This is a tough day for us all, and we all rise with a heavy heart. The member for Indi, Helen Haines, is someone I have got to know well over the last 4½ years. My northern border in the seat of Casey matches with her southern border, and we've got some communities of common interest. I also had the opportunity to travel with Helen and get to know her and meet Phil. And at this time not just myself but all of the community in Casey send their heartfelt well wishes to Helen, to Phil, to the family, to her staff and to the wider Indi community. It is a time for us all to stop and reflect on Helen and her contribution, and the contribution she will continue to make here in parliament and to the communities of Indi, while also recognising that she does have a long road to recovery. We are sending our best wishes and support to her, Phil and the family.

While this is a horrible, terrible incident that shook us all last week, there's obviously a lot more to come out in regard to the incident. I don't want to address that incident today. I'll leave that for another time when more is known. What I want to focus on in this moment of darkness is the light. It's the light of the Australian people and the greatness of those heroic Australians who didn't hesitate to help Helen. It's someone like Ricky Jefferies, a father and a husband, who didn't hesitate to run to help Helen in that moment. He could have made the decision to stay in his shop and look after himself, given those loved ones he had at home, but he chose to leave the safety of his shop to support Helen. It's people like Cody, Xavier, Jacklyn and Jacob, who, again, ran to help Helen, not knowing what they were going to run into, because they knew it was the right thing to do.

We have a choice as a parliament and as a nation. We can focus on the evil that has occurred or focus on the goodness. We must address what has occurred. We cannot shy away from that conversation. But, right now, I choose to focus on the goodness and on those heroic Australians and those emergency services members—every time the call comes in that there is danger or there is an Australian in trouble, they go. They go to keep people safe. I thank those emergency services workers, who, I have no doubt, will still be struggling today with what they saw and what they witnessed last week. Unfortunately, the reality of Australia in 2026, and in all of history, is that what those emergency services workers witnessed and participated in last week is what they do every day in keeping us safe. I pay tribute to all emergency services workers—ambulance, CFA, fire brigade, police in Victoria and across the country—who keep us all safe.

I saw that goodness firsthand in the last week. Because I refuse to let those who seek to intimidate us all intimidate us, I was out in my community, meeting people, following my normal routine and making sure I was aware of my situation. What was so great to see was the number of members of the public who stopped me to check in, make sure I was okay, thank me for my service—as I know has happened all across the community—and give their best wishes to Helen, her family and her community. We should remember that there are so many good Australians who do respect what we do and do respect the service of people like Helen Haines. We should not let this lead to a situation where we are cowed.

The member for Gellibrand shared a great story about that resident FaceTiming him. I remember the first time I came to Canberra. I caught an Uber from the airport. The driver asked me what I did, and I told him I was an MP. He was genuinely shocked that a federal member of parliament was in his Uber. He said something like, 'In the country that I came from, any member of parliament has a full security guard.' The member for Gellibrand summed that up well. That is not where we want to get to as a country. That is not the Australia that we have grown up in, and it is not in any way good for our democracy if we get to that situation. While we must have robust debate and we must hold the government to account—because a strong opposition holding a government to account develops good policy—we can do it in a way where we focus on the policy, not on the person.

There are many conversations we need to continue to have to make sure that our democracy can continue from strength to strength, but I finish by saying to Helen, Phil and her team: we love you, we appreciate you and we are with you on this long journey back to recovery.