Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about a very important issue: something that needs to be settled right here, right now. Today the south side is striking back against scurrilous claims made last week by the member for Fraser. Never before have I been so underwhelmed by a pitch for living north of the lake. His admission that just 14 members of the Labor caucus call the north side home really says it all. The south side landslide proves that members love it in the south. MPs have voted with their feet, and their staff as well. However, there are tens of thousands of other people who choose to live in the Canberra electorate and, with that in mind, I am launching the 'South Side Rocks' campaign—an initiative to open your mind to the benefits of life in the south via tales from the locals themselves.

Asking MPs why they live where they do can be pretty predictable stuff, but if you talk to the people of Canberra you will really get to know why the south side rocks. So I urge all south siders to write to me. Tell me why you choose to live in the southern suburbs and where you like to go. Southside residents: take a stand. We cannot let those in the north delude themselves into thinking they have got it better than we do. I urge all members living on the south to stay vigilant. Do not be sucked in by the member for Fraser's voodoo. Stay south and prosper.