08-July-2005
Speeches, Community
David, distinguished guests and ‘old salts’ one and all —
UK terrorist attack
In the wake of the brutal terrorist attack on our British friends, you sometimes feel it’s not right to be enjoying ourselves, to be celebrating as we are tonight.
But, when you think about it, that is exactly what the terrorists would want us to feel – they want us cowering, intimidated, heads down.
I sense that while we should be thinking of, and praying for, our British friends, we should also take a lead from their stoic, uncomplaining, defiant response.
For this reason it is more than appropriate to be celebrating tonight the great tradition of 130 years of this Club’s existence – the friendship, the freedom, the teamwork, the joy that the Club’s history represents, and to recognise excellence and achievement — as we will shortly, with some important presentations – because these things are the essence of the nature of man, they are the real freedoms that our democracies must defend, must celebrate.
Thank you
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the invitation to Maureen and I to join you tonight. It is a privilege for us to be here.
As a rookie politician I am still feeling my way in this job. Given my background, I had a good sense of what I was getting myself in for in the broader political arena, but I didn’t know how I would find the local community work. Fortunately, I’m really enjoying it.
People have been very warm in the way they’ve welcomed us into the community, and this job gives you a unique insight into the real complexity of a local community.
You live in communities all your life, and you think you know what makes them tick, but this role introduces you to the hundreds of organizations and the thousands of people who hold a small community together, many of them in unpaid capacities.
We see it again here tonight. It’s special.
The local scene
Maureen and I live locally and enjoy being near the water, and all that this wonderful part of Melbourne offers! I have swum regularly at the Brighton Baths until the water temperature unkindly went below 10ºC three weeks ago, but I must confess I haven’t been tempted to go sailing as yet.
It’s not something I’m particularly proud of, but I’ve been known to get sea sickness travelling on the Sydney ferries.
Over the last few years I’ve been out sea fishing with friends on 13 occasions, thinking that I would eventually beat it, but despite pills, patches, wrist bands and even resorting to sucking oranges, I’ve always succumbed.
I’m afraid I fit that Macquarie Dictionary definition of sailing as the fine art of getting wet and becoming ill, while going nowhere slowly at great expense.
Tonight, I don’t want to make a political speech or a long speech, but I would like to finish with a couple of reflections.
I’ve enjoyed a career in both the public and private sectors. I’ve run political campaigns and businesses, and been involved in problem solving for major companies and organizations. I’ve known the exhilaration of success and the emptiness of failure. I was the campaign director for John Howard in 1996 and for John Hewson’s campaign in 1993. I think you learn most from your failures, the lessons never leave you.
Whether my involvement has been with government matters, with business matters or community organisation activities, I’ve observed that there are many things that contribute to success, but there always seem to be three elements in the mix, three things that are always there when you succeed.
First, I’ve observed that success involves a genuine understanding of, and commitment to the principles for which your organization stands– whether it be your business, your political party, your community organization, your yacht club. If there is no clear understanding of what your organization stands for, what it is seeking to achieve, then you get inconsistency, flip-flopping, confusion and failure.
Success is also invariably associated with unity. Bob Hawke once said if you can’t govern your party, you can’t govern the country. It’s true. And it’s true for all our organizations. Organizations need the stimulus of different and strong opinions, but once a decision is reached, a direction decided on, unity is a must.
Finally, I would suggest that you also can’t win without protecting your base. For a political party that means staying true to your loyal supporters, for businesses it is staying true to your brand and your loyal customers, for organizations it is staying true to your membership. This doesn’t mean you don’t move with the times, but it does mean you make the effort to take your base with you.
I know your Club, just like about every other community organization, faces tough challenges and changing times. I’ve read your Club’s history and I’ve read your Master Plan. The Plan is exciting, and I thought it reflects the essence of what this great yacht club has given to the Bayside community for so many decades.
Though I must say my only concern is that with so many skippers in the club, a lot of your membership will never be satisfied, as explained in that lovely story of the group of skippers walking through town looking for crew. They see a five-storey building with a sign that reads “Crew Association: Ship’s Crew Available”. Since they were looking for a crew, they go in. The security guard, a very salty type, explains to them how it works. “We have five floors. Go up floor by floor and once you find what sort of crew you are looking for, you can go there and make a selection. It’s easy to decide since each floor has a sign telling you who’s inside.”
Everything seems wonderful, so they start going up, and on the first floor the sign reads “All the crew on this floor are beginners.” The skippers laugh, and without hesitation move on to the next floor.
The sign on the second floor reads “All the crew here are experienced, smart, but weak.”
This isn’t good enough, so the skippers continue on up. They reach the third floor and the sign reads “All the crew here are experienced, smart and strong.” They still want to do better, and so, knowing there are still two floors left, they keep going.
On the fourth floor, the sign is perfect: “All the crew here are experienced, smart, strong and former America’s Cup champions.” The skippers get excited and are about to go in when they realise that there is still one floor left.
Wondering what they are missing, they head up to the fifth floor. Here they find a sign that reads “There is no crew here. This floor was built only to prove that there is no way to please a skipper!”
Notwithstanding the expectations of the skippers in the room, I wish you every success in seeing through the implementation of your Master Plan, and I wish you all a most enjoyable evening.