Nola Marino's recent appearances (OpenAustralia.org)
Early Childhood Education and Care (Three Day Guarantee) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
It was interesting to listen to the government now saying that the Early Childhood Education and Care (Three Day Guarantee) Bill 2025 will actually support every child in Australia. Well, if...
It was interesting to listen to the government now saying that the Early Childhood Education and Care (Three Day Guarantee) Bill 2025 will actually support every child in Australia. Well, if they're going to get the best start possible—it's supposed to be a Labor guarantee—that's, of course, except for rural and regional families, where there actually is no child care available today and won't be in the future. This will guarantee 72 hours a fortnight of taxpayer subsidised child care but certainly not if you're in a childcare desert, where there is no child care available at all. It's supposed to be three days for all families. Well, it won't guarantee that for those families in rural, regional and more remote areas, where there's actually no child care at all. What this bill does not guarantee is that it will actually prioritise places and access for working families or single parents over non-working families. What will a single mum do, one who has to work to keep her children, especially during a cost-of-living crisis? What does she do if she cannot access child care at all? How does the government think she will feel when she looks in the door at the childcare centre and sees children from families where the parent or parents are not working or not having to work because they are earning up to $533,000, which this bill actually allows subsidised child care for? What are her options? Not only is this unfair; it is divisive in communities. Removing priority access for working families is a terrible decision by Labor. I can only imagine how this will pit family against family where there are and where there will be no childcare places available for the families who need it most. This is divisive, not only for family against family but for metro verses rural, regional and remote. Where is the child care for those in our regional and rural areas that don't have access to any child care at all? How can this be for each and every child in Australia when there's no child care available in our communities? That's how out of touch this side is. I look at the divisive nature of this. For the ones for whom there is no childcare centre or places available because there's no child care or no workers and no accommodation, especially in our smaller regional towns and communities, this bill does absolutely nothing. Why not? I don't know why not. Why does this Labor government continue to ignore regional communities that don't have any child care available at all? And what do these families do right now in the midst of Labor's cost-of-living crisis, where both parents have to work probably more than one job because the interest on their mortgage has gone up by thousands of dollars? The cost of their energy, their fuel, their food and their insurance has gone through the roof under this government. Many of these people don't have family living close by who can babysit for them. When you live in a regional and remote community—or you're a farmer, and you've got to get on a tractor because it's hay season—what do you do if there's no child care? That's what's happening in our communities. There are so many childcare deserts in Australia where there is no child care available at all. This bill does nothing for them, and it's a false claim to say that every child in Australia will benefit from it. What do you do where there is no child care available? What are they supposed to do when they haven't got family living close by? And why do they have to continue begging for the government to act on their behalf—to actually look at the childcare needs in their small communities? Keep in mind that these people, who don't have access to child care, work in the regions where Australia's wealth comes from—in the mining and ag sector, often in remote locations. What good is a three-day guarantee for families living in a regional and remote area where there are no childcare centres or services available? What do you do? It's obvious that Labor is only interested in supporting inner-city and metro areas, because they've completely ignored this fact. Come and live in regional, rural and remote Australia, and see how you go with a three-day guarantee when there is no childcare centre or facility available, and you've got no family, and you have to work because you can't make ends meet. It also does nothing for parents who need flexibility, for the families on shiftwork or for those needing out-of-hours child care. Only Labor would think that taxpayers on a modest income of just over $45,000, who are paying 30c on the dollar in tax, should be subsidising child care for families earning up to $533,000. How on earth is that fair? I've got a prime example of a childcare desert that's been in my electorate. For several years, I've been working with a wonderful but desperate group of women in the small town of Augusta in my electorate. They've been working their hearts out constantly to provide Augusta parents, families and small businesses with access to child care. They know how important this is. Prior to their efforts, there was no child care available at all in Augusta. How good is this 'every child in Australia' promise when it ignores this fact? There was no child care without these women getting busy, and this group of amazing. persistent women have never given up. Recently, they finally secured some funding to renovate a building and, with the previous federal approvals, have successfully run a vacation program for three years now. Unfortunately, they were not successful in their application to the current government for a Community Child Care Fund grant in 2024. They were classified as inner regional, when they're well over 300 kilometres from Perth, 3½ hours away. They've told me there are many regional areas in the same predicament regarding lack of child care and resourcing, because others are getting in touch, saying, 'We've got no child care—we can't work, we can't support our local businesses and we can't support our families.' But, in spite of their setbacks, they're hoping to open their early childhood project in mid- to late 2025. Good on them. After all these years and all this work, they cannot wait to see the impact that a childcare centre has on their small town of Augusta and its littlest residents. They've said they're hoping to inspire other country towns to keep speaking up. I'm speaking up in here for those country towns that don't have child care. So don't come in here and say that every child in Australia is going to benefit from this, okay? They are really focused and hoping to inspire other country towns to keep speaking up regarding the importance of child care for their towns to thrive. They have also said, 'We hope that, in the years to come, childcare deserts are a thing of the past.' They won't be, with this bill. There's nothing in it for these small communities. They said, 'Rural children and families deserve equal access to early learning, regardless of their postcode.' What help is this bill to them? These are the words of Kylie Lucas, the Augusta & Districts Community Childcare Inc. Treasurer. She's the local pharmacist, and she's been desperate for child care in Augusta. That's what she's been saying. It should not be this hard or take this long and take so much effort for rural and regional families to have access to what people in metro areas often take for granted. Why are the people, the families, the small businesses that desperately need these workers in these areas and the families that are doing it tough less important and less valued and not covered under this legislation? It's an absolute disgrace. It should have been a priority for the Labor government. Why doesn't the Labor government fix the childcare deserts before offering subsidised child care to families earning $533,000? What a disgraceful slap in the face for those of us who live in the regions. Equally, how fair is it that Labor are subsidising child care for families earning up to $533,000 while at the same time capping access to independent youth allowance at a parental income of $160,000? How fair is that? Once again, this affects students and families in regional and remote parts of Australia—the areas Labor clearly does not care about. These are the young people in our electorates who often have no choice but to leave their homes to go to university, because the courses they need to study—in our case, in Western Australia—are available only in the city. These are courses such as medicine, law, pharmacy and engineering. But Labor applies the $160,000 threshold for access to independent youth allowance while at the same time providing taxpayer subsidised child care for families earning $533,000. In every instance it is regional and rural and remote families and children and the small businesses that are desperate for these workers and these professionals who are missing out under this government. It should not be forgotten that since Labor came to government the cost of child care—for those who can get it—has increased by 22.3 per cent. Since Labor's cheaper child care policy came into effect, actual out-of-pocket costs have increased by 12.7 per cent, and one in three services are charging above this fee cap. Childcare providers have also been hit by increased operational costs and increased regulations. Labor has estimated that more than 100,000 families will have access to more subsidised care and more than 66,000 families will better off. Well, that is not every child in Australia, as we keep hearing about here. It represents only about six per cent of all families currently engaged with the childcare subsidy system. What happens to the rest? And where will the extra staff need to come from? Even with this commitment, we are so short of childcare staff. Once again, I want to reiterate that if the government thinks that every family in Australia that needs child care currently has access to child care then the government is certainly out of touch with rural and regional Australia. The number of childcare deserts that exist, where there is absolutely no child care: I wonder whether the government has that list and whether they've actually looked at it, and looked at the numbers of small communities in rural and regional areas that have no access to child care. Why wasn't that part of the consideration in this bill, if we're talking about every child in Australia? That's what we just heard: every child in Australia—except if you live in a childcare desert, where there is absolutely no child care. What do they do, and what does this bill do for them?
Endometriosis | Constituency Statements | House debates
I was very proud, in the run-up to 2018, to work on developing not only Australia's first ever National Action Plan for Endometriosis but the first national endometriosis plan in the world. I was...
I was very proud, in the run-up to 2018, to work on developing not only Australia's first ever National Action Plan for Endometriosis but the first national endometriosis plan in the world. I was very proud of that work. As a government, we provided funding to back up that particular plan. Part of that plan was to provide pelvic pain clinics, and that was part of our budget in 2022. These pelvic pain clinics and pelvic pain education are very important in managing endometriosis. However, we lost government, and Labor refused to fund a pelvic pain clinic in my electorate in the South West of WA. One in seven women in my electorate will be affected by endometriosis, and the South West has the highest population outside of the metro area. So I investigated the process and found that the decision was not based on demographics or need in the community. It was actually based on the quality of an application, just like a school essay—a tick in a box. The government, the department and the primary health network in WA all significantly let down the women in my electorate—the majority of women who are outside of the metro area who need access to a pelvic pain clinic. There is a great level of need, it is a lifetime condition and there is no cure. I was at the local bowling club the other night, talking about endometriosis, and women above the age of 70 and 75 were coming to talk to me about their ongoing experience with endometriosis and how they've suffered all their lives. That's why I want a pelvic pain clinic in my part of the world. There is, as I said, no cure, and if it gets to the heart and lungs it will kill you. I have made repeated requests for a pelvic pain clinic in the South West to ministers. It is something that is very badly needed. Now, I have personal experience of endometriosis—not only myself but also through my daughter. I've been very blessed that she allowed me, in the run-up to the 2018 development of that first national plan, to tell her very raw personal story, and countless other women throughout the years have repeated their experiences with endometriosis. In whatever I can do, whether I am the member for Forrest or not, I will keep working to try to secure a pelvic pain clinic for the South West. It is nothing less than the one in seven women who are suffering from endometriosis in the South West deserve.
Electricity Infrastructure Legislation Amendment Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
Yes, shame! The greatest concern is when I'm watching the damage that's being done to rural and regional Australia, and when I look at those desperate farmers in Victoria, they've got no choice....
Yes, shame! The greatest concern is when I'm watching the damage that's being done to rural and regional Australia, and when I look at those desperate farmers in Victoria, they've got no choice. They're just going to get steamrolled, and I am so concerned about them. There are also concerns around fire in those same communities, with insurance premiums going up. One thing leads to another, but none of this burden is felt by basically anyone on that side, nor by the government at all. On that basis, I conclude my remarks.
Right. We have a site that was commissioned in 2001, and it will have to be decommissioned in 2027 because it's too expensive to re-power. Will this be repeated? How often? The company has yet to...
Right. We have a site that was commissioned in 2001, and it will have to be decommissioned in 2027 because it's too expensive to re-power. Will this be repeated? How often? The company has yet to announce what it will do with the neighbouring Yambuk wind farm, commissioned in 2007. We'll wait and see what happens there. I suspect the same will happen with offshore wind turbines as well. Labor's renewables-only policy is failing the Australian people and failing business and failing families. The cost of energy is driving businesses absolutely to the wall or to fail or to consider leaving Australia. Labor's energy approach is actually five times the cost that Australians were initially promised. Families and businesses are bearing this cost. It is obscene, in a resource-rich country like Australia. It is absolutely obscene. Energy bills have risen by up to 52 per cent, and more than 27,000 businesses have been forced to close their doors. There's no doubt that soaring energy costs are a major reason for these closures. These high-energy costs apply right throughout your input—at all stages of your input. Every input will involve an energy cost, and that adds to your cost of doing business. Business and industry—ACCI and COSBOA's—concerns are being totally ignored by the government. How on earth can Labor talk about a future made in Australia when business, industry and households don't have affordable, dispatchable power? It's that simple. What is even worse, Labor is putting Australia's energy security into China's hands. Every 20 to 25 years, the wind turbines and solar panels that are made mostly in China will have to be replaced. We will be dependent on China for our energy security, and this will compromise our national security. Anyone in this House knows, and everyone should know, that energy security and national security are actually the same thing. You can't have one without the other. In WA we are short of power, and in my electorate I have businesses and industries that are paid by AEMO to switch off their processing to feed the power into the grid just to keep the lights and air conditioners on in Perth. I've even seen what I think is power rationing over summer in the south-west in my area, even at my home and on our farm. Synergy, the state government owned energy generator, is supposed to provide between 220 and 250 volts to my house. Over summer it got down to 212 and 214 volts only. I've had Synergy out to have a look at this. We have to have a generator because we can't be sure we're going to have power. You can imagine, with this type of power and generator, then trying to connect the transfer box, what was going on in that space. We've seen prices increasing in WA significantly. WA-owned power company Synergy recently sent me an email saying they were increasing my small businesses' power bills. It is happening to small businesses right across Western Australia. They are reporting 30 per cent increases in price in some instances. But Synergy offered me a special deal, a subsidised deal where, as a taxpayer, my taxes would be paying a government subsidy. This is the WA government with a hand in each of my pockets at once. This is just another example of the challenges we're facing with energy in Western Australia. As we know in WA, we have a significant amount of gas, and gas is the transition fuel in Western Australia. It is up to the state government and to Synergy to make sure that we have the power we need in our businesses and our households. It should not be that businesses and industries in my electorate have to turn off and stop their production just so that they can keep the lights on in Perth and keep enough power in the system. There is a shortage of power even in Western Australia, of all places.
Yes. It's farmers that are actually the targets. In the South West of WA, in what is the iconic and beautiful Geographe Bay, Labor has decided to build a wind factory. It has declared a zone of...
Yes. It's farmers that are actually the targets. In the South West of WA, in what is the iconic and beautiful Geographe Bay, Labor has decided to build a wind factory. It has declared a zone of 4,000 square kilometres with massive turbines of nearly 300 metres from base to blade tip—close to 1,000 turbines—with prices and profits for investors underpinned by Labor's Capacity Investment Scheme, which now means the profits of these offshore companies will be underwritten by Australian taxpayers year on year. All of this is off the federal budget. With the wind factory proposal, what we saw in the South West was a terrible and arrogant and superficial, badly named—misnamed—'public consultation'. It wasn't a consultation. It was typical of the steamrolling of regional communities that we're seeing in other states. Over time, I suspect our communities will be left with this rusting infrastructure in one of the most loved, visited and enjoyed areas in Australia, Geographe Bay. Of all places, Geographe Bay is the wrong place. This is for locals and for domestic and international visitors. This is where the diving, the fishing, the camping and the recreational and commercial fishing and boating happen. No wonder our communities are so strongly opposed to this. They didn't want it, and they are absolutely strong and active and vocal in their opposition, angered and frustrated by the process, a bit like that of this bill, of terribly arrogant and superficial consultation. It wasn't consultation at all. And the representatives at these sessions couldn't even answer basic questions for us about exclusion zones. They told us that the exclusion zones could range from 50 to 500 metres around each turbine and the actual distance would not be known for up to 10 to 12 years. How's that? Over time, our community would be left with rusting and aging massive turbines that need to be replaced on a regular basis or left for taxpayers to deal with. It's one or the other. It's a regular replacement. The Leader of the Opposition came to the electorate and said that we will not proceed. The coalition will not proceed with this project if the coalition wins government. I see that four of the proposed proponents of this project have pulled out of the application process. The deadline for the applications was pushed back twice and ended last month. But here's something else. I also read that Australia's oldest commercial wind farm, the Chinese-owned Pacific Blue, has said it will not re-power the site at Codrington in Victoria, because it will be too expensive. So here we are. These are supposed to keep going. They're supposed to be endless wind and solar. We have a site that was commissioned—
I concur that the Minister for Climate Change and Energy has not used the right process—a terrible process, in fact—for the Electricity Infrastructure Legislation Amendment Bill 2025....
I concur that the Minister for Climate Change and Energy has not used the right process—a terrible process, in fact—for the Electricity Infrastructure Legislation Amendment Bill 2025. But I just want people to consider the burden that Labor's massive renewables-only energy policy is having on regional and rural Australia. Just think about this: Labor's plan includes nearly 60 million solar panels, over 3,500 new wind turbines and 28,000 kilometres of new transmission lines, all in rural and regional areas. We know that the government will need to double the size of the transmission grid just to connect all of this new renewable energy, but, if it's double the size, I suspect it will be double the price and the cost—cost that will be added to families' and businesses' power bills. As we know, these endless kilometres of wind turbines and solar panels and 28,000 kilometres of additional transmission lines are impacting rural and regional areas, and farmers and food production. This is also, sadly, dividing neighbours, dividing friends and dividing communities. That's appalling. I'm also concerned about reports regarding the fine plastic coming off turbines over time and farmers having to make declarations that will affect their businesses, their markets and their profits in time. I read that farmers who graze livestock under solar panels, wind turbines or other renewable energy infrastructure must now declare it under the national on-farm livestock assurance program. Equally, I understand that this change to the Livestock Production Assurance program was quietly introduced in September. Farmers and producers are rightly very concerned about the potential consequences of this. Meat & Livestock Australia contracts a company called Integrity Systems Company to manage its Livestock Production Assurance process. This process requires farmers to identify any chemical or physical contamination risks to livestock from equipment or infrastructure that may be degrading with age. Solar panels and wind turbines are both cited as examples, because solar panels degrade as they reach end of life, and it will be farmers who bear the cost and the risk of these solar panels and wind turbines as they degrade. I just hope they're actually aware of these risks. We've even recently seen the collapse of a wind turbine. I also read that the Minister for Climate Change and Energy has appointed Tony Maher as his Energy Infrastructure Commissioner to deliver the government's wind tower and transmission plans in regional and farming areas. Tony Maher, as we know, was the CEO of the National Farmers Federation for many years. I'd say to farmers, 'I hope you're aware that the role of the Energy Infrastructure Commissioner will be to deliver the wind, solar and transmission plans for the government, not for you.' I also wonder whether farmers will be made aware of all the current and future costs and responsibilities they will have, and I wonder whether their obligations under the integrity systems will actually be explained to them at all. On top of all of this, farmers and small businesses will now have to report their scope 3 emissions. This endless green tape process will cost each one of us, those of us who are farmers. I can see this also, maybe, as a mechanism the Labor government will use to impose methane and additional carbon taxes on the farming sector once they actually announce their 2035 emissions reduction targets, which they haven't done and were supposed to do in February.
National Capital and External Territories Joint Committee; Report | Committees | House debates
I want to thank the chair and acknowledge her work in this inquiry and also thank all members of the committee who were part of it and showed such a great interest in and passion for what...
I want to thank the chair and acknowledge her work in this inquiry and also thank all members of the committee who were part of it and showed such a great interest in and passion for what Australia is contributing in Antarctica. I also thank the secretariat, particularly Fran Denny and Sam Thompson, as the chair referred to. But the really important part of this, from my point of view, was the recommendation regarding the capacity for inspections, particularly in relation to Australia's national security interest. I think that was very important in the recommendations that we made, in relation to inspections and the increased interest of other nations in Antarctica and for Australia to maintain the focus on the agreements that we have in Antarctica. I was very pleased, particularly as the coalition government commissioned the RSV Nuyina, to see that craft, to see its amazing capacity and capabilities, and to see the great passion that all of the staff and scientists that we met had. I think the Nuyina is just fantastic and is a credit to everyone involved, as to not only the design but also how it will operate ahead. It brings renewed opportunity, as we will see. I think we'll see the quality of the research that will come out. We were fascinated by the krill, by the CO2 sequestration that's contained in krill, by the massive amount of krill in Antarctica and by the fact that our scientists have been able to actually have those onsite and observe them in such a fashion. That multidisciplinary research is so important with the Nuyina now. I think there's huge opportunity there for Australian scientists and for the new scientists coming through. It gives them a fabulous platform to work with and from. I think it will encourage even more young people to be involved in Antarctic type research. So that's fantastic. But I do certainly strongly support the idea of a second resupply vessel, as this became very apparent to us. There's the need for Nuyina to focus on that research capacity and for there to be also the capacity to provide the support needed. The resupply of the other bases in the vicinity was raised with us repeatedly. I think the resources on Nuyina certainly should be focused on research capability. Like the chair, I want to thank, again, all of the scientists and everyone who made time to actually contribute. I'd encourage people to read the report, particularly as to some of the concerns around national security and inspection processes. I thank everybody involved. I thank the chair extensively for the work that she put in. I hope that the recommendations will be considered very seriously by the government of the day, because they were very sound recommendations. As I said, I was particularly interested in, and I think we did a very good job on, the recommendations themselves. Earlier, I referred to recommendation 3, which is: The Committee recommends that the Australian Government increase the frequency of its inspections of other Antarctic Treaty Parties' Antarctic stations over 2025-26 and beyond. And I cannot stress this strongly enough: The Australian Government should consider other methods of inspection such as satellite imagery and drone use. I think these are very important in relation to our responsibilities under the treaty but also our national security interests. So I would just like to bring that well and truly to the forefront of the consideration of the government. I think this was a very strong and sound recommendation that the committee made. I thank the chair for this indulgence, and I thank the chair of the committee for all of her work.
Forrest Electorate: Emergency Services | Adjournment | House debates
Summer is ahead of us and I want to acknowledge all of the volunteer emergency services people in my electorate and even around Australia who will be flat out. In my electorate, the volunteers in...
Summer is ahead of us and I want to acknowledge all of the volunteer emergency services people in my electorate and even around Australia who will be flat out. In my electorate, the volunteers in Forrest will be working overtime with the amount of tourists as well as locals they look after, and they do an amazing job. I look at my surf life saving clubs along the coast. We all have surf life saving clubs that do an amazing job. In WA in the 2022-23 report, it said 90 per cent of the drowning deaths in Western Australia were men, which was up 17 per cent on the year before. While 52 per cent of those occurred at a beach, over 90 per cent were over a kilometre from a surf lifesaving service, which, in itself, tells a story. The surf lifesavers provided first aid and prevented accidents and incidents for nearly 70,000 people. There were over 550,000 people who were caught in a rip that they were able to help. The other group that I want to mention is our fire and emergency services. In WA, we have 27,000 volunteers. They just have such a big job to do. I look at my area in the south-west of the state, the cape-to-cape region, which has significant fuel loads and is a great challenge for our fire and emergency services. In 2023-24 the comms centre answered approximately 40,000 calls. The volunteers and career firefighters responded to 3,200 crash rescue incidents, 5,800 bushfires and 1,500 search-and-rescue efforts. That includes the likes of our volunteer marine and sea rescue group as well. Look at the number of hours that our volunteers dedicate to our emergency services. To those of us who live in rural and regional parts of Australia, often it's all volunteers or majority volunteers, and they do an extraordinary job. I also want to recognise St John Ambulance. We had 4,288 St John's volunteers listed in that 2022-23 report. Having a mum who was a St John Ambulance attendant—and our home phone was the ambulance phone all her life—I cannot tell you how important it is in a small community when the people who come to help you when you are hurt, injured, desperately ill or have had an emergency are your local people. The amount of comfort and support it gives you when it is someone you know is great. Often these same ambulance volunteers have to deal with the worst situations locally with people they know, and that comes at a cost for them. I just want to acknowledge the great importance for rural, regional and remote communities of our volunteer and professional emergency services operatives. When we look at what happens with each one of these, the number of hours that go into training that nobody sees is extraordinary. They do this week in and week out. They don't even look to be thanked. They do it because they are committed to what they do and they are very, very good at it. Sometimes the numbers ebb and flow, and there can be an extraordinary amount expected of a small number of people. But they keep doing it because they believe in it and they know not only that what they are doing helps each one of us when we are most at risk but also that they are part of that really genuine local community that makes such a difference to us. We cannot do without our emergency services volunteers. Nothing means more in a small community. If it's a bushfire, a flood, an accident on the road or an incident of any sort, when we see our local volunteers turn up we are very, very grateful. You can often form a bond with those volunteers that lasts for the rest of your life. I just wanted to say thank you to every one of our professional and volunteer workers, who just do such an extraordinary job in emergency services. We desperately need them all, and we are very grateful to have them all.
Endometriosis | Statements by Members | House debates
I was really proud of the Medical Research Future Fund that we put in place when in government and of being part of developing the first-ever national plan for endometriosis not only in Australia...
I was really proud of the Medical Research Future Fund that we put in place when in government and of being part of developing the first-ever national plan for endometriosis not only in Australia but in the world. I'm really pleased that Endometriosis Australia has offered a new scholarship to train more endo nurses for regional, rural and remote areas to treat this condition and disease that affects one in seven-to-nine women in Australia. This was part of the original plan, and I'm very pleased that that's getting closer to fulfilment. Can I also recommend that women with endo have a look at CHARLI. The CHARLI app allows Australian women to take control of their diagnosis and manage this debilitating and highly undiagnosed condition. Can I also encourage more of our young women to be able to access to PPEP Talk. These are pelvic pain talks that are being delivered into schools. I want to see as many young women as possible listen to those talks and know when the right time is to seek more help and to understand they need to look at whether they are affected by endometriosis. The sooner that we get to it, the more chance they've got of recovery and a great life.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation | Grievance Debate | House debates
The ABC plays an important role in many of our regional and remote communities, particularly in thin regional communication markets and during emergencies. Many years ago, I was proud to be...
The ABC plays an important role in many of our regional and remote communities, particularly in thin regional communication markets and during emergencies. Many years ago, I was proud to be selected as an ABC Rural Woman of the Year. Well, I'm actually not proud of the ABC anymore—I'm appalled and disgusted. The ABC has become openly Green Left, politically biased and, too often, totally inaccurate—representing, by majority, city-centric elite activists in its news and current affairs delivery. It's no wonder, because the majority of the ABC's staff are located in cities. The 2023-24 annual report shows that 4,520 staff are based in metro areas and that only 594 are in regional and remote areas. No wonder we've seen the direct attacks on rural and regional farmers in how the city-centric ABC reported on the live cattle and live sheep issues. It was reported in such a way that the then Labor government first shut down the live cattle trade, and this has now been followed up with the shutting down of the live sheep trade. In each case, in the initial reporting, the ABC told only one side of the story—and what appalling attacks on our farmers and our regional communities as a result! I believe and hope that some of our regional ABC journalists actually understood the damage that has been done. I have watched the bias and politicisation of city ABC news and current affairs for years, and it has progressively got worse. I will never forget some years ago, when we were in government, when in 2016 I read a terribly inaccurate ABC story about the sexual assault of a child in Nauru that proved to be completely false. The list goes on and on. I kept a file of those for so many years. But the final straw has come for me as a result of the ABC's sustained attacks on our Australian Defence Force over the last few years, culminating in the deliberate and calculated falsifying of video footage, which was literally doctored footage inserted by the ABC into a story that was clearly designed to provide 'live evidence' to validate the journalist's story. By adding the extra gunshots to this combat footage, the ABC was determined to provide evidence that members of the Australian 2nd Commando Regiment in a helicopter fired multiple shots at what the ABC claimed were unarmed Afghan civilians. There is no doubt the ABC has been determined to vilify the Australian Defence Force members for years, desperately trying to prove they were guilty of war crimes. In spite of the weasel words we heard at Senate estimates, and a pathetic and carefully orchestrated internal 'review' that in no way passes the pub test of any fair-minded Australian, there is no doubt in anyone's mind that the ABC journalist and his team did indeed deliberately doctor, falsify, manipulate and distort information, material and evidence in order to mislead audiences, which was designed to substantiate that journalist's storyline that the ADF was guilty of and had committed a war crime. And, yes, ABC, if the gunshots had been added with the deliberate purpose of misleading the audience then, in the words of your own carefully selected internal reviewer, Mr Sunderland, it would have amounted to 'one of the most egregious and serious breaches imaginable of fundamental journalistic ethics.' But this is exactly what ABC did. It was in fact 'one of the most egregious and serious breaches imaginable of fundamental journalistic ethics', otherwise the shots would not have been heard in the audio at all—and if it had been an error the ABC would have corrected that fact immediately. The ABC cannot deny this. The evidence is clear. This if further proof beyond doubt that the ABC has not and will not meet its charter obligations, which state the ABC has to provide 'comprehensive broadcasting services of a high standard'. The duties of the board include: … to ensure that the gathering and presentation by the Corporation of news and information is accurate and impartial according to the recognized standards of objective journalism; … Well, it's obvious that the ABC is not accurate and it is definitely not impartial. I am sickened by the fact that the ABC board and employees will all be probably smiling at how well they delivered their story that they wanted the public to believe. In spite of how deliberately egregious and wrong that story was, no-one has been held or will be held responsible or accountable. The board and the management and staff will carry on business as usual, and nothing will change at the ABC. This is just further evidence of the green-left ABC and that it s a law unto itself. But what is even worse is that, according to the 2024 ABC annual report, Australian taxpayers are paying a record amount of more than $1.1 billion for this. I understand that the ABC is asking for even more taxpayers' dollars at a time that its audience numbers are dwindling by 670,000 a week. No wonder the audience numbers are falling with stories like this. It is a bit like shooting fish in a barrel, when you attack our Defence Force members. The ABC is determined not to represent broad Australian interests or views. There is a very clear lack of impartiality and balance, and there appears to be a consistent narrative for the green, left ABC to criticise defence. Editorial standards at the ABC require accuracy, impartiality, excellence and independence. The ABC has failed this test, as we've seen with this story, not only in the audio editing I talked about already but in defence industry coverage I've seen recently. The reporting showed a clear lack of balanced sources of information and featured those with known agendas who are keen to disrupt defence. It did not demonstrate any of the great achievements of the ADF, the other side of that story. This is information the Australian people have a right to and deserve to know from a media organisation they pay for; it is coverage which would give our serving ADF members pride in their achievements and would actually help the ABC meet its editorial standard of broadcasting programs that contribute to a sense of national identity. The lack of balance was clear in the ABC's Land Forces expo protest coverage. ABC news coverage was reported as 'People injured in the Land Forces expo protests this week are assessing their legal options, lawyer says'. There was little or no criticism of the violent protesters, and where was the reporting on the attendees, who were either attacked or had to seek alternate routes? Why was there no reporting of the fact that the ADF personnel were advised not to attend the workplace on St Kilda Road for fear of attack? Why was there no reporting that ADF personnel were strongly advised not to wear their uniforms to work in that area for fear of attack? Why was there little reporting of the fact that ADF personnel were harassed at hotels? The ABC article actually sought greater legal defence mechanisms promoting greater protection for the protesters who were violent—one side of that story only. I am sick of these attacks on defence. This lack of balanced reporting and the ABC's ongoing sustained attack on our ADF has to have a really dramatic and dreadful impact at a time when retention and recruitment are problems and given the findings of the royal commission into veterans' suicide. The ABC editorial standards state that it should be broadcasting programs that, as I said, contribute to a sense of national identity. How is tearing at our ADF adding to our sense of national identity? It actually undermines Australia's values, freedoms and democracy. That's in spite of our young people, who are in significant and impressive numbers participating at events such as Anzac Day. It's no wonder the ABC is losing its audiences. It is not providing comprehensive broadcasting and services of a very high standard. I'm presenting the editorial by the board and the duties of the board to ensure that the gathering and presentation by the corporation of news and information is accurate and impartial according to the recognised standards of objective journalism. I can't believe that this is what we're getting from what is supposed to be our national ABC. As someone who lives and works in regional Australia, for so long we relied on the ABC to be exactly that and to provide those of us in the regions not only with accurate reporting but with timely responses that we need whenever there is an emergency. I am so saddened at what the ABC has become.
Rare Foods Australia | Adjournment | House debates
Congratulations to Brad and Jodee Adams on their company, Rare Foods Australia. Not only is it producing the only ocean-grown green-lip abalone in the world where two oceans, the Indian and...
Congratulations to Brad and Jodee Adams on their company, Rare Foods Australia. Not only is it producing the only ocean-grown green-lip abalone in the world where two oceans, the Indian and Southern oceans, meet around Cape Leeuwin, off Augusta in my electorate of Forrest; in another world first, they're also producing Southern Hemisphere subsea wine, the first in our open ocean waters, over a kilometre off the coast. Following a three-year successful trial period, Brad Adams, who has always pursued innovation and opportunity at Rare Foods, is now investing in Australia's first subsea wine production through ocean cellaring. Brad and his team are both fermenting and maturing wine in the ocean, using 22 subsea vats tethered to the ocean floor with specialised sea anchors that don't disturb the sea grass at around 20 meters in depth in the Rare Foods ocean lease zone. Each vat contains around 300 litres of wine maintained in suspension. At this depth, the fermentation takes on a different aroma and flavour than wine produced using traditional land based methods. It takes around nine to 12 months but tasting starts at around six months. I'm sure there are plenty of volunteers for that! It's the ocean current that naturally provides the refrigeration and movement, the gentle sway providing the constant movement needed in winemaking. It is in low light and in a consistent temperature and pressure environment under the ocean. Following the company's subsea wine trials, Rare Foods is now partnering with the French company Winereef International. Brad brought to this arrangement the boats, the experience, the divers and the infrastructure, and he has a very dynamic 'have a go' approach as well as very sharp business and commercial acumen. Rare Foods has another ace up its sleeve, with access to the world-renowned premium Margaret River wines, and they will be branded as Ocean Signature. This is a match made in heaven and a totally new offering for the market and for the region. Brad has told me that Rare Foods will produce a limited vintage pure ocean wine, which will be their 100 per cent product. But there will also be a 50 per cent blend with traditional land produced wine as well—chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and a sparkling wine. They will all be marketed in unique bottles with remnants of natural coral, similar to the wine bottles found in historic shipwrecks. Some of those shipwrecks have been found many years, sometimes hundreds of years, later, but the bottles have been found intact and well aged. This is an exciting concept and a new experience for those who live in, or visit, our south-west. It is another innovative product from Brad, Jodee and the Rare Foods Australia team. Rare Foods started off as ocean-grown abalone, and this was a groundbreaking initiate in our south-west. I saw the early reefs that Brad and his team constructed. They were then placed into the ocean lease area that Rare Foods have, and that was their ocean-grown abalone—beautiful baby abalone. Having tasted many of these at different occasions I can really recommend their ocean-grown abalone. To think that we will now see ocean produced wine—this is a world first. It's something that the region is very proud of. Brad has always been an innovator. He loves the ocean. He's a fisherman, a surfer, a diver. Recently, I met his son, and his son is very much in the same space. I'm looking forward to what Rare Foods will do next. I think this is the next of many more adventures and innovation for Rare Foods. To everyone who sees this particular wine on the shelves, why not try it and experience wine that's been fermented in the two oceans off Augusta by Rare Foods.
Valedictory | Parliamentary Representation | House debates
I began my first speech in this parliament by thanking the people in my electorate of Forrest for the faith and confidence they showed in electing me to represent them in the federal parliament....
I began my first speech in this parliament by thanking the people in my electorate of Forrest for the faith and confidence they showed in electing me to represent them in the federal parliament. In this, my valedictory speech, I thank them most sincerely for that faith and confidence over six elections. It has been an honour and a privilege to serve you—the people of Forrest—during these years, and I've been absolutely grateful for every single day I've had here. Can I also thank my colleagues who are here in the chamber today? They are here in the same way that many of you supported my maiden speech 17 years ago as the 1,038th member of this House, out of only 1,244 in total now. I was part of the class of 2007, after the election where there were only seven Liberals—Rowan Ramsey, Luke Simpkins, Steve Irons, Scott Morrison, Alex Hawke, Stuart Robert and our one newly elected National Party member Mark Coulton. Even though the coalition lost that election, I can well remember the excitement we all shared. We have worked so well together; this speech is my opportunity to say thank you. Firstly I thank those who have actively worked with me over the years to identify and help me secure what has actually been unprecedented federal investment in infrastructure projects and programs delivered into the south-west during my time as the member for Forrest. This includes the people in my electorate and my coalition colleagues during our nine years in government who understood and responded to the need for, and supported, this critical investment—investment that was so badly needed in what is one of the fastest-growing, most economically diverse dynamic and productive regional areas in Australia. With mining resource manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, construction, tourism and retail, the south-west is its own economic powerhouse. It's also a region where people increasingly choose to live, to work, to raise a family, to invest and to retire. The federal government investment has been critical to sustaining and the development of the region. It is often basic infrastructure funding—roads, bridges, the life-saving mobile phone towers, airport freight at Busselton airport, aged care and local government infrastructure—that can be taken for granted in metro areas. Let me tell you that those of us who live in the regions respect and value every single taxpayer dollar that is spent in our communities. We know that this infrastructure is critical and saves lives. It took over six years of work and persistence for me to secure what is now a billion dollars, 80 per cent of the value of the project, of funding for the Bunbury Outer Ring Road—thank you to my colleagues—and the dualling of the carriageway from Capel to Busselton. My focus, though, for project delivery has been on local procurement in our south-west. I thank the unsung heroes I've met and worked with and for—like our local police, who I believe are at increasing risk every single day they're out on the road. A special thank you to our emergency services volunteers, our transport sector and our amazing truck drivers who are on the road delivering day and night; in my opinion, Australia runs on the back of a truck. The unsung heroes are also our farmers, who, day in and day out, supply us with some of the highest-quality fresh, locally and regionally produced homegrown food—some of the best in the world in our south-west. Our farmers need far less red, green and any other form of tape you want to talk about and less interference from activist groups. As Michael Partridge, a local dairy farmer in my electorate, said: 'I feed 50,000 people every year. How about you just say thank you and let me get on with it.' As a dairy farmer, I agree. Where water flows food grows, which is why our farmers need ongoing access to quality local irrigation and water supplies. Harvey Water, in my electorate, is a farmer owned cooperative supplying gravity fed irrigation water to its farmer members and fit-for-purpose water for industry through a series of pipes and channels. They are multi-award winning and great at their job, perhaps to the great frustration and disappointment of some who at the time didn't think our farmers were up for the job and openly said that Harvey Water would go broke and fail. Nearly 30 years on, Harvey Water and those very same farmers have proven them wrong. And, no, our farmers are not stupid; they are businesspeople in their own right. I must thank our community services volunteers and sporting club members, who, in our regional parts of Australia, are often the glue that hold our small regional communities together. These are the people I've loved meeting with and listening to—hardworking, selfless Australians, our volunteers, the ones who stand up when our communities are most at risk or in need. They are also the people I have great respect for because of their direct involvement in their communities and our communities. They know best what is needed and what will work in their own communities. To me, along with our current Australian Defence Force members and veterans, our volunteers represent the best of us, which is in part why regional Australia matters and regional people have earned and deserve respect. No-one should ever forget that it is regional Australia—its industries, its businesses and its people—that create the wealth that supports the basic services that Australians rely on every day. We should not be merely the dumping ground for endless kilometres of offshore wind and onshore wind, solar farms and transmission lines at the expense of prime food-producing land. We should also not be bearing the brunt of the closure of industries, such as live sheep or live cattle and our globally acknowledged best practice working hardwood forestry sectors. I wish every Australian could visit our south-west Wellington Discovery Forest to see how this most renewable, sustainable industry actually works. Being the member for Forrest, though, has given me the opportunity to provide the strong voice for these regional Australians. I am so proud of those who live and work in the regions: the tradespeople, our tradies, who work in the businesses and industries that, as I said, create Australia's wealth—regions like the south-west of WA, where my history is and where I was brought up by my parents, both of whom died in 2000, before I entered the parliament. I know they would have been incredibly proud of my work; however, my mother would have been quietly worried sick at some of what I've had to deal with. By comparison, my dad was blunt in the extreme—it's where I get it from; apologies. He would have constantly reminded me, as he always did, since I was a kid—by your indulgence, Deputy Speaker, I would please insert a particular swear word here—to 'please just do the so-and-so job, will you?' That was Dad: 'Just do the so-and-so job. Get the job done.' My dad was a pioneer of earthmoving and cartage in the south-west. He was the only person I've known to have a licence to cut wood out of Kings Park in World War II, to keep the Princess Margaret Children's Hospital operating with steam. My mother fundraised and worked tirelessly to provide our tiny little home town of Brunswick Junction with its first and second ambulance. This was Brunswick's first ever emergency medical service. Now, when I was a kid our home phone was the ambulance phone. We had to be able to get an ambulance to the right place with the two drivers each time. Not only was she my mum and an ambulance volunteer but she also provided critical first aid in our house—knife through here, out there—and delivered a baby in the front seat of a car whenever needed. While Dad said to do the so-and-so job, Mum's instruction to us was, 'If a job is worth doing, it's worth doing well.' I thank them both for their values, their hard work ethic and their lifetimes of volunteering and working for our community. They were great role models and by their actions gave me a hands-on apprenticeship in what's needed in a small community: get involved, help out, get the job done. I often refer to my mother as the wind beneath my wings. And my father, who was a migrant, never forgot what he owed this great country for the opportunity it gave him—the opportunity to work hard, to save his money, to put a roof over his family's heads and to run his own small business. What a great country. Now, he was never going to be wealthy, but he was always going to enrich his own community. My husband and I bought our first dairy farm on the day we got married. He said, 'Don't marry me for my money, because it's all printed in red,' and he was right. Interest rates went from 17 to 23 per cent and, yes, it was tough, but we built a small business. I became very involved in the dairy industry, including in voluntary marketing and promotion with our milk industry group and with the Australian Dairy Corporation. Farming, water and regional issues followed, and as a community volunteer I spent 10 years—it was a fabulous 10 years—as the president of my local AFL footy club. I thank my husband, Charlie, who encouraged me to take on this role and who, as you will all understand, never made me feel guilty for not being home. I thank him for the many years he did everything he could to make my job easier. I thank my family. My son, Kim; daughter-in-law, Deanna; and their family took on all the dairy farming jobs over the past 17 years. I make special mention of my three much-loved grandchildren, Dylan, Simon and Sophie, who've grown up with a nonna—if you're Italian or of Italian descent, you'll understand what 'nonna' means—who has missed many of their special birthdays and events but who are great kids who never complained. I thank them for fitting in with my schedule for our family tradition of Italian sausage-making and sauce-making days. Now, they were very patient when people would stop for a chat when they were out with me in public, and, using my grandson's own words, they doubled up as my 'bodyguards' at certain times. I also thank them for what they've had to put up with because we share the same surname. To my precious daughter, Kylie, who is with us today, thank you for your love, support and strength, and for allowing me to tell the story of your very personal and dreadful endometriosis journey. This motivated me to work with my wonderful colleagues here to deliver the first-ever National Action Plan for Endometriosis, which brought ongoing investment and commitment for women suffering from this incurable lifetime disease. I spent 11 days in ICU with you, sweetheart. All I wanted was for you to live, and so far you have. I'm sorry your partner, Mark, is not here, but together you've catered for—and the Leader of the Opposition can vouch for this—so many dinners and functions at my home, along with our reliable and efficient offsider, Scott Chatley. I thank my sister, Judy; my brother, Lindsay; and all my family and close friends who have been absolutely unwavering over these years in their love, support and patience. And I cannot forget my loyal Harvey Bulls Football Club crew. Jenni and Nirah Mattila—my dear friends, who live in Sydney—are here today. Every election they flew over to the South West to work on my toughest booths, because they were tough as well. Thank you both. I am so pleased you're here. I thank the Liberal Party of Australia, and, in particular, our Forrest division branch members for their unwavering commitment and support, and for their practical help and support in manning booths. I also pay tribute to and remember past members who are no longer with us. I thank Dr Steve Thomas, who chaired each of my campaigns. Steve's straightforward, practical approach and advice was a major reason we won six elections, and we've done so much more together since. A very sincere thanks to the late Senator Judith Adams. Judith showed me the ropes of doorknocking for half a day in Augusta and then said: 'You'll be right. Just get on with it.' Thank you to the colleagues who were there to mentor and support me in the early years: the wonderful Dr Mal Washer and Bronwyn Bishop. I learnt so much from them. They were tough. They were experienced. But they were generous MPs who were prepared to share their wisdom with me. I thank my fiercely loyal and hardworking electorate office team. Vicki Rake started as my campaign secretary and went on to work with me for 12 years in many different roles, including as whip's clerk in our Chief Government Whip's office team, along with Nathan Winn, whose knowledge of the history and workings of the parliament were, and are, invaluable. Julie O'Sullivan was wonderfully calm and extremely efficient in her role during what was a seriously challenging 45th Parliament that began with a one-seat majority. The whip's team of Bert van Manen, Rowan Ramsey and our National Party whips worked so well together during this time. Thank you all, and thank you to all of the colleagues who worked so well with me during this time. Thank you very much. I give a very special acknowledgment to all of my WA colleagues—we all worked so hard to deliver a fairer GST arrangement for Western Australia—and to Kerry Dawson; Jamie Martin; Robyn Roney; Samantha O'Connor; Dylan Gorski, and his carers; and the Newton Moore Education Support Centre students, and their carers, who have done work experience in my office over the years. My electorate staff deserve thanks for all that you've done not just for me but for the countless constituents, businesses and community groups who you've helped over the years. They were often needing your care and compassion, and you gave it. Ongoing, we have Robyn, who's currently working with the service clubs to help auto-electrician Nathan Reed, who provides second-hand vehicles for women who are escaping domestic violence. Your ongoing work shows your compassion and we will make sure that that gets done by you. Thank you also to the electorate office staff who have moved on to other opportunities over the years. One of these is Ryan Hadji, who only heard yesterday that my valedictory was today. He flew all night just to be here. Ryan, thank you so much. I cannot forget my Christmas mail-out volunteer envelope stuffers. You all understand the value of envelope stuffers. We've tallied it up today, and I think they've actually stuffed over one million envelopes in my time. A massive thank you to my assistant regional development ministerial team, who are here today, for their exceptional advice: Sophie Beeton, Sam Shirley, Rob Terrill and DLO Andrew Wilson. Thank you for your hard work and dedication, particularly in dealing with the challenges we faced during the COVID pandemic—the global pandemic—when we looked after the needs of Australia's most remote communities in Christmas Island, Cocos Keeling Islands and Norfolk Island. I must also thank the 53 Regional Development Australia committees, who dialled in to me at my kitchen table at home, three times a week, to provide live, invaluable and accurate information about what was happening on the ground in each of their regions during the pandemic. From these meetings, we developed a regional intelligence bulletin which was passed on to every ministry—the various ministries necessary—to directly assist in the government's COVID response. I am proud of what we all achieved together and with our key departmental staff. My teams know that they are just like family to me and, like my family, they are worth their weight in gold. Thank you to all our truly amazing parliamentary staff—the chamber staff, committee and support staff, security, Comcar drivers, gardeners, maintenance workers, cleaners, hospitality and catering, as well as our baristas who work on the coffee carts—I see many of you using those. I must thank the AFP, who work so hard to keep us safe. Their constant, protective security deserves our respect. In my opinion, they're legends: those here, in and around Parliament House, and our WA based AFP, who looked after me with great care during a risky situation. I really appreciate everything you do for us, domestically, and for Australia around the world. Another person I need to thank is Julian Krieg. During his time as WA's regional financial counselling service chair, whenever one of the men had the courage to ring me when they were in desperate personal circumstances, Julian was my emergency go-to for practical help. On one occasion alone, he drove all night to get to a man I was particularly concerned about. To Julian's great credit, each one of those men he helped has gone on with their lives—the best result we could have hoped for in the circumstances. Equally, many other wheat-belt families and men, supported through the Regional Men's Health Initiative, who have relied on Julian and his team over many years, have made sound decisions about their family and/or their business future. I thank you, Julian, if you're watching, for the lives you've saved. This is more proof that every day we have in this House as a member really matters and makes a difference. It shows what a difference we can make. I love the work I've done with palliative care and in childhood dementia. In part, when I was elected, I was actually old enough—as you can see—to know that tomorrow is guaranteed to no-one, which is why we need to make the most of every day in life and in politics not only because we owe it to our constituents but also because each day we serve in this parliament is actually one day less we will get to serve in this parliament, particularly when you're in government. Please don't ever kid yourself—and this is the old whip coming out now—no matter what your margin is, there is absolutely no job security in politics. Your own side can take you out, or the other side can take you out or the media can—or all three! So don't ever forget what it takes to get here. I've kept my very ugly but comfortable first campaign doorknocking shoes. I kept them right where I can see them every day when I get dressed, a reminder of what it took to get here and to never waste a day. Now, as Vicki knows, there was blood in those shoes. It was a very hot lead-up to the 2007 election, and in those days I had a 21,000 square kilometre electorate to get around, along with a range of major towns. Like many of us in certain areas, I got used to being told where to go in very graphic terms. I admit at times I did get to the point of saying: 'I'm actually looking for directions. Could you please tell me where to go, nicely?' And, yes, I was chased by rottweilers, but the only dog that bit me was a jack russell. It's not even a great war story! But, on the first day after I was elected, I sat down and thought about what I wanted on my last day as the member for Forrest. What I wanted was the respect of good people who knew what I was trying to achieve and who knew that my heart was in it. I wanted to maintain my integrity in what is rightly a tough political world. That original class of 2007 became my great mates. We learnt a lot together. A number of us, along with our regional colleagues, have worked year in and year out on every regional and rural issue, such as higher education and youth allowance access issues for regional kids. We've been at it for years, and we brought together 30 of our colleagues as we worked through this. We've also worked on the critical importance and needs of small businesses in regional areas. Small businesses are often the lifeblood of small regional communities, and they employ the majority of the private sector workforce. In our communities, small businesses often give young people their first ever job and, for older people, often their last job. With several of my colleagues, I've worked closely with the dynamic small business minister Bruce Billson to deliver many sound small business policies and initiatives. Early on in my time as an MP, I was a member of a communications committee which did a report into cybersafety and young people. I realised then, from the survey we did of young people, just what they were dealing with online and how much risk they were exposed to. I quietly developed a set of overheads, and I was encouraged by the Harvey business and professional women's group to offer it to our local primary school. And that was the start. As most of you in this chamber know, I have delivered hundreds—well over 400—of these cybersafety sessions to schoolchildren from preprimary through to high school, very quietly and very carefully. The sessions are aimed at helping them to stay safe online and to know how and where to get help. Mostly, though, these sessions are aimed at encouraging families to be involved from the first day the first device is given to their child. A number of schools in my electorate have asked me to come in each year or when they had a particular problem caused by online behaviour or the constantly evolving risks with certain games, apps and sites. I want to thank these schools and the parents who've come along to these sessions. Over the years a number of teachers have quietly said to me, 'You have saved lives today.' I knew it mattered and I knew it worked. The mum of an 11-year-old girl, after I had been into their school, rang my office and said: 'My daughter has just come home. She has listened to what you've said and the way you explained it. She was being groomed online now, today.' I am possibly the first Liberal Party member to have been appointed whip on day one in the parliament. I think it might be true. And, yes, it was a very steep learning curve, but the wise and capable Alex Somlyay was an invaluable mentor. Much of what I learnt from Alex stood me in great stead when I was appointed as the first female chief government whip in Australia's history. It wasn't just the practical and parliamentary organisational side of this role that was so important; a major part was to provide feedback from the backbench to the Prime Minister and to give him frank and fearless advice, even if he may not have always wanted to hear it. There is a great deal of trust involved in this role. I have always maintained and will always maintain the confidences of the Prime Minister, my ministers and members of parliament and staff members who have chosen to come to me. And, no, I will never write a book about those confidences or disclose those or this information to anyone—not one person. To my colleagues, I don't need to tell you that national security, the defence of this nation, is the government's No. 1 priority. The coalition has always prioritised national security. All my life, this has been a priority for me, well before being elected. My family lived through World War II, and my mother was a World War II widow. Her husband was killed in Papua New Guinea in 1943. My sisters never knew their father, and my family has lived with this loss all our lives. So not only do I know, directly, what it takes to defend Australia—the sacrifices made by my mum's husband Jack Leonard and the over 103,000 brave and dedicated members of our Defence Force who have lost their lives to protect our freedoms—but I also directly understand the sacrifice made by their families, like my mother's and my sisters', which was why I became involved with the Defence Force Parliamentary Program as soon as I came into this place. I acknowledge, today, Major Daniel Tidd, who's here with the reciprocal ADF program. I took part in as many of these programs as I could. I wanted to meet and listen to our people on the ground, wherever they were deployed. I wanted to hear from them exactly what they were dealing with and whether they had the right equipment and support to do what was needed wherever they were deployed to. One early ADF program had a very profound effect to me. It was the trip to Afghanistan in 2011, which ended in the week leading to the taking out of bin Laden, where I was on the ground with the troops. Prior to that time, I knew we'd problems with the CV joints on the LAVs, and we'd lost one of our first combat engineers in an IED explosion. I wanted to hear directly from his mates what had happened, and I did. It was something I will never forget, and every one of these Defence programs that I've done has reinforced to me what great Australians our ADF members are. And I was given a very direct lesson in how respected our ADF is overseas. Many years ago, on a delegation, I laid a wreath at Tyne Cot Cemetery in Belgium to honour the memory of the over 1,369 Australians buried there. I followed that up with a visit to Polygon Wood Cemetery. At Ypres, I met the oldest Menin Gate bugler, and I thanked him for the huge commitment he and his volunteers made by playing 'The Last Post' every evening. That was over 30,000 times, at that point. He looked at me very seriously and he said: 'You listen to me. At the time, the Germans were determined to destroy our nation and our people. All we are and all we have is because of your Australians' blood on our soil. The least we can do is play your "The Last Post".' We all understand how serious the Pacific, regional and global security risk is. On home soil, I've been absolutely devastated by the rise in antisemitism that has been allowed to flourish in Australia. My one surviving sister, Judy, whose dad was killed in World War II defending Australia and its values, said to me, 'This is not the Australia my dad fought and died for.' She is right. It is the duty of each one of us in this place to fight for and ensure that our democracy, freedoms and rights are preserved and protected. I have great faith in the common sense and genuine goodness of the Australian people. So to every young Australian: You live in the best country in the world. What you can and will achieve is not limited by your postcode. Be proud of Australia, and be prepared to work for and fight for this country. To my coalition colleagues: as a farmer, a small business owner and a regional Australian, I say that we have never needed a coalition government more than we do right now. I've been farming for over 50 years, and I've never been as worried. And it's a genuine worry, as my colleagues know well. To the Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton and our team, including Ben Small, the Liberal candidate for Forrest: all strength to your arms. Make the most of every day, do everything you can to win the election, but never forget the real forgotten people every day, or what makes us Liberals. I have had some wonderful relationships and friendships on both sides of this House, and I value them dearly. Please all stay safe and well, and look after your loved ones. And a final thankyou to the people of Forrest. I've been grateful for every day you've given me.
Renewable Energy | Adjournment | House debates
On behalf of my communities in the south-west of WA, I want to sincerely thank the Leader of the Opposition, who recently came to my electorate to announce that, under a coalition government,...
On behalf of my communities in the south-west of WA, I want to sincerely thank the Leader of the Opposition, who recently came to my electorate to announce that, under a coalition government, there will be no offshore wind farm in our iconic pristine Geographe Bay, one of the most naturally beautiful parts of Australia and indeed the world. I specifically want to thank the Leader of the Opposition for listening to the majority of our south-west community members, who are strongly opposed to this seriously flawed Labor government proposal. Our communities know that this Labor wind-farm plan does not add up on economic, environmental or social grounds. However, what we also know is that, as always, Labor is simply steamrolling regional communities in its obsession to get to its 82 per cent renewable target by 2030, done by ruthlessly riding roughshod over our communities, forcing our regional communities to bear the burden of Labor's intermittent, unreliable renewables-only obsession. Put simply, Labor's green dream is our regional communities' worst nightmare. Just look at Broken Hill as a prime example of what happens to regional and remote communities dependent on the unreliability of Labor's renewables and battery storage policy. Picture hundreds and hundreds of around 300-metre turbines covering 4,000 square kilometres of Geographe Bay. What a dreadful and appalling blight on the major tourism and recreation attraction in the south-west of WA. For countless locals, as well as the tens of thousands of visitors to the south-west, Geographe Bay is the drawcard. It is their amazing marine recreation area for boating, fishing and diving, for instance. It is without question absolutely the wrong place for Labor's wind farm. There will be massive costs in the construction, maintenance and removal that we will have to pay for by way of our power bills. There will be kilometres of undersea cables, and substations will have to be installed to bring that energy ashore, causing severe underwater disturbance. Once onshore, transmission lines will have to be built through highly productive prime farming, agricultural and vegetable-producing land. Added to this, as each successive new wind project is built, it will need its own separate and additional undersea cables and substations, as well as its own separate and additional transmission storage and connection to the South West Interconnected System. Each one of these hundreds of wind turbines will have to have its own exclusion zones. Global exclusion zones range from 50 to 500 metres on all sides of each turbine—north, south, east and west of each turbine. These are no-go zones, no-fishing-or-diving zones. It's my understanding there are currently no policies or guidelines on safety and protection zones anywhere in Australia. All the details and durations of these zones are unknown. Our community is being sold a Labor pig in a poke. Of course what we do know is that the fish will congregate around the substructures in these exclusion zones and draw recreational and commercial fishing species away from permitted fishing zones. Our south-west says no, and the coalition says no. We say no to 4,000 square kilometres of 300-metre massive wind turbines in Geographe Bay. There are also, as we know, national security and defence issues, and I see that Sweden has rejected 13 offshore wind projects over defence concerns around unacceptable consequences for Sweden's military and defence. Consider the Virginia subs that are coming in along our coastline. As I said, this project does not add up on economic, environmental or social grounds. Offshore wind, as we know, costs at least three to four times more to produce than onshore wind. That is according to a CSIRO report released last year. To recover the very high construction, installation, maintenance, management and eventual removal costs of these in around 25 years, who will be paying the increasing cost of power? Our south-west individuals, families, businesses and industry will be forced to pay through increasing power bills. But there's a second one: as a taxpayer, they'll have to top that up through Labor's Capacity Investment Scheme, which underwrites the proponent's tendered price if the market does not agree—a double whammy; not just one additional cost to taxpayers but two additional costs. I thank the Leader of the Opposition for saying no.
Aged Care Bill 2024, Aged Care Legislation Amendment Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
Forrest Electorate: Sport | Constituency Statements | House debates
I rise to celebrate the 14-year career of Kookaburras captain Aran Zalewski, who has announced his retirement from international hockey. Aran grew up in Margaret River and developed his love of...
I rise to celebrate the 14-year career of Kookaburras captain Aran Zalewski, who has announced his retirement from international hockey. Aran grew up in Margaret River and developed his love of hockey playing with the Margaret River Hockey Club in the South West League. He debuted for the Kookaburras as a 19-year-old in a clash against India in Bunbury, very quickly cementing himself as a very competitive centre half and midfielder. Aran leaves the national team as one of their most decorated players of the modern era, winning three Commonwealth Games gold medals, one World Cup and the Champions Trophy twice. At Olympic level, he has represented Australia three times, winning a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games. Outside of hockey, Aran is a fierce advocate for the south-west in sports and ensures that regional athletes have access to sporting opportunities and facilities. He became a dad last year, so I'm sure he'll be looking forward to extra time with his family. But he's not stepping away from hockey altogether. He'll be representing the Kalinga Lancers in the Hockey India League starting in December. But I wanted to congratulate Aran on a stellar career for the Kookaburras and for proving once again that in Australia you are not limited by your postcode. Congratulations also to Harvey local Joe Comito, who has earned the title of Australia's top darts player, dominating the Australian Pro Tour. He will also represent Australia at the Paddy Power World Darts Championship in December in London. Best of luck to Joe. Also congratulations to Sophia Tomas, who recently won a karate gold medal at the World Shoto Cup in London. She is from Harvey. Over 350 competitors from 18 countries took part in the competition, and Sophia took home gold in the over-18s division. Again, you are not limited by your postcode in this country. Finally—and this is a different one—what a top job Cruiser did, the six-year-old hardworking sheep-wrangling kelpie from Yalyalup in my electorate. Cruiser was WA's finalist in the 2024 Cobber Challenge and finished seventh overall. Cruiser shares a very special bond with his owner and trainer, as you would expect, and he works very, very hard. His owner and trainer is James Carr, and he had to run a total of 125.3 kilometres with speeds of up to 7.42 kilometres an hour. This competition recognises the value and importance of working dogs in our regional and rural areas and farms. Congratulations to my wonderful achievers, and, again, as I say in Australia, 'Look what you can do.'
Relay For Life | Statements by Members | House debates
Last weekend, Bunbury held its fantastic Relay For Life event. I want to thank the amazing volunteers who have run this relay for around 20 years. It's a 24-hour team based event and, of course,...
Last weekend, Bunbury held its fantastic Relay For Life event. I want to thank the amazing volunteers who have run this relay for around 20 years. It's a 24-hour team based event and, of course, it's designed to raise awareness of cancer and help fund Cancer Council WA's research, prevention and support services. Participants walk, jog and, sometimes, dance their way around the oval for 24 hours, which reflects the continuous nature of the struggle cancer victims live with each year. This year there were around 407 people in 41 teams who raised about $184,000. Over the years Bunbury has raised nearly $5 million to support Western Australians impacted by cancer. There are costumes, live music and food trucks making sure that everybody is well fed and full of energy, in a wonderful carnival-like atmosphere. Two special ceremonies occur: the cancer survivors' morning tea that honours those that have come through their cancer journey and the candlelit ceremony that is a tribute to those loved ones who have lost their cancer fight. It's an inspirational overnight event that unites people and local communities in their vision for a cancer-free future. I want to congratulate everyone who is involved—the wonderful volunteers who have been at this for over 20 years—and I congratulate those who received awards for their countless years of service to Relay For Life.
Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
It's a good point. Australia or Russia? I chose to live in Australia. I love the place, and I love the rights and freedoms. Every time we do a citizenship ceremony, freedom of speech comes up as...
It's a good point. Australia or Russia? I chose to live in Australia. I love the place, and I love the rights and freedoms. Every time we do a citizenship ceremony, freedom of speech comes up as one of the things that we are so proud of. We in this place should be protecting at all costs those rights and freedoms that people from around the world come here to be able to enjoy, that they often can't in the country that they've come from. Yet here we are discussing something that is deliberately putting those rights at risk. Fake news has been around forever in all sorts of forms. It is up to each one of us to decide what that is and to act accordingly. It is not up to the government to decide what the truth is. I am profoundly concerned that this bill is even before the House.
It is not up to the government via ACMA to decide or dictate what the truth actually is. I am proud that we, the coalition, oppose this Draconian legislation and will repeal it in government...
It is not up to the government via ACMA to decide or dictate what the truth actually is. I am proud that we, the coalition, oppose this Draconian legislation and will repeal it in government because freedom of speech is an absolute fundamental to our democracy. By contrast, it is the clear intent of the Labor government to censor, silence, control, find and punish Australians for our online content by imposing and enforcing obligations on digital platforms. This is the most antidemocratic, anti-free-speech legislation I have seen since coming into this parliament in 2007. I actually never thought I would see the day when in this country, a proud country that is globally acknowledged and highly respected as a liberal democratic society, we would be debating a bill that is explicitly designed to censor and silence the Australian people, to deny us our freedom of speech and freedom of opinion, to deny Australians the right to frank, fearless and honest debates. We need to hear the views of people we disagree with. But what I believe Labor is really doing is preventing anyone who disagrees with the government from having their say, especially in the run to the election. The government will control what we read, see, hear and share online in the election campaign via ACMA. Labor is seeking to directly prevent anyone who disagrees with the government from having their say. This is a bill that strikes at the very heart of free speech, a key pillar of Australia's hard-fought-for and protected democratic freedoms and liberties. Over 103,000 Australian servicemen and women have fought and died for our democratic values. One of those was my sister's dad—my mother's husband—who was killed in Papua New Guinea in World War II. They fought to protect and preserve our healthy functioning democracy, a democracy that not only requires but should demand freedom of speech, where a diversity of ideas, views and opinions right across the ideological and political spectrum are encouraged, openly discussed, both agreed with and disagreed with. However, the Labor government has decided to deliberately silence its own citizens, to legally enforce and silence debate, to shut down debate on issues that matter to Australians and to deny us the right to informed choice. Our informed choice will only be what the government approves of. This bill will deliberately suppress and remove online debate by Australians. Unfortunately, once again, Labor are determined to divide us as they tried to do with the Voice. However, this time, Labor is dividing us by the chosen ones who will have the right to freedom of speech online and those of us who will not have the right to freedom of speech online. Labor's special chosen ones, those who will have the right to freedom of speech no matter what they say will be academics, scientists, artists—the people who Labor clearly believe have a superior intellect to the rest of us. Labor's chosen ones will have the right to free speech on key and critical issues that matter to all Australians, even if it is misinformation and disinformation around critical political, health, social, economic and every other issue. Imagine not being able to disagree online about budget decisions, climate policies, Labor's renewable-only energy policy, women's safe spaces and anything else in fact. Those of us who are not the chosen ones will be bound by the Labor's broad definitions of misinformation and disinformation enforced by ACMA—Labor's truth police unit. Misinformation is described as information that is reasonably verifiable as false, misleading or deceptive. Disinformation has the same definition but also adds the content 'with grounds to suspect the person sharing it intends that the content deceives or it involves inauthentic behaviour'. Well, good luck with that. The rules for this will be dictated by whatever the government and its truth police—ACMA—decide. Gone will be our right to share our genuinely and honestly held opinions through frank and fearless discussion and open access to the great contest of ideas and diversity of opinions online. For practical purposes, the Labor government will direct and empower ACMA to force online platforms to remove content before Australians are actually allowed to see the content. Can you just imagine how the Chinese government will be rubbing its hands at the opportunity it will have to instruct TikTok to remove massive amounts of Australians' legitimate content online? That will be content that the Chinese government doesn't approve of. It will be removed under the protection provided by this Labor legislation to curate China's own message or propaganda, and we will never know exactly what the Chinese government has removed because it will be gone before we see it. It's madness. We will see the major American platforms controlling and removing Australians' content online, outsourced probably to factcheckers like the discredited politically biased RMIT factcheck. We will not be allowed to see, hear, read or share alternative views and opinions online. The online platforms will be forced by law to remove any of this before we're even allowed to see it. I have great respect for Chris Merritt, the Vice President of the Rule of Law Institute of Australia, who said that 'good law must be clear and certain with requirements that are capable of being known in advance, not determined by officials'. He also said: One of the fundamental features of Australia's system of government is that everyone has a responsibility to make their own assessments about public policy debates. That means accepting that part of the price of living in a free society is that flawed ideas should be free to circulate alongside those that are worthy. Telling the difference is the role of an informed citizenry, not governments and their officials. That's exactly what this government is trying to do. Make no mistake: this is complex and simply bad legislation. We actually won't know what's being removed and what we're missing out on because we won't see it at all. The platforms will have wiped it off before we see it. We won't even know when ACMA—Labor's 'truth police'—get it wrong and force platforms to remove information that later proves to be true. We won't even know what truthful original information was there because we won't see it in the first place. I can't find any process or publication of removed information, no penalties or outcomes for the 'truth police', ACMA, when they get it wrong—which they will—or who or what will monitor, measure and report on ACMA's decisions. Who will adjudicate and decide that the government, ACMA, the platforms or the factcheckers have made a mistake in removing accurate information when later evidence proves that it was true? Will those posts and comments be reinstated and fines repaid? Who will represent the rights of ordinary Australians in this instance? What will the penalties be for the removal of accurate information? Will there be damages paid to the individuals and/or the platforms affected? Who will pay? Will it be Australian taxpayers? The legislation and definitions are so broad that you could drive what my family would call a D11 Dozer through them. They're so wideranging, open-ended and subjective. There are terms such as 'grounds to suspect', 'reasonably likely to cause, or contribute to, serious harm' or 'the intention to deceive'. I could not find any definition or test for what actually constitutes 'reasonably verifiable' or 'false, misleading or deceptive'. Simply put, the truth will be what the Labor government, via ACMA, says that it is. What also concerns me is that Labor is doing this because they think Australians are stupid. They think that we are so stupid that we can't work out for ourselves whether what we see, read and hear online is accurate and reasonable or is extreme and wrong. I've done hundreds of cybersafety presentations to kids. I ask the kids, 'How many of you believe that everything you read, see and hear online is true?' Very few hands have ever gone up, no matter what the age group is. I encourage the kids to develop their own critical thinking. If kids understand this, why doesn't this current government? Why does the government think that we are really all so stupid that we don't understand that not everything we read, see and hear online is true? I think the government believes that we don't have the common sense. Australia is a democracy, and that's something that I take very seriously. We actually have the right to freedom of speech and to use and develop our own critical thinking and judgement. It's part of our responsibility as adults to work out the difference between fact and fiction. We have the right to actively decide what games, platforms, apps, sites and digital technologies we use and which we stay away from. The importance of media and information literacy should be encouraged, not discouraged by simply cowering behind, and being controlled by, ACMA or Labor's truth police like zombies who can't think and act for themselves, who in fact need to have a Big Brother government on their shoulders every single minute of the day or whenever they're online. It is not up to the government to decide what the truth is. I am very concerned about this legislation. It is not right that we only see what the government believes we have a right to see. I don't want to be living in a vacuum—a political vacuum or any other form of vacuum. I don't want to see anything designed to suppress alternative political opinions or other opinions or to filter out alternative views. I don't want to see anything designed to stop us disagreeing online with the government of the day. Unfortunately, Labor want to make sure, by controlling what information we get to see, that any future referendum they propose is probably never defeated again by a 60-to-40 majority by the Australian people. We will never see those alternative views or the truth online, again creating division in Australia: the chosen ones, who can express all of their views online, and the rest of us, who cannot. It is not okay that the Labor government are dividing us into those they think are smart or intelligent enough to know what is accurate online—the media, academics, scientists, artists and those involved in parody or satire. They must all have superior intelligence. These people can say what they like online, right or wrong. Whether or not it's Labor's definition of misinformation or disinformation, they can share it. Academics can have two opposing opinions, but ordinary Australians can't discuss this online. If you're a neurosurgeon, doctor, pharmacist, lawyer, heavy-duty mechanic, nurse, teacher, retail worker, aged-care worker, childcare worker or one of so many others—who will have the right? But, unfortunately, we are the ones to whom the Labor government believes it can dictate what we can and can't read, see, hear or share online. Unfortunately, we will see Canberra based bureaucrats setting up a totally new bureaucracy to police this. I take great exception to Australians' freedom of speech being compromised in any way, shape or form. I don't want to see Australians living in an information bubble that is controlled by Canberra based bureaucrats. I'm not quite sure what qualifies those in ACMA to be the only ones who know what the truth actually is. I really object to this. I cannot imagine what would have happened in Western Australia, under what was the then Labor government's horrendous Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act, if this legislation were enforced and the people who highlighted the many problems that were embedded in that act weren't able to air them online. This is the risk, that the information we get will be only that which the government of the day wants us to have. I would have to ask: are we living in Australia or China?
Western Australia | Private Members' Business | House debates
There is one question Western Australians need to answer: have you actually been better or worse off since Labor came to government in 2022? In WA, we know Labor has delivered higher costs of...
There is one question Western Australians need to answer: have you actually been better or worse off since Labor came to government in 2022? In WA, we know Labor has delivered higher costs of living, higher mortgages, 12 interest rate rises, higher costs of doing business, shortages of housing and rental properties, and shortages of skilled workers in spite of record immigration. Western Australians are paying higher prices, higher taxes and higher mortgage repayments because of Labor's homegrown inflation. Labor is trying desperately to manipulate headline inflation through taxpayer funded subsidies, subsidies that will be paid for by current and future generations of WA taxpayers. Over and above this, let's consider how Labor is deliberately and actively damaging Western Australia by closing the live sheep trade. As a farmer myself, I well understand why WA farmers know that the Labor government believes that we are expendable, that we simply don't matter. Axing the live sheep trade is a prime example. We Western Australians know that Labor is totally east coast, city, elite, activist focused, dictating to and actively sacrificing WA farmers and our communities. Every family and farming business matters in regional communities. That is something that Labor either doesn't understand or couldn't care less about. Each one of these businesses keeps their community going by buying locally from other small businesses and contractors. Livestock transporters, shearers, truckies, stock agents, schools, vets, mechanics and other small businesses are the lifeblood of rural and regional Australia. They're the ones that support our local volunteer emergency services, and sporting and community groups. Every local dollar that circulates in these communities helps to keep the whole community sustainable. How about the dreadful financial and personal stress this is forcing onto our farmers and their families? Labor couldn't give a damn in WA. When I watched the then Labor ag minister smiling as he held up Labor's document to end live exports, I thought, 'How disgusting for WA farmers—an eastern states federal Labor minister celebrating an end to a farming industry in WA.' Labor is coming after WA farmers one sector at a time. It's not just WA farmers; it's also our beautiful, productive regional communities. Labor is planning to build hundreds of around 300-metre offshore wind turbines in our iconic Geographe Bay, off my electorate. Labor will ride roughshod over our south-west by literally forcing our communities to bear the massive burden of Labor's intermittent, unreliable renewables-only obsession. Like the live sheep closure, Labor is targeting Western Australians once again. Its ruinously expensive green offshore wind dream is our regional communities' worst nightmare. Picture 4,000 square kilometres of hundreds of these 300-metre turbines in our pristine Geographe Bay. What a dreadful and appalling blight on our marine environment in an area that is a major tourist and recreation attraction in the south-west of WA. People come to enjoy the sheer beauty and the amazing marine recreational area. They don't come to see visual pollution or bird-killing 300-metre wind turbines or the prospect of significant damage to our marine life. With each one of these actually needing exclusion zones, no-go zones, you can imagine the amount of ocean that won't be able to be enjoyed by our local people and tourists alike. With hundreds of turbines, these exclusion zones will excise and lock out all other activities all around the areas of the bay, with hundreds of kilometres of undersea cable, substations and onshore transmission lines. Of course Western Australians will be guaranteed to pay more for their power because of the enormous cost of offshore wind. According to a CSIRO report last year, it's at least three times more expensive than onshore wind and the massive turbines will only last 25 years before they have to be removed and replaced—or south-western WA will be left with rotting wind towers in our pristine Geographe Bay. The community says no, and the coalition has said no. Our south-west and WA can be confident there will be no wind factory in Geographe Bay under a coalition government. That's in contrast to a Labor Government that continues to punish WA and our critical mining and resources sector, with changes around industrial relations, the nature positive act, layer upon layer of red and green tape, and uncertainty over approvals. They are continuously biting the hand that feeds them that is Western Australia. We on the coalition side will stand up for Western Australia every day of the week.
Forrest Electorate: Community Services | Statements by Members | House debates
I rise to acknowledge the many years of hard work and kindness of local Bunbury mechanic Nathan Reed. Nathan, the owner of Advanced Auto Solutions, has since 2016 partnered with the South West...
I rise to acknowledge the many years of hard work and kindness of local Bunbury mechanic Nathan Reed. Nathan, the owner of Advanced Auto Solutions, has since 2016 partnered with the South West Refuge, a women's refuge now known as Harbour, providing used, roadworthy vehicles to women and families affected by domestic violence. Nathan takes vehicles that have been kindly donated, works on them at his own cost to ensure they're roadworthy and pays for a period of registration of those vehicles before donating them to women and families in need. A recent recipient of his generosity is a mother of four who previously had to spend up to $80 a day on taxis to get her kids to school and other activities. On top of the donation, Nathan has covered the cost of two ongoing services for the vehicle itself. These are lifechanging donations. Nathan, because of you, women and their families are able to start rebuilding their lives after dealing with the trauma of domestic violence and regain a sense of independence. Your generosity and hard work are a great example of the impact one act of kindness can have on a person's future. Thank you also to the community members who donate the vehicles that allow these women a fresh start. Anyone who can help, please get in touch with my office, and we'll put you in touch with Nathan. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.