Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call the honourable member for Sturt, I remind the House that this is the honourable member's first speech and I ask the House to extend to her the usual courtesies.

Claire Clutterham (Sturt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I believe that if you have the capacity to speak up for others, you should. It's this unwavering belief that has brought me to this place. That I stand in this place today holding that belief feels truly remarkable because, when I look back at my life, I consider myself to be the most unlikely candidate to have found a voice and to have been given the honour of using it in the Australian parliament. It feels remarkable to me because for the first 25 years of my life, until I moved overseas, I was utterly paralysed when it came to speaking up for myself, let alone speaking up for others. I was crippled by shyness and self-doubt, issues which can still linger today, because of significant and sustained bullying and harassment throughout my primary school years.

Picture this: the local public primary school in a small country town with old transportable classrooms, creaky air conditioners that barely worked and 30-plus kids crammed into a room. Picture the bathrooms, with cold concrete terrazzo floors and a row of leaky taps that either couldn't be turned on or stayed on permanently. Now, picture recess and lunchtime, and picture a young child in year 2, year 3, year 4 and then year 5 hiding in one of the stalls, because to hide in there alone was better than sitting outside alone where everyone could see you were alone, where you might have to face another jibe, another comment: 'Loser, wuss, square, boring.' If this happens enough, you start to believe it is true. You are a loser. You are boring. You have nothing of value to add. Nobody likes you. If it happens enough, it means the moments when the teacher calls on you to speak up in class become moments of dread, when you start to sweat, to stumble and to blush so heavily you turn a deep red—or beetroot, as the other kids liked to describe the colour of my face.

We moved around a lot because of Dad's job as a bank manager. This meant three different primary schools and three different high schools, each move requiring hard work to make friends and try and fit in. The start of year 6 in 1993 heralded another move, and this time there was a little bit of promise. They were a couple of girls in the other year 6 class who I was pretty friendly with, and in year 7 those girls would eventually go on to become my people. Alex Taylor and Lisa Dickeson, I'll be forever grateful to both of you for that. And, Lisa, one of my favourite moments of the Sturt campaign was the day I fortuitously doorknocked you, having not seen you for almost 30 years. Good girlfriends really are like chocolate and champagne; they make the world better. And so, to my besties of today, Merryn and Jayne: thank you both for continually making my world better.

But back to year 6, which brought with it both a new primary school and, sadly, new dental work—not just braces; they were the least of my problems. I unfortunately needed the torture device known as headgear. Time for another visual. Picture a thick silver wire attached to braces, hooked into a platelike contraption at the back of my mouth, jutting out to sit outside of my mouth, curving around my face to the back of my head, all strung together with a strap—a nice thick strap, the colour of blue denim. There would be no first kiss that year. The boys couldn't have got past the wire even if they'd wanted to. Dad was pleased! I looked like a Transformer, but I definitely didn't have superpowers. My chosen sport was swimming, and I did a lot of it, so I was also usually accompanied by the intoxicating whiff of chlorine. Looking like a character out of a Marvel film, smelling like a swimming pool and being cripplingly shy, with a permanently beetroot face, meant one thing: I was a target for bullies, and school life was difficult.

But, despite what was happening to me, there was someone in my year 6 and year 7 classes who had it worse—someone who was a bigger target. I was so caught up in my own misery I never once spoke up for her. I never said a thing, even though I knew what was going on, even though I knew how terrible it must have been for her. My lack of courage in not speaking up for her has stayed with me and has led me to this place. When something is hard or challenging or is going to take courage, I think of my primary-school classmate and her struggles. It took me 25 years and a move to another country to find my voice, but what about my classmate's voice? Did she ever find it?

All children have a voice and the right to use it. All children deserve an education that is meaningful and allows them to grow and develop free from the crippling mental health impacts of bullying and harassment, so they can become fully functioning adults who have the capacity to meaningfully contribute to the community and to become people who have the capacity to speak up for others.

We know that kids today not only endure bullying in the classroom; they endure it before school, after school and on weekends. The online world has created a platform where torment is public and continuous and cannot be erased. It is there forever. It is a constant reminder. As well as social media restrictions, we need data driven minimisation strategies for schools, informed by stakeholders with lived experience. We need more mental health support in schools, to support victims of bullying but also to redirect the mindset and pathways for those who are doing the bullying so they understand why they are doing it. I'm proud to be part of a government championing an antibullying rapid response review that will deliver on this.

We also need to better equip young and mature aged teacher education students with the knowledge and skills to manage the dangerous and potentially lifelong adverse effects of bullying in the classroom. And we need to do this urgently. I found my voice, but not everyone does. For some kids and their families, the outcome is catastrophic and irreversible. To the kids out there who are suffering, including those children who go to one of the 44 schools in the great electorate of Sturt, please hear this: I did not speak up for my classmate but I will speak up for you to ensure that you have the confidence to go to school, that you enjoy going to school and that you develop the capacity and self-assurance to find and use your voice. To the beautiful little people in my life who are at school—to my darling niece, Caitlin, who will always be my girl, to my fierce but kind nephew, Jack, and to my precious, dear, brave stepdaughter, Niamh: you can tell me anything, and I will always help you and I will always speak up for you.

The country primary schools where I spent my formative years were in the Riverland, which meant that I grew up with the mighty river Murray at my backyard. There is a degree of serendipity in this, given I now have the honour of representing an electorate named for Captain Charles Sturt, who was known for exploring the river Murray. I learnt two important lessons from my 15 years of country life—firstly, that the river Murray is the environmental, economic and social lifeblood of the state of South Australia and that respecting and protecting it so it has the capacity to sustain us for generations to come is critical. Secondly, I learnt about the value of strong communities—how they create a sense of belonging and security and that they do not grow and thrive without volunteers.

The two most dedicated volunteers I knew whilst growing up were my mum and dad, for whom nothing was too much trouble. Mum and Dad, I learnt so much from your dedication to my sister and I but also from your dedication to our broader family and to our country community. I thank you for teaching me this and for always supporting me. Mum and Dad coached and umpired netball and basketball, chopped oranges for half-time, washed the gear, ran swimming carnivals and contributed as voluntary officeholders to multiple sporting clubs. I saw echoes of Mum and Dad during the Sturt campaign when I met true-blue volunteers who had dedicated decades of time to community sporting clubs, such as Dom at the Campbelltown City Soccer & Social Club, Tom at the Glenunga Rams footy club or Rob, Nick and Maria at the MetroStars soccer club. But it was Mum's and Dad's example that encouraged me to become a volunteer in my community, be it through my stepdaughter's local netball club or by being a volunteer director on the board of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

The RFDS is one of the most brilliant organisations in this great country, providing rural and remote health care and retrieval services to Australians who need it. Every year, the RFDS performs approximately 33,000 life-saving air and medical retrievals. There are 900 patient contacts every day, and, as I speak right now, there are no less than 10 to 15 RFDS red-belly planes transporting doctors and nurses across the country as they provide the finest care to the farthest corner. The RFDS is an organisation that is worth volunteering for. Access to quality remote and rural health care is worth speaking up for. So, to my colleagues at the RFDS: I promise I will speak up for the work that you do at every opportunity.

I took a leap of faith when I was 25 and decided to move overseas to the Middle East. It was a reinvention of sorts because no-one knew me. It was the quintessential fresh start. I remember waking up after my first night, in a hotel in Dubai, opening the curtains and looking out across the desert that was glowing red and gold in the 40 degrees heat and thinking two things. Firstly, what am I doing? And, secondly, I'm so glad I'm here. I couldn't wait to explore the world, to go beyond, and so I joined the so-called great South Australian brain drain of the early 21st century and left. I left for nine years, and those nine years that I spent working as a lawyer in Dubai and Hong Kong were life changing—great travel, great work, great opportunities, but, most importantly, great perspective and a slow but growing realisation that this country, Australia, is a paradise.

In the first few months of my tenure in Dubai I met an Egyptian lawyer who would go on to become my good friend. The look on his face when he realised that I was an Australian citizen with an Australian passport is seared onto my brain because it was one of envy. He told me that everyone wants to move to Australia and that an Australian passport is the golden ticket. Of course, being young, immature and a bit too smug about being an expat, I didn't think that was so, but three years later, in February 2011, I was in the office late one night with my friend and my other Egyptian and Arab colleagues as we watched the Egyptian revolution play out on television. The eyes of my Egyptian colleagues were flashing. They were wild as they saw their compatriots protesting in Tahrir Square, saying no to corruption, saying no to low wages and unemployment, saying no to arbitrary arrest and saying no to electoral fraud, political censorship, authoritarianism and political repression. Protesters were having the courage to speak up, risking imprisonment and risking their lives, and those of their families, and demand change for everyone.

Living in the Middle East during the Arab Spring had a profound impact on me because it was the first time I really reflected on Australia as a country. Yes, we have our problems, but being an Australian citizen is like having a golden ticket. In this country, we fight for working people; we don't oppress them. In this country, we embrace political freedom; we do not shut it down. In this country, we know we will be treated fairly and with due process by our justice system. In this country, we know we won't be woken in the middle of the night by the police and taken to jail, never to be seen or heard from again. What we have here in this country is precious. We need to protect it. We need to understand and be invested in what underpins these freedoms that are simply there for us as if by magic.

If we do not invest in protecting these Australian values and freedoms, we risk losing them. The level of apathy that I witnessed during my campaign troubled me deeply because apathy is the greatest enemy of democracy. If we are apathetic about our political system, we won't engage in it. If we are apathetic about how valuable our healthcare, education, aged-care, social welfare and industrial relations systems are, we will not be invested in sustaining and improving them. And if we are apathetic about the freedoms that we have in this country that we do not have to protest to enjoy, we will not defend them when we need to.

Australia is worth defending. Australia is worth speaking up for. The highly educated people of Sturt and, indeed, the people of South Australia are going to play a key role in this defence of our values and of our nation. There is no longer a brain drain in South Australia. Easily, it is one of the best places to live, work and invest, and people are flocking to it. South Australia is at the heart of our nation's defence industry, and it was with immense pride that I spent five years of my career working for ASC out at the Osborne shipyard in Adelaide's north.

The defence industry offers well-paid, meaningful and secure jobs for South Australians, including those who are still in early learning centres or primary schools or those who haven't even been born yet. That is the opportunity before us. It is the greatest economic opportunity for South Australia in the last century, and I am committed to fight for that opportunity to be realised, to fight to grow the prosperity of my state and to fight to secure the capability we need in this country to defend and deter. In South Australia we will need thousands of additional skilled workers out at the Osborne shipyard to build that capability. Increased investment in STEM research and development, enhanced cyber and AI capability, the faster and simpler transfer of technology and a meaningful value proposition to encourage people to join and remain in the Australian Defence force to conduct this mission are all part of this.

Another part of this is post-service care for our veterans. My grandfather fought in World War II, and like so many others, he had a horrendous experience; he was a prisoner of war. He suffered terrible post-traumatic stress disorder, which was not acknowledged or even recognised during his lifetime, leading to severe battles with alcoholism and unemployment. During the Sturt campaign, I met a young veteran who had served our country. He was home during the day whilst I was doorknocking, because he was unemployed. He was equipped with leadership skills, resilience, character and tenacity. During our 20-minute chat, he told me that, despite trying desperately, he couldn't land a job because his skills did not fit into a box. He was not, for example, an engineer, a doctor or a teacher.

As well as mental and physical health support for veterans in their post-service lives, we must encourage the Australian public and private sectors to continue to offer opportunities to these courageous men and women so that they can benefit from the dignity of meaningful employment and continue to contribute to our community postservice. If we do not speak up for people who have served our country, then we cannot expect others to join this country's great imperative to defend and deter. Without people, we cannot defend and deter, and without deterrence and defence, we risk losing everything.

Our Australian values and way of life are the reason a significant percentage of people who live in Sturt are migrants who have chosen to make Australia their permanent home. Sturt is in Adelaide's east, on the lands of the Kaurna people on the Adelaide Plains, to whom I now pay my respects. For the past two terms of government, Mr James Stevens ably served the people of Sturt. James, you're always classy and always professional, and I thank you for your service to your community.

Stretching from Hope Valley in the north across Adelaide's vibrant green eastern belt all the way to Glen Osmond in the south, Sturt is home to the famous Norwood 'Redlegs' men's and women's footy sides; the brilliant Penfolds Estate winery; the Menz FruChoc shop, which is a South Australian institution; many home grown businesses in the industrial north of the electorate; and several growing and thriving multicultural communities, particularly Indian, Chinese and Italian. I have forged strong relationships with the Italian community in particular, and I now give a big shout-out to my dear friends at the Altavilla club, the Sicilia club, the Marche Club, the Fogolar Furlan Club, San Giogio la Molara club and to Nathaniel's Coffee and Panini on Payneham Road—all of whom I hold responsible for the transition in my wardrobe to almost exclusively elastic waisted garments!

I also thank the Prime Minister for his multiple energetic visits to Sturt during the election campaign, and for the faith and trust he placed in me right from the beginning—faith and trust that never wavered, even when no woman had ever held the seat, and Labor hadn't held it for 53 years. I particularly thank the Prime Minister for rolling his sleeves up at what turned out to be a working visit to a growing business called Nonna's Cucina in Holden Hill, where the Prime Minister was offered a job as an apprentice chef, just in case things didn't go well at the election. Under the leadership of Marco, Dario, Stef, Mel, Rebecca and Michael and their team of volunteers, Nonna's Cucina delivers Italian-style home cooked meals to and does welfare checks on 500 elderly households per day. That is truly an endeavour worth speaking up for.

I am a volunteer delivery driver with Nonna's Cucina. I do home delivery runs as regularly as I can, happily sharing this time with one of the biggest influences on my political career and life, Ms Cressida O'Hanlon, the member for Dunstan in the South Australian parliament. Cressida taught me what it means to be a grassroots campaigner and a true and strong local voice. Cressida, your persistence and effort are a credit to you. I'm so glad we met, and I truly value our friendship.

As well as the incredible people who volunteered tirelessly on the Sturt campaign—particularly my team of Jason Byrne, Daisy Miller, Antonia Larizza and Ella Shaw—whose effort and dedication I now benefit from and can never repay, there are many other incredible people who strongly encouraged me to put my hand up to run for the seat of Sturt and who supported me not with judgement but with frank and full advice throughout that 11-month campaign. There are too many to list now, but these incredible people include Senator Don Farrell, Senator Penny Wong, the Hon. Amanda Rishworth, the Hon. Mark Butler, ALP state secretary Aemon Bourke, and Josh Peak and his formidable team at the SDA.

To Senator Marielle Smith, another incredible person: Marielle, what a journey! From that very first meeting on 6 April 2024 at the St Peters bakery, you believed in me. Your clear and sensible advice was always spot on, and I am so excited that we now share not only a workplace but a dear friendship.

Finally, to the two superstars in my life—firstly, my sister, Lisa. Lisa, I'm wearing a little yellow sparkle today in your honour because yellow is your colour and I wanted a bit of you here in this place with me, even though you are all the way across the world in Washington, DC with Caitlin, Jack and Dom. 'Sparkle' is the only way to describe you. When we grew up together, you were always the one who spoke up for others, no matter the cost. You still do this. I can only aspire to your integrity, generosity, courage and loyalty. Lisa, I dedicated my campaign to you, and I now dedicate my first term as the member for Sturt in this House to you.

And to my Ben: Ben, you are the bravest person I know and my best friend. You are a beautiful dad to Niamh, and every day you show me how to move forward with purpose, no matter what adversity life brings. I will never forget the clarity I felt on our wedding day—the knowledge that saying, 'I do,' to you was the absolute best decision I could ever make for myself and for our little family. Ben, the second greatest privilege of my life is to stand here in this place. The greatest privilege is to do it knowing you are by my side. Your support gives me the courage to speak up for my community.

So to my community, to the people of Sturt: it is a privilege to represent you. Thank you for trusting me and for giving me the honour of speaking up for you every day.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call the honourable member for Moore, I remind the House that this is the honourable member's first speech, and I ask the House to extend to him the usual courtesies.

Tom French (Moore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, and I pay my respects to their elders past and present. I would also like to pay my respects to the traditional owners of the land of my community, the Whadjuk people of the Noongar nation.

I wasn't born into politics. I'm the son of a painter who was the son of a painter. I wasn't the first in my family to go to university or the first to work in law—because of Labor government policies. But I am the first to stand here in this place, and that matters. That's because I didn't grow up thinking I'd end up here. But this life, in all its twists, brought me here anyway. The truth is I've never fit neatly into a single box. I'm a qualified electrician and a lawyer, a former publican, a father and now a parliamentarian. I am not one thing, but it is the sum of my experiences that brings me here and gives me the insight to do this job.

I come from working-class stock. I've poured beers, pulled cables, written briefs and represented workers. I've stood on job sites and picket lines, and I've heard more excuses from bosses than beats in a Ramones song. But the common thread, the baseline that has carried me, has always been a love for people, a belief in fairness and a commitment to opportunity, equity and the dignity of work—values at the very heart of the Labor movement. People often ask me how I went from being an electrician to being a lawyer. I tell them it's actually a pretty straight line. Being a sparkie got me into the Electrical Trades Union, the union got me into politics, and politics eventually led me to law. Somewhere along the way I realised I might be better at making laws than enforcing them. Not many lawyers wear steelcaps, but, then again, not many sparkies wear robes. Turns out whether it's a switchboard or a courtroom, the job is the same: keep calm, stay grounded and pray nothing catches fire!

Maybe that's why I've always tried to make sense of the chaos—to understand how things go wrong and what can be done better. That drive comes from seeing people slip through the cracks. In the Fair Work Commission, on job sites, over the bar, it's knowing someone has to be willing to speak up. Being an electrician taught me more than how to run a cable or wire a switchboard, and working in pubs taught me more than how to pour a beer. Both jobs taught me how to read a room—not just for voltage but for people. They taught me how to stay calm when things went wrong, how to think on my feet, how to de-escalate a situation before it kicked off, how to finish the job even when it was raining, the plans were wrong and someone was shouting at you from across the bar.

I didn't grow up dreaming of conduit or cable trays, but, once I put on the hi-vis, I found a trade that made sense. It was practical, tangible and essential. I still remember the buzz of finishing a job and knowing that when you flicked a switch something lit up because of you. There's a deep satisfaction in that—the kind of pride that comes from using your hands, your brain and your back all at once. It's not glamorous work, but it's good work, honest work, and I'll always carry that with me. Being a tradie taught me that nothing stays the same for long. One year you're an apprentice; the next you're mentoring one. One week you're on night shift; the next you're looking for a new contract. Change isn't a theory in industry. It's reality. You learn to adapt, or you don't last. That ability to change course, take a risk, back yourself and try something new is something we don't talk enough about in politics. But it's baked into the lived of working people. Whether it's retraining, recovering, starting over or just picking yourself up and turning up again on Monday, that's resilience.

I've met sparkies who became small-business owners, painters who became nurses and publicans and chefs who became teachers. There's no straight line through life, and we should stop pretending there is. I'm standing here because I took a few detours. I've changed careers, cities and expectations. I've gone from live wires to legislation, from wiring offices and mines to writing laws. And every shift, every fork in the road, added something to who I am, because your story doesn't have to be polished or perfect to be powerful.

Before I found politics, or even law, I found music, particularly alternative music—the soundtrack of share houses, long drives and cheap guitars. It didn't always offer solutions, but it made you feel seen. That music has shaped how I've seen the world. It gave working class kids like me a voice, even when no-one else was listening. In preparing for today, I kept returning to a lyric from Everclear: 'the hand you hold is the hand that holds you down'. It's a confronting line, but it's always stayed with me, because sometimes the people or the systems that claim to support you are the same ones holding you back. Recognising that, learning to stand up anyway, is how many of us from working class backgrounds find our voice. It's how we learn to fight for something better.

Years later, I found another kind of anthem, in an unlikely place. Now, I'll be honest: I never listened to a musical until I met my partner, Clare. But she introduced me to Hamilton, the perfect crossover of great music and great politics—a story about someone who wasn't meant to be in the room but wouldn't take no for an answer. There's a lyric that's stayed with me ever since: 'I am not throwing away my shot!' This is my shot—my shot to fight for my community of Moore, a community that stretches along Perth's northern corridor, from Trigg in the south to Iluka in the north, a stretch of coastline patrolled by volunteers from our local surf lifesaving clubs at Trigg, Sorrento and Mullaloo.

Our community spirit isn't just in the sand; it's in the suburbs. It's a region defined by families juggling work, school runs and weekend sport, a place where ambition is measured in early starts, late finishes and long drives to footy training and back, a community built on hard work, hope and determination to give the next generation more than we had. The spirit is old school: help your neighbour, back your mates, speak your mind.

Joondalup is the urban heart of Moore. It's a city that grew from vision, shaped by planning, migration and opportunity. For decades it has been a place where new suburbs rose from the bush and new Australians built their lives. There's a time capsule buried near the train station; it was buried in 1999, and it's to be opened in 2029. This is a reminder of just how fast the future arrives and how bold the original dream was. That capsule reminds us, though, that bold ideas take time, but they also take commitment. We owe it to the people who planted those dreams to see them realised.

I see the future for Joondalup as a cultural capital, a city that doesn't just house people but is a place that inspires them, a place where kids can learn, play and perform, and a home for live music, local talent and big ideas. We must turn the Joondalup Performing Arts and Cultural Centre into reality, a venue that'll put our city on the map for every touring band and school orchestra. Music, theatre, libraries: these are bridges between people. Culture is infrastructure, too—the stages on which identity is built, because culture isn't just something we consume; it's something we create. And it doesn't belong just to the elite. Some of the most honest stories ever told came from local pubs and backyard jam sessions.

Moore's suburbs have their own voice: raw, honest and full of life. It's time we gave them a proper mic and a proper stage, not just in backyards or pubs but in venues worthy of the talent we're growing, so the next generation doesn't have to leave Joondalup to be heard. My family's pubs gave music a home, a stage, a sticky carpet, a chance to be heard—my mum's thinking, 'Oh no!' But that's where I learned that music isn't just entertainment; its protest, it's poetry, it's belonging. Music taught me to question authority, to speak out, to feel. Songs remind me that we govern not just with laws but with stories. Music has been the highway of my life, and now, in this place, I get to help build the on-ramps so others can find their way. I want kids in Connolly to pick up guitars. I want teenagers in Duncraig to choreograph dance routines. I want mural art in Craigie, punk gigs in Heathridge and poetry in Padbury. I want working-class kids to see their own lives reflected on stage, not just once a year but every weekend.

Every life has off-notes, and sometimes those are what gives a song its power. At 25, just before starting my electrical apprenticeship, a routine prework medical found something wasn't right. They told me to follow up with my GP, who sent me for more tests and referred me to Professor Neil Boudville. That's when I first heard the words 'chronic kidney disease'. I'd barely picked up a set of tools and already I was carrying a health condition that shadowed me for more than a decade and led to me having a kidney transplant in 2020. I wasn't special; I was just lucky—lucky to have the support of a great family, lucky to have Medicare, lucky to live in a country that didn't put a price on my future. That's why I will always defend Medicare.

But health isn't the only battle working people face. We continue to see apprentices being treated poorly, pushed too hard, paid too little, left without support. They're vulnerable, and some people exploit that. I've stood beside apprentices who were threatened when they raised safety concerns or were too scared to say they didn't understand a task. That's not training; that is exploitation, and every time we fail an apprentice, we fail our future. If we want a country that builds things, fixes things, invents things, it starts with backing our apprentices, not breaking them.

I believe in public education. I believe in a strong union movement. I believe in workplace rights, fair wages, free TAFE and safe jobs. I believe in art, in music, in laughter and, to the horror of my staff, in dad jokes. I've been part of campaigns where we've changed safety procedures after an injury. I've represented health and safety reps who've stopped unsafe work. I've stood with families after injury, illness and injustice and then gone home to change nappies at 3 am, because I'm a dad before I'm anything else.

People ask why I ran. The truth is that once you've stood beside someone on the worst day of their life after a workplace death, a failed workers comp claim or a wrongful dismissal, it's hard to unsee that. It gets in your blood. I didn't run because I wanted to be a politician; I ran because I've seen too many people get shocked by the systems that were meant to shield them. I couldn't keep drawing up briefs and crossing my fingers. I was tired of trying to restore power without the switchboard. I didn't want to just survive the system; I wanted to rewire it.

I know people say, 'Politics will change you,' and maybe it will, but I'd rather try and fail than never try at all. And as Hamilton put it:

Legacy! What is a legacy?

It's planting seeds in a garden you never get to see

I'm here for that garden, full of song, a fair go and opportunity for my kids, for yours, for the next band that plays in Joondalup, for the kid in Edgewater who dreams of studying medicine, for the worker in Beldon who just wants a fair deal. For 35 years, Moore hasn't had a Labor member. That ends now.

There weren't many people who thought I could win Moore back. In 2022, I was almost good enough! But here I am and I'm not going away. I'm not here just to hold the seat; I'm here to make it sing, to make sure the voices of our suburbs ring out in policy, in parliament and maybe even in the distorted guitars and social perspective of punk. There will be challenges—of course there will—but I've stared down worse and I know what it means to fight and I know what it means to lose. But I've learned that courage isn't the absence of fear; it's doing it anyway. It's holding your kids close and then standing up to speak. It's pressing play when everything inside you says pause.

There's a poem that hangs on the wall of my office, Martin Niemoller's 'First They Came', a stark reminder of what happens when good people stay silent. Its message is simple: if we don't speak out for others, there may be no-one left to speak out for us. That poem is a compass, a reminder that silence helps the powerful and hurts the vulnerable. Every time I look up at the grass above this building, I remember why that matters. Parliament House was built beneath the feet of the people to remind us we serve the people, not the other way around.

That belief has guided every step that brought me here, but I didn't take those steps alone. To my partner, Clare—for your love, your honesty and your fierce belief in me—you are my home. Now, Clare has always been known for her wise investments. She picked me up when I was 38, an electrician with a dodgy kidney, two tool bags and a dream of being a politician that sounded more like a punchline than a plan. Some invest in shares or property; Clare invested in me. I reckon she's still waiting for the dividend, but I'm working on it! My boys aren't here—chaos! They won't remember this speech, but hopefully one day they read it and feel proud.

To my parents, John and Mary: look what you have done! You raised the kid who asked too many questions, challenged everything and somehow turned that into a job. You taught me the value of hard work, doing the right thing when no-one's watching and backing yourself when the odds aren't in your favour. If I stand a little taller today, it's because I'm standing on the shoulders of your sacrifice and love.

To my brother Joe, who saved my life by donating his good kidney: I carry that with me every day. To my other brothers, Greg, Kieran and Dominic: Joe set a pretty high bar. But in all seriousness, I'm proud to call you my brothers.

To Professor Neil Boudville, who oversaw my care and transplant for more a decade: I wouldn't be standing here without you. Thank you.

To Adam Woodage and Michael Wright from the Electrical Trades Union: you've always had my back, and I'll never forget it. To the United Professional Firefighters Union: thank you for giving me a chance to learn a new profession and trusting me to represent your members. To the RBTU and the AMWU: your support has meant more than you know.

To the member for the Kingsley, Hillarys and Joondalup branches: thank you for your dedication, your energy, and your belief that Moore could be won.

To Kim Young, Sue Hearn and Greg Wilton: your guidance, political education, belief and hard work made all the difference.

To my colleagues and friends in the WA parliament, Caitlin Collins, Emily Hamilton, Jess Stojkovski, Stuart Aubrey and Mark Folkard: thank you for your friendship and support.

To my campaign director, Tim Grey-Smith: thank you for believing. You ran a campaign that was smart, steady and full of heart. To my campaign team and staff: thank you for backing me. I'll do everything I can to make you proud.

And to my oldest friends, Murray, Logan, Scott, Andrew and Cameron: thank you for keeping me grounded, honest and moving forward.

But to the people of Moore: thank you for your trust. I won't waste it. I'll work hard, I'll listen, and I'll fight for the things that matter to you. You've put your faith in me, and I intend to repay it one conversation, one vote, one outcome at a time.

To the Prime Minister: thank you, Albo, for your support, for your example and for proving that a love of music and a love of people are not just compatible to leadership—they're essential. To my WA Labor colleagues Pat Gorman, Matt Keogh, Madeleine King, Anne Aly and Josh Wilson: you've known me since this journey began back in 2016. Thank you for your guidance, advice and encouragement. You've shown me what it means to lead with purpose and serve with purpose. I'm extremely proud to stand alongside you.

To the members of this House: I look forward to working with you, learning from you and occasionally debating with you, loudly.

I'd like to finish on this. To the young people out there who feel like they don't belong: maybe this place is for you, too. Maybe one day you'll be here, not because you fit the mould but because you didn't. Sometimes the hand that you hold doesn't hold you down. Sometimes it lifts you up.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call the honourable member for Maribyrnong, I remind the House that this is the honourable member's first speech, and I ask the House to extend her the usual courtesies.

Jo Briskey (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Congratulations to you, Mr Speaker, on your re-election to the high office. Your commitment to this place and passion for civic education to help safeguard our democracy is a powerful example to us all.

To be in this place, to rise as the new member for Maribyrnong, is both exhilarating and humbling. I begin by acknowledging the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples of these lands and, from my home, the Wurundjeri and Woiwurrung peoples of the Kulin nation. I recognise their elders, and I pay tribute to their care and continuous custodianship of this country. I'm deeply proud to live in a nation home to the oldest continuing culture on the planet. The simple act of welcome to country is powerful—an act of generosity that invites us to listen, learn and reflect on the stories and wisdom of those who have walked these lands for tens of thousands of years. At its core, this act is about curiosity, and it's curiosity that leads us to ask the questions that matter: Why? Why not? Einstein once said, 'Curiosity has its own reason for existing.' As a newly elected member of this place, I intend to bring that spirit of curiosity to everything I do—ask questions, listen, seek answers and do what I can to help build a more inclusive, more productive and ultimately kinder Australia.

In the 119 years since the division of Maribyrnong was first created, I am only the ninth person to represent it—but the very first woman to do so. I am humbled by this unique and special privilege afforded to me by the voters of Maribyrnong and the Australian Labor Party. During the announcement of my candidacy at Goodstart Early Learning in Moonee Ponds, I had the distinct honour of being flanked by both the current leader and the former leader of our party—two giants of modern Labor. They gently reminded me of this fact as we prepared for the upcoming media conference, really setting me straight and putting me in my place, making sure I truly enjoyed the magnitude of the moment and didn't lose sight of my role and my responsibility in it—very kind.

It is a delight to have a leader of our country who has promoted kindness as a virtue and who has singled it out as something that is a source of strength and a wellspring for change. I want to congratulate the Prime Minister on his resounding victory and unwavering commitment to Labor being a party that delivers real, meaningful and lasting change for all Australians. Over the years, the Prime Minister and I have both shared a deep belief in the transformative power of education. His leadership and determination to reform early learning is, in my view, both inspiring and historic. It will stand as one of the most enduring legacies. Prime Minister, I am so proud to stand at your side to help get this done. As the Prime Minister rightly said in his Light on the Hill address:

Labor seeks office so we can use the power of the state to intervene to make a real difference to people's quality of life and their access to opportunity.

If we see a barrier to fairness, we are prepared to use the power of the State to make a difference.

That light will never go dim as long as we continue using the levers of government with purpose—making bold choices, staying curious and relentlessly striving to build a better future for us all.

We see the light more clearly because, in the Labor movement, we stand on the shoulders of giants. I want to recognise that I am following in the footsteps of one of those giants, the Hon. Bill Shorten. I don't underestimate the expectations that come with succeeding him, but I embrace them. To take on the legacy of one of the greats of the union movement, of the Labor Party and of our nation is a privilege. Bill, to be measured against your dedication to the people of Maribyrnong is an honour that I accept with energy and resolve.

Maribyrnong's story is Australia's story. It has been home to the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung people for tens of thousands of years, who have gone on to welcome the many who have migrated here from all across the globe, including a strong Greek and Italian diaspora who have made an invaluable contribution to our community and the Australian way of life. The electorate is home to the race that stops the nation and to the Kerrigans—their Fords, their Holdens, their greyhounds and their castle. It is a place where, in the immortal words of Lawrence Hamel QC, 'a home is not built of bricks and mortar but of love and of memories'.

During the campaign, I was welcomed into many homes across Maribyrnong. I doorknocked in every suburb and spoke with thousands of locals, like Len and Melva, who have lived on their street in Avondale Heights for 60 years, and Francesco, who has called Essendon home for almost as long, and Nina, whom I met in Oak Park, proudly casting her first ever vote at 18. Community, kindness and curiosity are at the heart of Maribyrnong, and they shine through in the people who make it the place it is. From the Maltese Seniors Club at Airport West and the Italian Community Keilor Association to the Friends of Maribyrnong Valley, who work tirelessly to protect and restore the Maribyrnong River and its valley parklands, and from Kensington Neighbourhood House, which offers a lifeline to those who do it tough, to the incredible volunteers of Helping Hands, these groups are but a few of the many. Kindness and care are everywhere.

Then there are the sporting clubs—footy, tennis, soccer, cricket, netball. You name it, on any given Saturday, you'll find a great game and even better community spirit at local fields right across the electorate, including, of course, at the iconic Windy Hill.

There are some things we're born into and there are others we choose. My family and I, like many thousands of families before us, chose to make Melbourne our home. Whilst Queensland will forever be my state of origin, my husband, Ravi, and I have made Melbourne our home and our future, where we are raising two wonderful daughters, Gwenevieve and Margot.

Now, looking back, there was almost a sense of inevitability about our making Melbourne—in particular, near the north-west—our home. It was Melbourne, and specifically Keilor East, in the summer of 1985 that was Ravi's first experience of Australian life. Visiting from Fiji just prior to the Chandra of family move to Australia, Ravi has fond memories of his summer trip to Melbourne—riding the tram, going to the Myer's Christmas windows on Bourke Street and enjoying the unique combination of opportunity, security and warmth that only Australia can provide. Like so many migrants before and after them, the Chandra's were curious about what life could be for them and their young children in the big, great unknown of Australia, and they grasped that opportunity with both hands, and I'm so grateful that they did.

My story begins with my family. I was the oldest of four. My siblings and I had the very good fortune of being raised in a village of family members—grandparents, uncles, aunties, cousins. We had a typical and idyllic childhood of big family Christmases, camping holidays and Mario Kart sessions.

I'm the daughter of teachers and the granddaughter of working people. My mum's parents were Les and Gwen Winkle. Les was a high school principal who worked across regional Queensland and then went on to play a leading role in advancing senior education in the state as the director of secondary education and the inaugural secretary of the Board of Secondary School Studies. Gwen worked even harder raising their four amazing children: Ann, who's in the gallery today; David; Evan; and their youngest, my mum, Cathy.

My dad's parents, Bob and Bev Briskey, were originally from Roma in regional Queensland before they moved the family to Brisbane to raise their three children: Karen; Anne-Marie; and their middle son, my dad, Darryl. Bob was a linesman, union member, then union official, then state secretary, then national president of the Postal and Telecommunications Union. Thanks to my pa, joining my union was an instinctive act on the first day I started my post-school job at the local Alex Hills hotel bottle shop. The Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union, the Missos—now the mighty United Workers Union—remains my union to this day.

My grandad Bob Briskey was also an active member of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party and, no doubt, a driving force over my father's involvement in the party and subsequent candidacy in the historic Queensland Labor victory of 1989. My dad, Darryl Briskey, a former teacher, was first elected to the Queensland parliament as the Labor member for Redlands when Wayne Goss and Queensland Labor swept to victory, ending 32 years of conservative rule under the infamous Joh Bjelke-Petersen. I was four years old, but I remember the euphoria of the night. I couldn't tell exactly what was happening, but I could sense it was big.

My dad represented the communities of Redlands and Cleveland for 17 years, retiring in 2006 when I was 21. I grew up with my father as an MP. His example showed me the real, lasting difference strong, community focused representation can make. It's no surprise that his influence helped shaped my path into the ALP and a lifelong commitment to Labor and the union movement.

My mum, Cathy, as a teacher, active union delegate, passionate artist and actor, has a deep love for the arts and culture that has also shaped my politics. Artists channel curiosity into creation, and I'm incredibly fortunate to have a mum who has taught me the value of the arts, not just as expression but as a powerful force for change.

Beyond watching my dad in public life, I remember my own curiosity about politics. What it was and what it meant to me was sparked when I was about eight years old, in Mr Weir's grade 3 class at Thornlands State School learning about Australia's prime ministers. I remember being pretty indignant that none had been women.

I am thrilled now though that Margot, my eight-year-old, can point to a great Labor prime minister, Julia Gillard. There's not only that. Margot and my eldest, Gweny, are here witnessing a sea of women, from all walks of life. This is a very different parliament to the one I would have witnessed when I was eight, and we're all the better for it.

With curiosity as my compass, a commitment to helping others has always driven me. In high school I watched many of my peers struggle with the stress, anxiety and pressures of adolescence. Whilst my school was a great school, like many schools at the time, mental wellbeing of students was not the key feature it is today. This gap is what inspired me to pursue child and youth psychology and become an educational and developmental psychologist. My brief experience with the Logan child and youth mental health service gave me firsthand insight into how government and community services can work together to provide wraparound care vulnerable children need and deserve. Today I'm proud to be a part of a Labor government that understands the important power of shaping formative experiences for the better. Our world-leading social media reforms—designed to protect the mental wellbeing, safety and future of young Australians—are a powerful reflection of that commitment.

My time as a CEO of the Parenthood gave me the opportunity to rally and empower Australian parents to advocate for better—better Paid Parental Leave, better support for single parents, more affordable and accessible high-quality early learning and care, and better and more responsive workplaces. A moment that sticks in my mind was the powerful testimony of an Australian Navy lieutenant commander, Sandra Croft, who had joined the Parenthood and, through us, had the opportunity to give evidence to the Senate committee reviewing the then coalition's plans to end so-called double dipping on paid parental leave. Sandra spoke with raw honesty about what it felt like to be told by her government that she was a double dipper and somehow rorting the system. It was a turning point for me. It made clear just how much decisions made in this place directly and personally affect people's lives.

It was then I knew that I wanted to take my advocacy from outside these walls to inside. In my most recent time in the union movement, I advocated for workers who care for our communities—aged-care workers, early childhood educators, those who show up every day with compassion, patience and purpose. It was an honour to help elevate their voices and play a part in the historic early learning and aged-care reforms delivered by the Albanese Labor government. Now, as a Labor member of this place, I'm honoured to champion the voices of parents and carers, educators, aged-care workers, cleaners and factory workers. Representing working people and their unions is a responsibility I carry with pride and conviction.

I intend to use my time in here being curious, knowing what I can change and fighting hard to change it. Too many Australians depend on Labor to deliver real outcomes. That's what sets us apart from those who make the promises they never intend or are never able to keep. The Hon. Barry Jones, a former Labor member of this place representing Lalor, has previously ascribed a set of principles of strong leadership. These resonated with me: having curiosity and vision, pursuing the unknown and seeking to understand so as to tackle the wicked problems we face; seeking knowledge from experts; basing decisions on principles and beliefs; tackling complexity and rejecting oversimplification; maintaining flexibility—when facts change, we can change our positions and opinions—having ambition for the long view, which means planting seeds in a garden we may never get to enjoy; being ready to act with urgency; acting with courage and advocacy, being prepared to take the hard decisions and bring people with you; being honest and accountable, clear on what you stand for, to inspire confidence and sacrifice; and, finally, being concerned for the welfare of others, including those we may never meet, and rejecting the promotion of division as a political strategy.

I have seen the ease at which we can tear each other down, blame and fight, especially when we're anxious or under threat. It's easy politics to stoke this fear, to further division and to create an 'us' and 'them'. It's harder to meet anxiety, stress and hardship and sit with it, to move others and to earn their trust with credibility and humility. The easy politics of protest and division, outrage over outcome, ultimately solves nothing. Instead we should meet our communities where they're at, listen, seek understanding and strive to achieve better together. I'm reminded of a great scene from Ted Lasso. Ted uses the phrase, often attributed to Walt Whitman, 'Be curious, not judgemental.' He points out how he is often underestimated because people judge without taking the time to learn more about who he is. Ted reminds us that judgement closes us off, but curiosity opens us up.

In a strong community, curiosity builds bridges; judgment builds walls. Prejudice thrives when judgment precedes curiosity, when we think we know the answer before we've even taken the time to ask the right questions. We condemn ourselves to the same mistakes if we don't use our curiosity to unearth new information, identify new ideas and ultimately create new solutions. So let us be curious, not judgmental. Act with empathy as we bring people with us to collectively take on the challenges we face.

I am fortunate to have had so many in my life whom without I would not be here today. Firstly, to the Labor Party branch members of Maribyrnong, so many stalwarts of the party committed to its purpose and collective vision to make life better for working people: thank you. To the mighty trade union movement, to the union members of the ETU, the AMWU, ASU, CPSU, FSU, HACSU, TWU, AWU and the SDA, and, in particular, to my union, United Workers Union: thank you. This is a huge shout out to the cleaners, security guards, food and beverage manufacturers, logistics workers, and, of course, aged-care workers and educators. I am so incredibly proud to be a member of UWU. I want to especially acknowledge Gary Bullock. Thank you, Gary, for believing in me and seeing in me a true advocate. Your commitment to Labor being the party of working people ensures we all stay focused on this important work. You have supported me and my family through highs and lows for well over a decade now. Thank you.

To my other fellow UWUers—Dom Rose, Aaron Jones, Mel Little, Cara Anderson, Paddy Keys McPherson, Felix Sharkey, Jacqui Woods, Greg Moran and Jake Araullo—and my past work colleagues who have now become my colleagues again: the member for Chisholm, Carina Garland, and Senator Karen Grogan. To others across the Victorian Labor Party who welcomed me with open arms—Kat Hardy, Julijana Todorovic, Michael Watson, Tony Piccolo, Steve Staikos, Alan Griffin, Steve Dimopolous, Tim Richardson, Dylan Wight and Ingrit Stitt—it's an absolute pleasure to work with all of you.

To my amazing campaign team, led by the formidable and unflappable Connor Grant: thank you for everything you all did during the campaign and now the amazing work we'll get to do for the Maribyrnong electorate.

Politics, like many male-dominated professions, has not always been welcoming of women. It still takes extra effort to break down both the real and the perceived barriers for participation. That's why I want to acknowledge the role of EMILY's List and thank them for their support. I also take this moment to recognise incredible women that have encouraged me and inspired me to step forward and do this important work. To Laura Fraser Hardy; Emily Taylor; Nita Green; Alana Tibbits; Jackie Trad; Cynthia Kennedy; the new member for Moreton, Julie-Ann Campbell; Nicola Hazel and Fiona Sugden: you are all contributing to making it just that bit easier for the young women who will succeed us, for our daughters and sons to enjoy a fairer and more inclusive future.

To my old school friends and my new parent friends: thank you for keeping me grounded by always being there to talk about everything besides politics.

To the Farm Stay crew and our Wolf Pack: the wolf cubs were dutifully referenced during the first speech of the Hon. Minister Wells and, as such, I feel it incumbent upon me to update the Hansard on some new additions to the pack. To Oshy and Dash, Trystan, Oscar, Milo and Margaret: these newest cubs provide a wonderful comic relief and support to the OG cubs Gweny, Margot, Celeste, Macsen, Arianwen, Harriet and Maxwell.

Last but by no means least, to my family. Firstly, to my in-laws Vinesh and Ramila, Ronesh and Emily and our newest family members, Luca and Beau: Ravi and I simply could not do this without your love and support. Thank you To my siblings Kathleen, Ally and Will: I know I can always count on you to keep me grounded and focused on what truly matters—and I'll always be able to beat you at Mario Kart! To Mum and Dad, Darryl and Cathy: thank you for everything, for always believing in me and supporting me. Thank you.

And to my husband, Ravi: from the moment we met working in an electorate office, I think you may have known deep down this might have been on the cards for us. During the election, we celebrated 20 years of campaigning together—very nice! I'm sure, as many members of this House can relate, we spent more time together in the car on election day than we had done in the duration of the campaign. Ravi, you are my everything. To have you by my side is such an incredible source of strength. It's our teamwork that really makes this whole dream work. This job will undoubtedly have a toll on us and our family, and I know I will always be able to count on you to steer our family through the tough and crazy times. Love you, Ravi Bear.

Let me end off acknowledging the two most important people in my life: Gweny and Margot. I'm here because of you and for you. This job has and will continue to pull me away from you, sometimes at really important times. With every moment I spend with you, I'm inspired by your curiosity and moved by your kindness. I want you to know that I will use these values during every hour I spend away from you in this place to pursue the change that will lead us to a kinder, better Australia for you and for generations to come. I hope to make you proud.

Thank you.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call the honourable member for Brisbane, I remind the House that this is the honourable member's first speech, and I ask the House to extend to her all of the usual courtesies.

Madonna Jarrett (Brisbane, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we gather today, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people. I also acknowledge the traditional owners of the land from which I'm visiting, the Yuggera and Turrbal people, and I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging.

Each of you has a story that shapes who you are. Today I'm going to tell you mine. It began in a small workers' cottage in the then blue-collar suburb of Paddington, but it has brought me to this grand people's House, Australia's Parliament House. Our inner-city home was really noisy. There were eight siblings, seven sisters and a brother, along with a few foster kids that came and went. At times there were mattresses on the floors, and sometimes sheets hung for privacy, as the bedrooms were made to accommodate children needing a safe roof over their heads. We wore hand-me-downs. We shared books. Fences did not define who we played with or where we played. We knew our neighbours by name and their daily routines. The day Mrs Smith passed away—you will remember this, Mum and Dad—she left her milk on the verandah. She never did that.

With Mum tending to all the kids and Dad working long hours, I stepped up early. Almost daily I did the after-school shop runs for Mum, or I dropped off to our neighbours Mr Biffin's homegrown chokos or Mrs Conti's home-hatched eggs, which I collected at the same time. Mum's childhood meant she missed out on a full education, and, unfortunately, she didn't reach her dream of becoming a teacher. So she did everything she could to make sure we had the opportunity she didn't.

First was Petrie Terrace kindy. I found it confusing, I could run the streets all day with the other kids, yet our skin colour meant we walked through different doors into the typical low-rise wooden building that was our kindy, and, during outside play, we were separated by the wire fence. My primary school, Rosalie Primary School, was home to many new immigrants, especially from Europe. We conversed in broken English or with gestures, but they transformed our suburbs with delicious cuisine and Mediterranean-style homes that didn't fit in but were cooler than the wooden structures that I grew up in. They opened our school and our suburb beyond Australian borders.

At my all-girls high school, Mt St Michael's, I thrived on understanding of how the world worked, especially physics; using maths to manage a budget, bake or build; and learning that, when you mixed certain chemicals, they absolutely stunk. A few of us also fought really hard to raise support and funds for a computer. They were new back then—it says a few things, doesn't it?—and not widely available, but we saw how these would change our lives forever.

My constant curiosity was also fed at home. My da, who lived next door, collected all sorts of things: rocks, plants, coins and stamps. He often explained to me what the rocks were and what they were used for. He knew the name of every plant in his garden and the ones he couldn't grow because of the climate. He taught me that our environment is very precious and that climate impacts everything. My Mr Fixit dad let me TA him very often, and by my teens I was proficient at fixing any leaking tap, building a lamp, fixing a bike, restoring a desk or whatever it was. He never threw anything away if it could be fixed. He still doesn't. A piece of wood that is lying around is always useful for something, and I still look to fix things before I throw them away.

One period in my life that had a profound impact on me—and some people have mentioned this today—was the Bjelke-Petersen era. During this time, Queensland saw its worst expression of gerrymandering. Political and police corruption was rife. The 'can't lose' dictatorship mentality just saw so much injustice. There were almost daily scenes of First Nations people and other so-called subversives being dragged away, usually with excessive force, into police paddy vans. Women and the LGBTIQA+ community were treated as second-class citizens. The Premier, along with his working senator wife, were fierce advocates, though, of the traditional family, where mum stayed at home. They saw same-sex marriage as denigrating to marriage.

Workers also suffered. One of the most memorable and infamous times for me was the SEQEB dispute, where over 1,000 electricity workers were sacked. Mum and Dad joined the picket lines. Dad, a proud member of the Electrical Trades Union, took no wages, in solidarity with the workers. Mum and others raised money, prepared food boxes and were there with simple hugs, just to help families through these dark days. As children, we were intimidated by men who would drive beside us as we walked to school, calling out abuse or just staring us down. It took the bravery of the Fitzgerald inquiry—which saw four ministers jailed alongside a former police commissioner—and a landslide win by Wayne Goss and Labor to start righting these wrongs.

Inequality, though, remained a constant feature in my world. I worked full-time from the age of 17, other than in the six months after our twins were born—first as a radiographer and then in government. This was followed by almost 25 years in the corporate sector, working both here and overseas. Early on, actually, I thought I was going to lose my job as a radiographer when a surgeon blew up an X-ray machine. He ignored my advice to shut it down because 'I didn't know what I was talking about'. In classic form, I have been accused of being the boss's squeeze. For the record, I was not. I felt like I missed promotional opportunities, and at times I had to ask to be paid the same as the men because my husband got a good wage. Welcome to my first taste of gender inequality.

This, I knew, was wrong and unfair, and I took every opportunity I could to mentor women, encouraging them to never shy away from their strengths of compassion, kindness and empathy. I called out workplace discrimination, and I worked on gender-positive policy developments with global multilateral organisations like the OECD. I also learned a lot about leadership and standing up for civil liberties. Wayne Goss never shied away from taking on the big issues, which I saw firsthand as a young staffer.

Now, most of this took place in the wonderful seat of Brisbane, the electorate that I now have the honour and privilege to represent here in this wonderful place. I've lived most of my life in Brisbane. As I said, it's home to the Yuggera and Turrbal people. The electorate is bordered by Maiwar, the Brisbane River, and extends to Kedron Brook and the inner north-west. It takes in the CBD, which is now a mix of commercial and high-rise residential. Within one kilometre of that, there are single-plot, heritage, postwar and modern homes. There are also a growing number of six-packs and multi-unit complexes. Brisbane is dotted with parks as well as active transport routes. Over the past 30 years, Brisbane has transformed from a country town earning the nickname 'Brisvegas' to a growing metropolitan city, and the Brisbane electorate houses its heart, with its vibrant arts, culture and sports scene.

We also have more than 36,000 businesses, with a quarter of them in the professional, scientific and technology sectors. Health care, social assistance, real estate and construction make up the other third. There is pioneering technology such as quantum computing, and biomedical and sustainable energy industries.

Our community also has one of the largest student populations in the country. It is home to two of Queensland's largest and most prestigious universities—the Queensland University of Technology, my alma mater, and the University of Queensland Herston campus. It is also one of the most progressive electorates in Queensland. Brisbane supported the Voice referendum. It is growing in multicultural character and is blessed with a large LGBTIQA+ community. But, sadly, Brisbane is also blighted by homelessness and continued injustice towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Back in 2021, while I was having a drink with an old friend, I got on my soapbox about how our community is breaking down and how social justice, equality, opportunity and intergenerational fairness were crumbling. We were losing our compassion and our care towards one another. It was at that time when many in this room will recall that our country's leader didn't hold a hose, he needed his wife to tell him how to have empathy towards women and he commented, on the Me Too march:

Not far from here, such marches, even now, are being met with bullets—but not here in this country.

On top of this, affordable health care was being undermined. I'd lived in the United States, and I didn't want people here to be like my friend Johnny, who had untreated arthritis because he had no affordable health care. Jokes were being made about water lapping at the homes of our Pacific neighbours, and I thought to myself, 'Australia's better than that.' During the conversation, it was suggested to me that I run for office. I thought about it a lot, but, in the end, it was that fear of losing our community values—a fair go for all and looking out for each other—that clinched it. So here I stand.

I am extremely grateful and humbled to be the member for Brisbane, and I have so many people to thank for getting me here. First, to the people of Brisbane who put their faith in me, whether it be the Windsor community who helped their neighbour literally drag a piano up a hill and leave it on the footpath so it wouldn't get flooded, the families who we sweated with to fill sandbags, or the elderly Barden resident to whom we sent a clean-up crew: thank you.

To Mum and Dad, Jack and Lue Camp, sitting in the back there: you gave me the knowledge and strength to live my values. Your energy and commitment to social fairness glows in me. Friends, my mum and dad are in their 80s, and, for the best part of nine months, they were almost daily features on the Paddington strip, the local shopping strip, showing me off to passers-by. You are such legends.

To my husband, John; our lads, Jack and Paddy; and Jess, also over there: you were my sounding board and my rock during the campaign. You managed to keep the house running while I was running in and out. Without you, though, I wouldn't be here, as this journey was only ever going to be ours. A special call-out to you, John, my best friend, my love, my confidant, the man who has always got my back. Everyone on this floor knows how important that is in politics.

To my sisters and my brother: I know you always have my back. To the hundreds of volunteers, some not even old enough to vote and others first timers; Chris and Lulu, two of my sisters; and the stalwarts, who were there day in, day out, hail, rain, wind or shine—there are too many to name, but, again, thank you. To my irrepressible, energetic and loyal campaign team, including my dear and long-time friend Greg, who is up there in the gallery. There was also Charli, Jack, Alana, Bri, Kate C, Paula and Ben C. You were the cog that kept the wheels turning.

To my Labor family, those on the daily phone calls, who doorknocked and provided quiet guidance in the background, especially John, the other Kate, Hayden, Hannah, Grace and Ben D—you know who you are: thank you. To my union, the United Workers Union: a big thank you. To the STA and others within our mighty union movement: thank you also. You all keep Labor true to its values and will always be there for workers, the engine of our economy. To EMILY's List, who supported and mentored me: it was invaluable. To my friend the Prime Minister: I'll leave it to you to say how long we've been friends! You and your team believed in me. You put your arms around me and you lifted me. Thank you. I can say I am so proud to be here and to be a part of your team. And, as I say as often as I can, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Looking ahead, I see a bigger and brighter Brisbane. People continue to move here in drones, and it's no wonder—but then I'm a little bias. In less than a decade, Brisbane will host the biggest sporting event in the world: the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic games. Queensland has a very proud sporting history, producing 'the King'; Madame Butterfly; and our Cathy, the golden girl—three greats from my era. But the games are more than a sporting contest; they will provide many opportunities to enrich and strengthen our community.

Labor recently committed to finding a female change facility at a large local Brisbane football club. Finally, the girls will have the same facilities as the boys. But this is more than just a building; its recognition that women in sports matter and that sports matter for women. As a swimmer and a lifesaver who trained five days a week, shared sandy beach beds and rejoiced at the nationals, I learnt so much. Through sport we learn confidence, strength, leadership and resilience. The 50 or so players who joined me that morning for the football announcement were all so excited that this means more girls will join our community and grow. And, you never know: there might be another Matilda in the waiting—another Tilly.

As Brisbane grows towards the next decade, global developments will challenge us. However, with steady leadership, I do believe we can remain focused on restoring intergenerational fairness, strengthening social cohesion and protecting our environment. This starts with implementing Labor's election reforms—I'll be biased and say especially in Brisbane.

First is housing. Ownership is tough, with many, like my sons, living at home well beyond when I did. Renting is tough. My friend Ben, who is in the gallery today, has been forced to live in eight homes since 2020, and he now lives in an area where he has no connection to his community. More people are couch surfing or rough sleeping. What Brisbane needs is more affordable and social homes across all our suburbs. We saw in the last parliament the blocking of the Housing Australia Future Fund. Frustratingly, there have been local protests against sensible development. We can do better.

We also need to set realistic and achievable goals to eradicate homelessness. This is particularly important to me. Women my age are the fastest-growing group of homeless, and I saw this while I was on the board of 3rd Space. Also, here's a little story: during the campaign, I met Karen. Karen is in her 60s, and, after fleeing domestic violence around seven years ago, she finally got her own place. This means so much. She can decorate it as hers. She can leave the dishes to tomorrow, if that's what she wants to do, and she can use the washing machine without checking first. She can live her life her way.

I'm really proud of what Labor's doing to help realise the Australian dream of owning a home. This gives people long-term security and stability and a sense of belonging. It will enable people in our communities to set down their roots and create long-lasting memories. We can't forget the renters, though, who are trapped paying the equivalent of a mortgage in rent, and I want to explore how housing policies can do more to help them.

When it comes to health, I will always stand up for Medicare. As one of eight kids, our family relied on it. I also heard many stories, while on the campaign trail, about how affordable health care is the difference between living a decent life and not living at all. While doorknocking one day, one lady cried. She thanked me and asked me to pass on her thanks to our prime minister because her best friend will now live because her cancer treatment is on the PBS and she can afford it. So I am just so proud to be standing here and saying that, down the track, we will be delivering Labor's new urgent care clinic and new Medicare mental health clinic in Brisbane. Our community will get to see a doctor for free closer to home, and they won't have to wait those long, long hours in hospital waiting rooms. I also met many young people on the campaign trail who are suffering mental health challenges. They will now have easier access to life-changing care.

Addressing climate change is also extremely important to Brisbane, and this starts with Australia becoming a renewable energy powerhouse. I truly believe Brisbane can play a leading role here. This will support our net zero targets and reduce electricity prices. Queensland is rich in critical minerals, and we are on the doorstep of Asia, which is transitioning to renewables. This creates a unique opportunity to grow our local renewable energy capabilities and manufacturing. I'd like to see more Brisbane businesses and education providers innovate and grow and build the skills that we will need for this transition.

Battery and solar power incentives will encourage the uptake of renewable energy, and that's absolutely great, but we also know renters need more support. We need to continue to look for solutions for them, including more community batteries. I call on the local LNP council to stop playing politics and stop blocking our Newmarket community battery. It was promised back in 2022, and we need it delivered.

Over the next decade, we need to see our infrastructure and renewables programs come together to create a long-lasting and sustainable footprint in Brisbane. This will need all levels of government working together on appropriate planning, community consultation, and environmental and heritage protection, including for 2032. It also includes reforms to our environmental laws, which I am proud this government is committed to.

Lastly, we need to be more inclusive. Everyone, regardless of their heritage, skin colour, sexual orientation, religion or ability, must be afforded equal rights and feel safe in our community. Not one of us is any better than the next, and no-one is entitled.

A must here is truth-telling of the historical and current injustices facing First Nations people. Our children may no longer have to walk through separate kindy doors like I had to, but there is a long way to go. The original custodians have over 65,000 years of knowledge and connection to this land which has always steered this country forward. I was reminded of this recently during a NAIDOC event, when young Sandy, probably in her early 20s, proudly shared her story and that of her forebears. This history is unique, and we should all know it, embed it, celebrate it and use it to advance reconciliation and walk together as a stronger nation. Sovereignty was never ceded.

My vision for Brisbane is grounded in realism but is also a little aspirational. We have a privileged opportunity to recalibrate generational inequality and strengthen social cohesion. Our kids deserve the same opportunities I and many in this room had. This includes opportunities for education to aspire to be what they want to be; to buy their own home, raise a family and not be burdened by excessive debt; for our daughters not to be disadvantaged; for the LGBTIQA+ community to live as their true selves; for First Nations people to genuinely feel we share their history and walk with them; for our vibrant migrant community to flourish and enrich us; for everyone to have a safe home; and for our environment to thrive.

I will be a leader who will listen and care for our community. I will be a leader who will bring us together. This will require pragmatism, respect and courage from all of us. My commitment to Brisbane is that my door is always open. Friends and colleagues, it took a community to get me here. The next chapter in my life story starts now, and the pens you all hold will help me write this.

Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—It is an enormous honour to have the privilege of serving here for a second term. As I noted earlier, the last member for Chisholm to win a second term was the wonderful Anna Burke, who won her second term in 2001, so it's been some time since the people of Chisholm have returned a member. I am very grateful and very humbled by the trust that they have placed in me.

I'm really proud of what we were able to achieve as a community together in the 47th Parliament—in the first term of the Albanese Labor government. We were able to establish an urgent care clinic in Mount Waverley and to establish a headspace in Box Hill, now in a former part of my electorate but that I am sure the member for Menzies will have great stewardship over—and congratulations to him. Many sporting pavilions have been established across the electorate. And, of course, our promises of a tax cut for every Australian taxpayer have been delivered, as have energy bill relief and so many other commitments to help people with the cost of living.

Now, in our second term, I'm really looking forward to getting to work to continue to deliver for the community of Chisholm.

I'm really looking forward to establishing a new Nunawading basketball facility, which will service the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. I'm really looking forward to seeing another urgent-care clinic being established in our community, in the Stonnington Council area. And I'm really excited that we will be the first metropolitan Melbourne site for a Medicare mental health clinic, which is something that is really important for our community in the eastern suburbs. So many people, from all walks of life, have spoken to me about the importance of investing in mental health, and I agree with them. That's why it is really heartening that we have a government who takes mental health very seriously—and indeed all health care seriously.

We're going to work on new changing rooms at the Monash Aquatic Centre. The Monash swimming pools were where I first learned how to swim, so it is a very special commitment for me. And of course today we saw the introduction of legislation to deliver 20 per cent cuts to student debt for so many in our community, and over 26,000 people in Chisholm will benefit from that; we are one of the greatest beneficiaries of this change.

Throughout the campaign, and earlier than when the formal campaign began, I spoke to my community about really wanting to be a champion for Chisholm, and that is the commitment that I renew today in the 48th Parliament, and we'll hopefully be able to deliver on everything that we've said we will deliver on. I'm really proud that all the commitments I made in my first term for our local community have been delivered on. We had a redistribution in Victoria, which saw my community of Chisholm change a little. But whilst we said goodbye to areas that I loved in our electorate and communities that I will hopefully have the opportunity to continue to work with, as a representative I was able to take in and learn about new parts of the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, although they are areas that were very familiar to me.

My old high school is in my electorate now, and I've had the great pleasure and privilege to visit my old school since the election. That gave me cause to reflect on my own journey to this place. It was as a high school student that I learned the importance of involving myself in social justice. I remember spending lunchtimes at school writing letters in the Amnesty International club that I was part of. I remember spending time after school volunteering with St Vincent de Paul to tutor refugee children and students across the community. At school the teachers really instilled in all the young women there—it was a girls' school—confidence and the importance of never second-guessing yourself.

I wish I had never second-guessed myself and that those lessons were unchallenged throughout my working life. But I remember stepping out of that school environment and into university and indeed, I must admit, into the Labor Club at university and thinking that I didn't really belong there and that the contributions I wanted to make were not possible. I look back now and I look around this chamber and I see that we have a majority female government, and I hope no young women in universities or at schools or in workplaces feel as discouraged as I did back then. And I thank you, Deputy Speaker, and I thank all the women in this place and those who have come before for opening up those opportunities and helping me find more confidence to be involved in the Australian Labor Party and the broader labour movement. I want to thank the labour movement for all their support throughout my campaign.

Ours was truly a community campaign, and that is a source of great pride for me. We had over 500 volunteers. We knocked on over 60,000 doors and made over 80,000 phone calls, attempting to contact every person in the electorate. It was a campaign that brought together people from all walks of life. We focused on optimism and hope. We focused on our community and wanting to build a kinder, better country, and it's been wonderful listening to all the first speeches in this place over the last couple of days and hearing that theme of kindness resonate so strongly in everybody's contributions.

I have a lot of people I would like to thank, and I want to make sure that they are recognised in Hansard, so please bear with me. I want to thank my team for their hard work: Jarrod Panther, Matt Lawler, Meg Swain—who I congratulate on her new role in the Prime Minister's office—Evelyn Garcia, Vivian Liu, Barbara Harman, Jerry Cui, Grayson Lowe, Jordan Liang, Matt Merry, Jordon Conway, Josh Chuah and Tharun Balasubramanian.

I want to thank our amazing field organisers for all that they did leading our field campaign, recruiting volunteers and coordinating very large numbers of people and maps and taking on enormous logistical work. I want to thank Alfonso Silva from the national secretariat for his hard work and support. I want to thank, too, Paul Erickson and one of my oldest and dearest friends, who also happens to be the Victorian secretary of the Labor Party, Steve Staikos. Steve and I knew each other well before politics. This is not just a political friendship. We grew up on the same street. We worked at the same supermarket, on the check-outs, and I maintain that working in retail and working on the check-outs at a supermarket remains the best training I have had for this job. Talking to people, taking an interest in their lives and understanding that some people are going to have had a bad day and you need to treat them with kindness and empathy was wonderful training for being an MP who seeks to listen and learn from her community.

I want to thank my very dear friend Senator Jess Walsh for her support on this campaign, and I want to thank her team for volunteering on their weekends to come and help me: Courtney Zavalianos, Lucy Skelton, Sean Doherty, Steven Blacker, Maddison Lewis, Riley Geary and Atticus Corr.

I am a very proud member of the United Workers Union, like so many in this chamber, and I want to thank the union for all their support. In particular, I want to thank Paddy Keys-Macpherson, Felix Sharkey, Corey Matthews and Gary Bullock for all their work.

I've received incredible support from the Young Labor movement, so I want to thank all the students involved in Deakin Young Labor, Monash Young Labor and Swinburne Young Labor for their efforts. I want to acknowledge the support of Michael Miao, Nos Hosseini, Winnie Huang and their teams. They phoned many people in our community and spoke in language with our wonderful diverse community.

I want to thank every volunteer who gave up their time to help our campaign—and it really was our campaign; it was not simply my campaign. Every day I'm in this place and every day I'm in the community, I will remember that I owe so much to the people who have put their faith in me and who worked so hard to see a re-elected Albanese Labor government. We knocked on so many doors and we spoke to so many people because we believed in the Labor movement and the Labor cause and in what we could do together as a re-elected Albanese Labor government.

I want to thank people who turned up time and time again to knock on literally thousands of doors in teams every single week: Campbell Frost, Bayley Mackie, Angus Duske, Marko Mrksa, Simone Milhuisen, Meghan Williams, Rod Carls, Alex Gilders, Rudy Blums, James Lintott-Southwell, Gavin O'Loughlin, Geoff Rundell, Jason Zhao, Mark Warburton, Zhiyuan Pan, Thomas Campbell, John Nihill, Gail Hall, Phil Ryan, Shaoting Yan, Julie Vine, Mandy Li, John Morter, Hayden Makmur, Tristan Walde, Alessandro Papleo, Esther Fan, Oneja Jayaweera, Radha KC, Chloe Davies, Tanmay Kabir and Emily Mao. It's been amazing to have met all of you and to have worked with you. To Deb Pidd, Lisa Carpenter, Bruce Carpenter, Graeme Bond, Rod Short, Todd Moore, Noah Blumhoff, John Milhuisen, Angus Reynolds, Anton Grodeck, David Higginbottom, Diane Hardidge, Evelyn Clarke, Greg Hughes, Huifen Xiao, Julie Dickson, Lesley Hardcastle, Manfred Xavier—who I first met volunteering on the 2007 Bennelong campaign for Maxine McKew, so we go way back—Melva Austin, Michael Murray, Paul Halliday, Rob Grimmer, Phil Robinson, Susanna Mason and Veronica Davies: thank you.

I thank the booth captains that helped make sure that we were able to hand out how-to-vote cards and ensure that everyone in our community participated fully in our democracy: Naveen, Robert Lowe, Garry Dirks, Jimmy Li, Paul Ting, Jonathon Wight, Peter Spriggins, Ava Howard, Rangika Iddamalgoda, Dustin Kim, Xavier Andueza, John Watson, Peter Fiske, John Burgess, Jeremy O'Keeffe, Harrison Valentine, Thomas Nash, Michael Schaefer, Jacob Clifton, Harsha Guneratne, Carlo Buratto, Michael Gotze and Mithun Rajan. I thank all the scrutineers that we had helping us out too: Tessa Jones, Peter Bearsley, Harmon Barrett, Parsa Ghodsieh, Kurt Liffman, Julie Dickson, Hamish Welte, Dominic Burns, Jackson Walmsley, Alessandro Papaleo, Anton Grodeck, Jim McCabe, Kevin Adlard, Tess Robb, Herb Ramselaar, Janie Sue Brooks, Mark Sims, Gillian Davenport, Edwina Kay, Tom Whiteside, Elijah Buckland, Shara Teo and Nick Richardson.

In my final few minutes here, I want to thank my family for their support over the years. I don't know if they quite realised what me being a member of parliament would involve, but I'm really grateful that they have been so understanding and supportive. I do miss the time that I would otherwise have spent with them. It is hard not seeing the children in your family always at those special moments, when you'd like to, but I think all of us do what we do because of the people that we love and the people who support us. It is right that I take this moment to thank them for all that they do for me. I always do seek to find those moments that I can spend with them.

To my colleagues here, both returning—I don't want to say old—and new: it has been an honour so far, and I am sure the privilege and honour will only grow as our numbers have. We are going to be able do some amazing things for our country together. We know that Labor builds the things that our nation needs, whether it is universal health care through Medibank and then Medicare, whether it is the superannuation system, whether it is the NDIS, whether it is making sure we have paid parental leave programs for people. I know there is always going to be work for governments to do. The job is never done. It never will be done. But I'm so proud to be part of a team that puts shoulder to the wheel, will seek to solve the problems that present themselves to us and won't shy from the challenges that are thrown our way by a changing global geopolitical context.

I'm proud that I have this opportunity, but I don't ever want to take this opportunity for granted. My word to my electorate is that I will work as hard as I can with every day that I have in this place. Throughout my first term, I would say to people, 'I don't know how long I get the privilege of being the member for Chisholm, so every single day I have is an extra day of work I get to do to deliver for the community.' For however long I get to keep this privilege and this honour of being the member for Chisholm, I will work as hard as I can, every day that I have, to make my community proud.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's with great humility that I rise tonight to renew my promise to my electors, to my people in Fisher, that I will once again serve them in the best way that I can. It's been one of the greatest privileges of my life—perhaps the greatest privilege of my life—to take my seat in this place, to be given the honour of representing my community as an elected representative in this place. Every time I drive up into this place and I see the flagpole—to the newbies in the room, I hope you never lose the special goosebumps that you get when you see that flagpole, because it is incredibly special.

This is my ninth year now serving the Sunshine Coast, and it's a great privilege. Deputy Speaker Freelander, you and I have been sparring partners and, dare I say, good friends, because you and I have done a lot of good work in this place. In all the time that I have spent in this place, some of my fondest memories here are the work that I have done with you on Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs.

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Bruce has chimed in, and I've done some good work with him as well. I love youse all, as Jeff Fenech would say! But in all seriousness, Mr Deputy Speaker, you and I have done some really life-changing work, and I'm very proud of that work.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have. Me too.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As you should be, Mr Deputy Speaker. John Howard is renowned for having said that, when it comes to elections, the people never get it wrong, and I think he's right. Again, he's right. I will not go into some diatribe of all the things we did wrong in the last election, although I'm sure the member for Bruce would love me to.

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've got that covered!

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm sure you do! This next short while will be a period of self-reflection, because it's important that we take a good, long, hard look at ourselves to see where we went wrong. I've lost a lot of good friends that are not here today, not here in this sitting term, because of the many things we did that we shouldn't have done and the many things that we didn't do that we should have done. I'm very sad for them, and I hope that they're getting over what is no doubt the pretty significant grief of not being in this special place serving their communities.

But since the election, I've hit the ground running. In my usual style, I've done 20 listening posts since the election, because it's really important that we do listen. I always draw upon the analogy that the good Lord gave us two ears and one mouth and that we should use them in that order. We need to listen a lot more than we speak, and the vicar general in the church service yesterday spoke about that very thing.

As I sit and listen to those members opposite on what is for many of them a victory lap—I will not criticise the newbies, because it's a very special time for them—clearly, the Prime Minister is on a victory lap. I would just say to the Prime Minister and senior members of the government that it is incredibly important that they understand that Australians are still absolutely hurting. Nothing has changed. We are still in a period where more small businesses have gone to the wall in the last three years than in any other period in modern Australian history. As a small-business man of some 30 years before I went into politics, I feel their pain. It seems like the world is just getting more and more complicated, and that's not just at the feet of the current government; I think that's almost universal. I think back to my days when I was a young carpenter swinging a hammer for a living, and life seemed to be so much simpler in the eighties. But, of course, we can't just hanker for the past; we have to live in the future. But we really do, in this place, need to take stock. As lawmakers and parliamentarians, we should take stock of every single bill that gets tabled in this place and stop and think about how they will impact mum and dad Australia and small businesses. Small businesses are not just the backbone of my electorate in Fisher. They are the backbone of the Australian economy. They don't have human resources departments. They don't have in-house lawyers. They don't have IT specialists. It's mum, dad or maybe both sitting up at night doing the books. My dad used to say he felt like an unpaid tax collector when he was a motor mechanic for nearly 70 years. And nothing's changed. If anything, it's just gotten a whole lot worse. So I call upon my colleagues in this place to think about every single law that we look to pass and the consequences that they cause for everyday Australians. Every law that we pass often makes life more and more complicated.

Of course, over the last three years in particular, we have seen a significant increase in the cost of living. Groceries are up. Rents are up. Mortgages have been significantly up. Everything has gone up—the cost of energy. The cost of energy under this government is crippling Australian families. There are now 300,000 Australians in energy debt—300,000 Australians who cannot pay their energy bills. Just stop and think about that for a moment. Those are people who, in summertime, can't afford to turn the air conditioner on. In wintertime, they can't afford to turn the heater on. There are so many Australians who can't heat and eat together. They've got to make a decision: do I stay warm and not eat, or do I eat and not stay warm? That includes families across my own electorate. So my heart goes out to those people and those small businesses that are doing it tough.

I often remark, and have remarked over the last nine years, that unless you have sweated blood, wondering about how you are going to make payroll tomorrow, as many small businesses are doing tonight—it's payday tomorrow, and hundreds of thousands of small businesses are making decisions tonight about how they're going to pay their staff. And do you know what? They are very often dipping into their mortgages. They are very often dipping into their overdrafts to pay their staff tomorrow. So many small-business owners put themselves last. They will pay their staff before they pay themselves. And so I say to those small-business people out there in Australia: we hear you. We understand the pain that you are going through. But I'm not sure that the government does. In fact, I'm quite certain that they don't.

Over the last nine years, I have been absolutely driven, as the federal member for Fisher, to deliver for my local community, essentially on four pillars. Those four pillars are infrastructure, health care, small businesses, which I've spoken a lot about already, and protecting our future and the safety of Australians. In my first two terms in this place, the first six years, I was able to secure funding, when we were in government, for increases and better funding for the Bruce Highway—$3.4 billion to bring rail from Beerwah to Birtinya. I got funding for the Mooloolah River Interchange. I got funding for Third Avenue upgrades. Unfortunately, though, the member for Ballarat, who is the Minister for Infrastructure, cut the funding for the Mooloolah River Interchange in her infrastructure cuts. She cut the funding for Third Avenue. And what really upsets me, what really gets up my goat, is that members opposite talk about all they're doing in relation to the housing crisis, like building 1.2 million homes. But when this callous federal Labor government cut funding for the Mooloolah River Interchange, the then state Labor government had demolished over 100 homes to make way for the Mooloolah River Interchange upgrade. That's hundreds of Sunshine Coast locals that were evicted from their homes to make way for a road that the federal government then cut funding for. And yet, this government talks about all they're doing in relation to building homes, which has never eventuated. There was some $10 billion in their Housing Australia Future Fund. Actually, homes were demolished and people were evicted, and for nothing. Until, of course, the Crisafulli government in Queensland was elected. To their eternal credit, David Crisafulli reinstated 100 per cent of the funding for the Mooloolah River Interchange. As it turns out, those people weren't evicted from their homes for nothing, but they would have been but for David Crisafulli and the LNP state government.

Mr Deputy Speaker, one of my passions in this place, and you know this pretty well, has been my great interest in mental health. There are millions of Australians tonight who aren't just sad or down about something but suffer from anywhere from mild to very chronic mental health conditions. My family has walked that path for more than 20 years, and I want to say to those millions of Australians, particularly in my electorate of Fisher, that, even though we are in opposition, I will continue to hold this government to account in relation to issues around mental health.

In the six years that we were in government, I was able to secure funding for $12 million to build the Wishlist House, which provides accommodation for families with a sick person at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital. I was able to secure more than $20 million for the Thompson Institute, which is the first research centre for post-traumatic stress disorder for our first responders and our veterans.

I was able to secure more than $6 million to build Australia's first residential eating disorder facility. Based on the experiences that we learnt from in that process, when Greg Hunt was the health minister, he allocated $70 million to build a dedicated residential eating disorder facility in every state in this country. Prior to that, if you had a loved one that suffered from a chronic eating disorder, you had to travel to Sweden or the United States. Whilst the rollout by the states has been appallingly slow, I'm very pleased to see that they are finally starting to get on with spending that money and building facilities in their respective states.

We live in uncertain times. Everybody talks about that. I'm the former deputy chair of the PJCIS, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. The member for Bruce served admirably on that committee as well. We worked very well together. There is no doubt in my mind that we live in perilous days. The security of Australians, from a national security perspective, is at greater risk today than it has ever been, perhaps with the exception of the period leading up to 1945. Australian government departments and businesses are subject to constant cyber attacks from the likes of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran. It is incredibly important that we, as a parliament, ensure that our security agencies are properly equipped with the legislation, the tools and the funding they need to keep our country safe.

I take this opportunity, once again, to implore the government to look at the national security strategy Jim Molan put up in the past. It is not enough, as the government has done, to institute a national defence strategy. A national defence strategy is just one aspect of a national security strategy. The defence of our nation involves the entire community—local government, state governments, territory governments, the business community both small and large. The whole entire civil society needs to be on board to assist us to defend this nation, because, make no mistake, this country is under attack. It is under attack every single second of every single minute of every single hour of every single day. It's all very well for the Prime Minister to be in China, but, if we do not recognise the threats we constantly face from the likes of the Chinese Communist Party, North Korea, Iran and Russia, we are turning a blind eye to those risks—and we do that at our peril.

The last election was a sobering experience for my colleagues. I acknowledge in the chamber the member for Monash—and the member for McPherson, who used to work for me; I'm very proud of him being in this place. Still, it is a very sobering moment. We have much to learn. We have to go through this period of listening, as to where we went wrong. We need to develop our policies without losing our values. I know that the shadow defence minister, sitting at the table here, will play a very important role in that policy development, and I look forward to working with him.

There are many other things I could say in the time remaining, but I want to thank my family for putting up with me and this very strange career that we have all chosen. I want to thank all 573 volunteers that helped me on my campaign. I would not be standing here representing my electorate but for those 573 people. I am immensely humbled by the hard work you put in. I thank you, and I thank the people of Fisher for showing their support. I will not let you down. I will work hard every single day I'm in this place.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Fisher. I'd also like to acknowledge the work you've done in this parliament and elsewhere for people with mental health issues.

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also acknowledge my friend the member for Fisher's work on mental health. I enjoyed greatly our time working on the defence subcommittee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security Committee and elsewhere. I wish you a long and illustrious career serving in opposition on parliamentary committees!

Here we are. We've survived the world's worst job interview; it's my fourth in a row! I give very grateful thanks to the people of Bruce. The defining characteristic of the Bruce electorate is its human diversity—people of every background, from literally everywhere, speaking hundreds of different languages every day, getting on with daily life together. Stretching from the rural shire of Cardinia through established greenfield areas of the city of Casey and the hyper-multicultural Greater Dandenong, and to touch the city of Monash, Bruce has the largest number of voters of any seat in Victoria and tens of thousands of future citizens as well.

Whilst campaigns are always tough, this one was especially brutal. The Liberals and News Ltd were convinced they'd win Bruce. But it turns out the magnificent people of Bruce felt differently. We achieved the largest to swing to any incumbent MP in the country—9.31 per cent, thanks to the team. It was an incredible team effort due to hundreds of volunteers who lived their values. But this election wasn't just difficult; it was the most disgraceful and dirty campaign locals have ever seen. You might ask, why so? This time it wasn't the far-right Fraser Anning neo-Nazis, which we endured in 2019, or the Palmer cookers of 2022, and not even the One Nation folks, who actually turned up this time—last time they had a candidate from Queensland, no-one even turned up, but to everybody's surprise, they were very decently behaved. No, in 2025, the truly vile and disgusting behaviour, day in day out on the ground, emanated, radiated like a nuclear cloud from the Liberal Party—the supposed alternative government over there, or what's left of them, fuelled by their choice of the dodgiest major party candidates ever seen, Mr Zahid Atal Safi and the collection of largely intimidatory, discriminatory goons he surrounded himself with. Mr Safi and his party advertised him as 'a successful small businessman' who had 'a deep commitment to his community'. A deep commitment to lying, dodging and weaving would be more accurate, as it became clear as the campaign unfolded.

What my community endured during this campaign deserves to be recorded here. What happened in Bruce is bad for Australia's democracy, and it shines light on the ongoing failure of the Liberal Party, including its new leadership cabal, to face up to it, apologise, or reform itself. I quite liked and respected my three previous Liberal opponents—I did; I never heard from them again, but I did like them. But from the moment Mr Safi was mysteriously chosen to be the Liberal candidate, locals started calling, whispering and writing to me, raising serious concerns about his personal integrity and business dealings. Over months, a number of local Liberal branch members—the small number of decent people they still retain—quietly shared their unease that someone so manifestly unsuitable to sit in our national parliament had been preselected by a party of government. As things progressed, they shared their deep dismay at the sort of campaign they were embroiled in.

Nobody has ever properly explained why he was chosen. Some have concluded it was basic idiotic racism, a simplistic offensive view that if Mr Safi was the choice then all Muslim voters, and especially all Afghan voters, would automatically vote for him, as if they were Daleks with one brain cell that would vote along ethnic or religious lines, not Australian citizens with their own hopes or dreams and diverse thoughts and views. Others quietly explained to me that Mr Safi had access to significant mysterious funds which helped to fund his own campaign as well as his patron and mentors. Whatever their reasons, as a result, my community endured a toxic, nasty, negative campaign replete with misogyny, racism, homophobia, and good old-fashioned intimidation, largely at the hands of Mr Safi's associates. It was consistent, I suppose, with their national campaign, where they literally ran out of groups of Australians to offend and alienate with their culture wars.

The serial and daily disregard for the law and community amenity in Bruce saw the most bizarre signage wars we have ever seen. There was a Liberal Party truck, which we have a video of, that went around every night, rain or shine—it wasn't shining, because it was night—nailing hundreds of signs, literally hundreds, to trees, roundabouts, schools, churches park fences, and everything that didn't move. People called my office en masse—we've never had this before—enraged that Mr Safi's face had been nailed to their own fence in the night without permission. They even tied political signs to the RSL. You can imagine how well that went. Then one night massive banners that were homophobic appeared across south-east Melbourne, on freeways, overpasses and park fences right through Isaacs and La Trobe. They didn't know the boundaries; they were actually trying to capture people going in and out work—in some bizarre personal smear. For the record, I don't have a husband, but at least they chose a nice photo of me.

The broader community was appalled. It was personally unpleasant at the time, I will acknowledge. But my heart went out to all the young people grappling with their own identity who had to see that toxic rubbish in 2025.

We weren't surprised by the banners and their vile WhatsApp groups—yes, we got the screenshots. An insider had tipped off, for months, that this was their central campaign tactic. Geniuses!

I wish I could send whichever of their goons organised the banners a lovely thankyou note. Not only has it showed the broader community what they are really like but also their tactics generated generous donations and a hell of a lot more volunteers. Unfortunately, though, they forgot to authorise their handiwork in breach of various laws and electoral regulations. The police remain on the case, so let's see who gets outed now.

But I'll go back to Mr Safi, the man that the Liberal Party still thinks should've been elected to sit in this House. Turns out Mr Safi, the businessman, actually owns three NDIS providers. One of them, Willow Support Services, was registered to a residential address, yet the people living there said they had no idea about the business. They did, however, receive mail for it from time to time, which they put in the bin—exactly what the Liberal Party should've done much earlier with their candidate. Another business, No. 2 of Mr Safi's NDIS businesses, was recently deregistered for unpaid fees.

But then there's Infinite Community Supports. This seems a bit more promising if you read the glowing online reviews. I'll read some. John lswanto from St Kilda wrote:

The ICS team broke down my plan in a way that was easy to understand and helped me find the best providers to suit my needs.

Another positive review was left by Numen Khan from Richmond, who said:

They helped me set and achieve meaningful goals.

A basic Google search though reveals all is not as it seems. Mr Iswanto's photo actually fronts hundreds of fake reviews globally, including as a student in London and the head of marketing at crown plaza sweets in Sydney. He's even a general project coordinator in Azerbaijan.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Wow, talented!

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know! He gets about. Numen Khan is also a tech engineer in Germany, a talent recruiter in Amsterdam and a marketing manager in Wisconsin. Mr Safi's website reviews were entirely made up—naughty! Dodgy.

Full credit to the formidable journalist Charlotte Grieve at the Age for both exposing dodgy Zahid Safi's fake business empire and for her tenacious pursuit of journalism's holy grail of the 2025 Bruce campaign—an interview with the Liberal candidate. For 23 days she doggedly pursued Mr Safi, trying to land an interview. For 23 days, Mr Safi dodged and weaved and went into hiding, but predictably, when she finally tracked him down on the big day, he literally ran away. But, fortunately, Charlotte pursued him and had a camera on her phone to record the epic moment. Mr Safi had made it to what he thought was the safety of his car, about to drive away, but—you couldn't script this—in a moment of genius, the Liberal Party official who was minding him physically ordered Mr Safi out of the car. You have to watch the video to really get the full gist of it, as the Liberal Party dude was also inexplicably dressed in shorts, a fedora hat and a colourful shirt like he'd wandered out of a Bavarian beer hall. Anticlimactically, just as Charlotte got him, he refused to answer any questions about his businesses. Instead he gave a very credible impersonation of one of those dolls where you press the button and they repeat the phrase, and he said 'cost of living', 'crime', 'cost of living' and 'crime' until he drove away.

There were further revelations through the campaign later including actual victims of Mr Safi's dodgy NDIS businesses, with multiple referrals now to regulatory authorities for investigations. These are not trivial matters. Numerous laws may have been breached with fake website reviews, false addresses and phone numbers, and other worrying reports that attract serious civil and potential criminal penalties in breach of the NDIS Act, the Corporations Act and the Criminal Code Act, including 'failure to comply with the condition of registration as an NDIS provider or the NDIS code of conduct by failing to act with honesty, integrity and transparency' or 'false or misleading information in registration'. Terms of imprisonment are provided under other acts, such as the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act and the Victorian Crimes Act. The Australian Consumer Law also creates specific offences, including 'making a false or misleading representation relating to the supply of goods and services' such as things like false testimonials on the website.

Further tip-offs about Mr Safi's previous, now deregistered, training businesses allegedly selling fake qualifications have been referred to the appropriate authorities. Even News Limited eventually couldn't stay out of the action and they dipped their toes into the cesspit, exposing Mr Safi for faking his own master's degree at Monash University, which is still featured on his LinkedIn. His excuse to the media was that he'd lost his LinkedIn password. Of course, Mr Safi was a very good fit with his campaign team. His campaign manager, a local Liberal elder affectionately known in their crowd as 'Uncle Andrew McNabb', had to resign as campaign manager due to a slew of misogynistic social media posts using terms I cannot repeat here.

Some of Mr Safi's more charming volunteers really excelled themselves on the polling booths, using multiple different languages to advise Australian Hazaras that Mr Safi was the reincarnation of Abdur Rahman Khan—he was brought back again—and warning voters that voting for me would betray Khan's legacy. Now, for most Australians, that's a rather obscure historical reference. For those not in the know, Abdur Rahman Khan is known for perpetrating the Hazara wars and genocide in Afghanistan in the 1800s. You might be forgiven for thinking that this was just a rogue volunteer, an extremist whose views didn't align with Mr Safi's campaign. But no: as the Guardian reported extensively, in 2021 Mr Safi co-authored an inflammatory anti-Hazara submission to a Senate inquiry. The Taliban has of course pursued and killed and persecuted people of every ethnicity in Afghanistan and continues to do so. But Mr Safi's and his associates' denial of specific atrocities against Hazaras is dishonest and deeply hurtful to those who've lost family and loved ones in countless acts of targeted violence. And the intimidation of Hazara Australians exercising their vote is disgraceful.

After all of this, you'd think that a functional political party would have dumped a candidate like Mr Safi. But nope: they didn't just tolerate him; as the scandals kept unfolding, they were falling over each other to embrace him—Senator Hume; multiple campaign videos, sans cocktails and sundowners; and glowing endorsements from the member for La Trobe, who described him as a 'phenomenal candidate. He was pictured with Liberal heavyweights like the shadow minister for defence and the Leader of the Nationals. The wonderful Senator Henderson blessed him as 'the exceptional candidate for Bruce'. Senator Paterson hailed him as 'an outstanding candidate'. 'A fantastic candidate', said the now Leader of the Opposition, 'fighting hard for the people of Bruce every day'. In her defence, I suppose Mr Safi did fight hard every day—to get away, run away and stay away from all those pesky journalists.

All that said, to be fair, perhaps you could explain away their professed admiration for Mr Safi as just the heat of a campaign: 'stand by your man'. As the old saying goes, 'He may be an idiot, but he's our idiot.' But even that cannot explain the most concerning and perplexing part. Even after the election, even after all the scandals and revelations and referrals to investigation, this mob are still embracing Mr Safi. In the last few weeks, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the shadow Treasurer and the shadow minister for immigration have already had meetings with Mr Safi, described up there on social media as 'very productive'. Maybe Mr Safi was teaching them how to create fake profiles and fake positive reviews for the Liberal Party!

This is now a test for the Liberal leadership—to come in here and apologise for their candidate choice, apologise to the people of Bruce and admit that what they are doing is wrong. Now, they should—but I wouldn't hold your breath waiting. Of course, one giant problem for them is that if they did say sorry then they couldn't get away with pretending it was just one bad apple, could they? Their problem is that the whole tree is rotten. Their whole rotten Liberal enterprise needs root-and-branch reform.

A senior journalist did suggest to me that one reason Mr Safi didn't get the attention nationally in the media that he deserved and wasn't dumped was in part because they had so many appalling candidates that there just wasn't the bandwidth in the media to pay attention to all of them! Let's not forget the Liberal candidate for Wills, who pled guilty last year to obtaining financial advantage by deception, and the Liberal candidate for Whitlam, who said we need to 'fix the military' by removing women from combat and that the ADF had been weakened by diversity and equity quotas and all those woke Marxist ideologies. So they sacked him. But get this: their replacement candidate for Whitlam was just as bonkers as his predecessor. His big agenda was gender fluidity and other forms of Marxist brainwashing in schools. The Liberal candidate for Bradfield, who's still off at the High Court now, was named in a $650,000 settlement over discrimination and harassment claims brought by a former staffer.

This is my personal favourite, though: the Liberal candidate for Kooyong, who thought she'd relate to everyday Australians by describing herself as a renter. The only problem was, she forgot to mention her giant trust fund and investment properties in Canberra and London worth millions of dollars. Twitter was possibly just a little unkind, with the pony club and nepo baby monikers—possibly. Perhaps she just misspelled 'rentier'! Then there's the candidate for Leichhardt, who described my home state of Victoria as a fascist state and bemoaned the 'feminists who helped kick Trump out'—whatever that meant.

Not content with that offering, though, the Liberal Party has now launched its latest civil war over there about gender quotas—you know: whether it's maybe time to ensure that half the population is properly represented in the parliament. Apparently it's okay to have quotas for National Party blokes and seemingly for dodgy candidates but not for women.

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Talk about your electorate!

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Oh, I have been talking about my electorate. You weren't here. You should check the transcript. Then you can come in and apologise for standing with that dodgy candidate who you ran against us.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! We don't need a two-way conversation.

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

But let's move on from the 'so what'—make this bloke happy. This isn't just about some postelection catharsis—

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member shall refer to other members—

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes—make the shadow minister happy. This isn't just about some postelection catharsis; this is about the state of our democracy.

In my firm view, the Westminster system relies on strong, functioning political parties that can perform public goods; develop realistic, costed policies for people to choose from; campaign for those policies; and vet and select candidates who are suitable to hold public office in the parliament. A strong democracy requires a proper, functional opposition, yet what the Bruce campaign and, indeed, the entire national campaign and their postelection civil war has starkly revealed is the rotten, broken shell that is now the Liberal Party. They were a terrible government and they weren't much good at opposition, but beneath that sad fact is that they are now barely a functional party. In Victoria, their main pastime is suing each other in the courts. They're back there again in September. Can't wait for Moira for PM and those stickers; that'll be great! They've well proven their inability to vet and select proper candidates. They have literally not a single policy—not one—except those forced upon them by the National Party to avoid the messy divorce: climate change denial, economic populism and risky nuclear reactors. But don't worry, the Leader of the Opposition says. 'We have our values. We'll always be guided by them.' The only problem is they're not actually sure what they are, so they've now embarked on this soul-searching exercise to find their values. Good luck with that. Eat, pray, love to you all.

One of the best things about the 2025 election was the resounding rejection by Australians of the politics of fear and division in the community, voting instead for a politics of unity, care and optimism. To me, an Australian is anyone committed to our country, to its institutions and to that basic principle of mutual respect for their fellow Australians, who may be very different to them. The people in this chamber may be very different to each other. They may have very different beliefs, identities and world views. Perhaps one day the Liberal Party will get that. Miracles do happen; I'm not giving up on you!

I'm proud to be a member of this government. I've known the PM since 1996; he's the real deal. He's kind, he's smart, he's strategic, he's tough, he's experienced, he's authentic, he's an insanely hard worker and he's actually fun. In my first speech, I spoke about the fun faction back then.

I'll finish on this. I'm especially proud to be part of a parliament that now reflects more modern Australia. In my first speech to this place, I spoke about institutions of power. The judiciary, the military and this parliament have to reflect the communities that we serve, and these are without doubt the best first speeches I have ever heard in my time here. I could not imagine a better collection. They're people who have real problems, have had real lives and actually reflect the community, so full marks and a shout-out to my new colleagues. The country is going to be well served by this government under this Prime Minister.

Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As we commence the 48th Parliament of Australia, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the people of Robertson. Your trust and support mean everything to me. Representing our community in the federal parliament is one of the greatest privileges of my life, and I will continue to serve with dedication, humility and an unwavering fairness for progress for all. It was an honour and a privilege to have been the member for Robertson in the 47th Parliament, and I now look forward to continuing my work building a better future for my community and for our region, the Central Coast.

Campaigns are particularly challenging, and having a supportive team is crucial for any member of parliament running for election or re-election. There are some exceptional people that must be mentioned here tonight. To my beautiful wife, Shaylee: what a vision! Words cannot express my love for you in this moment. Public life is not something that one does alone, with its demands, pressures and countless absences. You have endured the burdens of this life with quiet grace, resilience and extraordinary patience. Your support has been the steady foundation beneath every step I have taken, and your sacrifice, often unseen by many, has made it possible for me to serve the people of the Central Coast and of Australia. Thank you for being by my side every step of this journey.

To my incredible parents, Bryan and Leanne: in my first speech to parliament, I said that there has never been a time in my life when you have not been there for me. It was true then and is true now. Your love and support have been a quiet constant behind every moment of my public life. You both instilled the values of service, humility and hard work long before I ever imagined a role in parliament. Through the pressures of being the member for Robertson—the long hours, the difficult decisions and the moments of doubt—you have both been my strength to move forward. I know your belief in me has never wavered, and your quiet and sometimes not-so-quiet pride has given me strength. I would not be who I am or have done what I have done without the life that you built for me. I love you both.

To my sister, Grace—sorry, Dr Grace Reid: as any big brother knows, having a little sister means never getting too full of yourself, because she'll be the first to bring you back down to Earth. Throughout my time in public life, while I've been giving speeches and sitting in parliament, she's been there with her quick wit and that unique sibling ability to keep me grounded. But, behind the jest, is a heart full of loyalty, love and unwavering support. She has been one of my biggest cheerleaders, and I couldn't have done this without her strength, humour and the occasional reality check only a little sister can deliver.

Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And she lives in Alice!

Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

She lives in Alice, too. That's exactly right, Member for Lingiari.

To Nan, Aunty Robyn, the 'Lady of Labor', the matriarch of the Reid family and a proud Aboriginal woman: thank you for encouraging me to run in 2022. Without that moment, none of what we have achieved so far would have been possible. So thank you, Nan.

I want to offer my deepest thanks to two exceptional people who have stood at the heart of my parliamentary office: my chief of staff, Jo Lloyd, and my press secretary, Jesse Corda. Jo has led our team with strength, integrity and a tireless commitment to serving not just me but the people of the Central Coast and of Australia. Her leadership and strategic mind have guided us through every challenge with clarity and with resolve. Jesse has been our voice—sharp, principled and unwavering—navigating the public arena with skill and with conviction. Their loyalty, professionalism and belief in the work we've done together have meant more to me than words can express.

And I want to take a moment to thank the extraordinary group of people who have been the engine room of my parliamentary office—Cherie Pulley, Jackson Tumpey, Matthew Henry, Lily English, Bernadette Cox, Joshua Partier, Cooper Lloyd, Max English and Megan Connor. Each of them has brought dedication, heart and an unshakeable work ethic to everything that we have done for the people of the Central Coast. Whether it was helping a constituent through a difficult time, helping to deliver vital local projects or simply keeping the wheels turning, day in and day out, they showed up with professionalism and they showed up with purpose. Their belief in our mission and their service behind the scenes has been nothing short of remarkable. I'm deeply proud of what we have achieved together, and I'm forever grateful for your talent and your care.

To my campaign team—Chiara Moore, Chloe Oliver, Chistian Lauber, Oskar Loofs: all of those months of doorknocking, phone calls, letter boxes, street stalls, train stations and so much more paid off. Labor now holds the seat of Robertson with a historic margin, one of the highest since the 1930s. I wish these brilliant young Labor campaigners all the best for their futures, and I look forward to them continuing to contribute to our great Labor Party.

I want to pay special tribute to the trade union movement, those who stood shoulder to shoulder with me through this campaign. I want to make special mention of the USU, the United Services Union; the Transport Workers' Union; the Rail, Tram and Bus Union; the SDA; my amazing health colleagues in the HSU; and the New South Wales Nurses and Midwives' Association. I am unashamedly a supporter of the trade union movement. Your support was not just political. It was principled, passionate and deeply rooted in the belief that working people deserve a voice, dignity and a fair go. You knocked on doors, made calls and stood in the rain because you know what's at stake not just at elections but in everyday lives. The trade union movement has always been and remains the beating heart of progress in this country. From better wages to safer workplaces, from universal superannuation to paid parental leave, unions have fought for and delivered the foundations of a fair society. Thank you for everything you've done, not just for me but for the country we all believe in.

To the incredible Labor volunteers: thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are the true soul of our movement. You gave your time, your energy and your passion, not for recognition or reward but because you believe in a better future and a fairer Australia. You knocked on doors, handed out how-to-vote cards, made calls, put up signs and had countless conversations, each one an act of faith for what we believed in.

To the New South Wales Labor Party office: thank you for your support. To General Secretary Dom Ofner, Assistant General Secretary David Dobson and organiser Peter Duggan: your support of me and our team over the last term has been appreciated.

I want to also acknowledge and recognise my federal and New South Wales state government counterparts, particularly the member for Gosford, Liesl Tesch. Along with former member for Gosford Marie Andrews, I could not have asked for a better support duo. Thank you to both of you. And to the rest of the Central Coast Labor caucus—Senator Deborah O'Neill, Assistant Minister Emma McBride, Minister Pat Conroy, Minister David Harris, Minister Yasmin Catley, Parliamentary Secretary David Mehan and the fantastic New South Wales MLC Mark Buttigieg: thank you.

I also want to make special mention of several local Labor branch members and supporters who went above and beyond in this campaign to help with this re-election. Thank you to Sam Boughton, Hugh Sykes, Dr Jon Fogarty, Margaret McDonald, Jenni Neary, Joe Colbran, Genny Murphy, Sharon Dunn, Jenny Taaffe, Mils Brown, Harry Barnett, Bill and Pauline Hayden, Kim De Laive, Penny Rogers, Rhonda Audsley, Claire Pullen, Leighton Drury, Valerie Govind, Hannah Mercer, Sarah Loaney, Scott Palmer, ED nurse Kelly Falconer and Corel Roberts—and a quick shout-out to my Aunty Deb Mawson and Uncle Gary Matthews. That rain and wind was cold, but that victory sure was sweet. To the over 400 Robertson Labor branch members and volunteers who helped me during this campaign: your support was invaluable and helped us achieve this historic win. Thank you for believing in me, my campaign and our vision for a stronger, more prosperous Central Coast.

During the 47th Parliament, I was able to secure significant funding towards several major projects on the New South Wales Central Coast. These federally funded projects included securing $100 million for the upgrade of Avoca Drive through Kincumber. The upgrade of Avoca Drive is now gathering pace, reaching critical milestones and progressing closer to having shovels in the ground. Just recently, Transport for NSW published the project's consultation report, following community feedback on its strategic design options. There were 337 individual submissions from the community which will now help shape the future design of the upgrade. I thank everyone who contributed during the feedback period, and I look forward to continuing to support Transport for NSW as they progress this vital piece of infrastructure for my community.

Another major funding allocation that I fought hard to secure was the $40 million Central Coast Local Roads Package. That package is helping Central Coast Council undertake much-needed road renewal works and local road infrastructure in our region. These renewals benefited Rickard Road in Empire Bay, Debenham Road South in West Gosford and Beach Street in Umina Beach, plus many more, and during this term of parliament I will work with the Central Coast Council to help improve local road infrastructure and to identify additional funding sources from the federal government.

The Narara community battery has now been established and is storing excess solar electricity from nearby rooftop solar panels in the suburb. This community battery is helping to reduce electricity costs for Narara residents and helping to lower emissions. Since the establishment of this community battery, with the support of Ausgrid, there has been a marked increase in interest from my community for this technology. Several groups in suburbs from across my electorate have now been formed to explore the viability of community batteries and whether one can be established in their communities. There has been considerable interest from beachside suburbs including Copacabana, MacMasters Beach, Avoca Beach, Davistown and Saratoga, plus Patonga.

Like any region in Australia, sport plays an integral part in our community. I had the pleasure of meeting with and supporting many sporting organisations over the course of the last term. Examples of this support include federal funding for upgrades to local sporting facilities at Frost Reserve in Kincumber and at Kariong recreation precinct. The upgrades to the sporting facilities at Frost Reserve are progressing in collaboration with local sporting organisations, the Kincumber Roos and Avoca Kincumber Cricket Club. Upgrades to Kariong sports facilities include refurbishment of interior changing rooms and other amenities to ensure they are fit for purpose and reflect growing female participation in sport.

A huge highlight during my last term was the opening of the Peninsula Medicare Urgent Care Clinic in Umina, which has now seen over 17,000 patients, all of whom have been bulk-billed. As an emergency department doctor I see firsthand the impact Labor's Medicare urgent care clinics are having on our healthcare system on the Central Coast and more broadly across Australia. Patients now have a place to go when they are too sick for a GP and not sick enough for the emergency department. I welcome the Albanese Labor government's commitment to continue to roll out more Medicare urgent care clinics across the country.

Now, in this new parliamentary term, I will be continuing to deliver for the people of Robertson and for the Central Coast community, working on delivering the commitments made during the federal election. These commitments include securing $115 million to commence works to upgrade Terrigal Drive through Erina and Terrigal; establishing another Medicare urgent care clinic to service the northern end of the electorate of Robertson; providing $10 million towards improving maternity services at our public hospitals in Gosford and Wyong; delivering $15 million to assist in upgrading intersections in Empire Bay and Bensville; providing $1.8 million to upgrade Ettalong Beach foreshore in conjunction with the Central Coast Council as well as $2.1 million towards the construction of a shared pathway at Avoca Beach; and, lastly, delivering $985,000 to upgrade Breakers Indoor Sports Stadium in Terrigal. I look forward to delivering on all my election commitments and continuing to identify further areas on the Central Coast where the federal Labor government can continue to support.

Australians have backed Labor's plan for the future of our country. They want to see more investment in health care, housing, education and infrastructure. That's our record investments in women's health care, improved access to medications through our cheaper medicines policy, Medicare urgent care clinics and our record funding for bulk-billing so that more Australians can see a doctor for free. That's our Housing Australia Future Fund and its investments in building housing for vulnerable Australians or our policies to help younger Australians get their foot in the door of home ownership, making it easier to buy a first home. That's fully funding public education in Australia, giving all young Australians the best possible start in life through a quality public school system.

The nation is built on the shoulders of working people, on the dignity of secure jobs, on the power of education and innovation and on the belief that a fair go means looking after one another through both the good times and those times of crises.

Labor understands that a strong nation is a self-reliant nation, and that is why today, as part of my contribution, I want to speak about a defining issue for Australia's future: our industrial sovereignty. From health care to defence and from energy to transport—all are vital for our nation to thrive into the future because, when I talk about sovereignty, I'm not just talking about flags and borders. I'm referring to something deeply practical: the ability to care for our own, to protect our communities and to stand on our own two feet in a fast and often uncertain world.

The Australian Labor Party has always believed in the power of local industry. From the NBN to Medicare to the rebuilding of our industrial base, Labor governments build for the future because that is what responsible governments do. Since the pandemic, Australians understand more than ever that we must never again find ourselves in a situation where we are overly reliant on fragile overseas supply chains, whether that be for medications, vaccinations or equipment that our hospitals need and that our families depend on for the care that they need.

That is why Labor is delivering a future made in Australia—an economy built on Australian innovation, on Australian jobs and on Australian resilience. Industrial sovereignty is no longer just an economic aspiration; it is a national security imperative and a strategic necessity. In a world of geopolitical tension, disrupted supply chains and strategic competition, Australia must never be in a position where we cannot produce what we need to protect our people and what we need to care for our people. Whether it's critical medicines, security, energy systems or advanced technologies, our capacity to manufacture at home is part of the foundation of our resilience. This is not just about economics. It is about national preparedness. It is about ensuring that, in times of uncertainty, Australia remains strong, Australia remains self-reliant and Australia remains steadfast in the knowledge that the future truly is made in Australia.

I again want to thank the people of Robertson for re-electing me to this House. It is truly a privilege to sit on these benches. Whether it be in government or in opposition, it is an honour to represent your community in here, because what we do matters and what we say matters. What we do in here makes a difference to people's lives, to the lives of working people, families, the young and the old—or the young at heart, I should say—and of our First Nations communities, whether they be in New South Wales, the Northern Territory or WA, right across our vast continent. The decisions that are made and the words that are spoken in this chamber and in the other place will matter now and for the rest of time for our country. I truly believe that.

We are lucky to live in this country. It's a beautiful place. I'm a bit biased, but Robertson is a beautiful place. I'm even more biased: Umina Beach is God's country. I encourage every member to look at that beautiful place. Lion Island, sitting out there just off the coast, used to have a fairy penguin colony. It's absolutely beautiful stuff. Umina Beach is one of the best beaches on the Central Coast and one of the best beaches in Australia.

Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Good surf!

Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There's great surf when there's a southerly, as the member for Kingsford Smith points out. It is a beautiful place, and I encourage every member to get along there. I've had a few members there for a pint or two. But, wherever you're from in Australia, you are more than welcome, even those from opposition benches; we'll have you there. It truly is a great place.

Again, thank you to the people of Robertson and to all the amazing Labor volunteers. To my amazing family and my beautiful wife: thank you for everything that you've done for me, not just in this latest campaign but in the campaign prior, because it's tough. I know it's tough on you. Thank you for everything.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There might be some argument about the best beach in Australia from some of the South Coast beaches and, indeed, from some of the Northern Territory beaches.

Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And we have a rock!

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You do.

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Shipwreck Coast!

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Shipwreck Coast as well—it's beautiful. I thank the member for Robertson for that very colourful and positive speech. It being almost 7.30 pm—

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You talked about a few more feature spots with good beaches.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes.

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We could run through what's at wonderful Apollo Bay, Port Fairy. You should all think about—

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Port Fairy's lovely, I agree.

Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's not a patch on Maroubra.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No. Maroubra is fantastic. I totally agree. I don't think I should get into arguments about the best beaches in Australia. I think we're very lucky to have so many great beaches in our country.