Sam Lim (Tangney, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm a new member of this parliament. I was a police officer and became well known across my community for my police work. As my colleagues would know, a lot of this job is spent knocking on people's doors. I have done a lot of doorknocking as a police officer, but, in the lead-up to the election, I was knocking on doors in the hope of representing my community. Many people said to me: 'Sam, this is crazy. You are a police officer—highly respected. Why do you want to be a politician? What is wrong with you, Sam?'

I wouldn't use unparliamentary language here, Deputy Speaker, but I trust that you have a strong imagination and can understand what Australians may think of politicians, and I cannot blame them because, in the past decade, Australians have witnessed lots of wrongdoing of their government. It paints a terrible picture of what the public perceive about politicians. Australians at last have a government that believe in the role of government and this government believes deeply in integrity and accountability in politics. I'm looking forward to having a federal ICAC to ensure our politicians are engaged in the work of changing hearts and minds—and, at the centre of it all, our nation—for the better.