Luke Gosling
Solomon · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“Yesterday marked one year since the Albanese government's landmark $3.9 billion National Access to Justice Partnership 2025-30, the NAJP, commenced. It represented our government's largest investment in legal assistance.”
“I acknowledge and thank these local providers and the private sector practitioners supporting them for their professionalism, their expertise and their unwavering commitment.”
“The bill also modernises and clarifies the Defence health system framework by establishing a dedicated legislative basis for Defence health services, including clinical governance, health monitoring, quality assurance and improvement activities, enabling lawful, proportionate use of health data to improve health care, suicide prevention a…”
“Critically, the bill supports a more integrated approach across Defence, the Department of Veterans' Affairs and other portfolio agencies, including the new Veteran and Family Wellbeing Agency that was launched this morning, and the Defence and Veterans' Service Commission that began last year.”
“Purposefully, we need members of this place and senators to take their responsibility to lower anxiety and to provide proper information. A division having been called in the House of Representatives— Sitting suspended from 13:03 to 13:12 We are making it so the DVA can operate better, with increased efficiency, to deliver a level of serv…”
“Our government is working at pace to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. Acknowledging the national tragedy of veteran suicides, this government called for the establishment of the royal commission while we were in opposition, and we have supported the work of the royal commission since…”
The complete record
Every one of 555 lines we hold for Luke Gosling, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 6 of 12.
“Under a warrant, ASIO can compel a person to answer questions or produce materials relevant to serious security matters. This bill proposes to remove the sunset provision, making these powers permanent. It also expands the scope of what ASIO can question people about. It will include not only espionage—and we know there's plenty of that going on, and foreign interference—but now also sabotage, promotion of communal violence, attacks on defence systems, and serious border security threats. We know that these threats are a real and present danger to the Commonwealth. The bill also reforms the prescribed authority—that is, the person overseeing the questioning—by adding disqualifying criteria, and it strengthens reporting requirements, especially where a person has been charged or a charge is imminent.”
“It is their dedication, their integrity and their professionalism that helps ensure Australians can go about their lives safely and freely. We owe them a great debt of gratitude for the work that they are undertaking right now—in the shadows, often, and quietly—to keep our democracy secure and to keep our citizens safe. Let's consider the purpose of the bill and why it matters. Let me begin by summarising, which I'm sure honourable members will appreciate, what the bill does and why the government argues that we very much need it. I welcome the bipartisan commentary of the previous speaker, the member for Riverina, in this regard. Currently, division 3 of part III of the ASIO Act grants ASIO compulsory questioning powers.”
“That tragedy looms large over it. Such a tragedy highlights that freedom must exist alongside constant vigilance. ASIO assumes the responsibility of maintaining that vigilance with its partners on behalf of our society, and this bill aims to give them the tools that they need to do that job. ASIO performs some of the most important yet least visible work in protecting our nation. Every day, right now its officers are operating quietly and professionally to detect, to deter, to disrupt and to defeat threats to Australia's security. They do so under intense scrutiny and they do so within strict legal frameworks and also often without public recognition. I want to very publicly give them that recognition now in this place, and I thank other members that do the same.”
“National security, the safety of Australians, must always be any government's No. 1 priority. Without protecting our citizens, without safeguarding our sovereignty, all else is exposed and we have no foundation or basis on which to build our national prosperity and wellbeing. Yet in protecting Australians we face a fundamental tension between individual freedoms and collective security, and that is at the heart of today's debate on this Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2025. At stake is not just a set of powers for ASIO but a question: how do we balance the liberties that define us as a democracy with the reality that, in a dangerous world, we may need extraordinary tools to keep each other safe. Of course, we now consider this bill with the dark shadow of the Bondi terrorist attack.”
“I received a phone call that the president had been shot while returning from his morning walk. Luckily, and thanks to his resilience and to expert medical care—in Dili, from the ADF personnel and from Aspen Medical, and then at the Royal Darwin Hospital—Jose Ramos-Horta lived. So you can imagine my delight in returning to Dili recently with the Prime Minister to meet with Jose Ramos-Horta again, in his capacity as the president, and also to spend time with Xanana Gusmao— (Time expired)”
“Today, 11 February, is a great day, because I am able to confirm for the people of Solomon, my electorate—Darwin and Palmerston—that due to the actions of this Albanese Labor government there are now 23 bulk-billing Medicare practices across Darwin and Palmerston. Fifteen of them are newly bulk-billing, and eight have shifted from mixed billing to fully bulk-billing. I have worked to continually improve health in my electorate in the far north—before politics, beyond Darwin, with the remote area health corps that I established. Before that, I worked in Timor-Leste to improve the health of babies and mothers in particular. I'll never forget today's date, 11 February, back in 2008 in Timor-Leste. I was working as a civilian adviser to the President of Timor-Leste, Jose Ramos-Horta.”
“In the time remaining, I want to give a shout-out to all those who helped organise and conduct the very successful Welcome to Darwin event at the convention centre on the weekend. It was a fantastic event with a whole range of community stalls. It really was our community opening its arms wide to ADF members and their families who have recently been posted into Darwin, to say: 'Welcome. We're really glad to have you here. We love having you here. We'll do everything we can to make your time in Darwin as enjoyable as possible, and we hope that you elect to go for repeat postings up in Darwin. Make Darwin your home and help us with this enterprise in the national interest, which we're also engaged in, to keep our nation safe and to protect the interests of our nation.' I want to thank all the families.”
“I listen to their experiences and work to ensure their needs are met. I also listen to their family members and work to ensure that their needs are met. Those conversations continually remind me of the depth of service and sacrifice that underpins our freedoms in this nation, that underpins our Australian sovereignty and our way of life. This is the guiding light for my work in this parliament, as it is for other members of this place. I hope that, in time, that understanding will continue to grow in members of this place so that they can be a consistent source of support to veterans and their families in their electorates. This bill is certainly a step in the right direction.”
“The government has listened to feedback from stakeholders and has taken action. These changes to the bill will ensure that the commissioner has the tools necessary to ensure that the Defence and Veterans' Service Commission is able to drive that systemic reform that will improve suicide prevention and wellbeing outcomes for both serving and ex-serving Australian Defence Force members. This will mean agencies are held accountable to consider and respond to the commissioner's recommendations. The enduring nature of the commission will ensure that the voices of our veterans continue to be heard and that systemic issues which contribute to suicide in our veteran community are continually reviewed and addressed. As I said, every day I have the privilege of engaging with veterans in our community.”
“A feature of the legislation that I quite like is the ability to invite these from the public—from veterans and, importantly, from their families—so that we can better understand how the system is working for veterans and their families and hear from them on an ongoing and timely basis. And, of course, we want to hear how the system is not working for them so that we can address issues. Having spoken about the independence of the commissioner and about families, I now want to go to ongoing reform. The commissioner is empowered to be an agent of change and improvement. Their functions would enable them, as an oversight body, to monitor, inquire into, report on and provide advice on systemic reforms, including the Commonwealth's implementation of the government's response to the recommendations of the royal commission.”
“It was great that people like Dani were able to spend time with the Repatriation Commissioner and the Veteran Family Commissioner in Darwin, Kahlil Fegan and Annabelle Wilson, in Darwin, last week. I'm thankful to them for heading up to Darwin and having those conversations with our local veterans and families. Veteran families often carry a lot of the burden of service as well as being the biggest carer and the biggest enabler of capability. And it's not well enough understood. We've got a lot to learn from the experiences of our families, and we need to do everything we can to support them. In understanding the experience of the families, we can make the system better support them. On the conduct of the duties of the commissioner, the commissioner can invite the making of submissions under clause 20.”
“There was a fantastic event run by the Families of Veterans Guild. I'd like to take a moment to pay tribute to the guild and to their CEO, Renee Wilson, for the organisation and for Renee's tireless advocacy for veterans' families, an issue very close to her heart. Theirs is a very worthy cause and one I fully support. At that event, I listened to the stories of veterans' families that have been affected by tragedy and hardship—a genuinely moving experience that all honourable members should seek out in order to expand their knowledge of the challenges faced by veterans and their families. It was, as I said, a very deeply moving event. We've also held events. I want to pay tribute to Dani Eveleigh from my electorate. She, like Renee, is the partner of a serviceman and has done some great work as well.”
“There is no doubt—zero doubt—that families of veterans play the most vital role in the health and wellbeing of veterans, but they also face unique challenges themselves. The Albanese government is pleased that, through this legislation, we're able to acknowledge the significance of veterans' families. The commissioner will be empowered under subclause 10(1) to promote understanding of suicide risks for veterans and factors that can improve the wellbeing of veterans through engaging with people with lived experience and the families of veterans. Last year, I spoke at the veterans' family roundtable held here in this place, in Parliament House, and was fortunate to attend, with the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and my parliamentary colleagues, and speak to the representatives.”
“This includes statutory deadlines for the completion of two inquiries into the Commonwealth's implementation of the government's response to the royal commission recommendations. Those deadlines are 2 December 27 and 2 December 2030, which are the third and sixth anniversaries of the government's response to the royal commission's recommendations. This bill strengthens the commissioner's powers in ensuring transparency and accountability across Defence and the veteran ecosystem and enables access to necessary information and disseminating public statements. What I was just talking about went to the independence of the commission and the commissioner; now, I want to go to families. The commissioner's functions include reference to veterans' families.”
“To reflect their independence, the bill confers on the commissioner complete discretion in carrying out their functions and powers and appropriately limits directions, including from the minister. There's a subclause, 12(2), that in particular would ensure that the commissioner has substantial discretion to determine how they will carry out their role. That independent judgement about what is best for the veteran is so important. Under clause 50, the commissioner is empowered to make public statements, which is important in keeping people informed. Transparency in the goals, function and operations of the commission is paramount. It improves the transparency of the work of the commission to ensure accountability for the commission itself and those subject to its oversight.”
“The submissions, the evidence and the committee's report have informed the development of the bill, implementing the following recommendations. First, standalone legislation for the Defence and Veterans' Service Commission will reflect its independence. This bill strengthens the independence of the commissioner by ensuring that the role is appointed by the Governor-General after a merit based and public recruitment process. Everyone can apply; it's a public process. The commissioner will be an independent statutory office holder when appointed. The commissioner will carry out their functions and exercise their powers by looking through a system-wide lens.”
“It will ensure agencies implementing royal commission recommendations will be held to account by promoting long-term change and driving the systematic reforms needed to reduce the rates of suicide and suicidality among serving and ex-serving ADF members—and, for that matter, their family members. To do this, the commission must have the independence, the functions and the powers necessary to meet these objectives and maintain the trust of the defence and veterans community. The Defence and Veterans' Service Commissioner Bill, then, builds on the work undertaken by the parliament in February last year, when schedule 9 of the Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Act 2025 was passed and a Senate inquiry was undertaken. Let's go to independence.”
“The report said that the establishment of this new statutory authority would underpin 'all the recommendations that precede it' and be 'the most significant action the Australian government can take to address defence and veteran suicide'. In acknowledgement of the significance and the urgency of this recommendation, in February 2025, our federal Labor government legislated the Defence and Veterans' Service Commission. That's been up and running since the end of September last year. The role of this new statutory entity is to provide independent oversight and evidence based advice to drive system reform to improve suicide prevention and wellbeing outcomes for the defence and veteran communities, including our families. The commission will have a dedicated and sustained focus on suicide prevention.”
“There is an expectation that we will look after those that have done so much for us in the defence of our nation and the representation of our people overseas. With the now minister and others, I lobbied hard for the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. We heard the calls from the veteran community, from their families, and we have acted—initially, in pushing and working with the government of the day to establish it and, now, as I said, the interim report having been released in 2022, in really getting on with implementing those recommendations, particularly those that were most urgent. We've acted on all of those recommendations of that interim report. One of the 122 recommendations of the final report was to establish a new statutory entity to oversee systematic reform across the whole defence enterprise, the ecosystem.”
“Every day that I talk with veterans, I'm keen to share their achievements and to assist them with issues—including in the wee hours of this morning, where I was spending time clearing emails and assisting to connect veterans with help. It's the very least that we can do for those that have put on the uniform and served our country. Every member of the ADF should be safe in the knowledge that, whatever may happen in their service, they and their families will be looked after and acknowledged by our grateful nation. It's our nation's duty to empower and to support the mental health and wellbeing of our defence and veteran community, and it's something I'm very passionate about as a fourth generation veteran.”
“I acknowledge the previous speakers and acknowledge the minister in the chamber. I congratulate him on this bill and his work in general, post the royal commission, to really drive the implementation of recommendations. I have the great fortune of having been appointed by the Prime Minister as the Special Envoy for Defence, Veterans' Affairs and Northern Australia. It is my distinct privilege to meet with Defence members and veterans across the country. And, of course, in my electorate, which is Solomon—a garrison town, a defender of the north—we have Navy, Army and Air Force bases. We also host the US marines and many visiting training delegations, which is fantastic because we get to improve our interoperability and learn from each other.”
“This disproportionately affects younger Australians, who miss out on time when the value of those dollars could have been compounding. Running some numbers shows that this can make a real difference. For example, for a 16-year-old, investing a dollar in superannuation means that at retirement that dollar would be worth around 17 per cent more than a dollar invested at 18, purely due to that time compounding. So thanks to all working on this campaign. Let's set our kids up for a dignified retirement.”
“As the father of two young children, one of whom is very much looking forward to her first part-time job, I spend a lot of time thinking about them and their future and how we can best set them and their mates up for success. One of the best ways that we can set every Australian up is the through-life financial security that superannuation provides. This is a great Hawke-Keating era Labor reform that created a world-leading superannuation system and set every Australian up for a dignified retirement. Labor—those on this side—aims to ensure that all workers, regardless of how they are engaged, can accumulate super on every dollar earned. At the moment, to get super, under-18s need to work at least 30 hours a week, and this means that super isn't being paid on every dollar earned or every hour worked.”
“Last week I was pleased to open an event at the United States Studies Centre, and that organisation is a testament to the deep relationship between Australia and the United States. I was pleased to open that event on behalf of Dr Gordon Reid, who is the government chair of the parliamentary friendship group of the United States. Like Gordon, I take a longer term view of the Australia-US relationship that stretches back 75 years, to both battles in the Korean War and to the establishment of ANZUS.”
“This year marks 75 years since the battles of Kapyong and Maryang San, where the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment—old faithful, my old battalion—and Canada's 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, showed remarkable courage. Incidentally, on Friday, back in Darwin I caught up with the new CEO of the Larrakia Development Corporation, Anthony Whitfield, and, through chatting with Anthony, discovered that his father had fought in these battles with the Australian Army. There are great connections everywhere. In the six months between those two battles, Australia and the United States were formalising a security partnership, ANZUS, that has grown stronger ever since. This year we also mark the 75th anniversary of the ANZUS treaty.”
“Australia and Timor-Leste are continuing to build a stronger partnership through parceria foun ba era foun, which means a new partnership for a new era. Yesterday, the Lankan Dance Academy held their Kandyan dancing graduation, a ceremony reflecting years of training, cultural rituals and traditional performance. Congratulations to dance master Sadeepa Sandurawan for continuing this tradition in Darwin. And I look forward to next Saturday, when the Chung Wah Society's award-winning lion dance troupe will perform in multicultural Darwin.”
“It's the Year of the Fire Horse, so Happy Lunar New Year to everyone. Across the Northern Territory, community organisations are bringing people together to celebrate. I thank Mr Thien Le and the Australia Vietnamese Community NT Chapter committee for welcoming me to their celebration and for their continued contribution to the multicultural life of Darwin and the Northern Territory. I also acknowledge Anna Dam and the Australian Vietnamese Family Association for hosting a special performance by Hue Royal Court Music, which is recognised as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, with artists who travelled all the way from Vietnam. The NT Timor Chinese Association also held their celebration, where I spoke about my recent visit to Timor-Leste with the Prime Minister.”
“My question is to the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors. How is the Albanese Labor government delivering more well-paid, secure jobs for aged-care workers in Australia, including those in the Northern Territory? And how will these plans help deliver more care to older Australians exactly where they need it?”
“Whether he was singing in a beer garden, sharing a yarn or representing the Territory on the national stage, Ted Egan did it with authenticity, great humour and enormous heart. He lived big. My thoughts are with Nerys and the whole Egan family as they grieve the loss of their partner, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and mate.”
“Later this month I will attend the state funeral for Ted Egan AO, a man who embodied the spirit, generosity and storytelling at the heart of the Northern Territory. Through music, writing and his public service, particularly as the Administrator of the Northern Territory, he helped Australians to understand the people and the cultures and the history of the Territory in a way that few others could. Ted gifted me his book Kulilkatima which means seeking understanding. It begins with the lyrics of his song 'This Land Australia'. There's a passage that I've always loved: Try to understand This land Australia Take her as she is Her moods, her mysteries Mother of us all Beneath the Southern Cross In her frame of peaceful seas. Ted is urging us to listen, to learn and to respect this remarkable country.”
“As I used to say when I was in the Army, dehydration is a soldier's worst enemy. The Labor government is taking the fight to that fiercest, most unrelenting of foes. So, with this bill, there'll be less of Slim Dusty's pub with no beer and more pubs from Men at Work's land down under, where the beer does flow—with, hopefully, less of the rest of that song! The bill is good for small business pubs and clubs and brewers. It is good for the hip pocket of Australians who do like to have a pint, a schooie, or one of those smaller versions—I think it's called a pot. It's good for northern Australia and the regions. For all of those reasons, I commend this bill to the House.”
“According to the Independent Brewers Association report from February 2025, independent brewers, most of which are small businesses, contribute $3.53 billion to the Australian economy, 56 per cent of them are located in regional and rural Australia, and 48 per cent of the industry reports being unprofitable or just breaking even. So this bill is an assistance to this sector being sustainable and having those conditions for competition over time. The small independent brewers describe how they are forced to absorb the increases from the excise being indexed to CPI and increasing twice per year. They write that polling indicated that Australians wanted government to stop increasing the excise tax, and that is exactly what this bill does. This is what small businesses asked for, and it's very good for independent brewers.”
“Nationwide, Australia's beer industry, from growing the barley to pouring pints in venues like those I've mentioned, generates around $16 billion a year. According to the Brewers Association of Australia, on average, every Australian made beer contributes $4.36 to Australia's economy, and it's a very decent return on investment. A 2018 study also indicated that local craft breweries play positive roles in engendering social, symbolic and financial capital in their home towns and regions. This bill is good for the Australian economy, including the north, but also our regions, as I'm sure there is agreement across this place. This is a practical, targeted and responsible measure that supports small businesses, protects jobs and keeps the price of a pint stable for everyday Australians.”
“In Far North Queensland, this excise freeze will also benefit you as you're having a draught beer at Hemingway's Brewery in Cairns, enjoying some of those big, bold flavours of their draught beers, such as the grapefruit, citrus and pine of the Wharf St IPA, which incidentally won a gold medal at the 2025 Melbourne Royal Australian International Beer Awards. I congratulate Hemingway's on that win. My point is that, like all points of our great southern land, northern Australia and Territorians love a beer, and it's great to enjoy it in a pub and, as the Prime Minister said, contribute to that social cohesion and promote responsible drinking. In the Northern Territory, beer contributes about $167 million to gross Territory product and 1,273 full-time equivalent jobs.”
“They'll also apply when you're enjoying multicultural events, such as the fantastic Territory Oktoberfest that was held by Beaver Brewery last year. The Purple Mango brewery at Marrakai in your electorate, Deputy Speaker Scrymgour, is fantastic, as is the Alice Springs Brewing Co., smack bang in Central Australia, where responsible drinking is the order of the day and delicious draught beers are plenty. With my special-envoy-for-the-north hat on, it behoves me to mention the Spinifex brewery in Broome, Western Australia, and in particular their F88 premium lager, which is named after the Australian Army's service rifle. It's another veteran owned business. That label and that draught beer honours military personnel and first responders and is aligned with the sponsorship agreement with Soldiers and Sirens, which supports those personnel.”
“There are many other great establishments and breweries that I'll mention in my electorate, but it is true that for Northern Territorians—and across northern Australia, I would say—this is a welcome measure and a great measure. This measure applies to great brewers such as Darwin's One Mile Brewing Co. and their 4:21 Kolsch and RDO bright ale, as well as Beaver Brewery's Boofhead Lager, which reminds me of a humorous exchange across the dispatch boxes here in the past. I highly recommend all the One Mile beers and the Beaver beers. Visitors to Darwin can also head down to Mitchell Street, where Darwin's Six Tanks Brew Pub makes a fantastic range of beers, draught beers, and you can have a paddle of those craft beers.”
“I rise enthusiastically, following our prime minister, to speak in strong support of the Excise Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025 and the Customs Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025. As the Prime Minister said, pubs pouring draught beer are made up of communities—communities of people where everyone has a seat. My local, the Buff Club in Stuart Park, is a good example, and I pay tribute to a member of our community there that we lost recently, Harry. I've spoken about Harry in this place in the past, but he passed the week before last, and we raised a glass of draught beer to him. The railway club is another one close to home and has long been a place for true believers to get together and to have a schooner of draught beer.”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. Can the Prime Minister inform the House about his recent visit to Timor-Leste and explain why building our partnerships, Australia's partnerships, in our region is so important?”
“I presented Frank with an Australian flag on Australia Day to thank him for his service to our nation. He passed away peacefully the following morning. Last week, Kwementyaye Shaw was laid to rest in Alice Springs. Also an Army veteran of Malaya and Vietnam, his life story is an inspiring one of courage, service and progress for Aboriginal people. Improving the lives of his fellow First Nations people in Central Australia, he was instrumental in starting Central Australian Aboriginal Congress and was an absolute legend.”
“I rise to recognise some great Territorians who have passed in recent weeks. My Darwin neighbours, Territory legends Benny and Sandra Lew Fatt, husband and wife, passed away weeks apart, Sandra on 14 December and Benny last week. Sandra was a legend of the Darwin travel industry. For over 50 years, she was renowned for her service to fellow Territorians and formed lifelong relationships with her customers. Benny was an AFL legend, particularly of the Nightcliff Tigers footy club. He was inducted into the hall of fame in 2012. For Benny's dedication to AFL football and the broader Darwin community, he received the Order of Australia Medal in 2019. Also recently, in Fannie Bay, Edward Francis 'Frank' Connell passed. He was a Vietnam veteran.”
“It is the police, and they are the ones we need to back, as well as our beloved Jewish community that our hearts go out to.”
“Recognising that our federal parliament has been recalled to deal with one of the most serious responsibilities that any government has—and that is to keep Australians safe—I will be working with colleagues from all sides of politics, because moments like this demand cooperation and a sense of national unity. In that vein, I look forward to working with the Northern Territory government in a constructive and collegial way to keep Territorians safe. Finally, I acknowledge and thank our police—the police that responded at Bondi and the police that keep our communities safe. I stand in solidarity with them because, when the shooting starts, it falls to them to defend the public and neutralise the threat. All honourable members of this place and the other place and all state and territory legislators should remember that.”
“Australia owes them and all first responders a deep debt of gratitude, and that includes those who were merely there that day who responded first, putting their lives in jeopardy for the lives of other Australians and visitors—other humans. I've also been speaking with local Jewish community members of the Northern Territory, along with leaders of other religious groups, to express my sympathies and our family's solidarity and support and to say clearly that we recognise the profound loss that this attack on Jewish Australians has caused for their community but also for all Australians. I acknowledge the NT Jewish Community Association's role in providing leadership and support to local Jewish people in our community in the Top End of the Northern Territory.”
“It also shows, to my mind, the great strength of RSL sub-branches, other ex-service organisations and organisations like the surf lifesaving clubs that step up in times of need as local coordinators for collective, service oriented action. I want to thank the Governor-General for visiting the veterans and volunteers at North Bondi RSL not once but twice. Today I was honoured to attend an event put on by the member for Kingsford Smith recognising some of the surf lifesavers who responded to the tragedy. It was a great privilege to meet Mouse and Beardy—those are their nicknames—who were there at the time of this massacre. The contribution of first responders and surf lifesavers was personified by the photo of the lifesaver from Tamarama running barefoot to assist.”
“This was local veterans and RSL volunteers backing their local civilian community in a moment of real fear and trauma, and they have continued to do that work in the days and weeks since. Quite organically, the North Bondi RSL became—they established—a support coordination hub. I attended a multi-agency coordination meeting there with Matt Thistlethwaite, the member for Kingsford Smith, alongside New South Wales government agencies and members of national NGOs—including social workers who were operating out of the RSL, going out into the community and spending time providing mental health first aid to members of the community. It is a clear example of the capacity of veterans to make order out of chaos and to provide local leadership when it counts.”
“That is something that I did personally, to thank not only them but also people that were there, from government and non-government organisations, who were actively supporting members of the community, right there and then, out of the North Bondi RSL club. During and after the terrorist attack at Bondi, the doors of the North Bondi RSL club stayed open. Veterans, staff and volunteers moved quickly to help, providing first aid to the injured, giving refuge to people fleeing the shooting and supporting the police, ambulance officers and others working at the scene. The kitchen at the RSL stayed open as well. They were pumping out pizzas and making sure that first responders were fed late into the night.”
“I join with all members of parliament, and all the Territorians that I am fortunate to represent with my colleagues the member for Lingiari and the NT senator Malarndirri McCarthy, to express our sympathies to the family and friends of those murdered—those 15 Australians who were killed—and to all of those who were injured in the horrific ISIS-inspired antisemitic terrorist attack at Bondi. This was an attack on Jewish Australians, which means that it was an attack on all Territorians and all Australians. This is about all of us, and all of us have a responsibility to act. In the days after the massacre, I visited Bondi to pass on the solidarity of Territorians and to thank first responders. I also visited and thanked members, veterans and volunteers at the North Bondi RSL.”
“Part of the NAIF—$500 million—has been earmarked for projects under the government's Critical Minerals Strategy. We are putting substantial resources into the Arafura Nolans rare earths integrated mining and processing facility near Alice Springs. That's what a future made in Australia is all about—not just digging stuff up but then doing the processing. What that means is great jobs. What that means is logistics hubs up through central Australia that are going to support a whole range of industries into the future, making us more resilient. That is important for our sovereignty. The Australian nation has a bright future in part because of northern Australians and what we can bring to the table, and we thank the federal government for that support. Debate adjourned. Federation Chamber adjourned at 17 : 28”
“Those critical minerals are really crucial to our nation's future security and our engagement with our neighbours in the Indo-Pacific and the development of northern Australia is for all those reasons and for the fact that we are a united country that wants the best for every Australian, including people living in the north. That is why the north is such a priority for our Albanese Labor government. We are committed to realising the full potential of the region. The potential was often talked about, but the action to turn that potential into opportunity, into futures, is what's really important, because a strong north means a strong Australia. The action plan, the 2024-29 annual progress report, shows that we are progressing those priorities and activating the northern economy.”
“They're providing great support, and long may it continue. Obviously, with the extension of the NAIF, that's assured, but the Office of Northern Australia does great work to support industry and to support communities, including remote First Nations communities, who have a deep and ancient connection to their country but also want to have a future for their children and want to have their kids on a pathway to a sustainable future and a future of dignity. If there's one thing about the north that all honourable members should know and would know, it's that it's very rich in resources, whether it be sun, wind, gas, iron ore or those important critical minerals.”