House debates

Monday, 1 June 2015

Statements by Members

Rankin Electorate: Struggle Street

1:36 pm

Photo of Jim ChalmersJim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

I want to briefly report to the parliament, and especially to my own community, about rumours that were circulating last week that suggested that a new episode of the SBS program Struggle Street was being filmed in Logan City. When we checked with SBS last week, they confirmed that no such filming was under way. Nonetheless, it provided a good opportunity for all of us to reflect on the nature of the community I was born in, live in and love, and an opportunity to point out the great things about Logan.

The way I see it, we do not need a TV show to tell us about our challenges, like youth unemployment and intergenerational disadvantage. I do not ever pretend that we do not have our share of issues to overcome, but we also have terrific and inspiring stories to tell as well. SBS was actually in Logan to do some filming before the upcoming Queensland Music Festival, which will be a huge boon for our area.

In my experience, the people who knock Logan are usually people who have never been there and never interacted with the place. I am proud to have grown up in Logan because our community look out for each other and look after each other. I know our community is chock-full of people who may not be rich financially, but they are rich in generosity, and I know that there is no problem that we cannot address by working together.