MEMBER for Parkes Mark Coulton delivered his valedictory speech at Federal Parliament’s House of Representatives on Monday ahead of his imminent retirement in early next year.
Mr Coulton has held the seat for 17 years, and said he is ready for the phase.
“I’m looking forward to the next chapter of my life,” he said. “My wife Robin and I have put everything into the last 18 years.
“I’ve really enjoyed it, and I know I’m going to miss certain things”.
Mr Coulton said he will miss his colleagues who have become friends over his time in the role.
“But it does require a full commitment to do this job,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to having that bit more flexibility with what we do in our personal life.
“I think another three years would be stretching it.
“You know, so I’m no spring chicken. I was 50 when I came here, so by the time the election’s called, I’ll be 67”.
“I think it’s going to take a while to get used to not talking to people”.
While his Parliamentary collages were one thing, Mr Coulton said his staff have become close friends, and he will miss them immensely.
As for his legacy, he said the small things and differences to people’s lives is what he’d consider his mark, including policy changes, alongside larger projects.
“Some of the things that you can actually point to, physical things I’ve done, like building the new library in Broken Hill, the Main Street upgrades and upgrade of the airport,” Mr Coulton said.
On what he wished he’d done differently or better, Mr Coulton said issues relating to youth crime were a focus for him.
“At the moment across my electorate we’re having a spate of lawless behaviour by teenagers that are not going to school, we’re seeing breaking into cars, thefts and in some places quite aggressive behaviour,” he said.
“I firmly believe and I know through talks with the community at least, that these young people that are teenagers now could have been identified when they were toddlers.
“But there’s been a sensitivity and no real drive to make that happen, to remove those children and let them grow up in a safer caring environment.
“They’ve had to drag themselves up in a very unsafe environment as a result.
“I know that’s a very sensitive thing, but if you want to know if there’s something I feel I should have worked harder at, it’s in that space.
“But the reason we haven’t is because it’s incredibly difficult, culturally sensitive and probably politically incorrect in some ways.
“I feel that we might have let a lot of people down”.
When it comes to the next local MP to find themselves in the hot seat, Mr Coulton had some advice.
“You don’t always have to try to be on the popular side of something, sometimes you just must do stuff that needs to be done, because that’s the right thing to do,” he said.
“You’ve actually just got to lead, not follow.”
