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

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

Mary Aldred (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy Speaker, for granting me the call. It is my life's greatest privilege to rise as the member for Monash and an honour to address the House on behalf of my community.

I am the 1,246th Australian elected to this place since Federation. My dad, Ken Aldred, was the 660th. It is 50 years since my dad first rose to speak in this place, in the old parliament. It is nearly a decade since his passing, which remains my deepest trauma and my longest grief. I know that he wouldn't have missed today for quids. My dad's views on the world could be complicated. His love for me was not. While people are sometimes quick to associate my interest in politics with following in my dad's footsteps, they forget to acknowledge my mum's influence, too. My mum, Margie, is a former teacher who ran a number of small businesses over the years, and I would be lucky to count myself as inheriting a fraction of her empathy and charm.

I am the second member for Monash elected to this place. I acknowledge my predecessor, Russell Broadbent, and his wife, Bronwyn, for their service over two and a half decades to the people of Corinella, McMillan and Monash. I know that my predecessor will be best remembered by many colleagues for his eloquent and ineffaceable speech in 2009 after the Black Saturday bushfires, where his words reflected the acute grief of impacted communities such as Jindivick. While we spent the last two years as opponents, the fact is that we were good friends for 20, and it was a privilege to support him over that time. Russell and Bronwyn Broadbent are good people. I wish them well.

I know that I am visiting this place by the grace and goodwill of the people of Monash. Monash is part of the great Gippsland region, where Australia's richest soil meets sea adjoining the world's best beaches. In Monash, it's calloused hands and boots, not suits, that build national progress brick by brick. From dredge to boiler room, paddock to milking shed, harvester to timber yard, workshop to shopfront, I honour these great Australians. Our national success rides on their shoulders.

We are Gippslanders. We are farmers, veterans, tradies and teachers. We are Dorothy Mackellar's thirsty paddocks, sweeping plains and ragged mountain ranges. We are her droughts and flooding rains. People in Monash give back, put in and help out. They look you in the face when you walk down the street, whether you're a friend or a stranger. We don't ask for special treatment—just a fair go, reward for effort and a better tomorrow for the next generation.

Monash is a big electorate. You need to know every blade of grass, the agricultural shows, the community halls, the RSLs, the footy teams and netball clubs, the Rotary and Lions clubs, the chambers of commerce, the men's sheds and the CWA to the CFA. The spirit of volunteerism was born in Australian regions, and we couldn't survive without it. I am proud to come from a region that grows, makes and manufactures things. Victoria succeeds when our region thrives. Families and businesses depend on us to turn on the lights, run water through their taps and put food on the table. Our local resources fuel national economies.

There are many people in the Monash electorate who have taken me under their wing or at least made time to teach me a thing or two. One of those people is Aunty Cheryl Drayton, a Gunaikurnai elder from Drouin. A dairy farmer for many years, Aunty Cheryl is a practical person who likes to get to the point. A cuppa with Aunty Cheryl over the years on the topics we've canvassed has been more valuable than any conference or classroom. She is deeply committed to closing the education and employment gap for her community in Monash, and I commit myself to doing everything I possibly can to support her from this place and back home.

Monash is named after someone who, in my view, is Australia's greatest-ever citizen—General Sir John Monash. Monash was, as Roland Perry's brilliant book says, 'The outsider who won a war.' He was the first person in 200 years to be knighted on the battlefield by a British monarch. Back home, Australia owes him several debts of gratitude. As inaugural chair of the State Electricity Commission in the Latrobe Valley, Monash helped set up Victoria as a manufacturing powerhouse, thanks to the cheap and reliable electricity of those once four, now three, power stations. I honour the contribution of all Latrobe Valley power station workers and their families to our great state of Victoria.

John Monash was a Jewish man. I made time last year to visit the synagogue he was president of in St Kilda. The latent antisemitism of his time could not dim Monash's achievements, despite early efforts to do so. It is tragically ironic that Monash's beloved city and the state that he gave so much to are today in the grips of the oldest hatred in time. This is an offence against Australian values. This is a stain on our good national character. There are not many synagogues in the Monash electorate, as the rabbi at Monash's old shul remarked during my visit, which makes it especially important for regional Australians to stand up and condemn in the strongest terms possible what is happening to our Jewish community right now. I am with you.

There are many people to thank for my journey here. From the Goodings of Moe to the Wakefields of Nilma North and the Cantwells of Korumburra, I am blessed to have benefited from the love and support of many families across Monash. I thank my campaign team, led by the magnificent Gary Blackwood and brilliant Matt Green, with wonderful support from the Hon. Alan Brown, including Andrew Ronalds, Julie Pike, Toni Wakefield, Cara Carter, Jenny Hammett, Sean Dignum, Jeremy Curtis, Tony, Lisa, Kate, Vicki, Harvey, Ash, Leon, Harry, Marney, Kim, Alyce and all of the Monash Liberal Party supporters without whom I simply would not be here. I acknowledge the support of Philip Davis, Stuart Smith and Ben Zerbe too.

I thank my friend and state colleague the member for Narracan, Wayne Farnham, and all of my Victorian Senate colleagues, but especially my patron senator Jane Hume for her limitless support. I am honoured by the presence in the gallery today of my dear friend the Hon. Judith Troeth.

Sussan Ley visited Monash a number of times during the campaign. Whether it was a food bank, a small business or a dairy farm, she was there. She'd also ring me: 'Hi, it's Sussan—just checking in.' In netball parlance, that was a 'here if you need', and it meant a lot to me.

My supporters were there for me every day I was a candidate, which spanned about 18 months—or 538 days if you're counting!—with many of them spent traversing every highway and dirt road across Monash in a 22-seater, big blue bus that had a few nicknames, including the 'Monash express', even though my journey here was not. My Jack Russell terrier would often be riding shotgun in his Liberal-blue bandana.

Above all, it is to my family that I owe my deepest gratitude: my mum, Margie; as well as James and Philippa, Lucy and Phil, John and Sonia, plus the little ones I am aunty to. You are my everything.

It was not an easy campaign, with Labor on the national ascendancy, one of the most cashed-up teal campaigns in the country and a long-term incumbent recontesting. To succeed with a swing to the Liberal Party is a privilege.

I will not meet the opportunity in front of me with reticence. There are many local priorities that I want to achieve on behalf of my community. I will continue to do what I have a track record of doing, and that is push as hard as I possibly can to help get a new West Gippsland Hospital delivered.

During the last few years, I've worked with local communities in Inverloch and Phillip Island who are staring down the barrel of coastal inundation. They cannot afford to wait years for mitigation; their homes will disappear. They face a problem which many other coastal communities are grappling with, which is why I believe we need a national framework to address coastal inundation across Australia.

The Prime Minister was once a transport minister who said nearly a decade and a half ago that he believed that 'Infrastructure is the critical enabler of productivity.' I agree. But, in regions like mine, roads and infrastructure still lag generations behind. It's about levelling up opportunities for manufacturers and primary producers who depend on getting their products to market competitively. I'll work with anyone who's prepared to walk the talk on making that investment. But our regions are tired of inaction.

I'm not a veteran, but I am passionately committed to improving the lives of those who are. Local veterans, led by Bill and including Ben and Lindsay, Lyn, Bob and Christine, have taken the time to share their experiences with me, to my profound gratitude. We must properly address the care and sufficient repatriation to civilian life of those who sign up and are forever changed by that call to serve. I commit myself now, until the end of my time in this place, to that effort.

My family moved to Upper Beaconsfield when I was around 12. My parents ran a small business. I saw them work around the clock, with lean margins and high stress. I wanted to help them so much that I left school at 15 to work full-time as a farm hand. I later went back and completed school. But carting hay in 40-degree heat and doing feed runs in the freezing rain, fixing fences and digging out drains taught me more than I learned from the three university degrees that followed. It taught me about hard work, about patience earnt from the monotony of doing things properly, and those lessons have seldom failed me in the years since.

It is where my passion for small and family businesses was ignited and why I have dedicated such a huge chunk of my working life to being a voice for mum-and-dad operators. It's small-business people who get out of bed every morning and put their house on the line just to give someone else a shot at a job. It's small-business owners who give young people their first opportunity in the workplace. And it's small-business owners who so often put their hands up to help out at our service clubs and put their hands back in their own pockets again and again to sustain our local sporting teams, even in tough times. It's where innovation thrives without the constraints of corporate bureaucracy. But the fact is, Australian small-business people have never worked longer days for less reward or faced more risk and red tape.

While I may have grown up in a Liberal household, I am not a hater of the Labor Party. In fact, my parents instilled in me a clear understanding that political opponents are not enemies, that while we have different—sometimes markedly opposite—views on policy we all love Australia, and that there are good people on both sides. There are Labor people who have been very generous to me. While I won't embarrass them, I would like to acknowledge the Hon. Martin Ferguson for his ongoing commitment to the Gippsland region, which I really just see as an extension of his old-school Labor values in support of blue-collar workers and regional jobs. Those values seem a bit out of vogue these days.

During the election I had an older couple from the La Trobe Valley approach me at a listening post outside the little IGA in Trafalgar. 'We're lifelong Labor voters; I've been a worker all my life,' the gentleman said. 'But we're going to vote for you, which means we're going to vote Liberal for the first time,' the lady added. That couple at the IGA didn't so much feel as though they had left the Labor Party as that the Labor Party had left them, by forgetting their history and ignoring their future. I say to that couple, and the many others in my community who shared similar sentiments with me: I will not let you down.

I express my deep concern that as a country we are losing the ability to respectfully disagree with one another on big national issues. Our democracy depends on the premise that we should have big contests, because the ultimate responsibility of government is great. Voters should have a clear choice, and arguments on policy should be made boldly, not timidly. We need to change the tone of Australian political discourse, and as a newcomer to this place I commit to doing my small part constructively, boldly and respectfully in this regard. I will not be shy about speaking up for regional industries that employ people. I believe that strong businesses sustain strong communities. I am particularly passionate about our timber towns, farmers and small businesses. These people take great pride in their craftsmanship, environmental stewardship and community. They do not deserve to have a referendum on their future cast in faraway places that are immune to the outcome.

I'm a proud jack-of-all-trades. As a millennial—by the skin of my teeth, I might add!—I have benefited from the breadth of several careers. As a passionate Gippslander, I've thrown myself into many community organisations over the years. From local hospital and community aged-care boards, plus organisations like Lifeline Gippsland, tertiary education boards and chairing the Gippsland United basketball league, I've seen the transformational impact of what community volunteers mean to regional Australia. I've gleaned many insights from the brilliance of others I've had the privilege of sharing a conversation with. I owe everyone I've worked with in those various roles a huge debt for the generosity of their shared knowledge. One of my greatest honours was as founding CEO of the Committee for Gippsland. Anyone that's started something from nothing can relate to the small celebrations of getting a phone line connected or a sign painted. Having been appointed to that role at the age of 27, I will remain forever grateful to those who took a chance on a young person with a few big ideas but few rungs on the ladder.

As one of our greatest prime ministers John Howard once said, the Liberal Party is 'a broad church', but I like to think of it as a large family—loud, boisterous with bold arguments and real contests that those outside the family may not always understand but they're always for each other when it counts. We are, though, the only party to aspire to represent Australians from all walks of life—every part of society whether you live in the city or the country; no matter if you're an entrepreneur or an employee; no matter who you love; or whether you are newly arrived to our shores, an eighth-generation Australian or part of the oldest continuing culture in the world. The Liberal Party stands for you.

I'm a Liberal whose instincts will always stretch to the empowerment of the individual. You will find in me someone who will protect your right to worship in a manner your beliefs instruct, just as I will stand for your right to love the person you choose. I believe in the rights of the individual and in free enterprise unencumbered by the temptation of government overreach. My Liberal Party does not prescribe the format of your family or curtail the rights of small business in favour of big corporations. My Liberal Party leads on the economy, with a focus on growth and productivity. My liberal values led me to join the party in year 12 and volunteer at every election since, because I believe deeply in what we represent even if the principles by which we seek to govern are not always perfectly enlivened.

I do worry that Australia is losing its way. We are off-course, we are leaving people behind and we are on the wrong track. Australia used to be a leader in the OECD on productivity, yet we now lag in the late teens of the top 20. We now have more than half of the Australian public relying on governments for most of their income. There needs to be some tough national conversations ahead.

My most recent experience working in the private sector with a focus on technology and cybersecurity provided a modern, clear-eye view of the world as it is. The pace and scale of technology innovation is accelerating beyond the regional streets of our OECD neighbourhood and across the globe. We will either keep up or be left behind. The cost of falling behind has profound ramifications for jobs, primary production, medical advancements, cybersecurity and defence. We live in an uncertain Asia-Pacific region, where our security partners like Japan are more important than ever. I am particularly enthusiastic about Aukus Pillar II and the opportunities that presents to Australian SME businesses to contribute their world-class innovation in specialised areas of cyber and technology.

I recognise that each day I spend in this place is a day closer to when I will leave. I plan to make each day count by advancing the cause for which I am here, a passionate belief in the purpose and potential of the people of Monash. To my electorate, I asked for your trust and confidence. You have given me the opportunity of a lifetime. I will work my heart out for you.

I thank the House.

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

Before I call the honourable member for Grey, 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 Venning (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to take you back 10 years. I was in the B-double, harvest time at Wallaroo silos. I'd emptied my A trailer, and the drive-over-hopper broke down. I could either break up my truck and waste hours in productivity or back the B-double down the length of a very long bunker—not such an easy task when you have 50 onlookers waiting for you to fail.

Well, I did it. And today, I'm here in this chamber rising to a new challenge—fighting for the people in my electorate of Grey. It is with humility and a deep sense of gratitude that I rise today as the elected representative of the enormous electorate of Grey. Covering more than 92 per cent of South Australia, equivalent to seven Englands, bigger than New South Wales, yet home to just 10 per cent of the state's population, Grey is stunningly beautiful and staggeringly diverse. It is an electorate of incredibly beautiful, enormous contribution and, sadly, ongoing decline. It is also the place I am proud to call home.

Let me paint you a picture of Grey: from the dramatic cliffs of the Great Australian Bight and the endless horizons of the Nullarbor to the APY Lands—home to the world's oldest continuing civilisation; from the jagged remarkable mountains and ancient craters of the Flinders Ranges to the world-leading riesling vineyards of the Clare Valley; from the golden wheat crops and white sandy beaches of the Yorke and Eyre peninsulas to the market gardens of the Adelaide Plains and the opal fields of Coober Pedy; and from Roxby Downs's vast copper and uranium reserves to Asia's seafood capital in Port Lincoln, which the largest commercial fishing fleet in the southern hemisphere calls home. This is Grey, a land that shares state borders with WA, the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales, stretching from desert to ocean and from ancient lands to productive farms.

The electorate of Grey was established in 1903, named after Sir George Grey. He was the Governor of South Australia from 1841 to 1845, and then, later, the Prime Minister of New Zealand. Grey was carved out to represent the productive of heart of South Australia. For over a century, it has contributed so much to feed, to power and to build modern Australia. But this extraordinary place has a story of transformation and not all of it is good.

Grey was not always this big. When I was young, I wasn't from Grey. The border was north of our farm, while Two Wells, now the southern part of the electorate, was a 45-minute drive from Adelaide and felt like a distant country town. Today, Two Wells is becoming a suburb, swallowed by Adelaide's growth corridor. When the electorate of Grey was established in 1903, representing regional, rural and remote South Australia, who would have thought that one day it would include suburbs of Adelaide? Well, that day has come and the only good news now is that Grey cannot get any bigger.

From the outside looking in, the fact that Grey has grown to cover 92.3 per cent of South Australia might seem positive. In reality, it tells a much more concerning story. Grey is the most diverse electorate in Australia in the sense that it is not the biggest, but it has the most towns and the most polling places. There are no cities or large towns in Grey. The fact that parts of Grey are becoming metropolitan is symptomatic of the shift towards a big metropolitan Australia, where regional, rural and remote communities are left to wither. It also highlights South Australia's status as the most centralised state in Australia and, potentially, the world.

With the exception of just one term, Grey has been held by the Labor Party from Federation until 1993, nearly a century, representing the industrial working class of regional South Australia—the steel city of Whyalla, the lead and previous zinc smelter of Port Pirie, and the previous railyards and power station in Port Augusta. In over 120 years, I am only the fourth Liberal member, following in the footsteps of Don Jessop, Barry Wakelin and my hard-working, respected predecessor, Rowan Ramsey. One could say that this political transformation represents the brilliance of Rowan Ramsey and Barry Wakelin, which, of course, is true. But, importantly, it represents a fundamental change in the make-up of Australia's priorities and values. It's a recognition that regional Australia demands a different approach—one that understands our unique challenges and celebrates our extraordinary contributions. The most heartbreaking symbol of this decline is the collapse of the roaring trade between the iron triangle of Whyalla, Port Augusta and Port Pirie. That trade is now gone, and it highlights the devastating decline of South Australia's manufacturing heart—a decline that represents lost jobs, lost skills and, therefore, population decline.

I grew up on a farm between Bute and Wokurna. Wokurna was once an active little town and home to its own football club, but in 1966 Wokurna was unable to field a team. They therefore merged with the nearby town of Mundoora. The mighty Mundoora-Wokurna Football Club won premierships in '69, '70, '71 and '78. In 1984, they, too, were unable to field a team, and Mundoora merged with the nearby big town of Port Broughton, dropping Wokurna altogether and becoming the Broughton-Mundoora Eagles. Now, in 2025, the mighty Eagles no longer play in Mundoora. The whole history is lost.

This is a story which has played out a thousand times across rural Australia. If we don't act, we keep losing these communities not to natural decline but to policy neglect. The personal cost of this runs deep. I had to leave home to go to school, to get a tertiary education and to see out my potential. Take my sisters, for example—a specialist doctor, a diplomat and an engineer. No, this is not the start of a joke! With my brother, James, included, we have somehow become a family of overachievers. So well done and thank you to mum and dad for raising us the way that you did. My three sisters all left home for their schooling and never had the opportunity to return. While I have been fortunate enough to come back—and I thank my brother, James, for the opportunity to have a career off the farm—it is not acceptable that motivated and talented people in towns like Wokurna, Wasleys, Warooka or Whyalla can't achieve their full potential unless they move away. What about the community? It is said that it takes a village to raise a child, and we are raising the best children—community minded economic contributors. But, too often, we go off and we contribute to metropolitan communities. Agglomeration and the rural metropolitan brain drain is as strong today as ever. These are the communities that raise us and, too often, lose us.

To build a house, or to build a home, you need solid foundations. I think this is analogous to society. It is well and good to exploit opportunities in artificial intelligence and in the space industry, but if you don't have access to quality education, child care or health care, it all starts to crumble. If you're a small-business owner and you're trying to employ people, but your local community does not have child care, it is very difficult to recruit. If your child has a disability or if you yourself have specialty healthcare needs, you will move. Everyone in this chamber is familiar with the Indigenous health gap, something which is very important to all of us.

I want to highlight another gap that is widening—the metropolitan-rural health gap. Let me give you a heartbreaking example of what this means in human terms in Grey. Birthing facilities are no longer available in most of the hospitals in my electorate, so you're often shipped away at 36 weeks, at your own expense, to stay in a hotel or B & B, often in Adelaide. How does one look after their business or support their family in this situation? In this day and age, this is unacceptable. No wonder people leave the regions.

But those statistics about decline don't show what we actually contribute to this nation. With such a small population, the beautiful Eyre peninsula alone generates $4 billion of gross regional product through ag, seafood, mining and minerals. It is set to be the epicentre of the state's industrial renaissance, through not just a continuation of ag and seafood but also the expansion of mining and critical mineral industries such as copper, graphite and rare earth resources that the world so desperately needs.

Port Linc remains Asia's seafood capital, exporting premium seafood to the world. Olympic Dam produces enough copper to wire a city the size of Sydney every year. In my neck of the woods, the Yorke Peninsula in the mid-north—now the most populous part of the electorate—we feed the world, exporting the lion's share of our grain, legumes, hay, beef, lamb, pork and, of course, wine. They're all thriving despite these challenges. On a per-capita basis, we in regional South Australia provide so much to our wealthy society—more than 25 per cent of the state's GDP—but we don't get our fair share back.

We provide this nation and the world with food, energy, minerals and so much more. Yet many of us have to drive two hours to see a doctor, four hours to see a specialist or eight hours to get a tertiary education. Here's the mathematics of inequality: Grey generates enormous export revenue per person compared to what we receive in federal and state spending. We are the backbone holding up the prosperity that funds hospitals, schools and infrastructure, predominantly in our major cities. But, despite that, the policies that are made in this building often work against the very regions that power this country.

Nowhere is that clearer than our current approach to energy. In Grey, bad energy policy isn't just an inconvenience; it's a threat to livelihoods. We need to talk about energy versus emissions in the same way we talk about inflation versus unemployment—with a dual mandate. The Reserve Bank of Australia balances both when they set the price of money. Yet, when it comes to energy, all we talk about is emissions. In my electorate, we are suffering more than anywhere else because of this lopsided approach. If you live in the suburbs, all you feel is an increase in energy bills and the cost of goods. But if you work in an energy-intensive industry, the industries that create value and generate tax revenue, your jobs are now at risk.

Yet, despite all these challenges, I am optimistic, and the spirit of Grey will endure. Towns like Bute, my own incredible small community, still punch well above their weight. With a population of just 200 people, Bute boasts a Lions Club of 30 active members. That's more than one in seven volunteering to serve their community, not to mention the CFS, the footy club, the netball club, the basketball club, the Progress Association and the Men's Shed. In many city suburbs, you can't find one in 70. When emergencies strike—bushfires, road accidents—it's volunteers from our communities who respond and risk their lives. In Bute, we don't wait for the health department or council to step in; we roll up our sleeves and we get it done.

That's the kind of spirit we need more of in this country, not less. Remember JFK:

Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.

This is why I couldn't stay away and why regional Australia and common sense deserves better representation in this place. I did not come here to play politics. I came to help restore a sense of fairness, of balance and of practical thinking to how this country is governed. I came to represent not just the people who voted for me but everyone in Grey and every regional Australian who feels they've been left behind in the rush towards a big metropolitan Australia.

On the election, there are over a thousand people I need to thank, especially those who helped me man the 144 polling places—yes, 144! A special thanks to my committee, including Richard Daley, Rowan Ramsay and my beautiful fiancee, Bonnie. Bonnie and I represent both tradition and innovation. Bonnie, raised in Crystal Brook and Port Pirie, runs a thriving digital marketing agency employing seven people. I am the youngest of five to Therese, a physiotherapist, and Max, a farmer, who serve their communities locally and more broadly—in dad's case, chairing grain industry boards. Raised on a farm near Bute, we produce thousands of tonnes of grain to feed people across the world. Now, that kind of work teaches you how things really work. If you ignore the root problem, you don't just lose a crop; you lose income for 24 months. You risk losing the whole business. That's a lesson we need to remember here in this House. Stop treating symptoms, and start solving problems.

I'm not only a farmer; I've worked in engineering, economics and strategy across big business and government. I've balanced budgets, managed teams of 20 people, helped close $700 million deals and created jobs, not just talked about them. I've advised government departments and ASX50 companies, their executives and their board members whilst never missing a harvest at home, because that's where my heart and my values remain.

For democracy to truly work, we need a diverse representation in this place. We cannot only have lawyers, unionists and political staffers making decisions for all Australians. Whilst I respect those professions, diverse experience is what ensures fair representation. We need people who understand how a balance sheet works, how a small business operates, how a farm functions and how regional communities survive and thrive. Together, Bonnie and I represent the next generation of regional leadership—people who choose to stay, who choose to build, and who choose to fight for the future of regional, rural and remote Australia.

I want to be very clear about why I'm here. I believe in practical policy, not political theatre. I believe government should fix problems, not just manage headlines. I believe in economic responsibility, because without a strong economy everything else falls over. I believe in opportunity for all Australians, independent of their race, religion or postcode. I believe that a smart country doesn't just export commodities; it adds value, supports families, invests in education and leads in innovation. I believe we must govern with Australians, not just for them—and especially not to them. Too often, governments do what they think is right for people, without ever considering whether it will actually work. That's how we end up with good intentions and bad results. That's how we end up with programs that spend billions but achieve nothing. This is especially true when it comes to Indigenous affairs. In a country as wealthy and developed as ours, the continuing struggle of many First Nations should shame us all. But shame alone changes nothing. We need practical action that tackles root causes, not just symbolic gestures that treat symptoms.

I know that being in this place is a huge privilege, and I don't take that lightly. The people of Grey sent me here to get results—not to grandstand, not to score points and not to waste time. We must build the infrastructure that connects, not isolates, our regions. Roads, rail, power and water are the arteries of economic life. We must support industries that add value not just extract it. We must ensure our kids in the country can get the same quality of education and health care as kids in the city. We must recognise that regional Australia is not just the nation's quarry and farm. We are communities with the same aspirations, the same rights and the same potential as any suburb in Sydney or Melbourne. We must stop pretending that a one-size-fits-all approach to policy will work in a country as vast and diverse as ours.

Australia is the lucky country, but luck runs out. I don't want us to just be lucky. I want us to be smart. We have the institutions. We have the resources. We have the people. What we need now is the courage—the courage to act, to lead and to build the kind of country our grandchildren will be proud of. We in this chamber need to lead with conviction, the grit and the determination to rise to every challenge that comes our way. Just like I backed the B-double down the bunker all those years ago, I'm backing the people of Grey, and I won't let them down.

Thank you.

Zoe McKenzie (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to express my profound thanks to the people of the electorate of Flinders for re-electing me to represent them in the Australian parliament on 3 May. The election in Flinders was hard fought, with seven candidates representing the Liberal Party—that's me—the Labor Party, the Greens, One Nation, Climate 200 and the Trumpet of Patriots, although the Trumpet of Patriots candidate gave up his commission when he realised his preferences were going to the Climate 200 candidate. I thank the good folk of Flinders for their trust—47,375 constituents put a '1' next to my mine.

The second-highest number of primary votes, 25,622, went to the Australian Labor Party candidate, Sarah Race, who has continued to pursue her passion for democracy as an electorate officer of Senator Jana Stewart, based in Reservoir. I worked with Sarah for years as she served on the Mornington Peninsula council, pursuing her passion for gender and Indigenous causes, and I trust she will continue to have an impact in that domain through her work with the good senator. I take a moment here to recognise her and her campaign companion in chief, member of the Victorian Legislative Council Tom McIntosh, who both acted in good grace, passion and honesty through the campaign and most especially through the prepoll period. I recognise and thank all other candidates for their participation in the election: Mike Brown of One Nation, Jason Smart of the Trumpets, later an Independent, Adam Frogley of Heidelberg for the Greens, Joseph Toscano of Brunswick, spokesperson of the Anarchist Media Institute, and Ben Smith as the Climate 200 funded candidate.

Flinders is without a doubt the most beautiful electorate in the country. Her residents are defined by their entrepreneurial spirit, volunteerism and community concern for one another. She should be hard fought over and hard won, and she was indeed this time.

Flinders is regularly characterised as an electorate which always votes for the more conservative side of politics, but this is a false representation. It should be remembered that Flinders has had at least two ALP members in the past, with the election of Bob Chynoweth from March 1983 to December 1984 and Keith Ewert between October 1952 and May 1954. Similarly, the state seat of Nepean, which, unlike the state seats of Hastings and Mornington, has always fallen entirely within the borders of the federal seat of Flinders, was the state Labor government's most marginal seat between 2018 and 2022, held by a margin of just 0.9 per cent or 767 votes. So, when the good folk of Flinders make a decision between left and right at the ballot box, it is fair to say that they do so with experience of both sides of government.

They have less experience, however, with the candidates who today comprise part of the crossbench in this place, formed and funded by the Climate 200 movement. There were 24,406 electors who voted for this movement in Flinders this time and, as a result of the creative deals done with the anarchist candidate, the Greens candidate, the Trumpet of Patriots and, indeed, attempted with One Nation, the Climate 200 candidate moved into second place, despite coming third in primary votes. This was a tactic pursued by the Climate 200 camp around the country, and its success in some seats is a stark message to those of us who represent the parties of government and who defend the integrity of our electoral system.

It is only the parties of government which can implement their promises to an electorate. It is only the parties of government which get to form government, to make the policy which drives this nation and to hold the elected government to account for their decisions and the expenditure of taxpayers' money. It is only the parties of government which understand the difficulty inherent in governing—the need for consultation, negotiation and compromise to reach the best possible outcome for the nation. It is, indeed, when the parties of government collaborate that Australia gets much of its best public policy, as evidenced this week with the passing of legislation earlier today on education relating to early learning and childcare safety.

A $2 million campaign in Flinders, one of the highest-spending anywhere in the country, not only introduced American-style campaigning and cash into our electorate but also sought to deceive the people of Flinders in terms of what a crossbench candidate can achieve. Let it be stated clearly here for the record that a crossbench candidate cannot 'save' a local hospital which is wholly regulated and owned by the state government. A crossbench candidate cannot ban jet skis off the coast of the Mornington Peninsula. A crossbench candidate cannot change parking practices alongside a small local public primary school. Our electorate was vastly misled by a Climate 200 candidate making promises he could never keep, confusing the competence of Canberra with council and state governments alike and, in doing so, increasing the likelihood that those governments will continue to ignore the needs of our local community, a dangerous development as we approach the state election at the end of next year with potentially critical repercussions for our residents.

But that this can happen is, in fact, our source of shame. We have allowed Australian civics education to reach its lowest level in two decades. In February of this year, the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority found that the 2024 assessment revealed that, at years 6 and 10, the percentage of students achieving the 'proficient' standard had declined significantly compared to the previous cycle. In fact, ACARA chairman Derek Scott warned us all:

… this is the lowest percentage of students achieving the proficient standard at either year level since the assessment began.

ACARA found that just 28 per cent of year 10 students met the proficiency standards, compared to 38 per cent when the last test was taken, in 2019. Students in year 6 had also declined 10 points in terms of proficiency—from 53 per cent in 2019 to 43 per cent rated 'proficient' in 2024. This is why I spend so much time delivering what I refer to as 'democracy class' in my electorate. I thank Crib Point Primary School, Rosebud Primary School, Somerville Primary School, Tootgarook Primary School, Mount Eliza Primary School, Somerville Secondary College, Hastings Primary School, Woodleigh School, Sorrento Primary School and Benton Junior College, who have all had me in to deliver a version of 'democracy class'—even in French, as I did at Peninsula Grammar, just for fun!

I find that, in every 'democracy class', children respond with enthusiasm and curiosity, keen to understand how we make decisions that will affect their future. I thank the students of Benton Junior College who last week quizzed me on e-bike laws, electric scooters and road rules, as well as public transport, the education system, social media and generative AI. We need to maintain this level of inquiry from grade 6 through to university and beyond. Australia's democracy is one of the best in the world but will only remain so with an informed voter base.

To that end, civics education is essential to ensure young and older Australians alike understand basic concepts about Australian democracy and institutions. Not only does it help them to make sensible decisions in terms of electing candidates of competence when it comes to fulfilling their functions of parliament and executive office; it also will defend them against foreign interference, extremism, conspiracy theories and misinformation when it comes to public debate. I am so grateful to the Leader of the Opposition, Sussan Ley, for offering me the opportunity to apply myself to education policy and, within it, civics education through the role of shadow assistant minister for education.

The differences between Labor and Liberal were stark in terms of commitment to meeting the needs of my community of Flinders at the last election. The ALP made commitments of some $3 million, and I thank them for these investments and hope the government will in fact fulfil them, even though they were not successful in Flinders. The Liberal Party I represent made almost $1 billion worth of commitments to the people of Flinders, including new change facilities for girls at Crib Point and Sorrento football and netball clubs, wellness and mental health support to our veterans through the Rosebud RSL, an extension of the Mornington Peninsula Trail, the fixing of the roof at the Somerville Scout Hall and improved public transport through the electrification of the Baxter rail. The 25c reduction in excise duty would have been game changing in my electorate, where 83 per cent of our terrain has no access to public transport.

These commitments build upon the billions of dollars of investment which the coalition has made in Flinders over the last five years, including road safety and pedestrian improvements on the Nepean Highway in Mount Martha and in Balnarring; the building of the Bays Comprehensive Cancer Centre and the clinical trials hub in Rosebud; mental health support through increased headspace centres, the Jimmy's Wellness Centre, Kindred Clubhouse and the Rosebud Youth Hub; and the redevelopment of HMAS Cerberus.

I recognise the frustration of my constituents that the election result denies my community immediate access to these improvements, which were carefully costed and included in the plans of a future coalition government, but I can assure them I am doing everything in my power to see these commitments funded and, the week after the election result was known, I met with the shire and our local state MPs to look at alternative sources of funding. I've also written to all relevant ministers in the Australian government, seeking their support for these critical investments in our community infrastructure. I've met with all the groups who would've benefited from these commitments, to map out future collective campaigning activity to keep these projects front of mind. Together, we will keep fighting.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to keep fighting for my community, and I recognise that many of my colleagues from the last parliament are no longer here to fight for theirs. We have lost a depth of talent from our parliamentary benches—the likes of David Coleman, James Stevens, Bridget Archer, Jenny Ware, Peter Dutton, Luke Howarth, Ross Vasta, Bert van Manen and, indeed, my best friend in this place, Keith Wolahan, the former member for Menzies. I have deep respect for so many of my colleagues in this place, both on the left and right of the dispatch box, but my esteem for the former member for Menzies was without par. And I can say, by the way in which members of this place of all political persuasions have made comment to me, his competence and potential impact in this place was recognised by all. Without wishing too much ill will on the current member for Menzies in but his second parliamentary week in the role, I hope you enjoy an effective but short-lived experience in this place, for both my party and our country needs my best friend back.

I recognise, as I have said elsewhere, we have much to do, as a political cause, to regain the trust of the Australian people not just in Menzies, but across the nation—and especially in our metropolitan centres. As the Leader of the Opposition said so clearly in her first address to the nation via the National Press Club:

Over two elections, the Coalition has lost 33 seats in the House of Representatives.

We've lost 8 seats in the Senate.

Our primary vote has fallen by more than 9 per cent in the House.

Our two-party preferred vote is down more than 6 per cent.

And now we hold just 2 of 43 inner metro seats, and 7 of 45 outer metro seats.

When I first worked in this building, during the era of the Howard government, we held 80 seats compared with today's 43, and the number of women in our party room was double the number we have today. We have much work to do to regain the trust of the Australian voting public.

Much has changed since the time when I first worked in this building. Housing now costs roughly 16 times the average annual income, putting the dream of homeownership, on which the Australian social and economic contract is founded, beyond reach. Homelessness now numbers more than 120,000 compared to 95,000 at the turn of the century. Manufacturing no longer employs well over a million Australians; we have become a services oriented economy. Media is now known as 'legacy' if it is radio, television or newspapers. It is no longer the source of knowledge of current affairs, with the last University of Canberra media report finding that 50 per cent of people get their news from largely untested social media sources and more than 25 per cent rely only on social media for news. Indeed, back at the turn of the century, there were no such things as smartphones, Facebook, Instagram or even YouTube. The way Australians live and the premises on which their aspirations are built are affected by broad behavioural and cultural developments driven by technology.

In my maiden speech, I spoke of the differences between my childhood and that of my stepchildren. We would wait for Countdown and haggle over what was for dinner. Today children watch what they want when they want. A family of means will see each child order their own Uber Eats for dinner. And just when you thought things had got wild, someone went and invented ChatGPT.

In my maiden speech I spoke of what felt like 'old person foreboding' at the time. I said:

Everyone here should be concerned for a generation which will one day take its place on these green leather benches without having read The Lord of the Flies, 1984, If This is a Man and To Kill a Mockingbird.

Today, our children search out plot summaries and analysis in seconds on ChatGPT, Grok, Claude, Gemini, Copilot and Mistral—that's if they don't go straight for the movie version on Netflix!

We are at a time of vast and dynamic digital change, and it is having a huge impact on the cultural settings which guide Australian's aspirations and decision-making. It is an exciting time, but it is also a frightening time. Two years ago, having carefully cajoled the education minister into referring an inquiry into the use of generative AI in the Australian education system to the House of Representatives education committee, I asked every witness: 'What skills do we need to make sure we include in the human operating model going forward? We don't want to wash something out in the haste to generative AI without knowing what we're doing.'

A very humbling response came from Dr Michael Kollo, Chief Executive Officer of Evolved Reasoning, who explained that if we were sitting here 150 to 200 years ago, we would be talking about soil concentration, harvest and agricultural topics relating to most of what we did, and 80 per cent of the workforce was out in the fields. Those were the critical components of the human operating model, an understanding of the weather and its impact on seeds growing in the earth. Education is derivative of the human need to survive, first and foremost. The skills we need are ones for young people to survive and find purpose.

I also asked most witnesses if they could choose between sending their adolescent children to prompt engineering school or law school, which would they choose? Most responded they were relieved their children were still in preschool.

I was very grateful for the last term of parliament, albeit frustrated by opposition, and I did not waste a moment in seeking to solve the problems I highlighted in my maiden speech, especially when it concerns the negative aspects of technology. In that speech, I discussed the impact social media was having on young people, and specifically that today's adolescents, connected 24/7 to devices, addled by algorithms and autoplay, were showing signs of stress and, indeed, in some cases, distress. I cited what we were seeing more frequently coming out of Melbourne's eternal COVID-19 lockdown, which was self-control difficulties, impulsivity, family conflict, sleep disturbance, inactivity, concentration impairment and poor language development.

I thank the former leader and the former deputy leader, who is now the Leader of the Liberal Party, for trusting me on the Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society, which examined in detail the damage which some social media platforms have brought to young minds and young lives in Australia. We took evidence across Australian society and heard from sectoral experts, both those involved in the development of social media channels and those who have held them to account, like Frances Haugen, the Meta whistleblower, who accepted my invitation to come to Flinders in March of last year to talk through digital engagement with local secondary school students.

The coalition played a leading role in driving the conclusions of that inquiry and the legislation which followed, which will see the most damaging platforms reject accounts for all Australian profiles of under-16-year-olds from the end of this year. It has also spurred action in terms of more responsible social media, with Meta launching Instagram teen accounts within months of the committee's report being finalised. Instagram teen accounts automatically transitions 13- to 17-year-olds to the new, safer platform, and, in a recent conversation with me, TikTok confirmed that they removed 800,000 young people under 13 years of age from their platform in Australia last year. We know the platforms already have the wherewithal both to design safer platforms and to remove participants under a certain age without recourse to proof-of-age or ID mechanisms.

Little did I realise what a revolution Australia had inspired in terms of social media regulation until I found myself sought after by both the OECD and the president's advisers on a recent trip to France. France, like Australia, has shown deep interest in regulating the negative impacts of screens and digital media on young people and is working with the UK on possible shared measures. It's looking at ways of leading legislation at the European level to build greater protections for young people.

But more importantly is what I heard from the year 6 students at Benton Junior College last week, when I asked them what they thought of the reform. Long gone is the backchat. Half of the students put their hands up and explained to me exactly why it was necessary—to minimise bullying and screen addiction, and improve levels of concentration. This time there was no pushback, and even young people know we're doing them a favour. I'm very proud to have worked with my dear colleague and friend the member for Fisher on this reform. Our drive was sustained by sharing roles on the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security and our fundamental understanding that social media is not only a danger to the mental health of young people but also a vector for extremism and foreign interference.

This term of parliament I will be pursuing many of these issues through the prism of education, early learning and mental health—all related to my key pursuits in the 47th Parliament but now directed to ensuring that this government, that seems to have missed the memo that only 34 per cent of people voted for their return, spends Australian tax dollars wisely and makes adequate fit-for-purpose policy to ensure Australia's safety and prosperity through the lens of these portfolios and my committee contributions. But, above all, I will be in here every day fighting for the good folk of Flinders so that our needs, our perspective, our passions and our purpose are understood by those who make decisions on behalf of the government and whom form plans and policies for the opposition.

To finish, I save the best for last. My thanks goes to those who stood by me throughout our campaign whose hard voluntary work means I get to stand here and fight for Flinders—my FEC and campaign team led by Georgie and Richard; Di; Phil; Marg and Marshall; our volunteer coordinator, Deb, sustained by Bill and Archie; the ever-present Gordon; Chris; Mike; Greg; Chrestyna; Zahra; Rika; Jackie; Sue; Simone; Germaine; Suzie; John; Henry; Finn; Kate; Anthea and Peter; Amanda; Donna; Tim and Corinne; Peter and Kay; Di and Arthur; Cynthia and Andrew; Eithne; Judy; Mattie; Pam and Peter; Rob; Bryan and Carole; David and Tom; Greg and Paula; Rob; Scarlett and Freddie; Jess and Sam; Angus; Robert and Denise; Peter, the patron saint of the peninsula; Elizabeth; Gerry; Jane; Sam; and Sue and the Camp clan, among so many others.

And I most especially thank my remarkable electorate and policy team: Julia, Katie, Rocco, Conor, Matthew and, of course, the mighty Unity Paterson. I express my gratitude to our two sensational state MPs: Chris Crewther, who represents the state seat of Mornington—preceded by his great predecessor who I noticed is with us in the gallery tonight—and Sam Groth, who represents the state seat of Nepean, and our vibrant SECs of Hastings, Nepean and Mornington.

As the teal movement intentionally muddied the waters between Commonwealth and state, all of us standing strongly together shows how well we work to get things done across constitutional boundaries for our community.

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

I call the honourable member for Goldstein. This is his first speech in this term of parliament. I welcome him back to the chamber and I know all members will be courteous to him.

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Take two: honouring the trust afforded as the first to have retaken the same seat lost to an independent—the second chance given, a third term granted, and voters stepping forth to buck history. I give thanks by living out the commitment given nearly a decade ago: that the people of Goldstein know their community is not an inheritance, or a seat to be warmed; it is a trust to be earned in your service. Since last standing two sword lengths away in this chamber, I've lived a political winter. There are times when only the words of Kipling fit:

… force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on'.

None of us wish to live a winter through sickness, family or relationship breakdown, financial loss or public humiliation, but, when these moments present themselves, our choice is only how we respond. To that end, in my first, first speech to the House, I uttered words that would stalk me:

We know people sometimes fall down. That is why we respect the speed at which they seek to pick themselves back up.

When my winter came, it was family, friends, community and professional support that cushioned, that humbled, nurtured and changed me. But we must also never forget that winter is followed by the hope of spring. We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking up at the stars. I am not the first, nor will I be the last, member to have run and won, lost, and then lived. He's mad. He's stark raving bonkers. But I'll let you in on a little secret: all the best people are—enough to return to this place. Perhaps I am the most appreciative.

Uniquely, I am going to thank the people of Goldstein for their decision three years ago, and it is for one simple reason: it was an opportunity for growth. Now, before we go further, I'm quite happy for it to be a oncer. But, as my husband said on the Sunday morning after, 'You need to look at this as a gift'. So, when announcing I was re-contesting, I started by saying that, 'Defeat was a gift, and thanks to the community.' I meant it and, today, I confirm it and thank the former member, Zoe Daniel, for her service too.

I recently said that I'm in the truth bomb phase of my career. For years, our movement has been sold a pup—that voters can be neatly sliced into electoral majority by design. After the marriage law postal survey, the miracle victory and the Voice referendum, we were told electoral riches lay in new heartlands and we should abandon tradition. If you still believe this story, as the only Liberal MP for a city seat, and one of two in inner metro Australia, I have some magic beans I can sell you. I used to joke that Goldstein was a Liberal political island, except for about a kilometre of shared border with the electorate of Higgins. I now love that one kilometre. I now have to drive 50 kilometres to reach another Liberal electorate. It's simple: you can't multiply your vote by dividing Australians. It betrays Menzian liberalism because liberalism has no geography.

Liberalism is the spark of aspiration that compels a young farmhand to milk cows before sunrise so they can save to own their own dairy farm one day. It's the fuel of a young tradie, caffeinated to clock on at seven so they can surf by four. It's the sobriety of a new Australian nurse, late after sunset, so they can own a one-bedder and not face renting in retirement. It's the ambition of two young mates hawking a slice of their start-up to venture capital, in the hope that one day it will list. It's the risk of a CEO reinvesting to navigate competition because they understand change is the only certainty. It's the drive of a mum working in legal, while working from home on Fridays, so they can have independence and career. And it's the energy of her husband and his small business that sponsors the local netball team because his success is tied to a thriving community. It's the teachers like my husband, Ryan, who are inspiring a new generation to open their eyes to a better Australia and future every day. It is the story of millions, in Goldstein and elsewhere, who wake up each morning choosing to take responsibility so that tomorrow will be better for themselves and for others too. They don't want us to solve their problems, but they are counting on us to defend their agency. And, at the last election, we let them down because we were not the bold and courageous Liberals that gave Australians confidence to dare for a better future.

Having lived my winter, it is clear my party is now facing its own. In grief, it is easy to seek out simple solutions when reflection is necessary. Three years ago, I read Doris Kearns Goodwin's Leadership in Turbulent Times, and, yes, a young Teddy Roosevelt's wilderness years held lessons for building the foundations for future success. It started a journey that allowed me to be honest enough that, whatever the driver of our local defeat, there were still things that I needed to learn. It started with listening and it concluded with building.

There were the usual noisy voices on broadcast platforms about what to stand for, but the true genius of Menzies was that he understood and started by standing for the forgotten people, and, from there, what he stood for followed. I found the real kernels were in the quiet conversations in pubs, in Pilates classes, in church halls and on the sidelines of Saturday sports, and this was embodied in every part of our local campaign.

What I am most proud of is that our Goldstein team did this together, because, with me as the community backed Liberal, we built a movement of 3½ thousand people that went from local cafes to our oversubscribed, 800-strong campaign launch to energise a community and defy political gravity—and many are in the gallery today. The victory in Goldstein is theirs. The azure-blue T-shirted volunteers armed with hearty smiles and passion carried me here. They have shown that the path back is not one our parliamentary team can take alone. It relies on rebuilding our movement in Goldstein, Wentworth, Mackellar, Menzies, Aston, Lyons, Dickson, Brisbane, Boothby, Curtin and right across the electorates of this country.

The parliamentary party's job is to lead, and our people will follow if we fight for them when we give them something to fight for and when we are worthy of them fighting for us because we spirit them to a higher purpose of common destiny. To thrive once again, we need to see this moment as our gift, because it will mean we have reconnected and given Australians Liberal hope again.

I did not grow up with a silver spoon, nor under a weatherboard and iron. I grew up in a household of publicans and small-business people. For my father, it was pulling beers, pushing a lawnmower, building fences and bagging the post. For my mother, it was also pulling beers, and cooking at a fryer and greeting at supermarkets. They lived different lives, but the one lesson they shared was work, and this was the simple faith my siblings and I gained—that, if you worked hard, respected your neighbour, played by the rules and loved this country, you'd be rewarded with dignity, opportunity and the chance to live a better life.

The Australian promise was a social contract that there was no entitlement but a fair go. It didn't mean choppy waters didn't come, but it meant that hope and aspiration should guide your decision-making and that the circumstances of your birth should not define the boundaries of your life. It was embodied in the ideals that Menzies described of his modern Liberal movement—that it was 'not the conservative party dying on the last barricade' but 'a lively mind and a forward-looking heart'. It believed in free people, their responsibility and their enterprise, and in respecting tradition and institutions that empower people, families and communities and small business to decide their own futures. That is an agent for progress because human advancement depends on rising living standards and stewards a clean environment to hand to future generations. And this was the promise of Goldstein. As the fourth generation of my family that has lived and worked within the community—it has always lived these values and been a forward-looking modern liberal community that has understood its responsibility to each other.

Goldstein does not want Canberra to run it. But it does not expect Canberra to undermine it either, such as stripping out a hundred million dollars from local infrastructure projects, as occurred over the past three years. It also does not want to live the failure of Canberra's leadership. From the threats of local crime, the rise of antisemitism, financial stress for families and small business, and limited access to affordable housing, Goldstein expects leadership. It believes in our country and wills its success. This is why I continue to want to represent Goldstein and give its values voice in this parliament, because when Goldstein's values influence Australia, we are a better nation.

It is these values that are increasingly under threat. There is an undercurrent in our democracy where too many voters no longer trust the system is working for them. I hear this from Australians at all stages of life. I hear young adults questioning the value of their tertiary education and whether they'll ever be able to get ahead of their debt; whether young workers can afford rent, let alone save a deposit, and then pay off a mortgage and then have a family; whether they have the confidence to chance their hand to start a business or the space in their lives to invest in their community; and whether they stare down their retirement years with confidence. It is the threat of the slow erosion of trust in our institutions, our leadership and even in each other.

I don't wear my faith on my sleeve, but the Good Book's insight that a house divided against itself cannot stand is truer today than ever. I utterly reject the politics that infect too many from the extremities of all sides of the political and the corporate funded Independents, who all share a different vision anchored in the same idea: that we must stand for some but not for all.

Our party's founder called these attempts to pit Australians against each other 'the false wars'. We are all Australians, and nothing is more corrosive to the Australian promise than people no longer believing sacrifice and effort will get them ahead. It is why the unapologetic pursuit of the next chapter of our nation's economic growth remains paramount. Because too many of those we need to create it are moving offshore and the only voices we hear feed resentment over how to carve up shares of a diminishing pie.

It is particularly important for us. If we are to be the party of aspiration, we must always be on the side of the aspiring, which is always the next generation and new Australians, not entrenched interests. These are Goldstein's values and I know these are the values of our party's leader, and I thank her and appreciate her support today.

Power is like the breath that sustains the nation's lungs. When at threat, the central organs breathe in power from the people to protect the whole. For 30 years, Australia has enjoyed a long exhale. But the internationalist era, with the confidence that nations would peacefully trade for the future advancement of humanity, has sunsetted. History has struck back.

We are experiencing the culmination of relaxed and comfortable leadership, and, as Liberals, we must have the courage to tell uncomfortable truths today about what we know is on the horizon. If not, Australians will have no reason to trust us on how to confront them as they are revealed. We are at an inflection point in our nation's history that demands controlled breathing to confront the future with confidence.

The nation is but the sum of its people, and we must always be mindful to nourish the soil of our society, from which future generations draw their strength. Nourishment does not come from fostering the division of identity but investing in our common bonds, knitting the social fabric of family and community, finding our cultural confidence and promoting excellence in education once more. It comes from agreement on a shared common story for our nation, because we cannot expect new Australians to integrate into a story that we cannot tell, and from a belief in Australia and its progress because we can tell a story of Australia that recognises, respects and has reconciled and takes the best of our past to define our future. We can defend our national unity and stridently stand against the poisons of racism, whatever its extremist origins, and particularly the gateway of socialised antisemitism. We must again be the democratic defenders of our values and equal dignity of free people, and we must grasp Menzies' great vision of homes material, homes human and homes spiritual that places home ownership at the centre of public policy. Because when we do, the nucleus of social, economic and political power rebalances from the corridors of this place in Canberra and those of the corporates back to the kitchen tables of this nation. While no-one has a right to the size of a home or a specific suburb, we cannot strengthen families when involuntary distance divides generations and their mutual support.

We must stand for fiscal prudence because borrowing from the future fuels inflation today, taxes tomorrow and indebts those who follow. When residents living with Down syndrome are raising concerns about the NDIS's fiscal trajectory just after 7 am at McKinnon railway station, it says the anxiety is not just economic. We must live limited government because it is a simple truth that big government makes us small citizens, and no society has ever been better because people have been encouraged to take less responsibility. We must be trusted and reliable partners and defenders of our alliances because a world without strong friends is a world where we risk standing defenceless and alone. And we must be advocates for the re-industrialisation of Australia and its farms in the future and an energy mix based on physics and economics because the foundation of our economy is dug and grown. Right now, the source of our next chapter of growth seems utterly foreign, and we're unprepared for the end of the frothy prices of our mineral resources and the realities of artificial intelligence that could displace employment—let alone the flexibilities of a work force that will increasingly be a mix of salaries, side hustles and shared equity. Indeed, our biggest challenge is not capital but an abundance of complacency in a time that demands urgency.

We are now at a pivotal moment for our party, our values and our nation. For our party, coalition and movement, we are now at our lowest ebb since the Albury rebuild eight decades ago. For our values, the vote harvesters are hoping we let the social democratic conformity march unchallenged so the only story sold is the false promise to hand over power for security. And for our nation, it is a choice about the type of people we want to be and whether we carry our inheritance of freedom, prosperity, hope and opportunity forward for a new generation or sit idly by and watch its decline.

On every flank, we are outnumbered. The armies of vested interests have never been stronger, better resourced and ready to finish us off. Organised labour is seeking to suck the remaining initiative out of private enterprise. Organised capital is leveraging their power to bend corporate bureaucrats to their will. Foreign globalists are propping up front groups and corporate candidates who want to de-industrialise Australia for their profit. We are at a Menzian moment, and the gift of defeat is the opportunity of Liberal revival.

We are all that is left to stand up for the public and national interest. If we do not, no-one will. The gravitational pull could not be stronger, the call to Liberal courage could not be heavier and the stakes could not be greater. If Australians do not share our Liberal call to action, it is not their failing; it is ours. We must find that spark and spirit it, nurture it and feed it into a flame. As Harvey Milk once said, 'The only thing they have to look forward to is hope,' because liberalism does not live in the words we say but in the aspirations Australians live. Liberalism lives when Australians sets their sights one angle higher and with a range one step farther to the horizon. The Australian Liberal project is built from a spiritual belief in our shared success and calls for people to not just vote for us today but vote for us tomorrow, because hope is inevitably tempered by the weight of history. Take it from me that history is there to be made. To quote one of my heroes, 'It can be done.' It can be done because it has been done, because it must be done.

At our local campaign launch I said Goldstein was ground zero for the fight for our future. Goldstein found its voice, and the people of Goldstein sent me here to lead, to build, to mobilise and to storm. Our choice now is clear. Will we be the Liberals that honour generations past by handing on a better future than our own? Will we be the Liberals that inspire Australians to turn to each other and see a shared destiny? Will we be the Liberals that strengthen our nation to be sovereign, confident and secure? Will we be the Liberals that build a clean industrial future so prosperity is on our horizon. Will we be the Liberals that side with the young and new Australians who live our daily aspiration? Will we be the Liberals that turn on the lights in a nation for all of us that delivers hope, reward and opportunity to be bold again, to build again, to believe again and to lead again?

As I said to the people of Goldstein, I'm not quite done yet. There are a fair number of people I need to thank. First, I need to thank my campaign team, led by my campaign directors, Ed Davis and Rob Sayer. I still remember the first campaign meeting where we held and mapped out the scale of the plan and what was required. There was a nervousness about the scale of the task, but you both stepped up with Stav Personis, Conan Daley, David Morris, Jase Garbosa, James Loveluck, Roy Rose, Milly Edwards, James O'Collins and Andrew Galway, as well as our regional champions Richard Codran, Judith Eronovitch, Rob Etelling, Jennifer O'Brien, John Gilbert, Deb Gilbert and Peaches the pug, supported by Ben Tialen, Jake Lowry and Billy Allsopp.

To the Goldstein electorate team, including Carson Mumford, Olivia Brooks, Shane Small, Lisa Bond, Hanife Bushby and Gab Street: thank you. But there is no-one I should thank more than my electorate chair, Maree Kidd, who not only willed me to recontest but put her money where her mouth is and stepped up to take on the task of chairing the membership and mobilisation effort.

There are too many volunteers to name, and, without taking anything away from anyone, I particularly want to thank Michael Savva and Robin Savva, Janet Aberdy, Karen Cohen, Helen Rolfe, Linda Mellon, Peter Hirusidanis, Otan Otesha, Janice Cook, Judith Pratt, Fraser Hearst, Tony Armstrong, Galen Sullivan, Maddy Hamilton, Ken Marshall, Suzanne Rumble and Jim Colombo. Thank you to those who helped in their unique ways, from Peter Cantwell and Katia Gidley to Ray Johansen, George Goring, Jacqueline Pascal, Danny Rubrie and Faye Barrow. Thank you to Professor Chris Berg and Professor Sinclair Davidson for their support, as well as to Will Dempsey and Paul Ritchie, who ensured I never put a word wrong.

On such occasions the memory of absent friends is also not far. Nine years ago Jeannette Rawlinson and John Rudden couldn't have foretold the events to come, but their support was important because they supported me regardless of the test yet to be revealed. Thank you also to Mike and Anne for their love. I hope I've made you proud.

To the friends who stuck by me in difficult times, to Blake Kimpthorn and Michael MacNamara; Claire Tobin and Hugh Tobin; Phil Starkins, Emma Duffy and Ryan Lewis; Adrian Barrett and Pat Miller; Jane Starkins and Shaun Levin; Cathy Baker, Susan Craw, Jared Parks, Marty Barr and Jimmy Roche; Henry Gawatillit and John Gawatillit; and Pete Thorn, Kevin Foster, their son Will and their son and my godson, Patrick: thank you for your enduring friendship and love—and, most importantly, thank you for taking care of Ryan.

To the member for Moncrieff: thank you for your friendship in the out years and, particularly, for storing all my stuff in this place. To Senator Andrew Bragg: Braggy, during my interregnum, whenever I got the itch and abstention to probe public servants or to call out recalcitrant super funds or the corruption of corporate housing, you were there to channel my spirit, so thank you.

To Senators James Paterson and Jane Hume: thank you both for being supporters during the down days. While I suspect you both had your private doubts—and that's fine, by the way—you never let it show. To the members for Monash and Berowra: you don't know this, but when I spoke to both of you, to congratulate both of you on your pre-selections seven years apart, you had the kindness to respond with exactly the same set of words, 'I hope to share this journey with you.' And you're sitting right in front of each other. I didn't lose in 2022 just so you could both have this experience. However, I am glad to fulfil your wishes. Specifically to you, Mary—this is such a huge day for you: we have come a long way from level 2 of S block at Monash Caulfield together. I know your family is proud of your achievements, and Ryan and I, as your political family, are cheering you on. I've got a warning for everybody else: get ready; it's Mary time.

To the Leader of the Opposition, Sussan Ley: thank you for being a willing supporter. I still remember when you came to the Hampton bowls club shortly after the 2022 election. I remember your surprise that defeat wasn't in my eyes. I think some of the members opposite are starting to realise that, no matter what they do, that's not going to change. I am sanguine about our moment, but I am excited about your promise.

To my dear friends Trevor Evans and Jason Falinski—I know Jason has eventually found his way to the right spot in the gallery today: we all remember the Monday week after the last election when we sat in my former office amongst boxed memories. We toasted with what could have been our last shared G&T. Since then, we have shared a different journey. There were days I was touched you trusted me to carry your grief in a rant down a phone line, a joke on WhatsApp or an education on woodpeckers; that's specific to Trev. Yes—woodpeckers. You'll never appreciate what it meant to me to be able to pick up the phone and talk through stories, strategy and sadness. Mostly it was Trev talking Jason off the ledge, but that's same old, same old. Thank you for your friendship.

My mother, Linda Morris, stood on Hampton early voting for two weeks straight, and I know she did it because so many people said to me in the community, 'I've met your mum.' And they still do, including Raf Epstein. David Morris capably aided the campaign team every step of the way and continues to do so. To my father, Robert, and to Janet Wilson, who both wished us well and helped in their way from afar: thank you.

But, of course, there is no-one I need to thank more than my husband, Ryan. Every time you walk into this chamber, you end up leading the news. Sorry about that. We were the change that needed to be at a time in times past. And that is the greatest gift that anybody could ever give. Now, I know you have been prepared, somewhat willingly, to give us over again to the community and to the nation, so all I can do is promise that I'll do everything I can to protect our summers on the peninsula, keep our Melbourne and Bayside pads clean and make time for roast pub lunches on Sundays. And, when there is something to celebrate, I'll do my level best to make sure that we do it together. In public life, you never feel as lonely as when you are in defeat. Yet, despite having lived it, in the 17 years we have been together I have never been alone. So thank you for your sacrifice once more, and for sacrificing our time for our country's future. But you also know that, for me to be myself, we need to go through this.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What's all the laughing about? There will be another day; it'll come. I love you. I'm blessed to have you in my life, and the nation is blessed for the tolerance and love you give me to serve.

Debate adjourned.