Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

To love our flag is to love our country. Australians aren't a people who go for the pomp and ceremony like so many nations do, but that doesn't mean that we aren't deeply patriotic. Recently, I've seen that patriotism with younger Australians as they rally around the Aussie flag. I've had the great privilege of visiting some of the schools in my electorate recently. I want to say a very big thankyou to the Kenilworth state school, to St John's College, to Mountain Creek State School and also to the Good Samaritan in Bli Bli for welcoming me as we've been able to talk about the importance of the Australian flag. When you talk to these young students, you realise they have not only a very keen sense of Australian history but a very clear vision of Australia's future. They, like many of us, are deeply patriotic, and they too believe in the Aussie flag.

As rents rise, interest rates go up and people are finding life just harder to live, we're seeing some Australians go not right to the edge of financial stability but beyond it. One of the worst consequences of such a cost-of-living crisis is homelessness. Even in my beautiful part of the world on the Sunshine Coast, we are seeing more and more people becoming homeless. This is something, of course, that every tier of government has a responsibility to act upon, but so too do we, as everyday Australians.

I pay tribute to the community on the Sunshine Coast, who have swung in behind an initiative to get the Sunny Coast Sleeper to the town of Nambour. The sleeper is a bus that has nine sleeping pods, which allows those people who are homeless to have a safe, secure night's sleep in the bus. But, of course, ensuring that the bus is operating doesn't come free, which is why I launched a crowdfunding campaign to ensure that we can have enough funding to keep that bus in Nambour. I'm delighted to say that we have now reached $10,000, because everyday Sunshine Coast residents recognise, if they just give $15, that's enough to cover one night of safe sleep for somebody who otherwise would be on the street. So thank you very much to the community. By working together, we can keep tackling tough challenges like homelessness.

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