Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would also congratulate the member for Durack on her re-election. It is a very challenging electorate, being so big, but I congratulate her on that. She's right that politics shouldn't be about hubris. It shouldn't be about congratulating oneself. It should be about policy outcomes for the Australian people.

After listening to the member for Durack, I would also put forward the fact that what wasn't in her speech was the fact that the coalition came to an election with a policy to invest hundreds of billions of dollars into nuclear energy while refusing to visit the sites where they were proposing to build those nuclear power plants; they had an industrial relations policy, which they scrapped about a month before the election, that was going to force people to stop working from home; they had a defence spending announcement, similar to the one that the member for Durack called for, to lift our defence spending, but they announced it 2½ weeks before the election and couldn't tell us where exactly they proposed to spend the increased defence spending; they wanted to increase taxes on Australians by not supporting our income tax policies; and they did not support the reduction in HECS debt or the range of policies that were going to build housing, including build to rent—they're still trying to oppose those. Also, at the time when the MAGA movement was proposing tariffs on Australian products and putting those tariffs on, the coalition were walking around this country wearing hats that said, 'Make Australia great again.' There is absolutely a need for us to remain focused on the Australian people, but it is also incredible that the coalition seem to have not learned any of the lessons from the last election and they spend their weekends at conferences talking about what policy they can put forward to undermine their leader.

While that happens, though, we have a job to do, and that is to deliver on the election commitments that we put forward at the last election. Let me say here, in this debate on the address-in-reply, that the most important message I have as part of this contribution is to say thank you to the incredible people of Macnamara. Our little nook of Melbourne is an iconic tourist hotspot that welcomes people in with culture, restaurants and food right across St Kilda, Port Melbourne and Southbank—all of the amazing parts of my electorate that help make Melbourne so iconic and such a wonderful place to visit. But it is also home to local communities and community organisations, including sporting clubs, faith based organisations, civil society organisations and LGBTIQ groups. It is a hub of life, and it represents the very best of Melbourne and the very best of our country. To be re-elected as the member for Macnamara for a third time is the greatest privilege of my working life, and it will be the greatest privilege of my working life. No matter what role I hold in this place, being the member for Macnamara is always the first and most important part of my responsibilities as a member of parliament. I owe a great deal to the incredible people of Macnamara, and I say thank you.

The team that we had in our campaign understand the privilege that it is to be involved in politics and how important it is to have these positions representing our community, and they all worked so hard in fighting for that privilege yet again. I would say to my campaign team, my staff and everyone who contributed in our campaign in Macnamara that I watched people take autonomy and ownership over a campaign. They worked based not on hours but on an internal desire to be a part of something, to do something for our community and to support me. I couldn't be more proud and appreciative of the efforts of so many people.

I'm not going to mention every single person, because I'll forget them, but I cannot give this contribution without mentioning Josh, Alissa, Kitty, Raph, Debra, Adele, Dakota, Sara and Daniel and, of course, the broader campaign committee team of Jane, Jack, John, Mikaela, Libby, David, Robyn, Peter, Madeline, Roman, Barney, Bridget, Jack, Julia and Graham and all of the Labor branches who were street stalling and doorknocking and phone banking. We set up our campaign office in Port Melbourne on Bay Street, and it was such a hub of activity and of campaigning and of events, and it was a place where people were just dropping in and people in Port Melbourne were walking by. It was just such a great place to be based, and I loved it. I want to say thank you to all the people who contributed to our campaign in Macnamara.

I also want to pay tribute to my political opponents, two people who worked extremely hard, as did their teams. The volunteers for Benson Saulo, who was the Liberal Party candidate, and Sonya Semmens, who was the Greens candidate, were incredible. They turned up and worked really hard for their candidates, and it was a great example of democracy in action. People were passionate but respectful, and we all gave it our best shot. I want to congratulate Benson and Sonya for leading their teams. They were both thoughtful and respectful, and it was a really good example of what elections in democracy can be. I only wish them both the best for the future.

To understand Macnamara is to understand, as I said, some of the most diverse but also vibrant parts of our country. We have incredible arts. We are the home, I think, of arts and cultural institutions in this country, in Southbank, South Melbourne and Port Melbourne. We have incredible national institutions, such as the National Gallery of Victoria, and we are investing in the redevelopment of the NGV Contemporary. We also have a large Jewish community and a vibrant LGBTIQ community. We are full of young professionals and people from every corner of the globe. Macnamara is extremely multicultural, with a growing Indian diaspora and a growing Chinese diaspora. We are proud of each and every nook of our wonderful part of Melbourne.

But one thing did bind and unite a lot of them when I was speaking to literally thousands of people in my community in the lead up to the election. In the lines and on the doors, the question I would often ask my amazing constituents was: 'What do you care about? What matters to you? What is going on in your world?' The answers that came back were a wonderful reflection and a wonderful mirror on the sorts of people that I'm privileged to represent. There were often concerns about their kids, their community, their family, the direction of their country and the sort of things that they want to see for our local community. It was rarely a situation about their own personal needs or anything like that. It was: 'What does our family need? What does our community need? What do the people I care about need? How do we help get through, frankly, pretty difficult economic times?' When you speak to parents, they are concerned about whether their kids can buy a home or that their kid are at university and have huge debts or even about being able to go and see a doctor. These were the sorts of things that kept coming back to me over and over again.

I think that, regarding this election, there are lot of things that are said and done about what happened here, why it was so successful and why it wasn't successful. Ultimately, I don't think there is a silver bullet. It's just about people. And what I heard from the people of Macnamara was that people cared about health care, they cared about jobs and they cared about having financial security. They want to be able to buy a home. They want to be able to do things for themselves and their families and the community that they love. They want to be safe. They want Australia to stand up for the values that they feel are representative of our community. I don't think it's more complicated than that. I don't think it's about tricks in campaigns and all of these sorts of other things. Ultimately, people think about their own lives. They think about what matters to them, and they think about what matters to their families. For every single person I spoke to in Macnamara, it was clear that the people that live in our community are thoughtful. They do watch politics in as so far as they think about what it means for them, their family and our community. That was ultimately what I think we got an endorsement, from not only the community of Macnamara but the broader Australian public, to deliver on. We got a mandate to deliver on policies that hopefully will make a tangible difference to the lives of Australians.

We've already started to roll them out and to deliver them in this place. The first bill we all voted on was to reduce university debts by 20 per cent. That is a fantastic acknowledgement of the genuine difficulties that young people and people with HECS debts are facing and of the importance of what this place can do, the meaningful difference it can have. If it means that someone leaving university is going to have $5,000 or $10,000 less of their HECS loan to pay off over the life of the loan then I think that's an important contribution. It's one that I was so proud to support and one that we've got done already. And even this week we announced that we are bringing forward the five per cent home deposit scheme, which is going to help first-home buyers.

That is something that kept coming up over and over again: 'What matters to you?' 'Well, we'd like to be able to buy our own home.' In Macnamara I met hundreds and hundreds of people, couples and families saying to me that that's something they want to do, but it's just not possible, and it's not possible because of the deposit. The conversation that often came back to me was that it is really hard, and while they're not saying it needs to be easy, it just needs to be possible. Without being able to get into the housing market, it's just not possible. For too many people, the deposit is the biggest barrier, while they're paying rent, and rents are expensive in my community. It has been just impossible for people to be able to get into the market.

That policy is really important. It's going to mean that thousands of people across my electorate are going to become homeowners. They're going to move out of the rental system and into the homeowner market. I think that's something that is really important and something that we as a government and as a Labor Party need to be doing more of—supporting ambition, supporting people to accumulate assets and find financial security in this country.

But it is not just the national policies that were so important at this election but also the local ones. That is one of the powers you can have in being a member of a government and being a local member and a Labor member of government. Part of my pitch and my request to the people of Macnamara is to say: 'If you vote for me as a member of a team, I will be in there supporting and fighting for the community inside government. But we can also get things done for the community from government.' Obviously I am privileged to represent such an amazing part of Melbourne, but some of the projects we have funded and committed to as part of the election are so exciting and will transform the way our community gets to experience so many different things.

I'm going to run through a few of them that I'm exceptionally proud of. The first is funding for the Australian National Academy of Music. This is an institution that was founded by Paul Keating. It trains Australian classical musicians. The academy has been here in this building many, many times, Deputy Speaker. If you haven't been to an ANAM concert, make sure you go down to the Speaker's Gallery or the Marble Foyer when they're next in the building. They are extraordinary Australian musicians from electorates right across the country who are training to be world-class musicians.

Previously ANAM operated in South Melbourne. There was a structural issue with the roof; it fell through—a pretty bad structural issue. But we are repairing that and restoring the old South Melbourne Town Hall so it will become the home of the Australian National Academy of Music. It's going to be there as a hub of music and community life, right there in South Melbourne. It's going to be so exciting. I went through there only recently with the minister to look at the work that's being done there. That is going to be such a wonderful feature for ANAM and for South Melbourne.

We also committed to $1.5 million for community safety for a range of supports for councils and the Victorian government around CCTV. That was something that came up a lot during the election. While we obviously don't control the Victoria police—that is a matter for the state government—we did ask ourselves, What can we do to help? And it was about having more CCTV and more lighting in some of those amazing high streets and thoroughfares, where there are a lot of businesses and a lot of people trying to make a living running amazing small businesses. We funded that, and we will deliver it across the City of Port Phillip.

The See Yup Temple in South Melbourne is a beautiful, incredible part of the history of our local community. This Chinese temple is I think the oldest continuous operating Chinese temple of its kind in Australia. Unfortunately a fire came through the temple, which destroyed a lot of the temple. Amazingly, the fire burnt around a lot of the most spiritual and elevated parts of the temple. It's almost a bit mysterious—but I don't want to get too woo-ey on Hansard! To see the See Yup Temple being restored, and us funding some of the restoration efforts, is something that I was really proud of. It is such a beautiful community there, and I look forward to seeing the See Yup Temple restored to its former glory and beyond.

JOY Media is another example of one of these community institutions in Macnamara that make our community so vibrant and strong. I believe it's the only LGBTIQA+ media organisation, or radio organisation, in the country that does it to this scale. They have community-led programs, but in such a professional way, that give voice and amplification to the issues, opinions, characters and people inside the LGBTIQA+ community. I couldn't be prouder that we are going to support them to ensure that their operations are full and vibrant and that they are able to do everything they need to reach more people and broadcast into more areas so that more people can see themselves, hear themselves, and be a part of LGBTIQA+ media programming.

We have committed $4.3 million to save the Windsor Community Children's Centre. This is a partnership that we are going to do with Stonnington. This is one of the great local, community-run early education centres. The land is currently owned by Swinburne University. We are working through those details, and we will work through them in good faith with Swinburne. This is such an important community asset; it is a magical little place, one of the best and highest-rating early education services in my electorate. We will fund it and help ensure that it can continue.

We are funding the Jewish Arts Quarter, which is going to be an amalgamation of a whole range of Jewish institutions in Elsternwick that will come together to build a hub, or quarter, in the same way we imagine Lygon Street in Melbourne being a hub of Italian life and Chinatown being a hub of Chinese food and culture. This is what the Jewish Arts Quarter is going to be for music, food, performances, the Jewish Museum, and some of the other cultural institutions. It is going to be a really exciting project, and we were so pleased to announce our federal support for that.

We're going to be investing in the Port Phillip Eco Centre. It will be a small, modest contribution but one that's going to invest in citizen science products and equipment so that the community can get involved in citizen science and environmental protection and work to be involved in this amazing organisation. The centre doesn't just work in Port Phillip but works right across Melbourne. Our small contribution is going to make a big difference and provide equipment and facilities for our local community to get involved.

We're going to restore St Dimitrios Hall in Windsor, which is a Greek community hall. My community in Macnamara is home to one of the most proud and vibrant Greek communities in Australia. Melbourne is one of the great Greek cities of the world, but Albert Park in South Melbourne has been home to the Greek community for generations. We love all of our Greek institutions. This hall in Windsor is a massive hall that, with a little bit of a touch-up, will make a big difference and create a vibrant place for the Greek community and the senior Greek community to come together.

They are some of the things that we're doing in Macnamara. They're vast and varied and reflect the fact that our community in Macnamara is vast and varied, and we were proud to commit to all of them. That's as well as rolling out the projects we have already committed to, including improving Albert Park sports facilities and building the Yalukit Willam Nature Reserve, which was a commitment we made in 2022. The reserve is an incredible environmental wetland in the heart of inner-city Melbourne, on the border of Ellwood. There are so many things that we're doing around the electorate, and they're things that I'm really proud of and that I hope can make a real difference for our community.

I would say that this election was pretty brutal. It was pretty hard. It culminated in a couple of years of very difficult politics, and it seems that difficult politics like to drive through my electorate of Macnamara from time to time, as the last couple of weeks have also demonstrated. But one thing I know about the community that I am privileged to represent is that the people are kind, they're generous, they care about our community, they care about their families and they care about our country. It is the absolute privilege of my life to be the member for Macnamara. I'm extremely grateful for the extraordinary result that we achieved in Macnamara. I'm very grateful for the team that worked so hard to achieve this—this is our victory—but, most of all, I am grateful to the amazing people of Macnamara, who've given me this privilege to be their member for Macnamara for the third time. I will continue to work as hard as I possibly can to deliver for them, their families and our wonderful community.

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