Rebekha Sharkie
Mayo · Centre Alliance · Australia
“People often say to me, 'What's the greatest thing that you love about your job?' I would say—what I love the most is actually never in the media—that what I love the most is when my team and I can help somebody with their aged care issue or their NDIS package or a Centrelink problem.”
“For all of us, and certainly for me, that is my team members, and some of them have been with me for many, many, many years. Whether they've been with me for a short time or a long time, I've got to say that every single member of my team has been fantastic. They really have. I love the team of people I work with.”
“These have all been incredibly worthwhile and important projects that our whole community has backed in together. One that we've all really loved and enjoyed being on is the Amy Gillett Bikeway. That's now been extended from Mount Torrens to Birdwood.”
“Ten years ago today, the community of Mayo put their trust in me to represent them. I'd particularly like to acknowledge former senator Nick Xenophon. Nick Xenophon put his trust in me to represent his party.”
“I mustn't forget Kangaroo Island and upgrades to Hog Bay Road which have improved safety. We've had such enormous population growth, but there is so much more to do. There's always so much to do. When I look at health, we have emergency departments that have been upgraded at Victor Harbor and a new emergency department in Mount Barker.”
“He is constantly asked by children and teachers if his skin hurts, if the eczema is getting worse and, by some children, 'What's wrong with you?' There are thousands of children just like Angus in Australia whose severe eczema will cause some long-term physical and emotional harm if they cannot access new treatments.”
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“My two boys were teenagers; they're now getting married. To my beautiful husband, Nathan, who has stood by me for these last 10 years: thank you. Thank you, Mayo.”
“For all of us, and certainly for me, that is my team members, and some of them have been with me for many, many, many years. Whether they've been with me for a short time or a long time, I've got to say that every single member of my team has been fantastic. They really have. I love the team of people I work with. It makes me smile just turning up every day. I'd also like to acknowledge three members of my team who have passed. We lost Dale, we lost Taylor and we lost Melanie to breast cancer, and that's been incredibly hard for us as a community and as a team in my office. But it was a great privilege to know to work with those three wonderful individuals. In closing, I should thank my family. My children were quite young when I entered parliament. My daughter was just 11; she's turned 21.”
“People often say to me, 'What's the greatest thing that you love about your job?' I would say—what I love the most is actually never in the media—that what I love the most is when my team and I can help somebody with their aged care issue or their NDIS package or a Centrelink problem. When people visit their federal member, often in their darkest hours, if you can help them, I think that that is the greatest joy of what we do. It never makes the media and nor should it, but, when you get a hug in a supermarket from someone who says, 'Thank you so much for helping my family,' that, to me, is the greatest joy. I'd like to acknowledge my team. Another member of parliament once said that we're all like swans or ducks, just gliding across the pond, but it's those legs underneath us that are moving incredibly fast that are making it happen.”
“These have all been incredibly worthwhile and important projects that our whole community has backed in together. One that we've all really loved and enjoyed being on is the Amy Gillett Bikeway. That's now been extended from Mount Torrens to Birdwood. Sometimes these things seem like an overnight success, but they take many, many years to come together. There's always more to do, and, every time I cross something off the list, I know that there's more that our community wants to add onto the list, and that's how it should be. We've gone through so much together. In my community, in the summer of 2019 going into 2020, we had bushfires across the Adelaide Hills and in Kangaroo Island. It broke our hearts. It's left scars on our hearts. But we came together because that's what we do in Mayo.”
“I mustn't forget Kangaroo Island and upgrades to Hog Bay Road which have improved safety. We've had such enormous population growth, but there is so much more to do. There's always so much to do. When I look at health, we have emergency departments that have been upgraded at Victor Harbor and a new emergency department in Mount Barker. It's hard to believe that, when I started as a member 10 years ago, we didn't even have an emergency department in Mount Barker for such a big population. There's been so much that's happened across our community—some big, some small—whether it's the Summit Sports Complex, or Mount Lofty football club, or Houghton and their sporting clubs and footy club, or the Gumeracha tennis courts or, indeed, the Aldinga Soccer Club.”
“Ten years ago today, the community of Mayo put their trust in me to represent them. I'd particularly like to acknowledge former senator Nick Xenophon. Nick Xenophon put his trust in me to represent his party. Nick only stayed in the parliament for a year after I was elected, but I greatly enjoyed that time I had with Nick Xenophon and with Stirling Griff, a former senator as well. As a community, when I look at Mayo, we've achieved so much together. If I think of the funding that we've been able to get into our community, whether that be the South Road upgrades from Aldinga to Sellicks; Victor Harbor Road; Long Valley Road in Strathalbyn; or the freeway, with both the upgrades that are happening now and the new interchanges that are happening at Hahndorf and Mount Barker.”
“He is constantly asked by children and teachers if his skin hurts, if the eczema is getting worse and, by some children, 'What's wrong with you?' There are thousands of children just like Angus in Australia whose severe eczema will cause some long-term physical and emotional harm if they cannot access new treatments. Angus was in Parliament House last week, raising awareness of severe childhood eczema. He and his mum, Samantha, enjoyed meeting with other children and families with similar experiences. I'd like to thank Angus, in particular, as well as Samantha and all of the families who came to Canberra to call for better access to treatments for chronic skin conditions.”
“I rise to speak about a brave young man from my electorate, Angus Rowland, who is living with a debilitating and chronic skin condition. Angus is aged 12, and he has severe eczema. He's had this his entire life. His mother, Samantha, has lost count of the number of times he's been in an ambulance due to his eczema or asthma. Itching every night from severe eczema, bloodied sheets are a regular occurrence, and there is little relief from prescribed treatments. Angus has found school a challenge, with many missed days and, when at school, the social isolation and anxiety that can come.”
“So I call on the government to do more with Bowel Cancer Australia and others to raise awareness and increase access to screening for young Australians. Let's get our GPS up to date and make sure they're talking to young people about this. I would particularly like to thank Emma for taking the time to come all the way from Kangaroo Island to Canberra to spend time with me in the parliament.”
“Like Emma, some young Australians report challenges with diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Some are told they are too young to have bowel cancer. But, in fact, one in eight Australians diagnosed with bowel cancer are under the age of 50. That is, 12 per cent of people diagnosed are aged under 50. That's quite a lot. The risk of being diagnosed with bowel cancer before the age of 40 has more than doubled since the year 2000, and bowel cancer is now the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Australia for those aged 25 to 49. Bowel cancer rates are two to three times higher among Australians born in the 1990s than those born in the 1950s. But the incidence of bowel cancer is decreasing for older people, and that's perhaps due to screening and timely detection.”
“Unfortunately, since we met Emma, she's found out that she needs to have some more follow-up tests, which she said really brings home the urgency of getting this message to decision-makers. Nurses told Emma they'd seen a tidal wave of early-onset bowel cancer among under-50s. Free testing kits are sent to people aged 50 to 74 every two years, and the government funds bowel cancer screening for people aged 45 and over. But few young people and health professionals seem to be aware that there are also low-cost tests for people aged under 45. What does the data from Bowel Cancer Australia say? Since the early 2000s, rates of early-onset bowel cancer diagnosed before age 50 have been increasing in Australia and indeed worldwide. Australia now has the highest rate of early-onset bowel cancer among 50 countries, which is extraordinary.”
“Last week Bowel Cancer Australia made its call on Canberra, and 43-year-old Emma, from Kangaroo Island in my electorate, came to visit me. Despite Emma's symptoms and a family history of bowel cancer, Emma originally wasn't offered a bowel cancer screening test at the age of 42. A colonoscopy was eventually recommended, but there was a six- to 12-month wait, and a test result led to Emma receiving that colonoscopy within a month. Emma is a teacher and a mother of two daughters, and she was shocked to be diagnosed with early-onset stage 3 bowel cancer at just 42 years of age. She had surgery followed by chemotherapy. She says her care was exceptional from that point, but getting diagnosed took longer than it should have.”
“My question is to the Minister for Veterans' Affairs. Shane is 64, has served in the Australian Army for 21 years and lives with multiple injuries. Shane will hit the proposed $5,000 limit for veterans' allied health services in less than four months. Many veterans have said to me they will need to choose between physical and psychological health support—or be retraumatised trying to seek extra support above the cap. Will the government do the right thing by veterans and raise or reverse the proposed cap?”
“My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. Young Australians are being diagnosed with early onset bowel cancer at the highest known rate in the world. Many report that GPs are reluctant to screen because of their young age, which is leading to advanced cancers being diagnosed. How can the government better raise awareness among young people about early onset bowel cancer, and what supports can be provided to GPs to encourage earlier access of screening?”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. In South Australia, we're dealing with the effects of the algal bloom. It's now reported in the media that we have two suspected cases of H5N1 bird flu. Such an outbreak, much like the algal bloom, would risk environmental, tourism and agriculture communities. What rapid support will be provided to any impact to primary producers, tourism operators and environmental groups?”
“This motion recognises both the economic significance of our wine industry and the human consequences of its current challenges. We owe it to families, workers and communities who have built this industry to ensure they are not left facing the challenge alone. This is an incredibly important industry to my electorate. It provides an enormous variety of employment and I urge the government to support it. A division having been called in the House of Representatives Sitting suspended from 12:16 to 12 : 29”
“The Australian grape and wine industry put forward a budget proposal designed to allow orderly transition, reduce oversupply and support growers and winemakers through change, but the industry's calls for assistance have gone unanswered. The budget not only failed to help the wine industry; it actually cut funding, phasing out the Wine Tourism and Cellar Door Grants program at a time when it's most needed and not reinvesting that funding into anything else within the sector. The reality is that this devastating change to the wine industry is happening whether the government acts or not. The cost of doing nothing will not disappear; it will simply be borne by growers, families, communities and, ultimately, taxpayers.”
“The tourism industry is feeling the fallout in regions where wine tourism is critical to economic survival. There are flow-on effects to bottling plants, to agricultural supplies, to freight companies, to printers, to carton manufacturers and to all those secondary industries reliant on a successful wine sector. The pressure is relentless. It's not just financial; it's emotional. It's affecting mental health, family relationships and entire communities. It's often invisible to those outside of the industry but it's being felt right across kitchen tables, inside family businesses and across regions. What is frustrating is that the government seems to be turning a blind eye to this.”
“Together, these regions account for almost 30 per cent of South Australia's grape production and support more than 1,300 grape growers. I've spoken with some of those growers who are questioning whether they can continue. It's not viable to keep growing unsold grapes, but it's also too costly to pull out vines and to diversify. Just last week, I was in McLaren Vale, and it was heartbreaking to see unpicked vineyards scattered right across the district. I've spoken to winemakers, cellar door operators and hospitality businesses. They are all facing increasing financial pressure and uncertainty about the future. I've heard from families who've devoted generations to the industry and are now unsure whether they have a viable business to pass on to their children.”
“Forecasts suggest that the global wine market will shrink by a further eight per cent over the next five years. These figures tell a story, and behind that story are people, families and communities. This is playing out in wine regions across the country and is particularly evident in my home state of South Australia, where 80 per cent of Australia's premium wine and 50 per cent of all of its bottled wine is produced. South Australia is the 'wine state' and a proud member of the prestigious group of the Great Wine Capitals Global Network. In my electorate of Mayo, the wine industry is part of our very fabric. We are home to some of Australia's most recognised wine regions, including the Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek and Currency Creek.”
“The wine industry is facing one of the most significant challenges in its history, and the people at the heart of the sector deserve to know that this government is listening. The Australian grape and wine sector provides more than $51 billion to our economy and supports more than 203,000 jobs. It's an industry that sustains regional communities, drives tourism, supports exports and showcases Australia to the world. Our wine regions have contributed enormously to Australia and now there is a genuine partnership with government to help secure that future—it's absolutely desperately needed. Right now, the industry is in structural distress. Global wine consumption has fallen to its lowest level since 1961, and Australian production exceeds sales by 52 million litres in the last financial year.”
“I move: That this House: (1) recognises that: (a) the Australian grape and wine sector is a major contributor to Australia's economy and to rural and regional communities; (b) the wine industry contributes $51.3 billion to the Australian economy, providing more than 203,390 direct and indirect full and part-time jobs; (c) Australia has 65 wine regions with more than 2,000 winemakers and more than 5,000 wine grape growers; and (d) wine production is critical in many regional communities, supporting supply-chain businesses, tourism, hospitality and exports; (2) acknowledges that: (a) the wine industry is in structural distress; (b) in 2024-25 production exceeded sales by 52 million litres; (c) this imbalance is not temporary due to reductions in both domestic and global wine consumption, with the International Organisation of Wine confirming that global wine consumption has fallen to its lowest level since 1961; (d) the global wine market is forecast to shrink by 8 per cent over the next five years, a decline equivalent to 1.5 billion litres of lost consumption, or more than four times Australia's annual production; and (e) the global crisis is having local human consequences, for growers, winemakers, families and communities; and (3) calls on the Government to: (a) support Australian Grape and Wine Incorporated in its $139.25 million proposal over three years to rationalise supply and restore viability of the industry; (b) support a Wine Business Viability and Transition program to ensure orderly supply adjustment, reduce structural oversupply, and assist growers and winemakers who wish to transition from the sector to do so with dignity; and (c) focus on growing demand and rebuilding markets.”
“That's what we were there to announce last week. One of the paintings, by SA artist Kathleen Sauerbier, is an oil painting called Jetty r amp a nd Howe 's fishing outlook from circa 1935. It's an extraordinary exhibition. I'm so pleased that the Minister for the Arts has created the Sharing the National Collection program, and I urge all Australians to get out to the regions and see our national collection that is hanging right across Australia. Congratulations to Waverley Park on the work that they do. It is a glorious place and I encourage all to attend.”
“Last week I attended Waverley Park Homestead at Willunga. This is part of the Willunga National Trust assets, and they have an art gallery there. I have been there many times and it is glorious. If you're coming to South Australia, come to Willunga and come to Waverley Park Homestead. I'd like to acknowledge Mark Staniforth, who's the director of Waverley Park Homestead, and Paddy O'Toole, who's a prominent historian, researcher and chair of the National Trust Willunga branch. The art gallery, importantly, is part of the National Gallery of Australia's Sharing the National Collection program. This is a program that has invited suburban, regional and remote art galleries to host works on long-term loans. Waverley Park is one of these galleries, and its wonderful pieces have been extended until 2030.”
“We know that there are 28,000 unfilled positions, but the problem with a lot of people who are unemployed is that they can't afford to get the licence. They'd love to work in the trucking sector, and providers, unless they've got a written letter saying, 'We're going to offer you a job,' will not help people and invest in getting that licence. Licences cost anywhere between $700 and $4,000, depending on the particular licence. That's just one area in which we could intensively invest in Australians who are unemployed for the betterment of all of us.”
“By 2050, we're going to need an extra 400,000 people to work in aged care, and I don't think that we're doing very well at working with people who are currently unemployed who would be brilliant in that sector, who have spent a lifetime caring for their children and maybe their parents to then work in that area. Mutual obligations should be connected to how people can find employment in an area. For instance, if you are looking to get into hospitality or you're working in hospitality, your mutual obligation should be, perhaps, working with a social enterprise, a cafe, so that you can have something on your resume. We need to do much better when we've got one million Australians who are unemployed, particularly with the advent of AI. Just one area where I think we could do much better is in the trucking sector.”
“I can't believe that that's true because, whether it's in aged care or child care or the trucking industry or hospitality, I am quite confident that people who are unemployed would very much like to get into those industries, except there are challenges and barriers to do so. Largely, that's because a lot of employment providers will only provide a one-day course at best for someone who's on their books. We really need to see investment in and spending of money on people to work intensively with them to address those barriers and to get the qualifications. For instance, to be in aged care, you really need to have a certificate III to get in, unless you are one of the very lucky people that can get into a traineeship. A certificate III costs time and money, so we need to be able to support people to do that.”
“This is a vast number of Australians. To complicate matters, Roy Morgan calculated that, in June 2025, Australia's real unemployment rate was more than 1.6 million people because, once you're working over an hour a week, you're no longer technically unemployed. Clearly, this system isn't working. What should we be doing? What the report said to us was that we need to work intensively with people and we need to be able to make people job ready—help them to get job ready—to fill those jobs where we're currently having a very high rate of immigration, to fill jobs that I'm regularly told Australians don't want to do. I find that extraordinary.”
“We did that in every state and territory, as well as having direct engagement with the OECD, experts and over 10 other nations. It was comprehensive. I'd really like to acknowledge the work of the member for Bruce and the former member for Monash as part of that committee work. It was very important work that we did, and one of those times when we really saw members of parliament come together. In Australia, we have approximately one million Australians of working age who are on payments of either JobSeeker or youth allowance. Of those, 557,000 are long-term unemployed—that is, they've been unemployed for more than 12 months. Approximately 200,000 people have been employed for five years or longer. To me, that just shows that the system we currently have is really failing. Over 400,000 unemployed people are aged between 45 and 66.”
“Employment services are the Commonwealth's largest single procurement outside of Defence. In 2024, it was estimated that we would spend around $9.5 billion over the four years from that time. In the previous parliament, I had the great privilege of being part of a select committee that examined, in great detail, employment service delivery in Australia, really with an aim on what we could do better. It was a first-principles approach. The report, Rebuilding employment services , made 75 recommendations. It was informed by over 300 submissions, more than 60 hours of witness testimony, and over 50 meetings and site visits. That was with jobseekers, employers, employment service providers, academics, social enterprises, local and state government, social welfare groups, training providers and other human services.”
“The government is waiving a $250 offset as a distraction that's two years away and 68c a day. That's going to be lost in bracket creep. And, as for the $1,000 instant deduction, that's no gift—60 per cent of taxpayers make more than $1,000 in expense deductions. The government should be upfront with voters. If you're convinced about this, implementation should be delayed until 1 July 2028. Take this to the election. Let the Australian voters decide if they want these changes.”
“Aaron says that he and his family rent and that they've been investing in high-growth assets to save for a deposit. He believes the new CGT rules will be a disaster for his family. In Mayo, many live on non-income-earning acreage. They will be paying more tax. For those with a pre-1985 acreage asset which was previously grandfathered from CGT, it will be so no longer. Let's talk about trusts—common small-business structures used for asset protection, flexibility and succession planning. COSBOA said this is going to increase complexity and compliance costs and cause uncertainty. It's the last thing small business needs. Testamentary trusts—no matter how the government tries to spin it, this is a death tax. What's left in a testamentary trust has already been taxed.”
“If they default, it's the taxpayers who pick up the bill for the shortfall, and there are over 50,000 of those five per cent first home buyers that are using that scheme that are not even Australians. It's shocking. Yet, for HECS, we ensure that people who apply for HECS have to be Australian citizens. The other group of young people who I believe will be detrimentally affected are those who invested in shares and crypto to save a deposit. According to ASIC Moneysmart g en Z financial behaviours report 2026 , nearly one in four Australians that are aged 18 to 28 have crypto assets, and almost one in five own shares. Hans in my electorate tells me that his son has been diligently saving with bitcoin for five years and has just got enough together for a house deposit, and he's now set back two years.”
“It's actually young people—two groups of young people in particular. First are those that were captured by the government's financially irresponsible five per cent deposit scheme that I see as a subprime scheme, as do many economists. With rising interest rates trying to curb inflation, they will face mortgage stress and owing more than their property is worth. Many will likely be in negative equity. Property analytics firm Cotality stated, 'The government's Home Guarantee Scheme fuelled a surge in entry-level home prices, up an average of 6.7 per cent in just six months.' Treasury, at the time, forecasted a 0.6 per cent rise in the medium term. Wrong again, Treasury.”
“It's just a blatant tax grab and a double tax grab at that. The budget papers predict rents will increase and 35,000 fewer homes will be built. The government argues more Australians have invested in real estate in previous decades than in the stock market, and they want to flip that. So why make CGT changes that make it less attractive to invest in shares? If it's about housing, why capture bitcoin and crypto? In reality, the changes to CGT and negative gearing are about increasing tax revenue not about getting young people into housing. Already the budget has increased instability in the housing market. Many banks have reduced purchaser borrowing power, and auction clearance rates have fallen off a cliff. Who do I worry about the most with this whole ill-conceived and rushed tax-grab policy?”
“When sweeping changes are made to our tax system, those changes should be taken to the Australian people, prosecuted in an election or, at the very least, have the start date held off until the next election. This has not happened in relation to the government's proposed changes to capital gains tax that will affect housing shares, crypto, discretionary trusts and testamentary trusts, and those trusts are often created to protect vulnerable people. The government is making risky decisions considering the overall economy, especially with respect to housing. There is not an Australian homeowner that doesn't want their children or their grandchildren to realise the Australian dream of homeownership. The proposed changes to capital gains tax will not make that dream a reality for young Australians.”
“Community fundraising is underway to help restore the clock tower and preserve these important pieces of local history for future generations, and I'm very keen to work with the Strathalbyn community and particularly the committee to see how we can maybe connect to some Department of Veterans' Affairs grants to try and preserve these names, this social history that's so important to all of us. South Australia's History Festival is a fantastic celebration of our heritage and how it connects us to our communities, and the events at Strathalbyn and Mount Torrens were excellent reminders that local history remains very much alive today.”
“For more than 130 years, visitors have left their names and dates etched into the tower's internal timbers—they think there are around 2,000 names—creating a timeline of local lives and stories. Among those inscriptions are the names and enlistment numbers of three local young men who were light horsemen who served in World War I. There was a veteran from the Boer War with their name and there were many young men who went off to serve in World War II. These are connections to the sacrifices made by earlier generations.”
“The exhibition highlighted how Mount Torrens flour mill, founded in 1853, and Sumner's Bakery, opened in 1903, helped shape both the local economy and identity of the community itself. More than 170 years later, many of the original buildings still stand, and these buildings are more than historic structures. They are reminders of the hard work and community spirit that helped shape Mount Torrens and continues to do so today. I then attended the Secrets of the Strathalbyn Clock Tower at St Andrew's Uniting Church, in Strathalbyn in the Adelaide Hills. It opened in 1849. It's the oldest surviving Presbyterian church building in South Australia and a reminder of the region's early settlement and prosperity. The clock tower records generations who have passed through the district.”
“South Australia's History Festival has just wrapped up a month of events celebrating people, places and stories that have shaped our state. This year's theme was 'connections', exploring links between generations, communities and experiences. More than 550 events were held across South Australia, including many throughout Mayo, bringing local history to life through walking tours, exhibitions, discussions and unique heritage pieces. I attended the Our Daily Bread exhibition at Mount Torrens. Many people don't know Mount Torrens is the only heritage listed township in the Adelaide Hills council area. It captured the town's baking and milling heritage through photographs and memorabilia—including the most extraordinary collection of rolling pins I've ever seen—and milling heritage.”
“It's hard to describe the scale of the opportunity that it offers South Australia. It will change our state for generations to come. I believe AUKUS is too big to fail, and it's too important for South Australia. And while I absolutely acknowledge the very important commentary made and this matter of public importance by the member for Wentworth, I can't understate how valuable AUKUS is to my state of South Australia and to our nation.”
“With the benefits of the Defence partnership and associated defence industry, it will be wide ranging, even having an impact in my electorate of Mayo. We have Aerotech at Brukunga. We have Zenith Custom Creations at Mount Barker. I've had a tour of both of those facilities, and they are extraordinary. We have Connexus, a specialist defence recruitment firm that operates a regional base on the South Coast of my electorate, at Middleton, and it offers opportunities to many ADF veterans who have come home to our region, are looking for employment and have enormous skills that we must tap into, ensuring that they have a great future career beyond Defence. I'm hopeful that AUKUS will offer even more employment and business opportunities to my constituents in Mayo.”
“Significant investments have been made in education, and this is really important to ensure our young people are job ready for the submarines that are coming. A $28 million National Security TAFE Centre of Excellence will be established at TAFE SA Regency Campus to support upskilling of the state's current and future technicians for AUKUS. There'll be five new technical colleges, with three more to be built, more than a thousand additional university places that are defence and STEM related and a new TAFE trades workshop in my electorate in Mount Barker, so that we can build the workforce of tradespeople needed to construct thousands of new homes each year to house our defence workforce. AUKUS is the cornerstone of South Australia's future economic development.”
“We've watched it decline over the last 20 years, particularly with the closure of the Holden plant in 2017. That was a defining moment in my state. Major defence projects are turning that decline around. The latest ABS data show South Australia has the highest concentration of defence employment of any Australian state, with six defence jobs per 1,000 people. South Australia is home to more than 400 businesses that provide goods and services directly to Defence and to deliver into the supply chains of contractors both in Australia and around the world. South Australia's defence industry contributes more than $2 billion of gross value to the state's economy, and that figure has doubled over the past five years. For my state of South Australia, this is indeed a critical industry.”
“The reality is we are the smallest of the three partners, and, while we disagree amongst ourselves, other nations are building capacity and readying themselves for potential conflict. If anything can be above politics in this place, let it be this because nothing is more important than defending our nation. The benefits of AUKUS to my home state of South Australia are immense. AUKUS cements South Australia as the defence state. Australia's AUKUS submarines will be built in Adelaide, South Australia. And, at its peak, AUKUS will deliver 1,000 highly skilled jobs for South Australians. It's anticipated that there will be thousands more jobs in adjacent industries over the next two decades. We need advanced manufacturing in South Australia.”
“I rise to speak on the member for Wentworth's matter of public importance, and I acknowledge the need for transparency across all areas of government, and this is particularly important when there are large amounts of taxpayer money being spent. However, I recognise that, in matters of defence and in the interests of diplomacy with our most important international partners, this is not always possible or indeed wise. The AUKUS partnership will outlast current governments and administrations. History has shown that there are no greater partners or friends of Australia than the United Kingdom and the United States of America. As we've seen, elements of AUKUS will change. That is the reality. But we must hold the course. We no longer have the luxury of time to change our minds.”
“My question is to the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors. Greg has motor neurone disease with an expected 12 months left to live. Greg is approved for a level 8 Support at Home package but was assessed by the department as medium priority and so is expected to wait for much of the rest of his life for his package to arrive. Contact with your ministerial office has been fruitless. Minister, what does it take for a dying person to actually get support at home?”
“So we're going to be doing everything we can to see what flexibility there is to maybe provide some interim services while the next services stand up after the Mobo contract. Again, I would particularly like to acknowledge the mayor, Michael Pengilly, for reaching out to me, also Minister Katy Gallagher, and their great work in trying to ensure that we have a continuity of services on Kangaroo Island.”
“Services Australia will be sending a specialist team to the island between 22 and 26 June, with an aged-care specialist officer and a financial service information officer, to support people face-to-face. This is going to be a critical and important service, and I thank the minister and the minister's team for helping us. It will not be a mobile service centre. It's really important to note that while, typically, those buses that come into town only stay a day or two, they will be staying for the entirety of the week while we work on a more permanent solution. Services Australia will also be consulting with the community about future needs—what having Centrelink and Services Australia services there on the island should look like.”
“I would particularly like to thank the Minister for Social Services for being so open and for helping us to provide a solution to this, because Centrelink services, when you are in a remote location, when you are on an island, when you can't just drive to the next Centrelink service, are incredibly important. I wanted to notify the people on Kangaroo Island what's happening, so I immediately wrote to the minister and said, 'What can we do to fix some issues here and make sure that we can continue Services Australia services on the island?'—noting that we have a very elderly population, and, as I said, a very remote population. Now, Services Australia will shortly be putting out communication materials to the KI community about the process and how they can best support people.”