Ms Urquhart:

I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay my respect to elders past, present and emerging. In August 2011, when I gave my first speech in the other place, I never imagined I would be standing here in the House of Representatives giving my second first speech! I have left some things out, so, if you want to catch up with my life before here, go and grab the first one. You'll find it in the Hansard!

I want to start by thanking my friend the Prime Minister, who asked me to run for the seat of Braddon—my home, my birthplace and where I've lived all my life. With three years left in my Senate term, it was something I would never have considered. But, PM, with your encouragement and with encouragement from some others, I said yes—not the first time you asked, but eventually!

To my family, who have supported me in everything I've ever done in my life: I say thank you. My husband, Graham, has been my biggest supporter and is the person who accompanies me to almost every gig that I attend. He has for many, many years put up signs all around Braddon for every candidate, and at the last election—not this one, but the previous one—he said, 'I am not doing that again.' But he was the first to ask, 'When do we get them started?' He does everything else asked of him—well, mostly. Thank you. We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary this year, and we're looking forward to the next 50. To our twins, who are grown up now; to our grandchildren, who are nearly all grown up now; and to my sister and brother—my sister's over there sitting on the floor with Graham, the man I married 50 years ago—thank you for all the support that you've given me over many years. To our friends and wider family—many of them are sitting up in the gallery—who suffer the craziness of my diary to arrange even a meal out: thank you. To all those who made up my campaign team, the hundreds of volunteers and supporters who rode the journey with me and the many donors who backed me: thank you.

To the amazing trade union movement in Tasmania who backed me in completely—and I must make special mention of the SDA, HACSU, RTBU, UWU and my own union, the AMWU, who I proudly wear—and supported me beyond my wildest dreams, I am forever grateful. Thank you, Steve and Jacob. Winning Braddon belongs to all of you. I am proudly union from my days of working at the factory in Ulverstone. I am proud to have been a continuous member of my union, the AMWU, for 46 years, and I will continue to be a proud member.

I acknowledge my predecessor, Gavin Pearce, who held the seat since 2019. Well done on your service to our community.

The community of Braddon is made up of eight local government areas and diverse industries of agriculture, aquaculture, mining, renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, education, health and more. We have a rich First Nations community. Six Rivers Aboriginal Corporation, which I have worked with very closely over the past years have achieved amazing things for their community and will continue to do so with their success in receiving funding for the Indigenous Rangers Program. They are delivering for their people, the young members of their community, and they are building understanding, and teaching and educating us on their traditions, making us richer by sharing their knowledge and traditions. Circular Head Aboriginal Corporation, based in the far north-west, are an energetic community gaining huge respect by becoming entrepreneurial and self-sustaining to ensure that their younger generation continues to learn and educating the community about their culture.

The people of Braddon are hard workers and have an enormous vision for the place we live. Some need a hand, and it's these people I want to see grow and flourish with opportunities that are on our doorstep. We have entrepreneurs who work hard and bring huge value and expertise to our region. We have communities who look out for and care for each other. We have the most fabulous coastline—running the length of the electorate from Port Sorell to Woolnorth—wild rainforests, fabulous farmland and wild seas of the West Coast; and, sitting out in Bass Strait, one of my favourite places to visit, which is open to every element and a 30-minute flight from the Tasmanian mainland that can be hairy sometimes, is King Island. It's home of the famous and best cheese and some of the best golf courses Australia has. Clean air and crisp mornings are part of how we have grown up. We have an abundance of seafood, vegetables and other produce, which we regularly share with the rest of Australia and other parts of the world.

Many of our industries are emerging with technological advances. We are a clean, green energy hub, and we really punch above our weight when it comes to ingenuity in some of our industries. We also have a vibrant arts community; many festivals and innovative small producers; lots of small craft distilleries; Creative Paper, the largest handmade paper producer in Australia; and even a tulip farm amongst them. My union, the AMWU, is at the forefront, working with employers and employees to ensure industries have good, well-paid jobs that continue well into the future.

I was extremely proud to be the candidate for Braddon, putting forward a suite of policies and commitments that support our communities, including in the areas of health, tourism, communication and early childhood education. We had a small team but we doorknocked nearly 19,000 doors and had over 6,000 conversations—lots of community barbecues, coffee and catch-ups. I loved talking to and listening to the community, learning more about the issues that they were passionate about and sharing Labor's policies and a vision for a stronger, better and more inclusive Australia.

I have relatives, friends and people I know in almost every part of our community. It's those that I look to for grounding and also for information about the things that our communities care about: Andrew Bell, the bagpiper in Queenstown, who plays in the main street at 12 noon on Thursdays and from the lookout over the town on Sundays; the CWA women in Currie, who always give me a really warm welcome; and Michael, in Highclere, who rang me during the campaign and said that he'd never met a candidate before because 'they don't come out this far'. Thanks, Michael and Mary-Lou, for inviting me into your home for a good chat about the election. I loved travelling out to Highclere to see you both. These are some of the people who make up the Braddon that I love.

I was born in Latrobe, grew up in Ulverstone and Gawler, and have lived in Gawler—not in South Australia but the Gawler in Tasmania—in the same cottage, which was built in 1888, for the last 46 years. That's where we raised our twins and have many great memories formed with family, friends and grandchildren. I spent my school years in the public system at East Ulverstone Primary, Ulverstone High School and then Devonport Technical College, now known as TAFE. I've worked in retail, in aged care as a teenager and in hospitality, and I worked in my first real job, on the factory floor at Edgell-Birds Eye in Ulverstone, for 11 years.

I moved on to being a union official. I became the state president of my union and, in 2004, became the first female state secretary across Australia of the AMWU, loving the job of a union official for over 20 years. For me it wasn't really a job; it was a way of life that I loved, and I was lucky enough to get paid for it. I have a different job now, but it's still my way of life that I love.

In 2010, I was elected as a senator for Tasmania, becoming deputy whip in the Senate in 2013, Chief Opposition Whip in 2016 and Chief Government Whip in the Senate following the 2022 election. I loved this role. I loved the intensity, the madness of the day, and having to pivot when the day as laid out suddenly changed. My time in the Senate is something that I will cherish forever, and the friendships that I forged for life, and the experience is something I will remember always. It is a true house of review. I take this opportunity to thank the Clerk of the Senate, the attendants who looked after me in the chamber, Senate Services, the Senate committee staff, the Black Rod, Hansard and Broadcasting, and all those on that side of the building—and the wonderful cleaners on that side. Thank you.

Well, here I am now on this side of the building. As of February 2022, there were 55 people who had served in both the Senate and House of Representatives—so I guess I'm No. 56.

As I said earlier, in Braddon we are a clean green energy hub. We have many hydroelectric dams that generate our power. A large number of these sit within the electorate of Braddon and specifically down the West Coast, where the above-average rainfall helps to keep these filled to generate power. In some areas of the state we have an abundance of wind to power the turbines that sit on the land amongst grazing cattle and sheep, but we have so much more opportunity in this area. I am passionate about ensuring we have the opportunity to pursue more renewable energy from my neck of the woods. We have passionate people who want to get on with the job of making sure that we produce this energy to attract more industry and then to create more jobs by having the components built in Braddon. This will mean that our young people are able to build a fabulous career right in the place where they grew up. I've heard constantly from our Prime Minister and Treasurer about our government commitments around productivity and building productivity. This is exactly what we can do in Braddon, by getting these renewable projects off the ground, up and running as soon as possible.

In some areas of the electorate, connectivity is a barrier. It's a barrier to enabling residents and businesses to fully realise the potential of the area, and I was very pleased to have made the announcement during the election that federal Labor will team up with a carrier who can improve connectivity across the West Coast, Waratah and Circular Head regions. These areas are, again, the powerhouse of Tasmania and are being left behind by the lack of interest from the current carrier, so it's time to shake them up and get value for money to the residents and visitors of this region. I look forward to working with Minister Wells's office and the department to fully realise this commitment to those areas.

Looking outside the square in terms of health delivery is necessary. In regional areas like Braddon, I see an opportunity to provide services to remote regions with collaboration from all health providers in the area—things like utilisation of nurse practitioners to handle cases within their scope of practice to relieve the pressures on GPs; better facilitation between state health and NDIS providers who travel to regions to provide care; and the opportunity for pharmacists to realise their full scope of practice. There is so much more that can be done for regional areas if professionals work together instead of pulling against each other.

In 2018, an intensive care paramedic, a friend of mine, Simone Haigh—she's up there today; she's actually one of our family, as we've adopted her—came to me to see what we could do in relation to the mental health of first responders. She said, 'How do we get a Senate inquiry happening?' I said, 'Well, you've got to go and talk to a senator.' So we had a chat, and away we went with the inquiry into mental health of first responders. That led to the report The people behind 000: mental health of our first responders. Simone's close friend, a paramedic, had taken his own life a few years before, and she had seen the effect that the profession had on her colleagues. We visited every state and territory with the inquiry and gained an incredible amount of evidence with the many witnesses who attended. It was harrowing, to say the least, to hear some of the stories of those who we rely on in our time of need and how they were not getting the help when they needed it the most. The report outlined 14 recommendations, a lot of which recommended the federal government work with state and territory governments. Some things have improved. However, there is still a lot of work to be done, and I intend to continue that work to improve the outcomes for those who come to our aid when we are most in need.

In July 2023, a number of first responders left the Lambert Centre in the heart of central Australia to walk the 2,400 kilometres to the heart of the nation right here in Canberra. Over 91 days, they walked to raise awareness of the recommendations of the Senate report. I was honoured to join the last leg of the walk, from the National Emergency Services Memorial to here in Parliament House. It was an emotional and heartwarming experience. I want to pay my huge respect to Matt U'Brien and others who walked the entire 2,400 kilometres. They were joined along the way by hundreds of others, an amazing effort. Their efforts have not gone unnoticed. This is a personal legacy that I carry over to this place, to work on the delivery of those recommendations. I really don't like leaving things half done, so be prepared for me to lobby on this.

Braddon has traditionally been known as a marginal seat. However, in 2022 the trend was broken by the Liberal Party, with Braddon becoming a fairly safe seat for the first time in 12 years, with a margin of eight per cent. I am proud to have secured the seat with a 15.2 per cent swing and swung it to being fairly safe for Labor, the biggest swing in the country. As the 11th member for Braddon since the seat was formed in 1955, I will work hard to represent the people of Braddon with passion and energy, and I am energetic—anyone who knows me—am not afraid of hard work and love what I do. I am immensely proud to be in this chamber to help deliver the outcomes for my community.

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