Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

I have been pleased, across the last few weeks, to get to a few Werribee VFL games with the Werribee Football Club. We've been on a winning streak—four games in a row—which puts us second on the ladder. There's a thrill in going to watch the local boys, and we've got five local boys playing for Werribee this year, which is fantastic. Whether it's watching Jordan Busuttil goal from the centre; Noah Tullio run into the goal line to snap a quick one; Josh Kellett—he's recovering from injury, but I can't wait to see him back—or Jake Smith on the wing, it's fantastic to watch those local boys strutting their stuff at Chirnside Park. And to watch Ajang Kuol Mun learn his craft in the ruck and start kicking goals for Werribee has been fantastic. I want to thank Mark Penaluna for the great welcome that he always gives me when I make it to the club.

I recently visited classrooms at the Grange and Westgrove schools across the last couple of weeks and talked to young students about civics and citizenship. The learning they're doing around the three levels of government is amazing. I always do a bit of a pop quiz, and these young people are being beautifully prepared for our democracy. They understand the separation of powers. They understand the three levels of government and some of those responsibilities.

Whether it's attending a refugee week event with the Australian Karen Organisation, as I did on the weekend; whether it's attending the Teeyan Festival with our local Punjabi women—a shout out to Sharma Bhangu, who's been running that festival now for 16 years—or whether it's listening to Aunty Judy deliver a beautiful welcome to country in language on Saturday night, my community reflects modern Australia. It reflects our country beautifully, wherever you touch down in our country or in my community. This Labor government, this federal Albanese Labor government, is focused on the welfare of everyone across this country but also focused on our place in the world and creating a future where we all get a fair go.

That's why this week and today are so important—because we're going to pass the tax reforms. They'll pass the House today. They're designed to support us, to support our community, to value the work and labour of every worker, and to create equity in the way workers' incomes are taxed compared to investors'. It's creating a level playing field so those young boys on that footy field can buy their first homes. It's for the people across my community, like the thousands of people who've accessed the five per cent deposit, and the 1,800 people I've witnessed become citizens in the last month and go from permanent residents to proud Australian citizens. It's always a pleasure to be with them. We're looking after small business. We've got the loss carryback provisions coming in. We're making the $20,000 instant asset write-off permanent. We're looking after people across this country because we want to build together a wonderful Australia where everybody belongs and everybody gets a leg up on the ladder of opportunity.

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