Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've had the great honour of being elected to this place since 2013, and that's when the former government took office and formed the 44th Parliament. So for my first nine years in this place, I knew nothing but the government benches. I took great pride in delivering for communities right across Barker over those first three terms in parliament, and I've done so by lobbying like-minded colleagues within government.

It's self-evident, but in 2022 all of that changed. In 2022 the coalition had brought this country through a great economic challenge of our time: a global pandemic. We steered the ship through the storm and came out in quite remarkable shape. In May 2022 we were experiencing economic recovery on almost every measure: economic growth, debt levels, fatality rates and vaccines. Australia's recovery was leading the world. Despite the pandemic, there were 1.9 million more Australians in jobs than there were when the coalition came to government in 2013. Australia's unemployment rate was at the equal-lowest level in nearly 50 years—below four per cent.

Nevertheless, the Australian people cast their votes, and the coalition moved to the opposition benches—quite unfamiliar to me, but I remain grateful to the Australian democratic system of government. Unlike some others in this building, albeit in the other chamber, I've got a deep respect for this parliament and our nation. However, that's not to say that this democratically elected government isn't without its flaws. I won't even go into the Australian Electoral Commission's annual returns for the last year, which showed that unions gave those opposite a whopping $16.7 million in donations. I'll let others make their own conclusions about that contribution. I'll stick to the policy disappointments that Labor have delivered in their first nine months. Nine months is long enough to bring new life into the world, and yet the Labor government opposite can't even deliver an election promise in that time. It's quite astonishing.

The Kingston South East community was ecstatic to learn that a commitment I made during the election campaign to deliver funding for a new childcare facility in that area was matched by Labor. But, after nine long months, they're still yet to receive a funding agreement. In fact, they haven't even received an email from the minister confirming that the funding is on track, despite having repeatedly asked for it. Nine months is a long time to wait for an email. The minister has been on a Zoom call with them, confirming it's all good, but that's not good enough. This needs to be committed to immediately.

Let's move to the very popular Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program. Of course, when we left office, we committed to phase 3A—$500 million—of that program. Those opposite upped the ante during the campaign, as they tended to want to, and said, 'No, no—we'll allocate $750 million to this program.' Yet we've heard in recent days that it's in fact the $500 million that local governments can rely on. As for the $250 million—'Well, that'll come at some point in the future. We haven't worked on the guidelines.' It's been nine months and there are no guidelines. We're not serious, are we? This stuff can be worked over very quickly. Nine months is a very long time. It's almost as if this delay is deliberate.

While I'm talking about infrastructure, which is a personal passion of mine, in this term of parliament I'm going to take on the role of assistant shadow minister for infrastructure and transport. I'm incredibly honoured to be asked to undertake that role by the Leader of the Opposition and the broader coalition team. As someone who drives 100,000 kilometres a year, mostly on rural roads, just to get to work as a local member, I understand the importance of our road network. I understand the need to get goods to market on behalf of Australians and the national economy. The coalition came to government in 2013 committing to build the roads of the 21st century and, over the ensuing 8½ years, invested record sums in infrastructure projects right across the nation, helping to drive economic growth and prosperity.

The challenge for those opposite is to maintain that momentum. So far, it's been disappointing, to say the least. The October budget pulled funding from programs like the Building Better Regions fund while simultaneously referring to infrastructure investments in metropolitan Adelaide as projects in regional Australia. Good regional infrastructure—be it road, rail, energy or communications technology—underpins the efficient movement of ideas, funds, energy, people and goods, and it's critical to competing in a global market. It's disappointing but perhaps not surprising that, to fund Labor's election promises, the government has taken a knife to infrastructure and regional development programs. For South Australian road and infrastructure projects, this government's first budget allocates a measly $46 million a year over the next decade in new funding. In contrast, the previous coalition government budgeted $741.9 million more than Labor on South Australia's road investment under the Infrastructure Investment Program across the forward estimates.

Communications is probably the issue raised most consistently with me in my electorate. Not a day goes by that I don't have a constituent come to me and complain that they can't make a mobile phone call. The coalition government's highly successful initiative to improve mobile communications in rural and regional areas delivered 1,270 new mobile base stations across Australia, including 30 in my electorate of Barker. That's a fantastic start, but there's much more to do. Recently the infrastructure minister announced the opening of a $40 million improved mobile coverage round to deliver Labor's election commitments to fund mobile network operators and infrastructure providers to deploy new mobile infrastructure assets across 54 target locations across Australia. But the devil is always in the detail. Firstly, of those 54 locations, none were in Barker, which is a disappointment to me and my constituents in communities like Sherlock, who have had to face bushfires up close and personal, and in communities like Maaoupe, who are lobbying very hard to resolve their mobile connectivity issues. In fact, when you look at the list in a bit more detail, it quickly dawns on you that those 54 target locations find themselves in two categories: firstly, Labor seats, and secondly, marginal target Labor seats. This is pork-barrelling 2.0. Those opposite riled against that, yet their first action in government in the telecommunications space is to say, 'Those who represent 95 per cent of the landmass of this country, in this place, can see less than a small portion of the funding allocated otherwise.'

Another key initiative of the coalition government was to keep communities and jobs at the heart of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. That's gone in this budget, too. The former coalition put a stop to buybacks, empowering local communities to improve their stretch of the river and boosting the economic outlook of their towns and businesses. Labor took office and, in just a few months, reversed the policy direction on water, to the detriment of river communities. Before the election, Labor refused to rule out returning to a policy of water buybacks. The October budget confirmed that the recovery of the additional 450 gigalitres is back on the table, but the funding detail is—I quote—'not for publication'. So much for a new, more transparent government!

The Murray-Darling Basin is home to 2.6 million Australians who rely on the river to generate economic activity, provide local jobs and generate $24 billion of agricultural output each year. We know, from previous experience, that buybacks kill those communities, and that's why we vowed in government to rule out buybacks. But those opposite have ruled them right back in. For the community of Renmark in my electorate, their irrigation effort amounts to approximately 32 gigalitres per annum, but the recovery target, by way of buybacks, for South Australia would also be roughly 32 gigs. Those of you living in the Riverland, or in South Australia more broadly, imagine a South Australia without all of the irrigation effort that comes out of the Renmark irrigation district.

Those opposite complain about us raising the cost-of-living issue in this place, as if we should keep schtum about that issue, but Australians are raising it on a daily basis. What do you think taking 32 gigs out of the South Australian irrigation effort would do to the cost of fresh fruit and vegetables in supermarkets? What happens when you constrain supply? Make no mistake, if you take water out of a horticultural business, you will constrain supply, because no-one's invented a way to produce the same amount with less water, even with the efficiencies that we've already attained in 2023. What happens when you constrain supply? You bump up prices. You drive them right up through the roof. The other alternative, of course, is that we import fresh fruit and vegetables from other jurisdictions.

So those opposite, as they pursue their campaign for buybacks at all costs in the river corridor, are effectively saying to the Australian people: 'We want one of two things to happen. We want you to pay more for fresh fruit and vegetables when you are standing at the checkout, or, alternatively, we want you to buy foreign fruit and vegetables when you get to that checkout.' Now, I tell you what, it might not sound like it, but, when we stood up and said no to buybacks, we were saying, 'We're backing Aussie horticulturalists to provide good-value fruit and veg at our supermarkets and for those products to be grown and processed in Australia.'

Labor clearly doesn't understand how hard it is to see a doctor in our regional communities. It's a complex issue and one that doesn't have a silver-bullet fix. But it's been widely acknowledged in this country that there's a distribution problem when it comes to GPs, not a shortage. The coalition was working on it. We'd by no means fixed the problem, but we were putting in place some really good incentives—which have been continued, thankfully—around HECS waivers for graduates and encouraging more students to study in our regions, which we know makes it more likely they'll work in the regions after graduation.

But what did Labor do as soon as they came to government? They changed the distribution priority area, the DPA classification. The DPA classification identifies locations in Australia where there's a shortage of GPs or medical practitioners and ensures that overseas doctors coming to Australia are prioritised into those regions. It makes sense. If we're going to bring overseas doctors to Australia then we want them working in areas where there is a known shortage. Upon coming to government, Labor wasted no time in changing the system to increase the supply of GPs in urban areas, but that came at the expense of regional areas. While at a national level we all talk about Australians now finding that the average out-of-pocket visit to a GP costs $60, we can't even find a GP in the regions. Labor was elected on platform of strengthening Medicare, but all we've experienced is a weakening of the Medicare system. After all, without a GP to see, Medicare becomes irrelevant. We've seen 70 telehealth services cut out of Medicare, we've seen our mental health rebates slashed in half and we've been promised urgent-care clinics, but we don't even know where they'll be. It reminds me a lot of those GP super clinics that were built, except nobody could find GPs to work in them.

Meanwhile, the nation's Treasurer is busily spending the Christmas holidays theorising and developing an essay on his personal views about capitalism—'Capitalism 2.0' I suppose we could call it—while, in the real world, Australians are being hurt by the rising cost of living. Australia has the highest rate of inflation right now that it's had in 33 years. With more than two in three fixed-rate loans, that is close to 800,000, set to roll onto variable interest rates this year and ongoing variable rate rises, families with a mortgage are looking at a really tough outlook.

I hate to be negative, but the last nine months have been an incredible disappointment, not just to me but to the broader Australian public. I think they are experiencing some serious buyer's remorse. It's been eye-opening for me as I experience for the first time sitting in this place from opposition. As a nation, we are in worse shape economically than we've been in years. For regional communities, it's very clear that Labor either don't care or don't understand, or perhaps it's a little from column A and a little from column B. They certainly don't appreciate the powerhouse of economic output that our regions can be if appropriate policy settings are in place.

I do want to end this speech on a positive note. The last nine months have shown me that, even in opposition, I remain committed to and passionate about the work I do. I haven't lost my passion for wanting to serve the nation in our federal parliament, nor have I lost my passion for wanting to improve our regions and communities right across Barker. If there's one thing residents of Barker have learned about me over nine years, it's that I don't quit. I work hard day in, day out, and I'm looking forward to continuing to do so. I'm incredibly humbled that they have seen fit to send me to this place again as the member for Barker, and I'm intending to make every single moment in this place count. For this and to those who supported me at the election, I want to say a very big thankyou. And I want to thank the incredible support team who allow me to do what I do.

Briefly, on indulgence, to my wife and children for all the hours, days and weeks I spend away: thank you for your love and understanding. To my staff, who've always had my back and who go above and beyond for the people of Barker with as much passion and drive as I hope I show, can I say: thank you very much. Finally, and very importantly, I thank the team of Liberal Party supporters, volunteers and members without whom I, quite frankly, wouldn't be standing here today. Election campaigns are difficult things, and, when you run an election campaign across an area the size of Croatia, you need a massive team to get it done. Over 1,000 members are directly supporting me across the electorate. I want to say that, every day that I get up and fight hard in the interests of the people of Barker, I am thinking about all those people who support me and push me along to make sure that we can get a better deal for the electorate.

It's always difficult to go to names, but I thank the Hon. Nicola Centofanti, who served as my campaign coordinator on almost every occasion that I've sought election. I would like to thank Lachlan Haynes, Ben Hood, Michelle Hill—the list goes on and on—Greg O'Brien, and everyone who supported the campaign in Barker.

In 2016 I was re-elected, and we enjoyed a margin of four per cent. In the two elections since then we've been able to take that margin north of 16 per cent. Now, I treat the electorate, the seat, as though it's on a wafer-thin margin. I know no other way. But it is a testament to the team—my staff, the volunteers—that we've been able to create a situation whereby Barker is now the electorate in the House that enjoys the strongest margin on behalf of the Liberal Party. As I said, we will treat the electorate as though it's on a wafer-thin margin. But I think it's a testament to those people—those volunteers, those members of my staff—that we've been able to achieve that margin. I look forward to continuing to fight on behalf of everyone who lives in the greatest electorate on Earth.

I hope those opposite will heed the calls. We need a strong and resilient Australia, one that backs regional Australia and does it in a meaningful way, if we want a strong economy and better lifestyles for all Australians. I thank the House.

Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As we return to parliament in this new year I'd like to begin this contribution by saying thank you to the good people of Greenway for putting their faith in me once again to represent them in this place. There can be no higher honour than to represent the people from the community that has been your life. Western Sydney has always been my home. I grew up in Lalor Park, attended St Bernadette's school, played netball at the local Blacktown courts and went to high school at Our Lady of Mercy Parramatta. That's why representing Greenway since 2010 isn't just political for me; it's personal. And it brings me such joy to say that, with more than 20 per cent of the frontbench in the Albanese government now from Western Sydney, there has never been more representation for Western Sydney in the federal cabinet then there is right now.

Of course, last year was a challenging one for many constituents in my electorate. The floods that hit north-west Sydney in June and July and earlier in the year had a devastating impact on our community. Families were upended when they had to be evacuated, homes were damaged and destroyed, livestock was relocated and possessions were ruined. For some people in our electorate, this wasn't the first or second flooding event that year; it was the third. But, as always, our community came together.

The Blacktown and Hawkesbury SES volunteers bravely evacuated residents and livestock on the front line. They answered phones around the clock and helped residents out. Sue, Angela, Warren, Alex, Vanessa and Sharon from the Riverstone Neighbourhood Centre provided crucial support to Greenway residents, from helping them navigate how to get government assistance to sourcing and delivering new furniture for households that needed it. The Ahmadiyya mosque in Marsden Park sent volunteers to help flood-relief efforts. There was an abundance of donations for those who needed them, including everyday necessities going to places like the Riverstone Neighbourhood Centre for distribution. Facebook groups were filled with community members offering food, transport and other forms of support to their neighbours.

I'm proud to say that his is what Greenway residents do in challenging times: We help one another, and this time was no exception. What did differ this time was how the government responded to this disaster. The Albanese government acted swiftly to respond to flood victims and give them the help they so desperately needed. By mid-July almost 528,000 people who had been affected by the severe storms and flooding in New South Wales had already received more than $436 million in Australian government disaster assistance. And businesses and households across 42 local government areas in New South Wales, including the Blacktown LGA, became eligible to access additional rental support payments and rural landowner grants. This fast, significant response acknowledged the experiences of our electorate and beyond during this extremely trying time. It's certainly a response that makes clear how the Albanese government cares for Australians.

The budget that was announced in October of last year—this government's first budget—demonstrated our dedication to creating a better future for all Australians. I'm so pleased to say that the budget contained a range of commitments to improve the overall quality of life for Australians, including those living in Western Sydney. When COVID lockdowns hit, the people of Western Sydney were unfairly confined to a five-kilometre radius, and during this time it became clear that many families didn't have the local infrastructure they needed. As our region continues to grow, with suburbs like Riverstone expect to increase by 318 per cent by 2040, we need to ensure families have sufficient local infrastructure. This is where the Greenway Better Local Living Plan comes in. It's a plan designed by Greenway families through a series of surveys and outreach for Greenway families. We listened closely to local residents, who asked for a more playful, safer and more diverse selection of local infrastructure.

Our commitments, as promised prior to the election, include new and upgraded play spaces across Schofields, Tallawong, Riverstone and Grantham Farm; fencing to make existing play spaces safer in the areas of Parklea, Seven Hills, Lalor Park, Quakers Hill and Kings Langley; a new and exciting community water play area in Schofield for those hot summer days; and district-scale walking trails in Lalor Park, Quakers Hill and Grantham Farm to help better connect residents into local active transport networks. As a mum of two young girls myself, I understand that parents want to provide the very best opportunity to their, children and these commitments are all about improving the quality of life for families in Greenway.

Another commitment designed to do just that is the north-west Sydney roads package. The Albanese government has committed $75 million to finalise planning and commence the initial construction of Bandon Road and Richmond Road in the north-west growth corridor. We are also taking the politics out of infrastructure planning Western Sydney by establishing expert panel to look at the regions needs. This is an important long-term project for the north-west Sydney community. Residence, particularly in Riverstone and surrounds, have been crying out for action by the New South Wales government for over a decade. I look forward to keeping our north-west Sydney community updated throughout this process.

In 2023 the Albanese government is working hard to deliver for the Australian people. During our first six months in government, we passed more than 60 bills in the parliament and delivered an increase in the minimum wage and a pay rise for aged-care workers, cheaper child care and 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave. We also convened the Jobs and Skills Summit, established Jobs and Skills Australia, expanded the Commonwealth seniors health card, established a royal commission into robodebt, advanced a voice to parliament, repaired our international relations, established the National Anti-Corruption Commission and passed legislation to get wages moving.

This new year, the Albanese government will continue to deliver the positive change of Australians voted for. We won't waste a day. We're staying focused on easing pressure on families and helping Australians manage their budgets. Cheaper medicines took effect on 1 January, making life a little easier for Australians who rely on prescriptions. Cheaper child care will benefit 1.2 million families from 1 July. We know that this will help ease financial stress for families across the country and is also a vital productivity measure. There are now 180,000 fee-free TAFE places available to tackle skills shortages and help more Australians train for good, better-paying jobs. We are bringing people together to tackle the challenges in front of us today as well as making lasting reforms that build a better future. At the heart of our approach is making sure Australians have the economic security they need to live the lives they aspire to.

On that point, in just a few weeks the good people of New South Wales will be given the opportunity to vote for a fresh start with the Chris Minns New South Wales Labour government. In north-west Sydney we have a handful of hardworking locals who are dedicated to delivering the best for their community. For the seat of Riverstone we have Warren Kirby, a local business owner who wants to deliver better for this part of Sydney, from better supporting small businesses to ensuring that crucial infrastructure like hospitals are accessible and adequate for local residents. Sameer Pandey, in the seat of Winston Hills, has been delivering for his community for years as a councillor in the City of Parramatta. He is passionate about delivering the best outcomes for constituents through improved investments in health and education, and through more responsible economic management. And Alex Karki, Labor's candidate for Kellyville, is determined to do better for New South Wales households and to tackle the housing crisis through creating a centralised agency for housing, abolishing stamp duty for first homebuyers and protecting tenants from eviction. I know that under the leadership of Chris Minns and Prue Car, and alongside great local representatives like Stephen Bali and Hugh McDermott, these candidates would be a great addition to the New South Wales Labor team.

In reflecting on last year, I'd like to finish this speech by saying thank you. With all its challenges, we still have a lot to celebrate when we look back on 2022: from finally getting a new mobile tower in The Ponds approved, with construction starting only a few weeks ago, to forcing the New South Wales Liberal government to change course and include an emergency department at the new Rouse Hill Hospital through our grassroots campaign. And we raised over a thousand dollars for breast cancer awareness at my annual Pink Breakfast Morning Tea.

None of this could have happened without the good people of Greenway. I want to thank the community groups and organisations that have kept our electorate going in the toughest of times. They include: the Riverstone Neighbourhood Centre; St Clements Anglican Church in Lalor Park; the Blacktown STRIDE Safe Space; the various Lions clubs, Rotary clubs and other community clubs across the electorate; the Harman Foundation, which only on Saturday night celebrated its 10th anniversary; the Gurdwara Sahib Glenwood Sikh Temple; and Hands & Feet in Kings Park, and so many more.

As so many local residents know, the essentials of Greenway can probably be summed up in just three words: quality of life. That means ensuring that our area has the infrastructure it needs, be that through the improved roads that I mentioned, to ensure that we have the best facilities for families. These include local parks and recreation spaces, which, on face value, might not sound like much. But, as I mentioned, at a time when we had a five-kilometre movement limit during lockdowns, it was astounding to learn that there were some local residents in new estates in north-west Sydney who had no infrastructure within five kilometres. This adversely impacted not only on the way that they were living but also on their mental health and that of their children. It is astounding to think that in the 21st century we have that level of disparity when it comes to these essential community facilities. As I said, the way in which Greenway residents responded by letting their local council, state members and myself, as their federal member, know what they needed, and to have that reflected in a cooperative approach to getting these facilities approved and constructed, has been a great thing. I certainly look forward to the coming months and years, that as these approvals are given and as those partnerships roll out that infrastructure we see a definite improvement in the quality of life for local residents in Greenway.

I also mentioned the case of the mobile tower at The Ponds. This was an application that had been sitting waiting for years. It was scheduled to be built on community land, which required approval, ultimately, from the New South Wales government. It was through a sustained effort by local residents, and also by ensuring that we got the carriers on board that we had the necessary approvals in place, that we finally got this construction happening—it was a long time coming. When you have people living in new estates, and they rightfully expect that they will have mobile services, along with water, electricity and sewerage, then you realise that this is essential infrastructure that so many people rely on. People rely on it for their small businesses, their children rely on it for studying at home and people rely on it in safety situations as well. So we look forward to this tower being completed and the benefits of that connectivity being felt right throughout The Ponds.

And, of course, there is the issue of other essential infrastructure that people expect when they move into a new suburb. Schools in north-west Sydney have been overflowing. We have had situations where, within even one or two years, local schools that have been built have all of a sudden had just about their entire car parks and playgrounds overtaken by demountables because insufficient planning was put in place to cater for the education needs of those children. This is simply not good enough.

We see this happening again the case of Rouse Hill Hospital, which has been promised by the New South Wales Liberals at two successive elections. At the site right now all we have is fencing and bunting. Again, this has been a community campaign that has demanded not only that this hospital be built but also that it be built with an emergency department. It is absolutely inefficient to think that by constructing a new hospital in such a growth area, and by saving money by not building it with an emergency department, this is somehow a good thing. This was a community campaign where people got on board and demanded action in this area, and I look forward to this being delivered.

Lastly, I thank the real heroes of the operation: not only local branch members but also supporters and so many members of the community who have been there for the last 13 years through successive elections, including in 2022. Above all else, I wish to thank my dear family. I thank my husband, Michael, who is a partner in a national law firm and has somehow managed to keep the show growing throughout these 13 years, and certainly the last 11, in which we've been parents. I thank my two children: my beautiful Octavia, who is about to turn 11, and Aurelia, who has just turned six. Both of them are facing big aspects of their lives this year, with Octavia going into year 6 and Aurelia going into year 1. I could not ask for smarter, more loving, more dedicated and funnier children. They are the absolute light of my life and of Michael's life. The fact is, they have known nothing other than mum trying to get re-elected. But, like the troupers they are, they always come together and help out. I say a very special thank you to Michael, Octavia and Aurelia.

A very big thank you goes to my favourite constituent, Frank Rowland, my dad. Dad just turned 91, but he has always been so proud to put a poster of me in his front yard. He has always been so proud to be there supporting all my endeavours in my legal career, in my political life and now in my ministry. I say a very special thank you to Frank Rowland for that. Dad has been the cornerstone of my life, and I think for every daughter her dad is her first love, so I thank him from the bottom of my heart. I also thank my extended family, who have always helped out. My mother-in-law and father-in-law, Sue and Sam Chaaya, my in-laws Sandra, Charlie, Myrna and George, who always come together and bring people together to help out with the campaign. These things don't just happen by themselves; you need volunteers to do every part of it. I don't think enough people understand the level of commitment that is given by family in these situations.

One of the most important things is to remember at all times the great principle that this Albanese government stands for—that is, equality of opportunity for everyone irrespective of where they live or what they earn. This government was elected on a platform to deliver for everyone, to be a government for all Australians. That is why we are absolutely committed in the communications portfolio to ensuring that everyone has the equality of access that they need in the communication space. That includes everything from mobile services to a better National Broadband Network, to ensuring, as we are at the moment with our review of the antisiphoning list, that people have the opportunity to view iconic sporting events as they would expect.

In this space, we are also looking forward. There are new technologies that are emerging in every space, including low earth-orbiting satellites, for example, and the difference they can make in rural, regional and remote Australia. All this points to a government that is looking to the future and to the challenges both in a regulatory sense and, most importantly, in those three words: quality of life. We are looking for quality of life for all Australians and how we can make that better.

As we move forward into finishing the first full year of the Albanese Labor government, moving into the second year, we can rest assured that these principles will always be guiding ones. As the Prime Minister has said on many occasions, 'There is no-one held back, but also no-one left behind.' That is the commitment I continue to bring to the good people of Greenway with great gratitude and looking towards a brighter future.

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a privilege to rise in this chamber again and to be here in this place. I thank the people of Mitchell and the communities of north-west Sydney that I represent in the suburbs of my electorate—hard-working families and businesses—aspirational area that it is, for supporting me again to be their representative here. I commit to them again, in this term of parliament, to fight very hard to get a government that does stand for their values, a government that understands what its essential core business is, what governments should be doing for them, which is providing a safe and free society and a place where people can earn a living, do well for themselves and their families and get ahead—the kind of aspiration that all Australians seek and the opportunities that should be afforded to them as Australians.

Obviously today we face a society where government has been asked to do more and more of the work, of the tasks, that in the past it may not have been asked to do. Certainly during the pandemic, as part of the then Morrison government, the government was asked to do an extraordinary amount of things that it may not ordinarily have been asked to do. There's no doubt that, after that period of great disruption—upheaval of society, of our economy, of governments, of international trade, of the entire world through a one-in-100-year pandemic—things have been disrupted and people have lent on the government more.

What the future is about is what philosophy will continue to dominate from a government point of view, whether the government will continue to be asked to do the things that people can do for themselves, and business and society can do for themselves, or whether we'll go back to more normal operations wherein we rely on the productivity, the intelligence, the capacity and the capability of our individual citizens, of our communities, of the social and voluntary structures that make up our society. I know, as a member of the Liberal Party, a great party that represents those traditions, we'll be advocating, in the long term, for those values to return and to make sure that government focuses on the things that it should be doing and no more, and working to make our society safer, freer and fairer for all Australians.

When you examine the record of the previous government over the whole 10 years, that was certainly what we were doing. A pandemic of course changed the narrative for Australian history, changed the course of Australian history in ways that will be felt for a long time. It was a fact that the government had delivered a balanced budget result for the first time in a long time, getting under control the mismanagement of Labor in previous governments, and had forecasted and projected surplus budgets for the forward years. Returning the budget to surplus; paying down the debt; getting on with what a good Liberal-National government would be doing. It isn't an understatement to say that the greatest upheaval in 100 years changed the course of Australian government history and our society's course, meaning that those surpluses would no longer be delivered.

The budget had to be used to buttress society. The electorate made its judgement on that at the election; but I do note that they judged no major political party as worthy of more support than at the 2019 election, including the Australian Labor Party, which lost the primary vote, at a lower rate, but had less votes than it did at the 2019 election. The same with the Liberal Party; the same with other parties. People were upset at the outcome of a very difficult period, and understandably nothing was perfect from the state government level or the federal government level and there is no manual. Some people say you can have a manual for this, but I think a manual written in 1920, in the middle of the Spanish flu, wouldn't really help a government in 2019 with what it had to do given the developments and advancements in hospitals, in communications, in the internet—all of the things that we know have advanced in 100 years. I'm sure, if there is another pandemic in 100 years, a manual written now may not be of great assistance to those people in the future attempting to tackle something so severe.

The government did have its faults. It certainly had to govern through one of the most difficult periods of its time. I think it will be well regarded by Australians, in the future, about its success in managing our society through the pandemic. We pay tribute to the work of all the departments here in Canberra. I worked closely in several portfolios with those public servants. I've thanked them before but I thank them again for their dedicated service. Government was required to do more. It was a national emergency—it was an international emergency, a national emergency, a health emergency—and of course government got asked to do more. It was asked do things it had never done before and it did them reasonably well, considering the pressures.

The future is different. When you think about what the election was fought on—the economy—cost of living was already publicly known as the No. 1 issue. Since the last election, the cost of living has become an even greater pressure on the average household budget, on families of every income level, on people who have lesser assets and money and on people who have more. The strain has been felt by the entire community. What's important is that a government understands—in every fibre of its being, when it's going to those cabinet rooms, making decisions, bringing legislation before the parliament—that cost of living is about the general prosperity of every single Australian.

I'm not persuaded that the Albanese government really does understand this in every fibre of its being so far. It's approach to government spending, its approach to policy-making, would indicate that it feels that now is the time to launch into large amounts of government spending, in various different ways, that we simply can't afford. The approach also says that we should be doing more and more as a government, not focusing on the essential tasks of government that really need improvement and aren't being done well.

Listen to the rhetoric of this government's health minister. He says the health system has been destroyed by a decade of inaction. That's high rhetoric, but he's clearly ignorant of the fact that the pandemic strained our health and aged-care systems in ways they'd never been tested before. Even with record funding from the previous coalition government they are under strain. Health is a very important sector. It does require government focus.

The government, in its agenda, is revealing it lacks a fundamental understanding of how the economy functions, what the role of government is and what government should be doing about the inflationary crisis and the cost-of-living crisis we are facing. It's certainly—coming from a conservative side of politics—important that the government gets its house in order, its books in order, its spending in order. A lot of the crisis has been created by successive waves of inflationary pressure. That's been from the simple inflating of the money supply, through quantitative easing over many decades, to more government spending at record levels that we've seen society spend before and, whatever society you point to, government borrowing at record levels. This is part of the reason we're facing an inflationary crisis. An important part is for government to get its house in order, to tackle this.

Policies add to this problem and continue to add to it through different facets, and the way our economy is structured certainly won't help. It was revealing that one of the first acts of the Albanese government was in industrial relations. They've returned to a model of industrial relations which says that the government—essentially, they're trying to advocate; the Prime Minister says this all the time, that the government secured a wage increase for someone—sets people's wages, that the government has a role in setting people's wages. This is fundamentally not the system.

For the Australian Labor Party to communicate regularly to the public that it's the government that sets wages, or it's a function of the government to set wages, is fundamentally incorrect. It's not even our current system under the Fair Work system or the operation of it. They went further than just suggesting that they were going to be increasing wages in various sectors and they had secured those wages, which were properly, under our system, judgements for the Fair Work Commission. They also decided that now—at the single most difficult inflationary and cost-of-living crisis period—was the time to restrict our industrial relations systems and return to pattern bargaining.

It's a phrase that many Australians will be unfamiliar with. Pattern bargaining is where sectors that are totally unrelated to other sectors decide to go on strike or argue for better pay and conditions, and other sectors have to wear the impact, the pain and the cost, of the pattern bargaining. This is an archaic feature of our industrial relations system that goes back to an era that doesn't exist anymore.

The Labor government has proposed, as one of its first acts, to return to pattern bargaining. It will include family owned businesses—millions of family, small and medium enterprises—in a system of pattern bargaining that has nothing to do with their sector of productivity, their goods and services to the economy. To say that you would somehow be affected by wage claims in other sectors, in other businesses and other companies is a retrograde step. I have no hesitation in saying that it was a huge surprise to the productive economy that the Labor Party immediately moved to pull the handbrake on industrial relations, strangle the flexibility of small and medium enterprises and tie them to the archaic system from 30 or 40 years ago of pattern bargaining. It will represent a great cost imposition on business. There's no doubt that by constraining industrial relations at this time, they remove flexibility for business right at the time when they need more flexibility in their ability to employ and their ability to manage their businesses. This is exactly the wrong time for this agenda, and it will have super-high costs. Those costs will add to our inflationary crisis.

We have supply and labour shortages at the moment, and, ultimately—no doubt—if we don't do things to encourage and stimulate job creation and productivity in our economy, and grow the pie instead of just focusing on the redistribution of it, we will suffer. It's very much a Liberal-National premise that we will take policies and bring forward policies that will grow productivity and grow our economy, not just focus on this Labor obsession with endlessly redistributing what other people create. We must focus on that growth of our economy and the business environment so that people can grow and create jobs.

I think that for the Labor Party to bring forward an industrial relations agenda that the public didn't agree to was sneaky; it was retrograde. I think any fair-minded observer of a takeback to our industrial relations system to 30 or 40 years ago will observe that that is a very ideological obsession in the middle of a very difficult pragmatic crisis for our economy, and it doesn't bode well.

Of course, there are other things that the government is doing that we object to. Certainly, straightaway, I think people can see the agenda in relation to our tax system and the way government spends money. Off-budget spending can be clever in an accounting sense, but government spending is government spending. It will have an impact on our borrowing costs, it will have an impact on our interest bill and it will have an impact on the amount and volume of money that is being spent by the government. We'll have more to say about those funds that are being set up.

But I think the seminal issue coming up for the government in this budget will be the stage 3 tax cuts, and these are much maligned in the commentary that is going around at the moment. The trick is in the name, and I'd say to all colleagues that stage 3 implies that stage 1 and stage 2 of our tax reform have already gone through and been implemented, and that this is a totality of a fair package. Stage 3 is for the broad middle class and another improvement to our tax system. It removes the inflationary and hard-hitting notion of bracket creep, which was the most inflationary pressure before inflation started taking off. Bracket creep is something that has to be avoided; it adds extreme pressure on households. The stage 3 changes have been legislated and, hopefully, the government is still committing to them, or potentially aspiring to them—we're not quite certain; I haven't checked what day it is. But hopefully it is dedicated to keeping its election promise to the Australian people. These changes are important too.

People are focused on saying, 'This will be a cost to the budget,' but the cost to the budget is actually a return to the budgets of families and individuals in their income tax, and to their family and business structures. Again, the central premise between us on this question of stage 3 tax cuts is: do people and businesses know better how to spend their money and in more productive ways than the government, or does the government know? Of course, the Greens will say: 'Well, we know. We, the Greens, know better than the government about how to spend every dollar—better than every other person in the country.' That is simply an argument I reject. The Labor Party is also dedicated to the view that they know better what the priorities are and how better to spend that money.

We take the view that that money in the economy will generate much more productivity and generate the ability for people to get ahead, to manage their own budget and expenditure and to make choices about their lifestyle—and choices are very important in the economy. So we remain committed to the stage 3 tax cuts because they are the third part of a very comprehensive reform plan that lowers taxes in Australia and lowers the complexity of bracket creep. It reduces reliance, and sets up Australia for less reliance, on income tax, which, we all agree—even Labor, I think—is an over-relied-on tax in Australia. This is the solution. It was legislated and agreed to by the Labor Party, and I say to them that they must deliver on this commitment that they made at the last election. I call on them to deliver that for the broad middle class of Australia and the future of Australia, because less reliance on income tax and less income tax taken off people and their incomes is going to be better for society and better for every household.

These are the critical questions that face us in the future, and, still, there are other things I'd point to in Western Sydney, where the government achieved well above and beyond the expectations of people in Western Sydney. People knew that, and you could see that in some of the results of the election. The commitment of the government, for the first time, to the second Sydney airport, the Nancy-Bird Walton Airport—an international airport which will operate in Western Sydney—was, and still is, opposed by Labor MPs in this chamber: the member for Chifley, notably; the member for Macquarie, who was just here; and the member for Macarthur. This is a fantastic future airport for Sydney that's currently being constructed, with the roads, rail, metro and everything going to it, and which will have tens of thousands of jobs attached to it. There is a huge commercial precinct attached to it and a manufacturing precinct—advanced manufacturing, defence manufacturing. They're all of the things you would do in setting up a modern airport to provide jobs, apprenticeships and long-term, sustainable employment for people and young people in Western Sydney.

So for members from Western Sydney to (1) oppose the airport and (2) continually oppose the airport, especially coming from a low-socioeconomic-demographic electorate—I've said to the member for Chifley, 'How do you look one of the lowest and most disadvantaged electorates in the country in the eye and say, "I oppose a jobs-generating and great proposal, like the second Sydney airport"?' It's nowhere near his electorate, I must say: it's in the south-west of Sydney, and it will generate opportunities and jobs for his community for decades. But he still opposes that airport. I give the Prime Minister the credibility his due: he has always supported the second Sydney airport, and he has integrity in his position on this. But his own members still continue to say to Western Sydney: 'We don't need an airport that's currently being built and that generates the jobs that we will need.'

The member for Chifley is the minister for industry; he lectures to us every day about manufacturing, and yet we have a huge manufacturing and advanced manufacturing precinct attached to this project. Where does he think the manufacturing that he's talking about is going to go? It's a very sad not-in-my-backyard approach from the minister for industry, who's lecturing us on why we need more industry. The second Sydney airport will provide the sites for so much opportunity and advancement for industry in advanced manufacturing that he should be recanting his previous position, and his current position, of opposing this airport, and he should be embracing the opportunity that this represents. It's another achievement by a coalition government that will set up Sydney, our city and, of course, one of the largest economies in Australia—New South Wales—for a long time to come.

I also want to pay tribute to the work that has been done over many years by the New South Wales coalition government. The member for Greenway made some observations here about the New South Wales government, but she neglected to mention that on the weekend the coalition agreed to fund the business case for the missing link that will go from my electorate, through her electorate and join Rouse Hill with St Marys on the Metro that will go to Sydney's second airport—which her colleagues oppose. This is a fantastic announcement, because that Metro line being finished and combined with the other Metro components will complete Sydney, make Sydney work again and provide the infrastructure we need to make our city work properly. The fact that not a word of it escaped her mouth is disappointing. She would understand how great this is.

I note that Chris Minns and the Labor Party are not yet committing to finishing the Metro network in Sydney that would connect the second Sydney airport to all the rest of Sydney. I can't fathom why an opposition wouldn't simply agree to the coalition government's forward-looking proposal on infrastructure, which is going to get people to and from the airport. It's an obvious and simple thing to do. Given it runs through the member for Greenway's electorate and that I respect her views, I'd welcome her to come forward and join me in welcoming that announcement from the coalition government. It's time for us to put partisanship aside and get this missing link done.

I also want to thank everyone who supported me at the last election. I had great support from very professional officers, who I've thanked before; from people who've worked for me over many years in either a ministerial capacity or in my electorate office, and also from all of those community groups who worked so hard to get us through the pandemic.

As a minister, one of the greatest times that I had in the middle of the pandemic was visiting the workers at ResMed, in my electorate—a great Australian start-up, now a global multinational, that manufactures medical devices. It's a great global company now, but still headquartered in Australia. Even through the costs and the difficulties, they still remain dedicated to Australia. Early on in the pandemic, these workers worked shifts throughout weeks and months to produce ventilators and to help Australia be set up. It was a real privilege to meet the workforce there, to engage with them and to see the enthusiasm and the great Aussie spirit that they had brought to this extremely difficult set of work arrangements. They put aside their personal benefit, and they worked in shifts around the clock for weeks and months. It was a real privilege to take former minister Hunt there and spend a day with the workers. I thank them, and I thank everyone who contributed so much to so many during such a difficult time.

Debate interrupted.

Sitting suspended from 13:00 to 16:00

Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—When I was interrupted during my address in reply in the House of Representatives chamber, I was speaking about how proud I am to be part of a government that is abolishing temporary protection visas. I said that this is a great act of restoring humanity to our refugee and migration program. But also, for many refugees who've been sort of sitting around here on temporary protection visas for more than a decade, it helps unlock the potential and the untapped skills that they have in order to address our broader critical skills shortages and to assist in increasing our economic growth. So, improving our migration settings, when delivered properly, will help support higher productivity and wages. It's good for the economy. It's also good for our community.

I also want to touch on the ever-growing issues of mental health and the affliction of addiction in our community. We've seen the recent report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, which showed that, tragically, issues relating to mental health and wellbeing are the leading cause of death, especially for young people. I want to take the opportunity to commend the efforts of my colleagues the Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler, and the Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, Emma McBride. I'm looking forward to working with both ministers on delivering a range of mental health support measures that are important to my community.

In my community there are strong partnerships which have seen grassroots-led programs that have had an extraordinary impact on the mental health and wellbeing of local people. I want to commend the work of the team at the Muslim Youth, Adult and Families Program, who have built a fantastic model which harnesses the expertise of organisations within the mental health and drug and alcohol sector, along with the resources of the community, to deliver evidence based intervention for members of our community. The program's strength lies in its being led by Islamic community partner MyCentre Multicultural Youth Centre. Funded through the North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network, it is delivered in partnership with mainstream service providers, including Odyssey House Victoria as the lead agency, the Salvation Army, the Self Help Addiction Resource Centre, and youth support and advocacy services.

Its success rests with the program's ability to engage with families in support of individuals who are experiencing alcohol and drug related issues. Now in its fifth year, the program also includes a medical clinic that is open to the public regardless of faith and background and that specialises in meeting the needs of a community that has traditionally been disengaged from accessing mental health and addiction support services. I want to acknowledge the work of Abu Hamza and the great team at MyCentre in my electorate for their significant work in this area. I want to also acknowledge Abdiaziz Farah and Bryan Ambrosius from Odyssey House, Masi Masiyane from the Salvation Army, and Brad Pearce from the North West Melbourne Primary Health Network.

These grassroots culturally nuanced services are exactly the types of programs we need in order to tackle the real issues out there in our communities related to mental health and addiction disorders. That is why I also stand in strong support of a program called the Crossing, a project proposal for Victoria's first worker-led rehabilitation outpatient and outreach services, led by the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union's Victorian branch and the Health and Community Services Union. This life-changing project goes to the heart of addressing issues around mental health and addiction in the workforce. I recently met with a delegation of workers here in Canberra who delivered firsthand accounts of the toll that mental health concerns are having in workplaces right across Australia.

The numbers are truly devastating and seem to only ever become apparent once an issue boils over and its severity is increased. Often the impact of addiction and mental health struggles becomes apparent at the acute stages of affliction, which is why both workplace support and early interventions are so critical. Once workers are provided with safe, trusted avenues of support, the inflow of requests for mental health support carries its own momentum. People are willing to seek out help if they don't have to jump through hurdles, which is hard enough for any one of us out there in the community.

When mental health and addiction support services become as accessible to the community as alcohol, drugs and gambling are, then we can truly begin to turn this issue on its head and make some significant progress. That's why the emphasis on worker-led programs is of fundamental importance. It opens avenues and spaces where people spend most of their daily lives—that is, their workplaces—and, importantly, helps alleviate the stress and weight of the challenge being carried by families alone through workmates and communities. They all do it collectively, and it’s a great model for getting results. We've seen the flow-on effects as a result of the absence of such services in my community. I'm sure you have in your own community, Deputy Speaker. The issue of availability of appropriate services is a very serious one. Family domestic violence, unemployment, homelessness and crime are all issues that go to the core of disengagement and distress in our communities.

From purely a cost-benefit analysis, initiatives such as these speak for themselves. But the real impact is the long-term effect on people, on their families and on the community. What starts off as an individual issue easily becomes an intergenerational problem, right down the line and throughout the community. We know this, we've seen it and we need to do something about it. If anyone in this House needs evidence of the proposal's potential, we need look no further than Foundation House in New South Wales with its worker-led rehabilitation, outpatient and outreach service.

I want to commend the work of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, Victorian branch, and the Health and Community Services Union for leading this amazing social justice initiative in strong partnership with other trade unions and Odyssey House Victoria. In particular, I want to acknowledge the efforts of the state secretary, Tony Mavromatis, and the assistant state secretary, Tony Piccolo, from the AMWU for their strong commitment and advocacy. Without them, this project would not be getting off the ground.

I want to acknowledge the state secretary of HACSU, Paul Healy, and Stephanie Thuesen, for their tireless efforts and commitment, and Dr Stefan Gruenert, the CEO of Odyssey House Victoria. They are working together because they strongly believe they have a model that will deliver results to the community. I want to thank them for their efforts and thank them for what drives them—that is, their compassion and determination to help others in the community. Working people require such leadership, in this space, and the campaign initiative delivers strongly for workers and communities right across Victoria. I'm determined to help support these projects and assist in their continued advocacy for social justice and see that this project comes to life in my home state of Victoria.

The Albanese Labor government has had a strong start to what is a very strong and bold reform agenda. We've certainly hit the ground running and demonstrated the approach and the values that will shape this government and this 47th Parliament. There's a lot of work to do, we all know this, and I look forward to working with everyone in my community, especially, to raise the issues that impact on their lives and to respond in a way that helps shape and inform strong policies. I do that through my parliamentary roles. I look forward to contributing to the agenda of the 47th Parliament.

I've been in this place for quite a while. I began by saying many thank yous to the wonderful people who have supported me over the years as the federal member for Calwell. I have watched my community grow incredibly in the time that I have been up here. It still largely remains a community that has settled great waves of refugees. We've certainly done that in settling refugees from Iraq and Syria. We have established migrant communities. We have new and emerging communities from the subcontinent. Indeed, we have one of the largest Sri Lankan, Indian and Pakistani communities in Victoria. It continues to be the great reflection of Australian migration and multiculturalism. Those communities have made a great contribution to this country. They will continue to make a great contribution.

I want to pause for a moment and speak about an event that I attended last Friday night in Broadmeadows. It was a vigil for the earthquake victims in Turkiye and Syria, expected already to have surpassed some 35,000 lives lost. My local Islamic community, Milli Gorus, and their fundraising arm, Hasene, organised a vigil last Friday night. I attended. There were some 1,000 people present. They came to mourn the loss of people in Turkiye and Syria. Some member of my community have lost family there. More importantly, they also came together to make donations, to raise funds, in order to provide—at this time, people just want to help. If they can't help in a physical way, they are generous in their hearts and they contribute financially.

Hasene has raised a lot of money and will continue to raise a lot of money for the people of Turkiye and Syria. It is one of those devastating natural disasters, one that is not often seen but that has an incredible impact, even in our country, because of the diaspora and because of the relationships that they have with family and friends back home. The Australian government has in the first instance given $10 million of humanitarian aid, seven of which will go to Turkiye and three to Syria through the Red Crescent and through the Red Cross. We've also sent technical assistance and emergency services assistance. I'm pretty sure that in the days and weeks and months as this tragedy continues to unfold, our thoughts, our community's thoughts and our country's thoughts will be with the people who went to bed one evening not knowing what was about to happen to them. Within that tragedy, there have been great moments of miracles of babies surviving and the tragedies like the father who held onto his daughter's hand while he waited for her to be removed after she'd been crushed in the earthquake. These are the stories that hit hard.

I thank the emergency services. It's not only our people who have gone over there but also the emergency services of all countries in the entire region rushed to the aid of Turkiye and Syria. What it does show is that, ultimately, when you strip aside who we are, what language we speak, what faith we have and what colour we are, we have a shared humanity. Humanity rises to its best at times of such great disasters. At the moment, we are seeing the best of humanity, and that should inspire us. My condolences go out to all those who have lost family and friends, and I hope to be able to help in any way that I can, through the Australian government, to assist in the days, weeks and months ahead.

Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I extend my congratulations to the member for Calwell for her contribution this afternoon and outline that she is doing a magnificent job for her community. I concur with many of the comments that she made and can see the pride that she is doing in her community for her community. I think that her comments were brilliant.

I also extend my community's best wishes to those in Turkiye and Syria with the earthquakes. We extend our best wishes and we will also going into some fundraising efforts, no doubt, when I return to the electorate. I had UNICEF in my office this morning as the Co-Chair of the Parliamentary Association for UNICEF. We talked about the excellent efforts they are putting in, how terribly bad the situation is, and the great work that UNICEF is doing with water, food and providing safe spaces for children, particularly those who have been pulled out of the wreckage and who have lost their families. I thank the member for Calwell for that contribution. I concur and agree with many of the points you made.

Every single day it really is an honour to stand here in this place. It's a great privilege to represent the good people of my electorate of Moncrieff. The last three years have been probably some of the most difficult in living history, and we faced significant challenges that we've never really faced before. We had bushfires, floods and COVID-19, and yet Australians didn't falter. Australians remained strong and we came together as a community to support each other through some of the hardest times our country has ever seen. Australians indeed are strong. We had natural disasters and we had a pandemic that we all would like to forget but that we've learned now to live with.

As I look back at my time during the last term in government, I'm proud of the incredible work that the coalition did to protect the lives and livelihoods of Australians. If we cast our minds back, it was actually about this time during the term that COVID hit and the government had to pivot to manage the problems that our country faced and the grave crisis that was coming towards us.

The creation of JobKeeper and the JobSeeker increase ensured that millions of Australians could continue to pay their bills, keep the doors of their businesses open, keep their employees employed, put food on the table and of course, ultimately, support their families. It was a difficult time for so many across our country. It kept businesses afloat and employers connected to their workers during some of the worst economic times our country has faced. At the height of COVID, I had about 10,500 small businesses on JobKeeper, which was about double what most electorates across the country got. It was about $335 million in JobKeeper alone, give or take, that kept my electorate going. Those business people still say thank you when I walk down Cavill Avenue, when I walk through Surfers Paradise, when I walk through Broadbeach. Owners still come out and say, 'Thank you for what the Morrison government did during the pandemic.'

We delivered a $600 million business and tourism package in conjunction with the state government. My Gold Coast neighbours, the members for McPherson and Fadden, and I strongly advocated for this in Canberra. It allowed tens of thousands of businesses, including those border communities there on the Tweed, to keep their doors open, their businesses operating, their staff employed and their very important hopes intact.

We delivered a $1.2 billion tourism package to drive economic recovery in pandemic hit industries and regions, including 800,000 half-price tickets to 15 different destinations across the country—including about 200,000 airfares into the Gold Coast. I remember at the time, when the Gold Coast Airport closed, they were midway through a $500 million upgrade to the terminal. That work is now finished, but it was certainly a desperate time, and a very uncertain time, when the airport closed. The coalition government provided certainty through JobKeeper, through the cashflow boost and through these other incentives, including a $94.6 million support package for Australian zoos and aquariums. That fed the dolphins at Sea World—it cost $1,000 a week to feed one dolphin—the tigers at Dreamworld and of course the koalas at Currumbin. I'm proud of the Moncrieff community and the work that we did together to support one another.

In March 2020, I established the Moncrieff Community Cabinet, which brought together community organisations and faith groups to support and navigate the pandemic. The first meeting that we had was on a phone hook-up—there was no video at that point because it was right at the very, very beginning of the pandemic. I wanted to be connected to my community groups and faith groups to make sure that we had a road forward. The community cabinet has continued on the other side of COVID up to today. There are some 22 members now. It's a platform for organisations to stay connected. They work together and they support one another to achieve fantastic outcomes for our community and beyond—including raising funds and delivering goods down to the Lismore flood victims, and up to Brisbane as well. We weren't impacted on the Gold Coast by the floods and so we were able to help them.

I just want to talk about some of those community cabinet members. As I said, there are 22 representatives in the Moncrieff Community Cabinet: two chambers of commerce; four state MPs; five faith groups, including the Anglican Reverend Jim Raistrick, who does a fantastic job. We have St John's Crisis Centre in Surfers Paradise, which was so important as an emergency relief provider during COVID. It does such an amazing job.

We also have Father Raymond from the Greek Orthodox Church. The church also did a drive during the floods and sent some relief down to those in Lismore who were suffering. We have the Sikh community, who have a marvellous temple out in Nerang. Goodness me, they made hundreds and hundreds of meals every day to help those who needed extra help but couldn't leave their homes during COVID. The Islamic Society, who also do great work, is represented by Hussain Baba on the Moncrieff Community Cabinet. They've done great work in feeding the community—particularly those of Islamic faith, but also others more broadly. We also have the Jewish Rabbi Adi Cohen as part of the Moncrieff Community Cabinet, and I note the fantastic work that his church does.

We have not-for-profit organisations there too. Volunteering Gold Coast is on the community cabinet. They do amazing work. Karen Phillips, the 2018 Gold Coast Citizen of the Year is also on the Moncrieff Community Cabinet. If you don't know Karen on the Gold Coast, you're not worth knowing, because she knows absolutely everybody and she's a heavy lifter in our community. Andy Rajapakse was the district governor of Rotary International and is also on the community cabinet. Mokh Singh, from the Sikh community, is as well, as is Cornelia Babbage OAM, from Multicultural Families Organisation, who has done great work and worked so hard through COVID. Anna Zubac, from The Migrant Centre, did such important work to look after refugee migrants. There is Yas Matbouly, from Serving Our People, a great charity on the Gold Coast, and Marco Renai, from Men of Business Academy, which helps youth who are at risk of entering the juvenile justice system get through year 11 and year 12 and produces very fine men. 'Building better men' is their motto, and it's a fantastic intervention program that really does get results program that really does get results for young people. As the shadow minister for youth, I have keen, continuing interest in what they do at Men of Business in Southport. I don't think I've forgotten anyone. Pushpinder Oberoi recently has joined, representing the Indian community, and he recently received a medal from the Prime Minister of India for his work between Australia and India. I have a fantastic GOPIO community on the Gold Coast that he also represents. The Baha'i faith is also represented on the Moncrieff Community Cabinet.

Shortly after establishing the Moncrieff Community Cabinet, I established the City Heart Taskforce and delivered the REIMAGINE Gold Coast job skills and industry forums 2020 and 2021, which set the scene for the future of job skills and industry on the Gold Coast, looking at innovation, looking at workforce—looking at the areas that are now top of mind. The City Heart Taskforce convened as the first and only think tank on the Gold Coast and brought together leaders from key sectors across small business, tourism, events, education, construction, manufacturing arts and sports. Now we've added the key pillar of sustainability and environment to the City Heart Taskforce and its 12 members. I paid tribute to one of our members, Matthew Schneider, whom we lost, in this very place last sitting week. Matt will be sorely missed on the City Heart Taskforce in our regular meetings.

We developed a cohesive framework with outcome focused strategies to hasten our recovery from the pandemic, create job opportunities and rebuild, simply, our city heart. Now we focus on stewarding industry and business to parameters and requirements around net zero and Labor's new IR laws, which will negatively impact business, and they need to be aware of that. I was proud to deliver for our local community during COVID-19 the $596,400 upgrade to the Nerang Community Bowls Club as part of the Building Better Regions Fund. That fund, as we know, has now been scrapped by the Albanese government, but in its time it insured that the club could continue to serve its many local members and the wider constituency and community for the good people of Nerang. I attended the opening just before Christmas, and it's been truly transformative in the clubhouse. It is a very nice environment indeed to have a beer and talk to those who live in the Nerang community.

I would also like to thank those in my community, who I won't name, who helped form the committees that worked through all the applications for funding rounds for local sporting champions, volunteer grants, the Stronger Communities grants and the Safer Communities grants. These are very serious rounds of grant funding that help communities to be safer and deliver better facilities for our communities, and I was very pleased to work on committees that I formed; we were able to work out where the funding is to go.

But it wasn't just the hard work of government or community and industry leaders that got us through the pandemic, it was also the hard work of our front-line workers, who kept our country in a strong position. It was nurses, GPs, aged-care workers, early childhood educators, teachers, ADF personnel, retail workers, truck drivers and so many more. They worked around the clock to ensure that Australians could continue to access essential medicines, groceries and support when they needed it.

I remember the early days of the pandemic, watching as COVID-19 turned countries absolutely on their heads. Those countries still struggle today towards economic recovery. The pandemic caused untold sadness and emotion as countries like Italy faced skyrocketing death tolls, the bodies of loved ones filling the streets. It wasn't that long ago. I remember when it gripped India, and a shortage of ventilators sent their hospitals into chaos. We all remember those news stories. I pay tribute to former health minister Greg Hunt and the job that he did in that role. As he used to say, there were many countries who looked towards Australia during COVID and wished they'd been in our position. And although thousands of Australians lost their lives during COVID, many thousands were saved due to the hard work, dedication and quick decision-making of the coalition government, our health experts and, of course, the wider community.

As we chart our way out of the pandemic, we find ourselves in a better position than many countries around the world. The coalition's record of strong fiscal management, which I outlined at the beginning, meant that we were able to provide billions in economic support during the bushfires, the pandemics and the floods. But the pandemic has left a changed world in uncertain times, there's no doubt. Rising inflation, interest rates, fuel and energy prices—everybody knows that these cost more. Everyday items continue to increase. Breakfast at your local cafe is expensive. The cost of living for Australian families no doubt is going through the roof.

While we know that Labor has never been good with money, it's never been more crucial that this Labor government does not fall into its usual traps. We need to make sure that it spends Australians' taxes where Australians need it most. And let's not forget—the last time Labor was in government, spending got so out of control it had to stop paying for essential things Australians needed, like medicines. But with the cost of living set to increase further and with interest rates continuing to rise, the government needs to ensure that it is doing all it can to reduce those pressures for everyday Australians. What we've seen from the government so far has been all talk and not much action. As the opposition, we'll work tirelessly to hold it to account on all the promises it's made over the nine years that it was in opposition.

They made promises like cheaper child care for all Australians. Since coming to opposition, I've been appointed as the shadow minister for early childhood education, and I'm very proud of the coalition's record in this space. We undertook the biggest reforms in over 40 years, which saw 1.2 million more children in care. Over 280,000 more children are in early childhood education because of those reforms of which I'm so proud. I pay tribute to the former minister Alan Tudge for the work that he did.

The women's workforce participation rate was at an historic record high when we left office. We left the place in pretty good shape—women's workforce participation was 62.3 per cent. When Labor left office last time, it was 58.7 per cent. We'll see how the participation rate goes after we've seen the effects of the $4.7 billion cheaper child care bill, which, I remind the Prime Minister, we did support. We did highlight the flaws in that bill with an amendment, but we did support cheaper child care for families. I think he said earlier today in the chamber that we didn't support it. Well, we did support it, so I would like to correct the record on that.

During the last election, the government made a number of big promises to make child care cheaper. They committed $4.7 billion to increase subsidies for families earning a combined $530,000. That's $4.7 billion, and not a single dollar will increase the places in early learning centres across the country. There are no new places across the country. While the opposition supports more access to care for working families, we've also raised a number of concerns, including that there are no plans to increase access, no plans to address current workforce shortages and no plans to address thin markets and what we know as 'child care deserts'. Providers are closing their books, they're capping their enrolments and they're asking parents to keep their children at home, because there are simply not enough places. What's the government going to do to ensure there are more places for children? They're not doing anything in this space, which begs the question: what is the benefit of offering higher subsidies to more families if those families can't actually access child care? What is the point of doing that?

I'm not the only one who wants to know the answer. The many families I've spoken to in regional, rural and remote Australia want to know the answer, too. My coalition colleagues want to know the answer. Families in Barker, Mallee, Forrest and Grey want to know what the government is doing to increase access to child care. In my own regional urban electorate, I saw 400 on a waiting list at one of the centres that I visited recently. These are just some of the electorates across Australia that have a large number of childcare deserts, where there is no access at all.

I'm going to move forward now and spend some time on my Moncrieff Community Cabinet. I congratulate all of those on the cabinet for the work that they've done. I want to put some thank you's into to this speech. I want to acknowledge the many who supported Moncrieff at the last election. I thank the Moncrieff federal divisional council of the Liberal and National parties for your ongoing support and tireless campaigning as blue soldiers on the ground during pre-poll and on election day. I thank the chairman, Viv Grayson, for four years of service. His wife, Di, is the treasurer. Gail Copely is the vice-chair, whose birthday it is today, actually. Happy birthday, Gail! Sue Lipp is the secretary. In May 2022, when we were all faced with relentless wild weather and rain, my first thought when I woke up that morning was for the volunteers putting up bunting and signs in the very, very heavy rain. It was an awful day, all day, on election day, but they were there, putting up signs. You all did so much work, and I'm grateful for your individual and your collective efforts, and for your unwavering loyalty to the party and of course to the office of the member of Moncrieff.

To my party, indeed, I owe it all. To my whole team: thank you all so much for what you do every day—for your patience, for your loyalty and for your dedication to the good people Moncrieff, and also for supporting the member for Moncrieff here in Canberra every sitting week.

To finish, to the great people of Moncrieff—who have now been elevated from the 'good people' to the 'great people' of Moncrieff!—thank you once again for choosing me to be your voice in our federal parliament. I truly love my community and it’s a role that I will never, ever take for granted. I remain deeply humbled by you support. Most importantly, I promise to put your needs before all else. That is my pledge to you.

Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As always, it's an honour to speak in this place. It's particularly special today to deliver this address-in-reply speech, my first as a government member. I'd like to take this opportunity to celebrate my electorate, the regions within it and the very good people of Lyons, who it is my absolute privilege to represent today and every day as their federal member.

As every regional MP in this place knows, there's nothing like a good old-fashioned country show to bring the community together, and I was lucky enough to attend several towards the end of last year. The locals are always out in force at the Westbury Show, and last year's turnout was no different. This annual agricultural show is the oldest in Tasmania, now in its 159th year, having returned with a vengeance post COVID. Westbury Show has all the classic elements you need for a good show: woodchopping, equestrian, show dogs, machinery and, of course, show bags and plenty of places to get a dagwood dog. It has some distinctly unique elements, like the community scarecrow competition, the pet parade and the fancy dressed lamb competition, that make it such a special event. I spent a fantastic day talking to constituents—the weather was glorious—and checking out everything Westbury Show has to offer. As one of the sponsors of the homecraft section, the ladies committee really outdid themselves. I congratulate Westbury Agricultural Society and all its members on another successful event and look forward to celebrating 160 years this year.

The Sunday of the same weekend was an equally gorgeous day in southern Tasmania, perfect weather for enjoying the Brighton Show, which is one of the best country shows in Tassie. In my opinion, it has absolutely overtaken the Hobart show as the pre-eminent southern experience. The Labor tent was one of the most popular stops for those doing the rounds of the Pontville Recreation Grounds. But I can't take all the credit; they weren't there for me. The presence of my two newest family members, Gus and Wolfie, our new miniature dachshund puppies, may have had something to do with the crowds of kids who swarmed our tent. The car show was, as always, a big hit the locals, as was the baby show, the dog high jump, and my personal favourite, the miniature goats. President Geoff Jackson and the entire Brighton Show committee did a fantastic job, as always, over a multi-day show. I, along with the entire Brighton community, am very grateful for their hard work in putting together such a fantastic show every year.

Show season is one of my favourite times of year in my electorate. I also attended the last ag show in Lyons for 2023: Deloraine Show, which was a great day, as always. I'm a very proud sponsor of the sheep section at Deloraine, and it was a pleasure to present ribbons to the winning sheep. I'm particularly looking forward to the Koonya Garlic Festival next weekend, way down there on the Tasman Peninsula; the Kempton Festival on 19 February; and the Bream Creek Show in March, all of which are very popular community events. I would urge anyone listening to this broadcast to get down to Tasmania and attend these fantastic shows.

I recently had the opportunity to represent the Minister for Early Childhood Education and Minister for Youth at the 2023 Australian of the Year Awards for Tasmania. It was a privilege to be in the room and to hear the wonderful stories of these remarkable Tasmanians. I congratulate John Kamara, Tasmania's Australian of the Year; Dr Frances Donaldson, Tasmanian Senior Australian of the Year; Meriam Daoui, Young Australian of the Year for Tasmania; and my personal favourite—because he's in Lyons!—Keith Parker, Australian Local Hero for Tasmania. I'd like to take a moment to tell you a little more about Keith.

Keith is from Sheffield, in the north-west of my electorate. He's a volunteer ambulance officer and Army Reserve ammunition technical officer, which I know that the member for Braddon, who is sitting opposite, will take an interest in, being a veteran himself. Keith specialised in explosive ordnance for his entire army career, serving overseas and assisting the UN on several occasions. When he's not on reserve duty, Keith is saving lives in Sheffield as a volunteer ambulance officer. Since 2011, he has donated an average of 1,500 hours a year, and he is often the first responder if no paramedics are available.

It really is volunteers like Keith who are the lifeblood of our rural and regional communities. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Keith and, indeed, to recognise all community volunteers across Lyons. Our first responder and State Emergency Service volunteers deserve an extra shout-out, having been working overtime in the face of storms and flooding across Tasmania in the last few months, particularly in the Kempton, Break O'Day and Meander Valley municipalities. And I'll give a shout out to the member for Braddon; I note that his community of Latrobe was also affected. A big thank you to all for their tireless hard work and dedication to their communities.

One of the great joys of my role as the member for Lyons, amongst many others, is being able to support the work and achievements of so many people and organisations across the electorate. Whether it's through grant funding, a donation or volunteering my time at the footy club canteen, it's just one way that I can acknowledge the great things being done in my patch. For example, I recently had a great visit to the Swansea RSL, which received a Veteran and Community grant through the Department of Veterans' Affairs to upgrade the kitchen at the RSL. A big thank you to Garry and Julie for the invitation; to Gwyneth, Iris, Judy and Rhonda from the women's auxiliary, who gave me a tour of the new facilities; and to RSL members for the very warm welcome that I received. And it was an absolutely busy day; the Swansea RSL was just absolutely pumping! The new kitchen and accessibility upgrades will ensure the sustainability of the club for years to come, as well is contributing to the health and wellbeing of club members and the community more broadly. So well done to Garry and Peter, the RSL members who spent about 1,200 volunteer hours and the project. It's really hard yakka actually doing that work, and it was a mammoth effort.

I also need to give a shout-out to the volunteers at Wildcare Cradle Mountain for the work they do with the Parks and Wildlife Service to help protect and conserve the iconic Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park in Tasmania's north-west. Recently, Wildcare Cradle Mountain received a volunteer grant which was used to purchase safety gear and high-vis vests for its members. I know this equipment is being put to good use, and the team certainly looked the part at their recent training and information day.

I was also very pleased to be able to support Brighton Food Hub with the donation of a prize towards its upcoming raffle. The Brighton Food Hub is an amazing initiative in the Brighton municipality. It is 100 per cent community owned and operated, and it provides affordable staple grocery and household items to anyone in the community who needs them. Sadly, that need has grown over recent years and, frankly, shows little sign of slowing, while we battle global inflation and cost-of-living pressures.

Christine, the President of the Brighton Community Food Hub, cares deeply about her local community, as do all of her volunteers. She has long been an advocate for the northern suburbs of Hobart. I commend Christine, Vice-President Geoff and the entire team at Brighton Community Food Hub for their incredible commitment and care towards the Brighton community. I look forward to my upcoming volunteer shift at the food hub in a few weeks time. On food hub days down there at the civic centre, you wouldn't believe it. It's like an army mess hall. It's an amazing job that they do.

Recently I had the pleasure of being on the barbecue alongside Alan Briggs, his family and volunteers at Tassie's Cure Brain Cancer Golf Day at the Bagdad Community Golf Club. This is an annual event in memory of Alan's son Rickie and to raise funds to support the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation and its mission to rapidly improve brain cancer survival and vision to ultimately find a cure. Once again, Alan, Justin and the volunteers behind Tassie's CBC Golf Day put on a thoroughly enjoyable event, with a fantastic amount of support from the local community. I've never failed to be amazed by the generosity, perseverance and dedication of organisations like Swansea RSL Club, Wildcare Cradle Mountain and Brighton Community Food Hub and those involved in events like Tassie's CBC Golf Day, as well as so, so many more across Lyons. Congratulations to them all.

The young people of Lyons are truly a talented bunch, and I would like to take this opportunity to highlight some of their recent sporting achievements from across the electorate: Axl from Penna, who plays for Strike Soccer School and has represented Tasmania at the National Club Futsal Championships, which was held in Sydney in January; Leuca from Deloraine, who won silver in the double mini trampoline event at the world gymnastics cup in Portugal in June 2022 and represented Australia in November at the world age gymnasts championships in Bulgaria; Hayley from Dromedary, who competed at the Australian Gymnastics Championships in May last year, coming 10th in her age group for level 8 women's artistic gymnastics in Australia—an awesome achievement for her first Australian championships; and Hudson from Lower Barrington, who represented Tasmania on the state team at the National Cross Country Championships, held in Adelaide in August 2022.

I also give a big congrats to the Tasmanian under-13 girls netball team, who dominated—I must emphasise that; they dominated—at the Combined Australian Netball Association Championships in Queensland. Three team members were from my electorate: Molly from Sorell, Shakoda from Orielton and Millie from Dodges Ferry. The team won eight out of their nine games and went on to win their grand final, making history as the first under-13 Tassie team to do so. Well done, girls.

Thank you, Member for Braddon, I'll take that interjection. I'm also the proud sponsor of many teams and clubs across Lyons. There are too many to mention them all here now, but I did want to quickly acknowledge the South East United Football Club and the success of its Sorell Summer Sixes tournament and the fact that the St Helens Football Club has just announced that they are fielding a senior women's team this season.

As you can see, there is much to celebrate across my electorate. I remain honoured to serve the people of my electorate in this place—people who are warm, resilient, welcoming and, when necessary, tough. In my first speech to the House of Representatives back in 2016, I remarked that I knew I had the best job in the world as the member for Lyons, and this remains very much the case today. I thank the electorate for placing their trust in me once again to continue advocating for them as a member of the Albanese Labor government. It's a privilege and an honour that I never take for granted, and I thank them every day.

Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's now been several months since the good people of Berowra put their trust in me again to be their representative in this place. I want to thank them for doing me this enormous honour of being their representative. I always try to do my best to represent the interests of our community and advocate for the beautiful and unique place in which we live.

These three years are going to be very significant years for Australians, as they will be for the people of Berowra. We're still emerging from COVID, from some events that we don't fully understand and from a way of life we never want to have to return to. How we emerge, and the sorts of decisions that we make, are going to shape our future. In my electorate, there are some particularly pressing challenges that the government must not forget, simply because the headlines have moved on to new topics. There are significant parts of the community, particularly those communities along the Hawkesbury River, that are still rebuilding from disaster. Three floods in two years takes a toll on any community, and the Hawkesbury River communities in my electorate have faced a lot. The Hawkesbury River communities are filled with family homes, turf farms, orchards, and waterski and caravan parks. There are also those integral hubs that exist in small communities, like Wisemans Ferry with its bowling club, its Men's Shed and its RFS, all of which have been repeatedly devastated by those flooding events.

Many of the people who live on the river speak of their lineage with pride. There are many Australians living on the river who can actually trace their lineage back to the early days of European settlement along the Hawkesbury. By early July last year, when residents, businesses and community organisations had really only just got back on their feet from February's floods, the Hawkesbury flooded again. This time it flooded with levels rising to the sort of thing we hadn't seen for over 30 years.

I want to acknowledge the amazing rescue and recovery efforts, and our first responders in this regard are really truly amazing, given how often our community leans on them. The SES in the Hills shire are led by Andrew Turner, and, in the Hornsby shire, they're led by James Logan. From the RFS, I particularly want to pay tribute to the work of Glen McCartney, the district manager of the Hills District RFS. Stan Montgomery, Ian Francis, John Turnbull, Gary Chatman and Rod Derriman all lead the various brigades in and around the Hawkesbury area of my electorate. Michael Lathlean from the Hills Shire Council deserves a special mention as well, for the coordination efforts that he provides in these times of disaster, as does Superintendent Darrin Batchelor from the Hills Police Area Command.

I was pleased to be able to take the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Sussan Ley, on a fireboat crew with people from the Wisemans Ferry RFS to survey the devastation shortly after the July floods, and to better appreciate the needs of our community. I showed her firsthand both the force of the river and the damage that the flood left in its wake. We spoke to residents who'd been cut-off during the floods and were only just beginning the arduous clean-up.

Sadly, the floods in my community were not without fatalities. There was a day when I was visiting the Sackville North brigade, to go and survey the damage, and, unfortunately, we weren't able to go out and survey it, because they got an emergency call that there'd been a helicopter crash in South Maroota. We lost Carl Hearps, a much-loved member of our community, during a routine flight checking flood development. I offered my condolences to his wife, Anne, his family and everyone who worked with him. He was an amazing person, and it's a reminder of the way in which people engaged in emergency services put themselves in harm's way, whether they're volunteers or paid employees, or whether they're providing auxiliary assistance, as Carl was doing. They put themselves in uncomfortable situations so the rest of our community can get on with their lives.

I want to talk about some of the people who were affected by these flooding events in our community, because some of the people are really quite unique and demonstrate a real spirit that I think is what the Berowra electorate is all about. I met Terry, a diesel mechanic, who had a caravan in one of the caravan parks at Riviera. When I saw the devastation of his caravan, the way it had been absolutely splattered with mud, he was trying to wash everything out with his family. At first instance, you would look at the caravan and think, 'This is a big mess.' But what you realise over time is that this caravan wasn't just a building to Terry; it was a slice of paradise for him. It was a place his family comes every year to enjoy and where they went to waterski. In that sense, it wasn't just a caravan that he had there and that he'd built and added onto over time; it was a place of family memories. To see those places destroyed, to see them so badly affected, was very moving for me, as it was for anybody who encountered people who had lost so much in those disasters.

I admire the resilience of business owners in the area, given that, for many of them, this was the third time they were cleaning up. I'm talking about people like Chris, the manager of Cliftonville Lodge Resort; Tony, who owned and operated Riviera for many years; and the amazing—I call her marvellous—Margaret Pratt and Barry Roberts, from the Wisemans Ferry Bowling Club, which has been such a hub and has not been spared its own issues as a result of the flooding. Despite this, they shared their gratitude for the emergency services personnel, cleaned up as best they could and then moved on quickly to help others.

I heard stories of heroism, strength and community solidarity during the flood. At its peak, more than 700 personnel from the various agencies in the Hawkesbury communities were carrying out rescue-and-recovery missions every day as needed. I think of the wonderful Adrian Acheson, the presidents of the Wisemans Ferry Men's Shed, whose shed was completely totalled by the force of the river on two of the three occasions. He was given a pail of paint and, rather than using it to clean up the shed, he donated it to members of the community who'd lost everything and were trying to clean up their houses. Members of the Men's Shed also ensured that locals were supported to rebuild, and that's of the sort of communities that those river communities are. For some, seven months on, the floods are just a memory. But for many people in my electorate the floods have left a permanent mark. We must not forget what these communities have been through or the extra support they continue to need in order to mitigate the damage of future weather events.

Another challenge in my electorate which I have spoken about many times in this place and which became particularly difficult in recent years is the need for much better telecommunications infrastructure in the Berowra electorate. In good times, telecommunications connect us with our work, our studies, our family and our friends. In bad times, telecommunications are a matter of life and death. We especially depend on good telecommunications connections when they're related to health or during emergencies and disasters. Any failure of connection increases the level of distress exponentially and increases the possibility of fatality.

In Berowra, Australia's telco companies have a history of grossly failing our community. Members of my community too often find their phones completely ineffective in the many dead spots across the Berowra electorate but particularly in the Hawkesbury River area. Some of the low-lying communities I visited experience poor connection on good days and had no connection at all during last year's floods. It was many days before telco companies restored their connections. In the meantime, houses were submerged, cars were swept away and people needed rescuing.

In emergencies, as an everyday life, Australians deserve proper connection that the telcos promise and that residents pay for. Last year, under the coalition government's Peri-Urban Mobile Program—a program that I advocated for to try to help communities like mine deal with the appalling state of telecommunications—I secured federal funding for improved telecommunications, with three new towers serving the areas of Annangrove, Hornsby Heights, Mount Colah and Galston. This is an important step forward, but it has to be only the beginning. The investment is a step in the right direction, though.

Last year I wrote to and met with the incoming Minister for Communications, Michelle Rowland, bringing to her attention the poor state of communications in our electorate so that we might ensure that our community acquires the level of telco coverage that we need. I was also pleased to host the then shadow minister for communications, Sarah Henderson, to the electorate. She had a chance to meet with a number of residents whose lives are impacted daily by inadequate telecommunications.

We met with Blake Buchanan from Kenthurst, who's unable to get NBN cable or fixed wireless and struggles with kids at home, especially during lockdown and home-schooling. We met Peter Paton from Annangrove. The internet issues that he had affected the whole street, and several neighbours came to Mr Paton's house to meet with us. We met with Don and Joy Montgomery of Annangrove, an elderly couple who have unreliable phone connections and have in the past experienced difficulty trying to get an ambulance when Don was needing help in an emergency. We met with Emad Hanna of Kenthurst. Dr Hanna struggled with telehealth during the lockdown due to poor internet. At home they've got a Telstra antenna on their roof and still they're unable to get a signal in certain parts of their house. I've asked Minister Rowland to visit the electorate so that she, too, can experience firsthand the challenges faced by so many Australians in Berowra.

I want to talk about some of the issues I was fighting for during the election campaign. During the campaign I fought for our communities to receive funding for projects they needed in order to gain upgrades—projects that would have been funded had we been returned to government, like the upgrade to Campbell Park at West Pennant Hills and Hunt Reserve in Mount Colah and the completion of the San Giorgio Association community facilities at Kenthurst. But the Labor government is not proceeding with any of these projects. Despite this, I will keep fighting for the delivery of these and other community projects, because the Berowra community deserves no less. I will also keep fighting in our community for better traffic conditions, for more housing affordability for young families whose families have lived in the community for generations and who want to live close to their parents and their grandparents, and for policies to address cost of living, because they are the things that people in my community are talking to me about.

I want to take a moment to thank those people who played a role in Berowra in the last election campaign. As a member of parliament, you can't do this alone; you are only here because of the wonderful support—in my case from the Berowra FEC and the Berowra Liberal Party. I particularly want to thank Peter Reed, my campaign manager; Warren Waddell, who was the assistant campaign manager; Warwick Puldon, who ran the volunteer effort; and the various people who ran different parts of the campaign: Graham Bateman, Daryl Beech, Sallianne McClelland, Phil Hare, Berenice Walker, Sreeni Pillamarri, David Williams and Helen McNamee. Their work was absolutely fantastic.

I am supported in Berowra by a terrific federal conference and, over the course of the last term, by Maria Kovacic. I am delighted that Maria has gone on to bigger and better things and is now the state president of the New South Wales division of the Liberal Party, bringing the same sense that she brought to the role in Berowra and the same strong leadership in preparing our state division for, hopefully, a successful result in the coming state election. I want to thank our new president, Michael McAuley; Tom Green, my secretary; Peter Reed, the treasurer; and Helen McNamee and Warren Waddell, our vice presidents.

I also want to acknowledge the people who have worked with me and who have helped me to serve our community over the course of the last term. My office has been led by Annette McHugh and Sarah Greenbaum. Other people who made a huge effort in my office over that period include: Tonia Watson, Jack Abadi, Karolina Pultsiniski, Annie Phillips, Tracey Barracliffe, Mike Morrow, Carmen Martuuk, Charlene Comparit, Kimberley Lai, Jasper McCrindle and the amazing volunteers, Penny Becchio, Daryl Beech and the man I call our 'Young Liberal', Ed Glasby, who in a month turns 90—showing that you're never too old to get involved. They really are a magnificent team.

Unfortunately, in the period since the election I've lost some people that are very dear to me and without whose support I wouldn't be here. I wanted to take a moment to reflect on them and their contributions to the community. On 23 May last year we lost Valerie Smith. To anyone who knew her, Valerie was the epitome of stoicism. After having had three children, Valerie lost her husband. Val was determined to provide her young children with the best life she could. Caroline Miller, her best mate, said that Val's guiding philosophy was 'don't be a victim, be a solution'. And so she was.

As a single parent who worked hard to put her kids through school and university, her caring instincts didn't wane when her children left the nest. She was an active member of the Annangrove Progress Association and a major figure in the Sydney Society for Scottish History. In many respects, she was a mother figure to much of the Annangrove community. She had a property on Annangrove Road with orange trees and vegetables and a horse paddock. When she got too old to work on the farm, she turned to a new project. She would buy hundreds of mason jars. Members of the community would donate fruit and veggies, and Val would process them into marmalade, jam and relish that she'd then donate to the local school, the Kenthurst Rotary Club, the Annangrove Progress Association, Dural Probus and, indeed, anyone in the community that Val knew was struggling. Her Scottish roots made her whisky marmalade a particular community favourite.

I want to acknowledge that Val was a pillar of the community of Scottish Australians and was very proud of that, and we often talked about Scottish history. In fact, today I am wearing a tie that she bought for me and wanted me to wear in this place, which is the official Australian tartan. I'm wearing it in memory of Valerie. She was a stalwart of the Kenthurst Annangrove branch of the Liberal Party. She was never short of good advice and wise counsel, and to her family and friends may her memory be a blessing.

In 2022 we also lost Jack Oliver. After working as a mechanical engineer in England in his early years, Jack and his wife, Irene, moved to Australia to start their life together. They worked hard and bought a small house and a little land in Maroota where they settled into the community. When they outgrew the Maroota property, they moved to Annangrove, where they became long-standing members of the Annangrove Progress Association. Jack could fix practically anything. He was the go-to Mr Fixit of the community, with a smile and a good chat at every time. He was a great volunteer in our community, too. Whether it was setting up for community events, Easter celebrations, ANZAC Day or Christmas, no job was ever too demanding. Like Valerie, Jack was also a stalwart of the Kenthurst Annangrove branch of the Liberal Party, and my condolences go particularly to his lovely wife, Irene.

Two very special people were lost within a few weeks of each other, and that had a particular impact on my life and the lives of the broader community. I speak of Patricia and David Barnett. On 13 May we lost Patty. She was a wonderful stalwart of our community, a remarkable mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Born on 13 March 1938 in Warrawee, she attended school at Kincoppal, Elizabeth Bay, and studied at the University of Sydney for her BA in English literature, including a scholarship in her final year.

In 1958 Patty married David, and it was a marriage that lasted more than 63 years. They had five children, who described her both as their mother and their friend. She joined the P&Cs of her children's schools and was engaged in the community. Despite raising five children, Patty never stopped learning. She was a great linguist, master in four languages, and taught English as a second language at Sydney Technical College for 35 years.

Later in life she achieved a masters degree in education at the University of New England while working full time. She was elected for two consecutive terms as an alderman, as it then was, on the Ku-ring-gai Council. An instinctive citizen of the world, she collected friends and fostered a sense of community around her. After retirement she continued to contribute, with voluntary service at Launceston Waterbird Haven, 2MBS FM, Lifeline and the Rostrum club. Patty had an amazingly commanding speaking voice. It was one of those voices you would kill to have. She put it to great effect for all her years on radio.

She was a founding and long-serving secretary of the Fox Valley branch of the Liberal Party. Patty was always hugely welcoming of me and encouraging of my activities, both in the party, in this place and in the broader community. It was Patty and David who got Joanna and me involved in Lifeline. Patty used to run the book fairs, particularly the children's book fairs, and that began a very significant association in my life with Lifeline Harbour to Hawkesbury.

When Patty passed away, she was surrounded by her family and the many friends she'd acquired over her 85 years. Sadly, only a few months later, Patty's husband, David, also passed away, on 3 August last year. To those who knew David, he was a man of integrity, intelligence and resilience. He had a remarkable career as an architect. Buildings like the National Library in Canberra, the New South Wales state parliamentary offices, Westmead Hospital additions and the now demolished Sydney Football Stadium are part of the work that he did. Yet nothing was more important to him than his family.

In 1981, he too was elected as an alderman on the Ku-ring-gai Council. He brought a spirit of generosity in his building knowledge to the service of his community for the next 17 years. He served as deputy mayor in 1995 and 1996. He, like Patty, was a founding member of the Fox Valley branch of the Liberal Party and also an office bearer. He was a long-serving member of the Liberal Party—except for three weeks, when he resigned, having lost a state preselection. Our party is better for David's contributions over the years. Like Patty, he was deeply involved in the wider community, the Royal Commonwealth Society, Killara tennis, Ku-ring-gai Male Choir, Rostrum and the Launceston Waterbird Haven. Patty and David are survived by their five children, 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. May both of their memories be a blessing.

The Reverend Canon David Claydon passed away on 28 July 2022. His life story was extraordinary. David never knew his parents. They were killed in Jerusalem while he was a newborn. There was a social worker, Lora Claydon, who stumbled across him at the Bethlehem baby orphanage. It is really quite a remarkable Christian story, in that sense. He had neither a name nor a birth date, yet she knew in an instant that she must provide him with a family. She adopted David as his aunt and he took her last name.

When he was about four he contracted measles, deteriorating to a critical condition and while hospitalised in Jerusalem. There, he met a pastor who shared with him the story of God 's love for all creatures great and small. At this epiphany, David devoted his life to the church.

Lora, a missionary, moved around a lot and David had a wide experience of life. He married his wife, Robyn, in 1961 and they put down roots in my community and served the Anglican Church in Australia for 60 years. David was the minister at the St Matthew's Anglican Church at West Pennant Hills, before he became the federal director of the Christian Missionary Society.

He's been a friend to my family for three generations. He had a genuine kindness, humanity and humility and would often come to see me about persecuted Christians from the Middle East. I took him to see the member for Banks, then migration minister, I acknowledge in the chamber today. To his wife, Robyn, and his family, may David's memory be a blessing.

I mention these particular people because they are special to me. But they are remarkable examples of the wonderful people that we have in the Berowra electorate. They are the sorts of people I am delighted to represent and serve in this parliament, and I thank them for their trust.