Reception for the Australasian Study of Parliament Group Annual Conference

Ladies and gentleman, it is a pleasure as Governor of Queensland for me and my wife Kaye to welcome you to Fernberg – and indeed to the State.

I know the Speaker of the Parliament, the Honourable Curtis Pitt MP, would wish me to mention that his absence this evening is explained by temporary ill health, and of course we wish him well.

I am delighted that Queensland has the honour of hosting the Australasian Study of Parliament Group National Conference this year, and I hope you enjoy your time with us.

We have certainly seen significant changes in the political, business and social landscapes since Fernberg last hosted the ASPG Reception in 2008.

With such swift and sweeping change comes uncertainty and, unfortunately, a varying degree of distrust.

According to the latest Deloitte Millennial Survey, 71 per cent of Millennials believe political leaders have a negative impact on society.

There is, clearly, a developing erosion of trust. And when you look back over events of the past couple of years, it is plain to see why.

Around the world political upheavals have challenged the established world order. 

Successive Royal Commissions have exposed deep and far-reaching flaws in our religious, educational and banking institutions.

Cambridge Analytica took a blowtorch to the trust people had in Facebook and other forms of social media. 

Even our national cricket team – that erstwhile repository of our national pride – challenged our faith in our sporting heroes in spectacular fashion.

It is against this geopolitical and social background that the 2018 ASPG Conference is taking place, and so the theme – ‘Trust in Parliament in a post-truth World’ – could not be more apt.

Over the next two days you will hear from academics and analysts, media experts and parliamentary practitioners, and their response to this very salient topic will be instructive, enlightening and opportune.

During this conference you will invariably turn your attention to many important questions on trust, giving rise to the opportunity for the development and sharing of innovative answers.

It will certainly be a big conversation: one which, I hope, while being instructive will also be centrally framed by our national and State constitutions and the resultant robust government and associated political systems that have been well tested for more than 150 years.

We are fortunate in Australia, and I know it to be true in other jurisdictions covered by this conference, to have a democratic system of governments that continues to position our future positively – with this conference and your participation testimony to the robustness and adaptability of an effective democracy.

And while there are issues of distrust that we must acknowledge, we can remain confident in our political systems that have served the people so well, in Queensland’s case since our independent colony status in 1859, and in Australia’s case, since the election of our first Prime Minister, Sir Edmund Barton, in 1901.

Enjoy your conference, and may you take your many learnings back to your home states to share with your colleagues.

Thank you.