The Hon Joe Hockey MP, Shadow Treasurer in the Australian Parliament and Federal Member for North Sydney, delivered a public lecture at the University of New England’s Earle Page College last week.
It was the 28th in the College’s Annual Politics Lecture series, which has attracted a list of prominent national identities from across the political spectrum to the New England, including Prime Ministers John Howard and Julia Gillard prior to their taking Australia’s top political job. The list of past speakers also includes Peter Garrett, Philip Ruddock, Tony Windsor, Bob Brown and Tony Abbott.
Joe Hockey’s public lecture in the Earle Page College Dining Hall was titled ‘In Defence of Youth’. It followed a formal dinner for College members and invited guests, at which Mr Hockey was the guest of honour.
Mr Hockey chose ‘In Defence of Youth’ because he said that the young people of today are increasingly besieged by ‘red tape’ and regulations. “Australia is fast becoming a nanny State,” he said. According to Mr Hockey, over-governing is threatening to constrain Australia’s youth from reaching their potential. “Our youth need to have the freedom to take calculated risks,” he said.
As Shadow Treasurer, Mr Hockey’s attention is now focused on major domestic and international decisions expected this week. The biggest pending global issue: What will the United States of America do with its debt situation? “If it collapses, it will send shockwaves around the world.”
As the Coalition’s attack on the Carbon Tax continues, Mr Hockey described the move as environmental jihad, with the collateral damage being households throughout Australia which are struggling with the rising costs of living. “Mr Windsor, how could you do this to your constituents?” he asked. “Particularly now, when the world’s economy is still so unstable?”
Mr Hockey defended the Coalition’s attempts to combat the Carbon Tax and put forward a credible, viable alternative to the tax as a means of reducing Australia’s environmental impact. “You don’t have to have a carbon tax or a mining tax and you don’t have to have a flood levy when big taxes are there.”
The politics lecture series has long been a highly regarded annual event at UNE, Armidale. “The Annual Politics Lecture is a very special event for Earle Page College, UNE, and the New England region,” said Andrea Gledhill, Head of Earle Page College. “Over the past 28 years the lectures have provided an opportunity for thousands of people to hear and meet the nation’s leaders.”
Joe Hockey was first elected to Parliament in 1996 and, after his re-election in 1998, was made Minister for Financial Services and Regulation – one of the youngest Ministers in the history of the Commonwealth. He has since held a number of Ministerial portfolios, including Small Business and Tourism, Human Services, and Employment and Workplace Relations. Since the 2007 Federal Election, he has held a number of shadow portfolios.
Mr Hockey attended the University of Sydney, where he completed degrees in Arts and Law. Before entering politics he was a banking and finance lawyer with a major Australian law firm, and was also Director of Policy to the Premier of NSW.
Sir Earle Christmas Grafton Page, after whom the College and lecture series are named, was chairman of the advisory council for the University of New England College from 1938 until 1954, and then the University’s first Chancellor from 1954 to 1960. He was also Prime Minister of Australia for a brief period of two months in 1939.
Story: Gary Fry
