Matt Smith (Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I pass my condolences on to the member for Riverina on behalf of the people of Leichhardt. Neale Daniher was a fantastic footballer, a great man and someone that I remember fondly watching growing up.

Tomorrow I get to return to Leichhardt, as do the children of St Andrew's, who have been visiting us here in Canberra this week. Fun fact—the minimum degrees in Cairns over the last few days has been 18; I don't think it has cracked 18 here. Those children suffered, but they enjoyed democracy. Meeting us and being around us here at parliament came a very close third to Questacon and the AIS. At a close fourth was the War Memorial. They came, they saw, they enjoyed.

A lot has been said about the budget, but I do want to focus on what's happened locally, particularly in my area of the Far North. The Far North is getting the attention it deserves. It is getting the understanding that it deserves from this place—$6 million, which might not sound like a lot, but it's put towards eradicating the yellow crazy ant. The yellow crazy ant is a terrible creature. It's very small. It's yellow. It's not as crazy as they say, actually. It just tends to swarm. The ones that we've got up in the Far North are all related to each other. In their natural environment, they fight against each other. They don't get to take over. But all the ones that we've got have come from a single colony, so they're all related. They will swarm and they will drive out everything in it. If you enter a part of the wet tropics of the World Heritage area that has been taken over by yellow crazy ants, there is silence—no birds, no rustling, no skinks, just the ants. They create a hegemony, a monoculture of ants.

It was said that they could not be tackled and that they could not be eradicated, yet the good people of yellow crazy ants have found a way. They trample through some of the most unforgiving forests in the country, dropping every five metres a mixture of cat food and jam, because ants like both sweet and savoury food. They come back in a few hours to check if there are yellow crazy ants. If there are, they go about killing them. They have eradicated around 120,000 hectares of yellow crazy ants—gone. They cannot claim eradication until there's been no sign of these ants for five years. They go back and they check. They take the dogs out. They've got all manner of UV infra-red science. It's great. But what is really important is the boots on the ground—the people who are walking up and down through Wait a While. If the stinging tree gets you, you'll know about it for the next six months. There are leeches but thankfully no crocodiles in those parts of the world. They're doing a fantastic job. They've done something that is very difficult to do, and we see them out there every day.

There are a couple of other things that are worth mentioning. Of course, $70.3 million is going to ABF to handle Operation Broadstaff. The waters of the Torres Strait belong to the people of the Torres Strait. They are not there to be fished or plundered by any other nation. Broadstaff ensures that we have presence on the ground and on water to ensure that the food and the culture remains that of the Torres Strait. I was very proud to take up Minister Hill to visit that part of the world, to understand it, to see it and to be a part of the day there, part of the culture, and for the response accordingly. There are a lot of other good things. TRPI will receive $5 million, which supports our tourism industry and eradicates crown-of-thorns starfish and Drupella snails to ensure the health of our Great Barrier Reef. Great. I would like to thank Gareth at AMPTO and Mark Olsen at TTNQ for advocating for that.

But all of these things matter. They matter a lot. The greatest honour in being here—and I was reminded of this today—is when we help people. I had something come across our office that was unusual and traumatically life changing for the people involved, and we've been able to wrap our arms around that person. Ultimately, the budgets matter, programs matter—our most important job is to look after the people that we're here to represent. I know that that's the No. 1 thought of everybody in here. I was touched and honoured that this person felt that we were the place to go, and we will do everything we can to help anyone who comes through our doors. I know everyone else will too. The budget matters, but the people matter more.