Matt Keogh
Burt · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“I thank the member for the question. Clearly, as we've articulated, the purpose of the cap is to replace the current treatment cycle system where veterans are going back time and time again to a GP after every 12 referrals in order to access allied health services.”
“The proposal you're making would make the entire system a nullity, which is not what we want to do. We're actually trying to provide better outcomes for our veterans in overall wellbeing.”
“We're working to make sure defence and DVA systems are contemporary and fit for purpose and that those systems have the wellbeing of our people at the forefront.”
“We can better support them through the reforms in this bill—through improved information sharing and better integration across defence, DVA and other portfolio agencies, including the newly established, from today, Veteran and Family Wellbeing Agency; through establishing more robust frameworks for defence health services by enhancing fam…”
“I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the debate on the Defence Legislation Amendment (RCDVS Implementation and Related Measures No. 2) Bill 2026. This bill reflects the Albanese government's ongoing commitment to responding to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.”
“This bill directly implements 15 recommendations of the royal commission and supports the implementation of a further 20 recommendations focused on improving health and wellbeing outcomes, improving suicide prevention and information sharing, supporting defence families, enhancing transition, continuity of care and modernising governance…”
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“Crucially, when we received the final report of the royal commission in September last year we acted swiftly. By December we had provided the government's formal response, agreeing—or agreeing in principle—to 104 of the 122 recommendations, noting 17 of those recommendations for further work and establishing a taskforce in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to work across government on how government would go about implementing these recommendations for our veteran community. Now we're building on what the Albanese government did in its first term. Beginning earlier this year, we legislated the establishment of the Defence and Veterans' Services Commission. This implements recommendation 122 of the royal commission, which the royal commission said was its most important recommendation.”
“So, over the past three years we have been able to achieve a great deal together. We've eliminated that claims backlog that we inherited because of the underresourcing of DVA. We've also got down to acting on all the recommendations contained in the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide's interim report. Critically, we have passed the Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Act, moving three different complex pieces of legislation that support our veterans into, from the middle of next year, one system, so it's easier for veterans and families to know what they're entitled to, easier for advocates to support them and quicker for the Department of Veterans' Affairs to process those claims and get veterans and their families the support that they need and that they deserve.”
“I thank the member for Corangamite for her question and acknowledge her great advocacy for the veterans across her electorate and region. I've had the great pleasure of being able to meet many of the RSLs in her area, and it's been great to work with her on the progress of the hub that'll be going into her region as well. The member for Corangamite, like our entire government, is committed to providing the service and supports to the veteran community that they not only need but deserve. That is so critically important. When we came into government we inherited a circumstance where DVA was critically underfunded and underresourced. Indeed, to give credit to my predecessor, the member for Calare, who sits on the crossbench, he was calling it out, even when they were in government.”
“I'll be working to continue the momentum on what we have already achieved when it comes to improving our supports for our serving personnel, veterans and their families. We campaigned for the royal commission, and I'll work tirelessly to ensure that our government's response to its recommendations are implemented so that all of those that have selflessly served our nation in our uniform receive the services and supports not only that they need but, frankly, that they deserve.”
“Through public consultation that occurred last year, this is a sector led institute that will be responsible for training and accreditation for compensation and wellbeing advocates working with veterans and families as they engage with DVA. This is about lifting the standards in the sector. It will enhance governance standards across the advocacy sector and ensure that there is a focus on approved advocates that have undertaken the required training to support our veterans, making sure that veterans are not taken advantage of by some unscrupulous actors that exist in this ecosystem. I say to all veterans and their families: if you need support and advocacy support in engaging with the DVA system, please make sure that you choose an accredited advocate on the register. You can access the register at www.advocateregister.org.au.”
“Making sure that all those different interests and others across the veteran community are represented will be the thing that ensures the success of an ex-service organisation peak body. It will need to be a body that is owned, not in a legal sense but in a tangible sense of connection, by the veteran community. That will be the thing that will ensure its success and ensure the delivery of that recommendation by the royal commission. So the work of DVA in engaging with the veteran community to make sure we find a model that is supported by the veteran community for this will be incredibly important. DVA is also supporting the ex-service community in the establishment of an independent institute of veteran advocacy.”
“I say to the veteran community engaged with this work: the royal commission made the recommendation because it saw the benefit that can come from having a unified peak body representing the interests across the broad cross-section of the veteran community and the ex-service organisations that represent it. For such a body to be a success, it will, of course, be incredibly important that it represents that broad cross-section appropriately, in terms of geography, across our federation, in terms of the three different services of Navy, Army and Air Force, and in terms of those that represent those who served in the Second World War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the conflicts and peacekeeping that have occurred since.”
“The department is also doing work with our ex-service organisations in relation to the recommendation for the establishment of a peak body for ex-service organisations. This has been something that has been much talked about for a long period of time. It was raised with me as soon as I came into the portfolio some three years ago. It was something that had been spoken about by many but had never been able to be delivered upon. It's fair to say that it is a broad church in the veteran community. We funded the Department of Veterans' Affairs to undertake this work with the veteran community.”
“A number of these things have been done for some time within the department or by other organisations and services, but bringing them together in a more coordinated way will be incredibly important. It will allow us to bring together, in an important way, the veterans and families hubs that we have been rolling out since our election in 2022. I was very happy to be able to join the member for Brand in Rockingham last week to announce the location of a new veterans and families hub, the Goldsworthy Veteran and Families Centre, in Rockingham. That will be an important contribution to the network of veterans and families hubs that we've been rolling out in an area where we have located Australia's biggest naval base.”
“Largely, the support provided to veterans and families has been focused on medical support, mental health support, processing claims and access to compensation. But the broader wellbeing of our veteran community, whilst having been something often spoken about, has not been the key focus of a government agency. The establishment of a wellbeing agency, on which the department has been undertaking consultation with the broader veteran community around the country for a number of months now, will be an incredibly important change in that approach, to make sure that we have that broader aspect of connection when it comes to housing support, employment, mental health and physical health—a connection which is so important.”
“It will commence legislative operation from September of this year, and we have already appointed an interim commissioner who is starting the work of that commission, which will be incredibly important and give confidence to the veteran community around Australia that governments, not just now but into the future, will continue to have a focus on delivering on the supports that our veterans and their families not only need but deserve. As part of the government's response to the royal commission, we've also funded the Department of Veterans' Affairs to undertake important co-design work with the veteran community, firstly, in relation to the establishment of a wellbeing agency within the Department of Veterans' Affairs. This represents a critical shift in the approach that has been taken in supporting our veterans and families.”
“Importantly, what we also did at the beginning of this year was to legislate the establishment of the oversight body that the royal commission itself said was the most important recommendation that it had made—a body that will oversee the work undertaken by Defence and the Department of Veterans' Affairs in supporting our serving personnel and veterans and their families, making sure the government delivers on the intended outcomes from the recommendations of the royal commission. Earlier this year, we legislated the establishment of that body, which will be the Defence and Veterans' Services Commission.”
“By December, in almost record time—in fact, it probably is record time—we'd provided the government's response to all of those recommendations. This came on the back of the work that we had undertaken in relation to all of the recommendations that had been made in the interim report of the royal commission, which we received in August of 2022. We are now in the process of working through the implementation of those recommendations from the final report of the royal commission. This started with the establishment of a taskforce in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to provide that integrated advice across government, Defence and the Department of Veterans' Affairs on how we stage out and implement the 122 recommendations that were made by the report.”
“This will mean that it's easier for veterans to understand and navigate the system that is there to support them, it will make it easier it for the advocates that work with our veterans to be able to provide that advice and support, and it will make it easier for the department to be able to process those claims by simplifying the system that underpins it, which means that veterans and families will be able to get access to the support that they need more quickly. This is all part of us delivering on our responses to the interim report and the final report of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. This was a royal commission that we called for when we were in opposition, and in September of last year we received the final report from the royal commission.”
“The Department of Veterans' Affairs is now the best resourced that it has been in three decades. We also undertook one of the most significant reforms to veterans' entitlements legislation in four decades with the Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Act 2025. This will see, from the middle of this year, a movement where three separate, complex schemes of veteran support will converge into one scheme going forward.”
“As part of the Albanese Labor government, I'm incredibly proud of what we have been able to deliver in my portfolios of veterans' affairs and defence personnel as well. Over the last three years, we've been able to achieve great change when it comes to how we support our veterans and their families. We've invested in the Department of Veterans' Affairs' frontline claim-processing capability, which has included a huge investment in increasing the number of staff—and not just the number of staff but also making sure they are public servants employed in ongoing employment jobs. That's meant that we've reduced the reliance on labour hire. It's meant that we've reduced the rate of churn in the department. It's meant that the efficiency and effectiveness of how we're able to process those claims has increased incredibly.”
“The reforms that we've made through changes to the Fair Work Act to make sure that people are protected in their workplace and have greater security in their employment, where we have seen not only inflation coming down but real wage growth as well, whilst maintaining high levels of employment, is incredibly important. My community is often the first to see an increase in the unemployment rate and the last to see increases in the employment rate, so being able to maintain unemployment at a low level while seeing wages grow in real terms under our government is incredibly important,. and I know everybody in my community is very happy to see that interest rates are starting to fall as well.”
“The facilities they currently have are so well used that the road they sit on has quite possibly one of the worst traffic snarls in the entire community, and so having that additional parking is desperately overdue and, I know, also supported by the City of Gosnells for that reason. These are very important additions and commitments that we've made to our community in Burt, and I've been happy to be able to make those commitments as the local member, but I'm very proud to be able to be doing that as a minister in the Albanese Labor government—being able to be part of our focus on addressing cost-of-living-concerns and making sure that we're delivering for people where they need it.”
“Providing them with a better playground is much needed and long overdue. We're also providing a million dollars to the Hindu Association of Western Australia. This is an incredibly important association for the entirety of Western Australia and particularly for Perth. They used to be located in my electorate. They are now located in the electorate of Tangney, quite literally over the road from my electorate. But their community expands throughout the electorates of Burt and Tangney and across the entire metropolitan area. We are providing them with funding to support classrooms, a multipurpose hall and additional parking.”
“It will make sure that they are able to continue with their community lessons, education programs and support, which they provide across the age ranges, I must say. Having the playground will enable them and their families to be able to do that in a much greater way. We also committed $50,000 to support a new playground at the Armadale Community Family Centre, and that will be shared with and be accessed by the childcare centre that's located next door. The Armadale Community Family Centre provides a very important resource to support families in Armadale. Armadale and the suburbs around the community centre have a very high saturation of public housing and low-cost and community housing. A number of services are provided to support families in the community to connect to other services and to have the support of one another.”
“The Thornlie Bowling Club is one that hosts many competitions, metropolitan and statewide, and it will allow them to continue to do that on an even larger scale. We also committed a million dollars for the building of a multipurpose community facility for the Tigray Orthodox community. This is a rapidly growing community in my electorate, one that has been somewhat overlooked. It's great to be able to provide them with a facility that will provide sporting options and the capacity to host large community events, something that they need and that our broader community in that area of Kenwick needs as well. It will include an indoor basketball court. We've committed $50,000 to the Chinmaya Mission in Perth. Again, this is a growing, vibrant community, located in Forrestdale.”
“I've been working with the Thornlie Bowling Club for many, many years—indeed, before I was elected to this place—about the need to expand the community facilities at the club, and we've now been able to deliver a whole new clubroom building. That's not just about supporting the club; it also supports the tennis club that was previously next door, as well as providing additional community meeting facilities that were not available there before. Covering the greens there will mean that they'll be able to operate all year round, and not just through rain; importantly, as you might have heard, Perth gets pretty hot, and being able to put those greens under cover means it will be a much more accessible community facility.”
“One issue that has been raised time and time again has been mental health and, in particular, supporting student mental health. That is why I'm really pleased that our government has been able to deliver these two Medicare mental health centres to my community, making sure that mental health care is even more available to the students and the community in my electorate—something that's been raised with me so many times. In the course of the election campaign, I was also very proud to be able to make a number of commitments supporting a broad cross-section of the community that is Burt. This included a $1.4 million commitment for a roof, basically, over the bowling greens at the Thornlie Bowling Club.”
“It just goes to show that fitness is not all it's cracked up to be! Importantly, we've also delivered two Medicare mental health centres. Now, these are incredibly important for the service that they provide, but they're also a great demonstration of community advocacy and need. Since I've been the member for Burt—for some nine years—I have run, I think, eight Burt Young Leader Forums, which involve inviting student leaders from all of the high schools across my electorate to come and present on issues important to them, to decide amongst themselves the most important of those issues and to discuss what actions could be taken to resolve them and what action could be taken by not only federal government but also state government, local government and even themselves as student leaders.”
“Indeed, the house that I grew up in and many of my family have moved into the electorate of Bullwinkel due to the redistribution. I know she'll be a fantastic representative for that community—one that I hold very dear to my heart as well. It was great to hear her first speech here earlier today. When we went to the election in May, the issue of the cost of living was an incredibly important one, especially for my community in Burt. What our government promised to deliver were further rounds of tax cuts, a 20 per cent reduction in student debt—importantly including apprenticeship debt—$150 of further energy bill relief and new Medicare urgent care clinics being delivered. We have one in Gosnells now, and even I have used the Medicare urgent care clinic in Gosnells. During the election campaign I managed to dislocate my toe.”
“Deputy Speaker, congratulations on your election to that high office. I want to start my remarks by thanking the community of Burt, across the cities of Gosnells and Armadale and now the Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale, for putting their faith and trust in me to continue as their elected representative in this place. I'd also like to congratulate the newest members of the Labor caucus from Western Australia: the member for Bullwinkel, Trish Cook; the member for Moore, Tom French; and our newest WA senator, Ellie Whiteaker. I congratulate them on coming to represent their communities here in this federal parliament. Particularly, I'd like to call out the new member for Bullwinkel, who, with the creation of that new seat, absorbed some of the suburbs that I represent.”
“The bill will also provide a mechanism for the Minister for Defence Personnel to determine that DHA can provide housing and housing related services in the future to broader categories of people to meet the operational needs of the ADF and the requirements of the Department of Defence. This allows for flexibility and the ability to respond to changing circumstances, as and when they arise. This recognises the changing nature of the defence workforce, which is no longer exclusively encompassed by ADF members and APS employees. Ultimately, this bill will ensure that Australia's security requirements are met. The speedy passage of this legislation is an important step in ensuring we can meet our commitments under AUKUS. These amendments will also enable better support for those who provide assistance and support to the ADF.”
“Further, in the spirit of a true partnership, the Albanese government seeks to ensure overseas personnel are integrated into local communities in order to provide them and their families the best possible experience in Australia. Utilising DHA will ensure Australia secures adequate and suitable housing that aligns with Australian Defence Force standards whilst limiting any negative impacts that may be had on local housing markets. More generally, there is a need in a range of circumstances to provide housing to people in locations where Defence operates across Australia, including remote areas, to deliver defence capability. This bill will also enable DHA to provide housing and housing related services to organisations who are integral to defence business, including philanthropic organisations providing important support services.”
“SRF-West is integral to helping Australia and Australians develop the skills and infrastructure to safely and securely maintain, own and operate nuclear propelled submarines. Providing housing and family support to these personnel while they reside in Western Australia is a critical aspect of enabling SRF-West. Housing stock will be made available through DHA. This will be comparable to the support provided to ADF members and their families. The Albanese government is committed to AUKUS and supporting our AUKUS partners appropriately; however, we are conscious this should not be at the detriment of local communities.”
“The AUKUS optimal pathway will: The first phase of the AUKUS optimal pathway includes the rotational presence of United States and United Kingdom nuclear-powered submarines at HMAS Stirling , known as the Submarine Rotational Force-West (SRF-West). From quarter 3 of this year, a small cohort of approximately 34 United States personnel will arrive in Western Australia to prepare for the commencement of the SRF-West. Following this, there will be an increasing number of US and UK military, civilian and contractor personnel arriving in Western Australia over the course of five years, including some families accompanying United States military personnel. To enable the activity, Defence, through DHA, needs to ensure that housing for these US and UK personnel is available in close proximity to HMAS Stirling .”
“The report recommended expanding DHA's functions to also provide housing for foreign exchange and visiting military personnel, and philanthropic organisations that provide counselling and other support services to ADF members and their families. This bill recognises that the ADF, in modern times, relies on the support, services and cooperation of a wide range of external partners and organisations, including foreign militaries, who may require housing support in Australia. In particular, this bill will directly support our requirement to house personnel coming to Australia as part of Submarine Rotational Force-West under the Australia, United Kingdom and United States trilateral security partnership—AUKUS. Submarine Rotational Force-West is part of the AUKUS optimal pathway, which was announced in March 2023.”
“I move: That this bill be now read a second time. I am pleased to present the Defence Housing Australia Amendment Bill 2025, which makes various amendments to the Defence Housing Australia Act 1987 to expand the main function of Defence Housing Australia (DHA). The changes will enable housing and housing-related services to be provided by DHA to those making important contributions to the defence of Australia. DHA was established in 1987 for the purpose of providing Australian Defence Force (ADF) members and their families with quality, affordable and readily available housing. This housing initiative was and still is a key element of ADF conditions of service, which contributes directly to the retention and wellbeing of ADF personnel. This bill addresses the recommendation from a 2020 ANAO report on the management of DHA.”
“Senator Lambie, a great advocate on behalf of veterans across this country, called Senator Hume out on this on television just this morning. Senator Hume seemed to have some form of amnesia; she didn't know what Senator Lambie was talking about all of a sudden. But it's okay, because Natalie Barr reminded Senator Hume that it is the opposition's policy to roll back the additional public servants that our government has hired. We know what will happen under this opposition. They will cut, and you will pay. (Time expired)”
“Last financial year, it was 89,530, and, in the eight months to February of this year, we've already had 65,412 new claims lodged with DVA. Under the last government in 2021-22, they made 94,629 decisions in the whole year. Last financial year, DVA made 200,200 decisions. Up to February of this financial year—just eight months—148,294 decisions have been made. So we can see why it's important to maintain the staffing levels in DVA so that those staff can keep doing the vital work to process claims and provide services and support to our veterans. Yet we saw, earlier in the week, Senator Hume, the shadow minister for finance, saying that the opposition thought that they should roll back those additional staff that have gone into DVA.”
“This has led to more demand for support and services to actually be provided to veterans and families—supports and services that veterans deserved but were prevented from receiving by the last Liberal government because they weren't processing veterans' claims. Our success in processing claims has meant that more veterans are now lodging more claims with more conditions per claim, because they now have confidence that their claims will actually be processed. In February 2025, all new initial liability claims were being allocated to a staff member within 14 days. Back in 2022, under the last government, it was taking around 200 days. But let's look at what they were dealing with back then. In 2021-22, there were just under 66,000 claims lodged with the Department of Veterans' Affairs.”
“I thank the member for Paterson for that very important question. She's a great advocate for the veterans in her community. I've visited the East Maitland RSL with her a number of times. It's great to visit and meet the local veterans in her community in Paterson. Under the Albanese government, DVA is the best resourced that it has been in decades. Veterans and families are now receiving the services and support that they need faster. We've employed an additional 640 staff in DVA since we came to government in 2022, and we've cleared the unallocated claims backlog of some 42,000 claims that we inherited.”
“… … … They would wait longer for those determinations and would not be receiving the benefits. We would see a return to the bad old days of the previous Liberal government: a re-emergence of backlogs, with veterans waiting and not receiving the benefits that they need and that they deserve to be able to receive. So I have a message to Australia's veterans: when it comes to the Leader of the Opposition, when he cuts, you pay.”
“We had the Leader of the Opposition saying he wants to roll back the additional public servants under this government. Then they said, 'No, no. It won't affect frontline staff.' Then yesterday Senator Hume said she specifically wants to cut back on the frontline claims processing staff in the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Well, I say to the senator and I say to the opposition that only in February the secretary of DVA said in estimates: If the staffing numbers were reduced … it would have a rapid impact on decisions; they would then start to sit for longer with the department for allocation and for decision. New backlogs would begin to emerge because there would not be the same number of staff as there is every day now to make those decisions.”
“Of course, there are now more claims coming into the department than ever before. The workforce is getting through those claims because it's able to work faster than before, getting them in front of someone within a fortnight and determining those initial liability claims in just a few months. That means that we need to have more support to get these claims determined to get benefits and support out the door faster to veterans who need and deserve it. That's what the Albanese government did. Senator Hume wants to take the Public Service back to 2022, when that backlog was what we inherited. It emerged because there wasn't enough resourcing in the Department of Veterans' Affairs. In fact, yesterday she said that that increase in staffing to DVA should be reversed.”
“I thank the member for Hasluck for her question. It was great to go and visit the Bellevue RSL with her recently for an announcement of funding for their new cenotaph. We went with Trish Cook, the Labor candidate for Bullwinkel, as well, because Bellevue, of course, is changing. It was great to meet with all of the veterans out at the Bellevue RSL. When we came to office, there were some 42,000 veteran claims in the backlog at DVA that had not even been looked at by anyone within DVA. As a result of the Albanese government's investments into the Public Service, employing more staff in the Department of Veterans Affairs and, importantly, converting those staff from labour hire and non-ongoing contracts to become permanent public servants, we have cleared that backlog.”
“I move: That the amendment set out in the schedule circulated to honourable members be made in place of the Senate's purported amendment (4) which has been disagreed to. Question agreed to. I move: That Senate amendments (1) to (3) be agreed to. Question agreed to. (Quorum formed)”
“We will move through a process of disagreeing to the Senate's purported amendment. We'll then have the message from the Governor-General. We'll then move that amendment in the House, agree that and then agree the remaining amendments from the Senate so that the bill is then finalised here, in the House. I look forward to the agreement of all in the House to make sure that we are able to pass this bill today.”
“I move: That the: (1) House endorses the statement of the Speaker in relation to the constitutional questions raised by Message No. 428 transmitted by the Senate in relation to the Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Bill 2024; and (2) message be considered immediately. Question agreed to. I move: That the Senate's purported amendment (4) be disagreed to. I am moving that the amendment be disagreed to only for the reason of the constitutional issues that were raised in the statement by the Deputy Speaker. The content of the amendment is not disagreed to, and it's proposed that the content of that amendment be moved as an amendment in the House so that it all has the same import in the final legislation. This is merely to do with the constitutional issue raise by the Deputy Speaker.”
“On this side, we're about making sure that veterans and their families get the support that they need and deserve. The opposition is putting that support at risk because they are putting the jobs in the Department of Veterans' Affairs at risk. That means, under the Leader of the Opposition, under the Liberal and also under the National Party, we will see that Australian veterans are going to be worse off.”
“It's not just the jobs of the people that process the claims; it's the jobs of the people that process the invoices for the in-home supports, the people that make sure that taxis get booked to take veterans to their appointments and the people in the department that make sure hospital bills get paid and that hearing aids can be approved. All of the different staff that support our veterans—that's what the Leader of the Opposition says he wants to cut. Then we hear the Leader of the National Party say: 'Oh, no, no. Actually we don't want to cut any of those people.' We always talk about the division that's created by the opposition. I didn't realise it was going to be from within their own team about whether they're going to support veterans or not.”
“Back in estimates hearings in November 2022, the former secretary of the department confirmed that the resourcing that had been provided by the previous government for the Department of Veterans' Affairs meant that that backlog would never have been cleared. The Albanese government engaged 500 additional claims-processing staff in DVA specifically to deal with this backlog. We have worked through that backlog. We are now seeing claims processed faster than ever before, making sure that veterans can get access to the support and the services that they need and that they deserve. Meanwhile the Leader of the Opposition is saying that he wants to cut back on those staff that provide those vital services. He's saying he wants to get rid of those jobs.”
“I thank the member for Solomon for his very important question. I also thank him for his great advocacy on behalf of all the veterans in the Northern Territory and in his seat of Solomon and, of course, recognise his service in our Defence Force as well. As the member for Solomon said, when we came to government, the Department of Veterans' Affairs was so severely underresourced that there were some 42,000 veteran claims that were still waiting initial review by the department. That meant that veterans were waiting years and years for their claims for liability to be processed so they could access health care and access compensation.”
“It's the partnership between the WA Labor government and the Albanese government that's seen so many positive outcomes for our community. As we look to the future, there's still much that we can achieve together.”
“Whether that's delivering school funding alongside Tony Buti in Armadale, the Tonkin Highway extension with Hugh Jones in Darling Range, upgrades to community facilities in Southern River in the state electorate of Jandakot alongside Terry Healy and Yaz Mubarakai or cleaning up our waterways with Chris Tallentire in Thornlie, we've been able to achieve so much because we work together. I want to give a massive shout-out to Chris Tallentire, who'll be be retiring at this state election. He's worked tirelessly for the Thornlie and Gosnells communities for almost 17 years. Chris, you have done so much to be proud of, and I can't wait to see what you do next. I also know that Labor's candidate for Thornlie, Colleen Egan, will continue your legacy.”
“I was joined at the opening event by Trish Cook, Labor's candidate for the federal seat of Bullwinkel, as well Colleen Egan, Labor's candidate for the state seat of Thornlie in the state election in Western Australia, because this urgent care clinic won't just be a big help for the community of Burt; it'll also service the whole south-east corridor. I've been proud to work with my local colleagues in the WA state government to deliver what's needed for our community.”