Haase’s conservative curtain call

Outgoing Federal member for Durack Barry Haase has used his final speech in Parliament to take a thinly veiled swipe at the WA Nationals.

Mr Haase, who will retire at the September election, said he wished to leave the seat in the “safe hands” of the Liberal Party, concluding it was not possible to entrench Durack as the nation’s economic leader “without the backing of a party room”.

The comments follow Mr Haase’s assertion that Shane Van Styn, the WA Nationals candidate for Durack, would not enjoy the support of a Tony Abbott-led government because of his differing views on Coalition policy.

The 67-year-old previously said Mr Van Styn, if elected, risked political alienation in a similar manner to retiring WA Nats MP Tony Crook.

“It is imperative to the nation that Durack is not left floundering in the great halls of (Parliament) with no voice,” Mr Haase said during last Monday’s valedictory speech. “It is vital for the economy of Australia that Durack remains a Liberal seat.”

In an entertaining curtain call to a political career which spanned 15 years and five elections, Mr Haase chastised the minorities and “speech police” that had “weaved

(an) insidious web” of political correctness into everyday Australian life.

“I am told that Santa no longer says ‘ho ho ho’ for fear of offending prostitutes (and) fairy penguins are now little penguins for fear of offending homosexuals,” he said.

“Political correctness is not only undermining free speech, common sense and personal responsibility; it is prohibiting it.

“We must stop kowtowing to the vocal minorities and stand up for the majority.”

Mr Haase said he bowed out of the political arena with a “heavy heart” as there was still much to be done in addressing Aboriginal disadvantage, alcohol abuse and youth allowances for rural students attending university.

He claimed less than two decades of life remained in existing Australian mines and government must urgently offset the high cost of exploration to attract investment.

“If something is not done in a very positive way to encourage investment in exploration, we are going to run out of a mining industry that gives us the wealth and

standard of living that, as Australians, we enjoy today,” Mr Haase said.

The MP listed his role in the construction of the $10 million Outback Way, a road that linked the town of Winton in Queensland to Laverton, and the establishment of the Howard Government’s Regional Partnerships Program among his finest achievements.

Mr Haase labelled Tony Abbott as “the next great leader of Australian politics” before thanking his current and former staff.