A Fascinating First Speech

A politician's maiden speech is an important milestone.

It outlines their experience and the policy ambition they seek to bring to the parliament. In a sense, it sets the tone for their future by establishing the first bookend of a political career.

Of course, that is subject to change as knowledge and wisdom develop, which is where the valedictory speech becomes important. That's the final contribution to Parliament and provides the other bookend.

It's usually a more cynical offering, as experience within the political system tends to do that to people.

I still consider them important milestones and regularly tune in to the newly-minted politicians to hear their thoughts.

The Labor offerings are much the same. There are glowing tributes to the Union that got them there and platitudes about helping the workers. Some of them genuinely mean it too.

The Liberal contributions are generally much more enjoyable. The political talent has historically been drawn from a diverse pool of life experience. That seems to be changing as more party apparatchiks fill the political benches.

While many will profess to subscribe to the Liberal ethos as outlined in Menzies' 'We Believe' statement, I'd wager that most would never have read it.