Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Member for Bruce! My wife has been an absolute rock, and I always look forward to getting home and giving her a kiss and saying thank you, because this is a great honour, but I can't do it by myself.

To my broader family, thank you. Like I said earlier, I had my daughter here last week for the opening ceremony. It is such a great thing to be able to take your family for a walk through these halls, behind the doors, not on a public gallery tour but as your family. You get to take them behind the doors and into your office. It's such a special thing to do.

It's quite fitting that I stand in this position now. When I was elected, my seat was just over here and I sat beside—I believe they were my first seat buddy—the former member for Dunkley, Peta Murphy. I subsequently now sit behind the new member for Dunkley, Jodie Belyea. Unfortunately, in the 47th Parliament, we said goodbye to some good people. Peta Murphy was one of those good people. She was a shining light for many colleagues in this place, both on this side and on the other side of the chamber. I know the member for Gippsland was a very good friend. It was very unfortunate that we had to say goodbye to her. But, in her own way, she made sure that she imparted something extremely special to every single person in this place. I absolutely benefited from every single contribution she made in her seat. It has made me a better speaker. It has given me a lot more confidence. It would be remiss of me not to say thank you.

But we also said goodbye to our good friend Senator Linda White, a class colleague of the class of 2022. She, unfortunately, did not have enough time in this place to make the contribution that she was destined to make, but in the time that she did have she wasted not a minute. Not a minute did she waste. She ensured that her fingerprints were left in this place for eternity. She should be extremely proud of that contribution.

It's also a reminder to every single person elected in this place and the other that we don't have time to waste, that when we come to Canberra we're here to do a job. We're here to represent our constituents. We're here to represent our state, if you're a senator. We're here to represent the people of Australia and make decisions that will put them in a better place. That is ultimately the responsibility bestowed on each and every single one of us. I choose not to waste a minute of my time here, because it is too valuable, because we don't know when we won't get the chance to have our name called and speak on behalf of our communities. I don't say that just because of the two people I have spoken about. I say that because of the 33 people that didn't make it back to this place. Some of them did not have the opportunity to give a valedictory and yet made significant contributions to this House. They probably did not envisage that their time was going to be called at the last election.

It is incumbent on us as elected members of this House to make the most of every single day that we have got, because the next election might be when, unfortunately, you don't get to come back.

I say that in jest to all the excited new members of the 48th Parliament. I watch in envy the contributions that you've already made—the amazing first speeches, so many amazing first speeches, not just on our side of the House but also on the other side. It was an absolute pleasure to sit in this chamber and hear what your story is about you as a person and the contribution that you look forward to making to this place and to our country. You should all be very, very proud of the speeches that you have given so far.

To the Australian Electoral Commission, especially the divisional returning officer Laurence Staiff, who was the overseer for my election: thank you very much to you, to your entire team both at the headquarters and at each of the prepolling locations, and to the staff that you're responsible for on election day. Your team went above and beyond to make sure that not just me but all eight candidates were informed of what was going on and also that the voter experience in our electorate was not like some of the others that we've heard about across the country. That takes good leadership, and it starts with your role, so I want to say thank you, because it is about making sure that voters are encouraged to come back and fulfil their democratic obligation at each and every single election. Thank you very much.

Over the last three years, we have had such a fantastic opportunity to deliver so many great outcomes for our community. I'm going to start with what is probably my most favourite policy front. No, it's not defence, Member for Lalor! It's education because education has the capacity to unlock the door to opportunity, lift people up and give them a chance at a great life. I remember when we got the Australian Universities Accord:interim report. Inside that paperwork, for those who actually took the time to read it, there was a piece that said that regional university study hubs and suburban university study hubs connecting outer metropolitan, regional and rural students to the opportunities of higher education make it more attainable. I looked at it, and I said, 'That's exactly what my electorate needs—exactly what my electorate needs.'

I want to say a huge thankyou to the City of Playford for partnering up with Flinders University and the University of Adelaide and sitting down to have the conversations to make sure we got the right proposal before the selection committee to give ourselves the best chance of delivering a study hub right in the heart of our electorate. We were successful in getting that. The interim hub has been opened. In the not-too-distant future, we will be opening its forever home at the TAFE campus in Elizabeth, and it will change the educational outcomes for thousands of young people in my electorate. It'll change the educational outcomes for thousands of adult-entry students in my electorate.

That is what Labor governments are elected to do: to create opportunity for those who haven't had it in the past and to change the outcomes. We did it through fee-free TAFE. During the election campaign, I had the skills minister come down. We went for a walk through the wet room, played around with a bit of builders' mud and tried our hand at bricklaying. I'd never done bricklaying before in my life, but I did lay a better brick than the good minister! He'll probably come in here and say that's not the case. What we saw was the young people who were doing a fantastic job of getting their skills and their trade certifications so that they can contribute to the housing construction needs of today and tomorrow to provide the houses for those who need them most in our community and communities across the country.

That's the power of education and something that I will be forever grateful of our government.

I could go on forever, but I want to close off by saying to my community: thank you so much for the greatest privilege of my life to give back to our community, to represent our community with a strong voice and to fight for what's right each and every single day. For that, I thank the House.

Debate adjourned.

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