Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's an honour to be back. Thank you to the people of Longman for putting your faith in me to represent you in federal parliament. Thank you to all the people who helped in my campaign, in whatever capacity that was. Thank you for standing in the rain and putting up with the horrendous behaviour and the lies being told by the unions and some of the volunteers of other parties. Thank you for sticking to our values and not stooping to their level, and for behaving in a manner that I'm proud of. Thank you to my family for the sacrifices they made during the campaign.

When I first came to this place, I was determined to be a different politician. I wanted to be someone who didn't make it personal, to be someone who stuck to policy, and to be someone who focused on the needs of their community and did their best to meet those needs. I said then that, if I were to win, I wanted to win by talking things up, not by tearing other people down. Many told me I couldn't win with a positive campaign and by not bagging other people, but here I am. I'm proud to say that we ran a local campaign that didn't tear down opponents, a campaign that just contrasted the differences between the different parties, policies and results. I stuck to what we had delivered for the people of Longman and what my vision and plan for our community is. All I can promise you is more of the same.

There are so many issues and changes I'll be pushing for in this next term. The one I want to speak on today is integrity and honesty in political advertising—particularly during campaigns, when many people are more politically engaged than they normally are. I know it would surprise many in this House that many Australians just get on with their lives and don't give a second thought to politics until elections roll around.

I find it incredible that private businesses have to ensure truth in advertising, and yet political parties and politicians don't. In my retail background, if we advertised a product that was on sale and had been reduced in price, we had to substantiate the original price or there would be consequences—and rightly so. Surely the leaders of our country should be setting the example when it comes to honesty, integrity and respect.

For me, any proposed advertising, marketing or statements made by parties should have to be fact-checked, and if they are found to be false or misleading then the perpetrators of the falsehood should be forced to retract it and apologise and should face substantial fines and other consequences. When casting a vote, the Australian people deserve to be able to make a decision based on facts, not on fairytales and lies.

Here are some examples of these lies that were told in the last campaign in my electorate of Longman. We had one candidate saying they were going to keep interest rates below three per cent for five years, which, of course, no government can guarantee. We had several candidates and parties saying at a federal election that there would be no more vaccine mandates—there are no federal mandates, only state mandates—which is misleading and preys on people's emotions. We had one candidate and party saying that the coalition was going to implement the cashless debit card for age pensioners, which is a straight-out lie and caused stress and angst for our most vulnerable, all to try and win votes. It's simply disgusting.

Then there was the practice of making election promises on things that I had already announced as decisions of government. I speak of the $5 million for the Caboolture PCYC, which I announced in January this year as funded and done; the Veteran Wellbeing Centre, which I announced in April this year; and the change to the DPA status so that medical practices in Longman could recruit more GPs, which I announced I had already achieved in January and March. These were already happening. These were budget decisions of the previous coalition government, and yet this party and candidate tried to again mislead the people of Longman by making out they were going to deliver these things if they were elected.

That dishonest behaviour had no consequences. Something must change in this area. The Australian people expect it and deserve it. In closing, I say to the people of Longman and Australia: I will continue to be your voice on issues that matter to you. I will endeavour to act with honesty, integrity and respect when representing you, and I will continue to talk up our great community, and country, as long as I have the honour of doing so.