys”. Let me tell you, that’s a very, very good thing, because that is the best way we’re going to put an end to this political indifference, this political ignorance, and this political ineptness.

I would encourage you, brothers and sisters, having heard how poor it has been for far too long in the Parliament, to be encouraged that there are early signs of change. After every time of darkness, there is a time of light, a time of restoration, and a time of revival – we’re beginning to see the start of all of that.