Terry Young
Longman · Liberal National Party · Australia
“This weekend is Easter. Of course, way too much chocolate will be consumed, camping trips will probably be rained out in Queensland and the kids will be excited about the Easter bunny, which is all a bit of fun. However, for those of the Christian faith, I would say that this is the most important event on the calendar.”
“It's a message of hope, not fear. In these tumultuous times, hope is definitely what people need. If you don't go along to a church regularly or at all or if you are feeling despondent, anxious or run out of hope with what we are currently experiencing globally, locally and as a nation, I encourage you to visit a church this Easter and he…”
“Freight costs are rising, and that is hitting families at the checkout. Everyone pays. When businesses face these pressures they have two choices; they either raise prices or cut jobs. There is no good outcome in either of those scenarios. But what is particularly concerning right now is not just the cost; it's the uncertainty.”
“We have been told that there is no supply issue, that only six tankers have been cancelled, when Australia normally receives around 80 a month. That's less than 10 per cent. We've been told that there are still 28 days of fuel in reserve, when we normally have 30. That's a difference of just two days.”
“No transport, no Australia—it's really that simple. Everything in this country has a transport component. Every product we rely on, from fresh food to construction materials, depends on fuel to get there.”
“They are living it every day. What they need is relief. That is why I'm calling on the government to urgently remove—temporarily—the fuel excise, as an emergency measure, with a clear review period. It's a practical step that would provide immediate relief to families, businesses and the entire supply chain.”
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“It's a message of hope, not fear. In these tumultuous times, hope is definitely what people need. If you don't go along to a church regularly or at all or if you are feeling despondent, anxious or run out of hope with what we are currently experiencing globally, locally and as a nation, I encourage you to visit a church this Easter and hear for yourself the message of hope in these very challenging times. What have you got to lose? There is a list of Easter services in the Longman community. If you can't afford to get there, I'm sure if you call one of the churches they'd find a way to get you there. Happy Easter, everyone!”
“This weekend is Easter. Of course, way too much chocolate will be consumed, camping trips will probably be rained out in Queensland and the kids will be excited about the Easter bunny, which is all a bit of fun. However, for those of the Christian faith, I would say that this is the most important event on the calendar. Without the death and resurrection of Jesus, there is no Christian faith. So many Christians that I speak to love the fact that, unlike in so many other religions, the God in the Bible actually got off the throne and came and helped humanity in the form of Jesus Christ. Rather than throwing orders and condemnation at the very people he created for being imperfect, he came to rescue humanity, who really didn't deserve it. The whole gospel message, contrary to popular belief, is one of love, not of judgement.”
“They are living it every day. What they need is relief. That is why I'm calling on the government to urgently remove—temporarily—the fuel excise, as an emergency measure, with a clear review period. It's a practical step that would provide immediate relief to families, businesses and the entire supply chain. Australians cannot afford to wait while the government works out what is going wrong. They deserve certainty and relief. At a time like this, we all have a role to play. If you can take public transport or rideshare, please do. Stockpiling doesn't help anyone. The Australian way is to come together, to do what we can to ease the pressure and to not panic.”
“We have been told that there is no supply issue, that only six tankers have been cancelled, when Australia normally receives around 80 a month. That's less than 10 per cent. We've been told that there are still 28 days of fuel in reserve, when we normally have 30. That's a difference of just two days. If all this is true, why can businesses still not access fuel at the terminal? I smell smoke. I think someone's pants are on fire. What businesses need is certainty. Not knowing whether you can get fuel tomorrow or being forced to pay more than retail to just keep operating is pushing businesses to the brink. And when businesses go under, jobs go with them. Australians are really doing it tough. Families are watching every dollar, cutting back and still falling behind. They do not need to be told what the problem is.”
“Freight costs are rising, and that is hitting families at the checkout. Everyone pays. When businesses face these pressures they have two choices; they either raise prices or cut jobs. There is no good outcome in either of those scenarios. But what is particularly concerning right now is not just the cost; it's the uncertainty. I spoke with a major local operator who uses up to 35,000 litres of diesel a day and employs more than 250 staff. They have their own tankers and pick up fuel directly from the terminal yet still cannot get guaranteed access. Loads are being stopped because supply is no longer certain, and they are losing around $50,000 per day. So when the government says this is a distribution issue, that simply doesn't stack up, based on the reality of the experiences of people I speak to in the Longman electorate.”
“No transport, no Australia—it's really that simple. Everything in this country has a transport component. Every product we rely on, from fresh food to construction materials, depends on fuel to get there. And when fuel becomes more expensive or harder to access, these costs do not stay with transport companies; they flow directly through to everyday Australians. We're already seeing it. Yesterday I met with concerned Longman business owners, farmers and transport operators and those in civil construction, alongside the shadow minister for energy, Dan Tehan. Their message was clear: fuel costs are soaring, prices are rising and jobs are at risk. A local strawberry farmer told us a box that normally costs $16 could push closer to $30. Removalists are increasing their prices just to cover fuel.”
“It sounds fair in a free market, but don't make out you're waving a big stick when it's really just a toothpick. There is a really easy way for the telcos to get around this. I support the intent of the bill and of the amendments moved by the member for Lindsay, and I commend them to the House. Debate adjourned.”
“These satellite phones are going to work only with the latest and greatest handsets, and there's nothing in this bill that talks about assistance to help people who might be on an older handset to upgrade to a new one. Of course, the people who are going to have these older handsets are either the elderly who don't like change or the most vulnerable, who are financially unable to buy the latest and greatest phone for $1,500. So we're actually hurting the most disadvantaged by not having something in this legislation to help these people with this new satellite technology. Also, the legislation is a little bit ambiguous. It says the telcos must ensure coverage is reasonably available on an equitable basis. You could interpret that in any way you want. That looks like a get-out-of-jail-free card to me.”
“They've got a phone that Noah used on the ark, and it's useless. It's not a smartphone, but, at the end of the day, they know how to use it. They don't like learning how to use new things, because they're older and they haven't got the time or the patience to do that sort of thing—and that's their right. They had to get rid of their phone because, in the area they were in, sometimes they only had 3G, and—man alive!—my son and my two brothers will testify to the fact that the phone calls we got for the next month while we were trying to help mum figure out her new phone were pretty substantial. That's going to be one of the problems that we have when this new technology comes in.”
“In one case at Living Gems down on Torrens Road in Caboolture, a lady said that she crawled on her hands and knees into the back courtyard so that she could actually use this pendant to get the ambulance. It turns out she was suffering a heart attack. This is 2026; it's mental that people have to go through this stuff. Again, if it was in the DA process when this retirement village was built that the developer had to put in a mini tower or some sort of mobile tower that would service that community, all this could be abated. All these issues could be gotten rid of. It's about being proactive rather than reactive, which is unusual for government. The other issue you're going to have is the handset issue we saw when 3G was turned off, which affected so many people. My mum and dad are serial offenders. Dad's 89 and Mum's 84.”
“I have a lot of retirement villages and over-50s lifestyle villages in my electorate, and they're some of the ones that are worst affected, because typically these villages are built out of materials that aren't very good. They actually suppress mobile connectivity, particularly when people put up illegal transmitters, which they do because they want to get transmission. It works fine for them but blocks out their neighbours, so that's a real problem. A lot of these people have these medical pendants that connect to the mobile network and, if they're having a heart attack or a medical emergency, they push this button. Without any mobile coverage, these pendants don't work.”
“Had we had that satellite technology, they would have at least been able to text. The telcos are saying that the first lot of technology is going to be simply that: text only. Then, of course, the technology will move on. The second generation will be text and voice, and the last will be when we have the full gambit—when we have text, voice calls, data and internet connectivity. That is probably five to seven years away. One of the challenges that I see with this is that it could give a government that's looking for an excuse not to invest in mobile towers an excuse to say, 'We have this new technology coming,' and then use that as an excuse not to invest in anything at the moment. Well, people need connectivity now.”
“The problem is that the technology is just not there yet. That was the answer I got from the telcos and the space industry. I was excited, last year, to go to a Telstra event held right here in Parliament House where they talked about satellite connectivity for mobiles. They explained at this event that it was at very, very early stages. It was quite ironic: it was the same week that I had a freak storm go through my electorate. It pretty well wiped out most of Bribie, Toorbul, Beachmere and Donnybrook. The storm affected most of the electorate, but they were the worst hit. Woodford, in particular, was hit hard, because the power that powered the mobile tower had been knocked out. They had no mobile coverage at all for two or three days, which was a real problem.”
“I think this will just be another Labor headline and it won't have any substance. But we live in hope. I've been talking to the telcos and the space industry in this country for years about why we aren't using satellite technology. Now, I'm a layman. I'm not someone who's involved in electronic engineering or telecommunications in a technical way, but I've got eyes and I've got ears. We've got these satellites buzzing around up top, and it made a lot of sense to me, rather than running all these cables and building these towers that are expensive infrastructure and an eyesore. They run into problems where they're knocked over, particularly when there are power outages and when we have natural disasters. All this mobile connectivity goes down because they need power to run these towers.”
“My solution, and I've been advocating for this for many years now, has always been to make telecommunications part of the DA process, so that when someone comes in to look at a plan of a new housing estate and they're excited—they're normally young couples buying their first home—they look at it and say, 'Yes, we'll take that block there.' If they had the option of knowing that there was going to be a mobile tower built within 100 metres, they could make a decision on whether to buy. They would be fully aware. So, to me, there should be a process in place. We need to make sure that state governments and local governments are including this in the DA process. I support the intent of the bill, because I want mobile connectivity, but I sincerely doubt we will see any change.”
“I was able to get three or four towers under the Morrison government. It was an application process and we were able to get four of those. Three of them have been built and there's one more on the go. The amendments in this bill miss the entire issue of making sure that these towers get built. When a developer buys one of these farms and they put in a development application to change it into a residential community, they cover electricity, they cover roads, they cover sewerage and they cover everything else except for telecommunications.”
“So in their wisdom, the previous government brought out the Mobile Black Spot Program to help people in regional communities, where they didn't have the population density to make it financially viable for these telcos to build the towers, get towers built. At the end of the day, as governments, we need to make sure that people in the bush are being looked after as much as people in the cities. That's only fair and just. Unfortunately, this government got rid of that Mobile Black Spot Program. The Peri-Urban Mobile Program—the PUMP as we came to know it—was a bit of a hybrid because these were areas that did have more population than, say, Thargomindah or somewhere like that but they still didn't have enough to warrant the expenditure of a tower for the telcos. So what they did was partially subsidise it.”
“When we were in government, I worked hard with the member for Berowra and also the member for Canning, who were in the same boat, being near to Sydney and Perth respectively, on the edge of the urban sprawl and experiencing the same issues. We know that mobile phones and towers are now privatised in this country. One of the issues with privatisation of critical infrastructure is that the companies that take it on have to make a profit because they answer to shareholders first, unfortunately, before customers. One of the challenges that we have is a telco is not going to build a tower because it probably takes them around about 400 or 500 subscribers in an area to make it worthwhile to build.”
“I also made sure that the telcos and developers got in the same room because, one of the challenges is when these farms are cut up into these residential blocks. Obviously, there were only six people, a couple of cattle dogs and that's about it that needed a mobile phone and then, all of a sudden, a thousand people are living in that same area. Well, that puts much more of a drain on the system. When they go to build these towers later on, everyone wants a tower but they don't want it next to their house, so people raise all these demands and the council gets all the complaints about it. Of course it's not a council issue; it's a federal issue, so they don't give a toss. They send them over to us and then we have to try and deal with it retrospectively.”
“As the member for Longman, when I first met with the telcos, I said to them, 'Well, what does council say about this?' And to my surprise they said, 'We've never met with council.' I said, 'Well, that sounds a bit ridiculous to me,' so I got on to the local councillor and the town planner and got them in the same room. The town planner went through all the future estates and things. The telco said, 'This is terrific. We should do this more often.' I said, 'Well, there's a new concept—maybe use a bit of common sense. That'd be awesome.' Now they meet reasonably regularly. I have to say, coming from the private sector, I just cannot understand how these meetings weren't taking place previous to me being the member.”
“I rise to speak on the amendments to the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation) Bill 2025. It's hard to believe that in 2026 we're talking about mobile connectivity in this country, a first world country, but, anyway, we are. This has been one of Longman's biggest issues since I was elected in 2019. Longman is one of those unique communities that was once upon a time, when I was growing up anyway, very much a farming community and it slowly has become part of the Brisbane sprawl. A lot of the places where I used to ride a motorbike or where there were dairy farms and things like that are now housing estates, with 300- or 400-square-metre blocks. One of the challenges that that creates, of course, is mobile connectivity.”
“We are a better nation when we let our youth explore and follow their own passions and dreams rather than tell them what is best for them.”
“I often ask students what Janine Allis—who started Boost Juice—Lindsay Fox from Linfox, Frank Lowy from Westfield, Melanie Perkins from Canva, Kerry Packer, Gerry Harvey, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Henry Ford and Walt Disney all have in common. These people all had one thing in common: either they didn't start university or, if they did, they didn't finish. These people are the people that the universities write and lecture about. They are the players in life, not the spectators. To young people: don't ever think that the story writers are more important than the actors. They both matter. I say to you: follow your dreams and live my mantra. It's better to have a go and fail than not to have a go at all.”
“Some parents, teachers and guidance counsellors are pushing and even forcing young people to take up career paths that simply don't suit them—and which, in some cases, they actually hate—simply because those pathways have university degrees, which are admirable but no good for these particular young people. I talk to so many people that have started a university degree and, after one, two, three or even four years, dropped out because they hated it, and they shouldn't have been there in the first place. Then, to top it off, they start a job as a tradie, which they love, and they have a HECS debt.”
“I always try and reinforce to these students that the greatest leaders that I've followed have also been the greatest servants, that they put the needs of others before their own, that they see the best in people and believe the best in people. But one of the greatest attributes of great leaders is that they understand that failure is not a final destination but actually one of the vital steps to success. No successful leader I have personally known has ever not failed or not had to face some type of adversity. Yet we now live in a society that, in many cases, encourages that you're better off not having a go in case you fail. Children aren't allowed to climb a tree in case they fall out.”
“Over the last couple of months, I've had the pleasure of attending leadership investiture events at many of the 44 schools in the Longman electorate. I find these events one of the most enjoyable aspects of this job. That's because they're positive events, and I love talking to the students, who are just excited about their future and couldn't care less about politics. I've been privileged to have been asked to speak on leadership at some of these leadership investitures, drawing on my life experiences in this area. I've shared my journey of being led and inspired by great people in my life—and the little bit of leadership experience I've had as well.”
“Stability creates certainty for investors which inspires confidence. Ask any fair dinkum Australian how fair it is to move the goal posts after people have structured their entire financial future under one set of rules only to have those rules changed later on. We have a bill here that penalises hard-working and aspirational Australians—farmers, small-business owners and others who have worked for decades to build their retirement savings. Many of these people have made financial decisions—”
“The title of this bill speaks of a stronger and fairer super system, but the key questions Australians will ask is: what exactly is fair about changing the rules after people have already made long-term decisions based on the rules that existed at the time? Australians plan their financial futures over decades. They work hard, save diligently and structure their retirement based on the frameworks set by the government. When governments change those rules after the fact, it undermines confidence in the system. Let me be clear about one thing. Most Australians will never have $3 million in superannuation. Sadly, that includes me. That is not really the point of this debate. The point is whether Australians can trust that the rules they plan their lives around will remain stable.”
“by leave—I move opposition amendments (1) and (2) as circulated in my name: (1) Schedule 1, item 14, page 11 (line 5), after "that you", insert "acquired after the commencement of this section and that you". (2) Schedule 1, item 14, page 11 (line 7), after "superannuation interest", insert "acquired after the commencement of this section". Like everyone, I was pleased to see that the government bowed to coalition pressure to remove the unrealised gains measure in this bill, along with introducing indexing of the $3 million threshold. Australians rightly raised serious concerns about the proposal to tax unrealised gains—in other words, taxing people on money before it was even earned.”
“This International Women's Day, I'm calling on the government to honour her memory and provide MRIs for women with C and D category breast density. I'm also calling for GPs and those who perform a mammogram to more strongly inform every person they test that it may not pick up all cancers and that an MRI is the most effective scanning process for those with category C and D density breasts. Doing so will allow for early intervention, which will in turn save lives.”
“Katrina and women like her with high-density breasts could be made aware that a mammogram would more than likely not pick up ILC and that they would need to get an MRI. After a double mastectomy and multiple rounds of chemo and radiation, the cancer seemed beaten, yet time passed and it reappeared. This time it was found in her head, stomach, bowels, liver, bones and limbs. The cancer had silently spread all around her body. It became too much for Katrina and sadly she passed away late last year. Even in her final days, Katrina continued to advocate for IDC awareness. She engaged with cancer support groups both domestically and abroad to share her story and to talk about the limited diagnostic support for women with high-density breasts. It is the determination of Katrina and Michael that has led me to talk about this serious matter.”
“She was diagnosed with invasive lobular carcinoma, or ILC, the second-most common form of breast cancer, which makes up approximately 15 per cent of all diagnoses. However, unlike IDC, ILC does not form lumps. Its growth mimics normal breast tissue, meaning that it remains hidden from mammograms, particularly in women who have higher C and D breast density. Sadly this means that a lot of women, Katrina included, find out about their cancer once it has already taken hold. For Katrina, 75 per cent of her breasts were cancerous by the time it was discovered. Silently the cancer was spreading across her body, only to be discovered once it had started doing serious damage. This could have been caught earlier.”
“As many know, International Women's Day is on Sunday. Typically we spend the day celebrating women's achievements. However, this year I would like to talk about something that impacts about one in seven Australian women: breast cancer. Recently I met with Michael Harris who told me about his wife—who I had known for many years—Katrina. In 2011, Katrina was diagnosed with the most common form of breast cancer, invasive ductal carcinoma or IDC. When we talk about breast cancer, IDC is what we think of. We think of the TV ads and the GP posters that tell women to feel for lumps. That is exactly what Katrina did, and that was exactly how she was diagnosed. Thankfully she caught it quickly, and she was given the all clear a year later. Six years on and tens of scans later, Katrina's oncologist found more cancer. This time was different.”
“We may not like these advantages that countries like China have, but that is where we have landed for various reasons. After spending over 30 years in retail, I know more than most that Australians love a bargain when they shop—but at what cost? The practice of these companies not paying their fair share of tax on profits they have made from sales in this country has to stop. The implications of local businesses closing are far reaching. Local businesses employ locals and sponsor and support community and sporting clubs. They contribute to the communities that they serve. When was the last time you saw an underage footy team sponsored by Temu?”
“As a former The Good Guys store owner, it's not often I would agree with our old adversary Gerry Harvey. But I do agree with Mr Harvey about the unfair playing field that currently exists for Australian owned retailers who are up against companies such as Temu and Shein. The fashion industry has probably been hit hardest, as the products are light and easy to transport. We've seen the closure of Rivers, Noni B, Millers and Rockmans, and let's not forget the thousands of small locally owned businesses that have had to close as well. As a Liberal, I believe in a free market, but I also believe in fairness. These companies already have the advantage of extremely low wages, low energy costs, very little red tape and lower government fees and charges.”
“Rising costs are making it harder to cover the expenses of day-to-day operations and properly support the volunteers they rely on. That's why I'm excited to share that expressions of interest are now open for the 2025-26 volunteer grants program. Grants of between $1,000 and $5,000 are available to support volunteers in our community. The funding can assist with equipment, training, insurance and fuel costs, reducing pressure on local organisations and ensuring volunteers have the support they need to continue their vital work. If your organisation depends on volunteers, I strongly encourage you to submit an expression of interest by 5 pm on 27 March. To all volunteers across Longman: thank you for what you do.”
“Volunteers are the heart of our community in Longman. They're the ones coaching junior sport on Saturdays, helping out at the surf life saving club on Bribie Island, running our local shows and looking after those in need—people with disabilities, the elderly, and the homeless. Volunteers quietly get on with the job without expecting anything in return. Without volunteers, many local clubs and charities simply wouldn't operate. But volunteering does more than keep organisations running. It brings people together, strengthens connections and helps form the sense of belonging to something that makes our community such a special place to live. Put simply, volunteers play a vital role in ensuring no-one is left behind. Despite the steadfast support of volunteers, many local organisations are facing increasing financial pressures.”
“Even though this government might not stand up for those battlers—I tell you what—I'm not going to stop. I'm on your side.”
“So the people who have more money—who can afford to pay for these and pay the nine grand—get cheaper power, but the poor people who can't afford to pay that nine grand are even more out of pocket. That doesn't seem particularly fair to me. That doesn't seem like a government that's looking after the low-income earner. In fact, it's the very opposite. It's the government looking after high-income earners. Let's couple that with the FBT exemption on electric vehicles. The people in Longman—a lot of them—are not going to be able to afford $70,000, $80,000 or $90,000 for a Tesla to take advantage of that. They'll be buying cheaper cars that are powered by diesel and petrol. Of course they'll be cheaper, but they don't get that FBT exemption. It's a joke.”
“Any additional rise in interest rates pushes homeownership further and further out of reach for the people of Longman and in Australia more generally. As a result we're seeing people forego a lot of things that we used to take for granted. There's this myth around that the Labor Party are the party for the battler. I'd like to say that that's been dispelled. These crazy programs that they've got include policies such as the Cheaper Home Batteries Program. To buy one of these batteries for 10 kilowatt, the average out-of-pocket expense is $9,000. I've got to tell you—when I talk to my people in Longman, there are not many that have a lazy $9,000 laying around to be able to do that.”
“To put that in a local perspective, a home and land package for a four-bedroom family home in Beachmere starts at over $900,000. A similar package in Caboolture South, Burpengary and Morayfield starts at just under $800,000. For around $850,000, you can find a similar package in Upper Caboolture and Caboolture. Scrolling through real estate websites will show similar results for established family homes. This is quite incredible, as pre-COVID and late 2019, just six years ago, many of the homes were selling for under $400,000. Consider the current variable rate of around 5.59 per cent on an $800,000 30-year home loan. The repayments for such a loan will be $4½ thousand a month. As one of the lowest income electorates, these repayments simply do not fit into the average family income.”
“That would be like buying a home now for around $200,000, and I say, 'Good luck with that!' I could afford the repayments on one wage with a stay-at-home wife and four small children, so we fortunately didn't have the expense of childcare—again, good luck with that today. Let's not forget not all loans are mortgages. Increasingly we are seeing people take out personal and payday loans at sometimes crazy-high interest rates. Sometimes it's for a car. Sometimes it's for a school excursion. Sometimes it's just for groceries and utility bills. People are slipping further and further behind and taking out these high-interest loans. It only makes a bad situation worse. It's all down to bad economic management by this government. Media sources have reported that the median house price in Queensland has now reached over $1 million.”
“This Labor government will say there have been two cuts since they came to government, but, with 13 rises and two cuts, in my book that's a net result of 11 rises, which is simply too much for the average household to bear. With house prices already being out of reach for many, anyone who has scraped by on their house purchase now has the added pressure of another quarter of a per cent in their interest rate It pushes the cash rate to 3.85, but you need to consider that banks don't charge the Reserve Bank's rates. While for those of us who lived through the eighties and nineties that might seem low—I can remember buying my first home in 1990 with an interest rate nudging 20—the difference was that the purchase price was less than two times my annual gross wage.”
“Behind all the distractions and all the mud-slinging, one thing remains true, surviving in this country is getting harder. This is what my constituents are telling me, and it's what I've been seeing with my own eyes. If you talk to people around Longman, you'll be hard pressed to meet someone who isn't struggling or worried about someone else who is. Whether it be interest rates, house prices, unemployment, the cost of utilities, support for aged care, small businesses or just the cost of a good night out, most are having to tighten their belts to unbearable limits. We are really starting to see the impact of this. Just the other day we saw another interest rate rise, the 13th rise since the election of May 2022.”
“Chris and the team at Bamboo Projects have helped participants to leave their mark and be part of something life changing, something that improves the life of everyone and everything that calls our local waterways home. I don't want to just thank Barry, Raymond and Chris. I want to thank everyone who takes time out of their day to make the Longman community better. Every day, thousands of people volunteer their time. It is these efforts that make us all proud to live in the suburbs and towns that make up the Longman electorate. It is these efforts that represent the very best of Australia.”
“Chris and his team of volunteers spend more than 30 hours a week mentoring community members who are doing it tough. Together they offer mateship, guidance, hope and purpose. They do this by providing participants with the opportunity to traverse our local waterways, collecting debris onboard their clean-up boats. Chris is very passionate about his venture, which is infectious—so much so that he had me in a set of waders and out of the boat in Burpengary Creek pulling tyres out of the mangroves. Since 2019 they have collected over 80 tonnes of rubbish, ranging from car tyres to discarded fishing materials. Doing so not only has helped keep our waterways clean but also has created real opportunities for people with disabilities.”
“His articles have allowed us to travel through time, from the first inhabitants of the island to the war years, to where we are today. Barry has noted it all, and his work has helped and continues to help preserve the rich history of our local area. Barry wasn't the only local to receive an OAM this year. Raymond Thomas OAM was also presented with his well-earned medal on Australia Day. Over the years, Raymond has worked alongside veterans and their families, guiding them through life after service. As part of his advocacy efforts he has worked to ensure that veterans are recognised for the sacrifices they have made for this great nation. Furthermore, Chris Paterson became Moreton Bay's Citizen of the Year during the City of Moreton Bay Awards. Chris is the founder of Bamboo Projects, a local charity and NDIS provider.”
“The electorate of Longman that I serve is very diverse, and at times it has had more than its fair share of knockers. However, having been part of that community for most of my life, and being its federal member, I know there is a lot more to our community than what the naysayers spruik online. Every Australia Day we see some of the very best in our community be recognised and honoured for their efforts, and this year was no different. The president of the Bribie Island Heritage Society, Barry Clark OAM, received a Medal of the Order of Australia. For years now, Barry has worked tirelessly sourcing and archiving the long history of Bribie Island. As part of his ongoing research, Barry has published articles in our local newspaper, the Bribie Islan der , for all to read.”
“Colin's commitment to his faith was obvious, serving 47 years as a Methodist and Uniting Church minister across New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT. I spoke to numerous people at the service about how I get so frustrated that, when I attend the funerals of prominent members of the Longman community, sadly, this is when I learn the most about them and what they have accomplished. There's so much I would love to have chatted to Colin about in regard to his wonderful life, but now it's too late. Perhaps we could all learn a lesson from this and put aside the politics for a while and just have a yarn with these giants in our communities before it's too late. Vale Reverend Colin Baxter OAM.”
“Last Friday, after returning from parliament, it was my honour to attend the funeral service of the Reverend Colin Baxter OAM, who passed away on 23 January 2026, after a couple of falls last year. Colin had reached the ripe old age of 96 and was a stalwart of the Bribie Island community, particularly the Defence community. Colin served in the Royal Australian Navy following the end of World War II. Colin's other achievements include serving in the Harrisville community during the 1951 drought with the awful task of burying dead cattle. In 2021, Colin received his OAM for service to the Uniting Church and the community, particularly for his work as a naval chaplain for returned veterans both for Queensland and the local Bribie Island community. Colin was also one of the founders of the Christian Television Association.”