Josh Burns
Macnamara · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“It could go a bit rogue, I'm not exactly sure what's about to happen, but we're going to go through it anyway. I wanted to speak this afternoon at the end of a long sitting period before the winter break about the changes that came in yesterday for paid parental leave.”
“My family came to this country as a mix of migrants and refugees. Some spoke English; some didn't. Some held citizenships; some were stateless. But all of my family understood that the rights, freedoms and opportunities that Australia afforded were precious.”
“It is why we need to make sure that they have access to the basics so they can give everything back to our country—like access to buy their family a home, access to see a doctor and access to world-class education. We don't need to imagine what a monocultural Australia is.”
“Deputy Speaker Claydon, the Manager of Opposition Business is new here; He's still learning the ropes here! We have just passed tax reform through the House of Representatives that will make housing more affordable for younger Australians.”
“Of course, I was quite surprise to open the Australian Fin Review last night and see this headline: 'Greens and Liberals in fresh talks to delay legislation'. The Liberals and the Greens are teaming up together to block tax reform. They're teaming up together to stop young people being able to buy their first home.”
“There is this amazing garden, and I've brought ministers and colleagues there to go and see just how incredible it is. What is really special about the Windsor Community Children's Centre is that it's a community-run early education centre, and the parents and the community of Windsor have really galvanised and gotten behind this campaign…”
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“I'm so proud to be part of this motion led by the member for Banks, who is an outstanding new member of this place and one who is going to make a huge contribution to this parliament and serve the people of the community I know he loves and respects. And I know and he feels grateful to be here in this place. It has been six months since the election. When you think about the job that the Australian people asked us to do, it was all of the simple things that would make a meaningful difference to the lives of the people that we are privileged to represent—all of the simple things that would help Australians with the cost of living, with getting through the day and helping their families and communities get through and do in this amazing country of ours.”
“It's always fascinating to listen to the member for Barker or, as we like to think of him, the numbers man for the member for Hume. The member for Barker is up and about. He might have a busy couple of weeks coming up as the member for Hume's numbers man. He might be rolling the sleeves up and making a few phone calls to some of his colleagues. I know the Leader of the Opposition's team must have been absolutely thrilled that the member for Barker was the member for Hume's numbers man. That would have been one of the first signs that maybe they were going to have a successful campaign. Let's move onto more important things.”
“The approach of the Leader of the Opposition, when she was the health minister—obviously after the $7 GP co-payment was scrapped—was to lower the rebate of Medicare and then get the doctors to pass it on to patients. At that time the Leader of the Opposition said: The price signal is about somebody paying a bit extra when they go to the doctor and not receiving a bulk-billed consultation when they can afford to pay … That's what we mean by the price signal and I think that's vital. I'll tell you what this side of the House thinks is vital—that people can go and see a doctor with their Medicare card, not their credit card. This side of the House thinks it's vital that Australians can access the health care they need, at fantastic clinics like the Elsternwick Medical Centre.”
“On the border of Macnamara and Goldstein, unfortunately on the wrong side of the tracks, lives a fantastic medical centre called the Elsternwick Medical Centre. No thanks to the member for Goldstein, but thanks to this Albanese Labor government, the Elsternwick Medical Centre has gone 100 per cent bulk-billed—100 per cent bulk-billing for the 77,000 consultations that the Elsternwick Medical Centre did last year. This is a fantastic medical centre. The GPs and the staff there are doing an incredible job, and I was pleased to go and visit them recently. Of course, there were other plans by other people that weren't about bulk-billing.”
“We want Australians to have the aspiration of owning their own home and we want to make it possible, and that is exactly what our five per cent deposit scheme is all about. It's about making it possible for hardworking Australians to own their own home. I couldn't be prouder of this policy.”
“When you think about the sort of response that we've seen from the coalition about how this program is somehow benefiting the kids of billionaires, you really have to ask yourself: What planet are they living on? Have they spoken to anyone outside of their own echo chamber? I know they like to talk about themselves a lot in this place and around the country. They like doing media conferences about the inner sanctum of the Liberal Party and the National Party and whatever's happening in there, but what Australians actually care about is their own home—having a safe place to live in and potentially owning and paying off their own home. Instead of talking down to Australians, like the Liberal Party is doing, we want to lift Australians up.”
“There has been such a big interest in this program because we know that, for those people who are unable to build up their deposit because of all of the expensive things that are going on in their world, this will make it possible. It's not easy, but it, hopefully, will be possible for thousands of Australians. Already, our Home Guarantee Scheme has helped more than 185,000 Australians into homeownership, and this is simply because the average Australian is able to get into the housing market with a lower deposit and they don't have to pay lenders mortgage insurance, which, for many households around the country, means savings in the $30,000 range. This is a massive saving for families and for hardworking Australians.”
“I can't tell you, Deputy Speaker Mascarenhas, how many times the response to, 'What's important to you?' was, 'We'd like to buy our own home,' and I'd say, 'Well, have you heard about our five per cent deposits?' and the response was, 'Actually, yes; we've done our research, and that's one of the things we're thinking about right now.' So, when our incredible and hardworking housing minister announced that we were bringing forward the five per cent home deposits to start on 1 October, it was for the people that I had spoken to in the line; it was for the people in our communities—the hardworking people in Macnamara and right across the country—who just want to be able to buy their own home. I can tell you that there have been thousands of people across the country beginning the process of accessing the five per cent deposits.”
“With more and more people in the rental market, rental prices are going up, and it is harder for people to be able to save up for that deposit to get in. That, we know, is one of the fundamental barriers to people being able to access the housing market. Our policy that was announced before the election was that we were going to allow people to get into the housing market and purchase a home with a deposit of five per cent, or two per cent for single parents.”
“People know that to be able to get into the housing market means being able to work overtime to pay off a mortgage, to build up an asset, and to potentially retire with their own home—to have their own house as a place of safety and security. But we also know that, as a long-term trend in this country, the cost of housing, in proportion to one's own salary, has gone up dramatically and that what used to be affordable 30 or 40 years ago, at around three or four times one's average salary, is now way, way higher. The cost of homes is just so much higher than it used to be. So people are being locked out of the housing market. When people are locked out of the housing market, more and more people are in the rental market.”
“In the thousands of conversations that I had with the wonderful people of Macnamara leading up to the election, I often asked them a pretty simple question: 'What do you care about? What's important to you?' and, time and time again, what people in my electorate came back to me with was: 'We'd like to buy our own home; we'd like to be able to purchase our own home, get out of the rental market and set up our lives so that we're accumulating an asset and paying off our own mortgage and not someone else's.' This is a trend and a sentiment that is expressed by not just the wonderful people of Macnamara but also people right around our country.”
“I move the motion relating to first home buyers in the terms which it appears on the Notice Paper : That this House: (1) acknowledges the Government's commitment to help first home buyers realise their dream of ownership by: (a) bringing forward the launch of the 5 per cent deposits scheme for all first home buyers to 1 October 2025, instead of next year; (b) expanding the 5 per cent deposits scheme with unlimited places and increased property price caps; (c) guaranteeing a portion of a first home buyer's home loan through the 5 per cent deposits scheme, so they can purchase with a lower deposit and avoid lenders' mortgage insurance; and (d) offering eligible single parent families with a saved 2 per cent deposit access to the Family Home Guarantee; and (2) notes that 180,000 Australians have already been helped into home ownership through the Government's housing policies.”
“I will work as hard as I possibly can to navigate all of the different machinations of government to see what we can do to support them across all different levels of government. My team will continue to work with them. But it is essential that we save the St Kilda PCYC because Olive Johnston would want that, and that's what needs to happen for our community of St Kilda as well.”
“The board made a decision to close the PCYC and sell off the gym equipment only a few months ago. The community was really hurt by this, and I don't believe that every effort was made to save the PCYC. I then had a meeting with the board. I thank the chair and the deputy chair of the board for engaging with me constructively and agreeing to halt the sale of the PCYC. No gym equipment has been sold and, thus far, we are working to try and keep the PCYC open. The board's job is also to articulate and outline a way for the community to get involved, because there is so much good community will, and it is now incumbent on the board and organisers of the PCYC to do everything in their power to engage and bring together all the people who love the PCYC in an open and transparent manner in order to save it. That is my intention.”
“It's got a home for people to come in and use. It's also right next to public housing. The St Kilda PCYC is magic. A group of local people have also been compiling statements about what it means to them. I will read out one of them. It says: I found the St Kilda PCYC in 2014, as a recovering addict. I had been trying to turn my life around but kept slipping as I didn't have a positive community to turn to, only other addicts and criminals … Within 6 months of living in the house and the support of a community like PCYC, I managed to stay clean and land myself a job on reception thanks to a supportive gym manager. I stayed in this job for 6 years, as I turned my life around. That is what the power of the PCYC is all about. Unfortunately, the future of the PCYC is in doubt.”
“During the day, you also have this incredible group of people, the Parkinson's boxing club, who come in and use the boxing facility there. Part of the experience of having tremors is that boxing really helps and it's a really therapeutic way of engaging and also really fun. Twenty-two teams from St Kilda Primary School use the basketball court upstairs. It's not a full-sized basketball court; it's the PCYC basketball court, and it's absolutely magnificent. It's got beautiful artwork that was done by local community members, including local First Nations people. In the back, there's a music room. When I first walked into the PCYC, the local program manager was showing me all the different music facilities and recording facilities young people could use. It's got a gym. It's got sports equipment.”
“Girls started coming too. When no longer able to cater it inside her own home, she went to church halls and then the St Kilda Town Hall. Then, after a local butcher donated a site for the PCYC, it eventually settled into its home on Inkerman Street in St Kilda, only about five minutes from my home. The thing that is so wonderful about the PCYC—and I noticed it the very first time I walked in there—is the welcoming and community focused vibe that's felt as soon as you go through the doors. It's a bit grungy. It's a bit earthy. It's a bit colourful inside the PCYC, but that's what we love about it. You go through the main gym and come out into this beautiful area. There are some young people doing training that is much, much harder than I can possibly compete with.”
“I rise to speak about a local community institution that is one of the real pride and gems of our community, especially in St Kilda. The St Kilda PCYC has served our community for 78 years, and its story is absolutely magical. It started out in 1947, when a lady by the name of Olive Johnston decided that, after watching a group of young local boys steal apricots from her garden, she should instead invite them into her home, put on a whole series of games and outdoor activities and even feed them supper. So on 22 September 1947 the very first meeting of the St Kilda boys club was held, and there were 14 young local boys who came to that. Olive Johnston was pretty magic, and, within three weeks, over 50 young people turned up to her home to participate in her club and probably to get a decent meal as well. It evolved.”
“My question is to the Minister for Education. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to help Australians with a student debt and to make university education better and fairer, and what has been the response?”
“I also want to say that the comments by the leader of a political organisation in this country, saying that, as a result of the actions of the Israeli government, there was somehow a legitimate target and a legitimate reason to attack Jewish people going to synagogue, are exactly the wrong approach to be taking and exactly the wrong lesson to be taking from October 7. Where we are today right now is a moment where we can choose peace and outline a pathway towards peace, for the Palestinian people to finally be able to go home and for the Israeli people to be reunited with their loved ones who are being held hostage, and that is what we seek to do—not to legitimise violence but to see the humanity in one another and imagine a future where the violence and terrorism that happened on October 7 never happen again.”
“Right now, across the world, Jewish communities are hurting, but so are Palestinians. On October 7, we must take this opportunity to say that, on the holy days of the Jewish calendar, it is not enough to just say that we want to somehow use this moment to make a political point against some action of the Israeli government. No, in this moment we need to allow people to grieve, to remember the lives that were lost and to say that on this day, on October 7, the future that we seek to build is one where we try to recognise the humanity in one another.”
“It also absolutely must be said on this day—and I say so as a proud Jewish person—that the experiences of the Palestinian people have been devastating and that they too must have the space and the respect to grieve openly and to mourn the cost and the lives that have been lost as a result of this terrible conflict, because that is what October 7 was. It was a time in which people sought to take away each other's humanity. But that is not who we are, and that is not the future that we seek to build. When you look at the Australian whose life was taken, Galit Carbone, a grandmother and a person who lived freely and with peace and love—that is the person who we seek to remember today, but it is also the sort of intent that we want to build and take from this moment.”
“But the reason behind it was that an organisation filled with terror and seeking to dehumanise another group of people sought to tear it apart in the most brutal and awful way. That is exactly why we must hold the humanity in ourselves and see the humanity in one another on this day more than any other. I think one of the hardest things for the Jewish people around the world is that the grief that they experienced as a result of October 7 was never really allowed to manifest and be openly expressed without people seeking to minimise it or not giving the space for it to be presented and made public in the way in which it should be allowed to be. To have people trying to delegitimise the experiences of the Jewish people really hurt.”
“On October 7, the people who were killed were the people who sought peace—people living in the southern parts of Israel, in the kibbutzim like the one I visited, Kfar Aza, which was filled with people with simple homes and communal living, people who sought to live alongside the Palestinian people in harmony and peace, working the land and creating wealth and products from this oasis in the desert. The young kids who were dancing and listening to music underneath the desert sky were seeking only to enjoy their friends and their time away from national service. They were the people who were killed on October 7—the people who wanted peace, the left-wing people inside Israel. That was the tragedy of it all.”
“The sands were shifting in the Middle East in the lead-up to October 7. There had already been normalisations of relationships between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan, and there was talk of the Israeli government and the Saudi Arabian authorities coming together and forming diplomatic relationships. It's now about 7.30 in the morning in Israel; on October 7, an hour previously, at 6.30, all of that was attacked. The idea that somehow there could be a stabilisation of the Israeli people and the Israeli place in the Middle East was attacked directly, in the most brutal and awful way. But the test of October 7 is reflecting not just on what happened but also on what needs to be confronted and fought back against.”
“Albert Park College is one of the major users of the sailing facility, and we are so proud to support the students to be able to access this upgrade. Whether it's new lighting, improvements to the Pontoon or new change rooms, we are upgrading the community infrastructure because the community of Albert Park and the surrounding suburbs is what really matters, and we want to make sure they've got the best facilities possible.”
“I also had the absolute privilege of joining the Albert Park Yacht Club and the Albert Park sailing crew down at the Pontoon, where they joined the principal of Albert Park College for the launch of our new Pontoon. What this means, thanks to our investment in upgrading the Pontoon and the entry point into the lake, is that all of those public-school kids get to participate in this fantastic program of getting access to sailing on our beautiful Albert Park Lake. It now has disability access, so it's easier to get in and out of the water. It's safer, and more people can get in and out in a way that promotes more participation in this fantastic sport. I've been out on the water. It is absolutely magnificent to be there in the middle of Melbourne, but what's really important is that it's there for the community.”
“The way we did that was not based on political views of what we want to invest in but rather what the community needed. We partnered with Parks Victoria and, as part of their master plan, we identified all of the different projects that were really necessary to improve access to the park; to ensure that young girls and women can have better access to better, appropriate facilities; to increase participation; and especially to make sure that they are accessible for the entire community. We are in the process of finishing this fantastic set of works that is improving lighting for local sporting clubs, including the South Melbourne Women's Football Club. We're improving change room access. We're building women's change rooms in a couple of different spots around the park. We are upgrading facilities as well.”
“If you know about Albert Park you know we are home to the Grand Prix and we put our magnificent electorate of Macnamara on show to the world. Thousands of people come and enjoy our wonderful parklands, but, for the local people of McNamara, of Albert Park, South Melbourne, Port Melbourne, St Kilda, Middle Park and all the different surrounding suburbs, what we know about Albert Park is that that's the home for our community sport. That's where we go and spend our weekends playing basketball, football, soccer, baseball and rugby. Albert Park is the home of badminton, table tennis, swimming and gym. It is a place where people go, but is also home to sailing. We were so proud at the 2019 election to invest $5 million on upgrading community sport infrastructure in Albert Park.”
“He said bulk-billing services ensure 'everyone in our community can access affordable health care' in his petition for a Medicare urgent care clinic. It was the member for Casey. We know he really wants to be on this side of the House. But he understands, just like all Victorians, the importance of Medicare urgent care clinics. They know that the Labor Party is the party of Medicare. We know that we will always support Victorians and all Australians in getting high-quality health care in this country. (Time expired)”
“Saved by the bell on that one, I think! Speaker, I'll tell you who loves Medicare urgent care clinics. It's the great state of Victoria. Victorians love Medicare urgent care clinics. In fact, there have been 393,000 presentations to urgent care clinics by the great people of Victoria. But I'll tell you who doesn't like Medicare urgent care clinics: the Liberal Party. The Leader of the Opposition says the Liberal Party believes you don't value something unless you pay for it. Fair dinkum! And they went even further. The shadow minister for health and aged care said during the election, 'We never said that Australians will get access to free GP services without exception.' Goodness me! They are walking well away from Medicare urgent care clinics—but not all of them. There is a Victorian among their ranks who said something different.”
“It is the absolute privilege of my life to be the member for Macnamara. I'm extremely grateful for the extraordinary result that we achieved in Macnamara. I'm very grateful for the team that worked so hard to achieve this—this is our victory—but, most of all, I am grateful to the amazing people of Macnamara, who've given me this privilege to be their member for Macnamara for the third time. I will continue to work as hard as I possibly can to deliver for them, their families and our wonderful community.”
“The reserve is an incredible environmental wetland in the heart of inner-city Melbourne, on the border of Ellwood. There are so many things that we're doing around the electorate, and they're things that I'm really proud of and that I hope can make a real difference for our community. I would say that this election was pretty brutal. It was pretty hard. It culminated in a couple of years of very difficult politics, and it seems that difficult politics like to drive through my electorate of Macnamara from time to time, as the last couple of weeks have also demonstrated. But one thing I know about the community that I am privileged to represent is that the people are kind, they're generous, they care about our community, they care about their families and they care about our country.”
“Melbourne is one of the great Greek cities of the world, but Albert Park in South Melbourne has been home to the Greek community for generations. We love all of our Greek institutions. This hall in Windsor is a massive hall that, with a little bit of a touch-up, will make a big difference and create a vibrant place for the Greek community and the senior Greek community to come together. They are some of the things that we're doing in Macnamara. They're vast and varied and reflect the fact that our community in Macnamara is vast and varied, and we were proud to commit to all of them. That's as well as rolling out the projects we have already committed to, including improving Albert Park sports facilities and building the Yalukit Willam Nature Reserve, which was a commitment we made in 2022.”
“It is going to be a really exciting project, and we were so pleased to announce our federal support for that. We're going to be investing in the Port Phillip Eco Centre. It will be a small, modest contribution but one that's going to invest in citizen science products and equipment so that the community can get involved in citizen science and environmental protection and work to be involved in this amazing organisation. The centre doesn't just work in Port Phillip but works right across Melbourne. Our small contribution is going to make a big difference and provide equipment and facilities for our local community to get involved. We're going to restore St Dimitrios Hall in Windsor, which is a Greek community hall. My community in Macnamara is home to one of the most proud and vibrant Greek communities in Australia.”
“We are working through those details, and we will work through them in good faith with Swinburne. This is such an important community asset; it is a magical little place, one of the best and highest-rating early education services in my electorate. We will fund it and help ensure that it can continue. We are funding the Jewish Arts Quarter, which is going to be an amalgamation of a whole range of Jewish institutions in Elsternwick that will come together to build a hub, or quarter, in the same way we imagine Lygon Street in Melbourne being a hub of Italian life and Chinatown being a hub of Chinese food and culture. This is what the Jewish Arts Quarter is going to be for music, food, performances, the Jewish Museum, and some of the other cultural institutions.”
“They have community-led programs, but in such a professional way, that give voice and amplification to the issues, opinions, characters and people inside the LGBTIQA+ community. I couldn't be prouder that we are going to support them to ensure that their operations are full and vibrant and that they are able to do everything they need to reach more people and broadcast into more areas so that more people can see themselves, hear themselves, and be a part of LGBTIQA+ media programming. We have committed $4.3 million to save the Windsor Community Children's Centre. This is a partnership that we are going to do with Stonnington. This is one of the great local, community-run early education centres. The land is currently owned by Swinburne University.”
“Amazingly, the fire burnt around a lot of the most spiritual and elevated parts of the temple. It's almost a bit mysterious—but I don't want to get too woo-ey on Hansard ! To see the See Yup Temple being restored, and us funding some of the restoration efforts, is something that I was really proud of. It is such a beautiful community there, and I look forward to seeing the See Yup Temple restored to its former glory and beyond. JOY Media is another example of one of these community institutions in Macnamara that make our community so vibrant and strong. I believe it's the only LGBTIQA+ media organisation, or radio organisation, in the country that does it to this scale.”
“That was something that came up a lot during the election. While we obviously don't control the Victoria police—that is a matter for the state government—we did ask ourselves, What can we do to help? And it was about having more CCTV and more lighting in some of those amazing high streets and thoroughfares, where there are a lot of businesses and a lot of people trying to make a living running amazing small businesses. We funded that, and we will deliver it across the City of Port Phillip. The See Yup Temple in South Melbourne is a beautiful, incredible part of the history of our local community. This Chinese temple is I think the oldest continuous operating Chinese temple of its kind in Australia. Unfortunately a fire came through the temple, which destroyed a lot of the temple.”
“They are extraordinary Australian musicians from electorates right across the country who are training to be world-class musicians. Previously ANAM operated in South Melbourne. There was a structural issue with the roof; it fell through—a pretty bad structural issue. But we are repairing that and restoring the old South Melbourne Town Hall so it will become the home of the Australian National Academy of Music. It's going to be there as a hub of music and community life, right there in South Melbourne. It's going to be so exciting. I went through there only recently with the minister to look at the work that's being done there. That is going to be such a wonderful feature for ANAM and for South Melbourne. We also committed to $1.5 million for community safety for a range of supports for councils and the Victorian government around CCTV.”
“But we can also get things done for the community from government.' Obviously I am privileged to represent such an amazing part of Melbourne, but some of the projects we have funded and committed to as part of the election are so exciting and will transform the way our community gets to experience so many different things. I'm going to run through a few of them that I'm exceptionally proud of. The first is funding for the Australian National Academy of Music. This is an institution that was founded by Paul Keating. It trains Australian classical musicians. The academy has been here in this building many, many times, Deputy Speaker. If you haven't been to an ANAM concert, make sure you go down to the Speaker's Gallery or the Marble Foyer when they're next in the building.”
“I think that's something that is really important and something that we as a government and as a Labor Party need to be doing more of—supporting ambition, supporting people to accumulate assets and find financial security in this country. But it is not just the national policies that were so important at this election but also the local ones. That is one of the powers you can have in being a member of a government and being a local member and a Labor member of government. Part of my pitch and my request to the people of Macnamara is to say: 'If you vote for me as a member of a team, I will be in there supporting and fighting for the community inside government.”
“The conversation that often came back to me was that it is really hard, and while they're not saying it needs to be easy, it just needs to be possible. Without being able to get into the housing market, it's just not possible. For too many people, the deposit is the biggest barrier, while they're paying rent, and rents are expensive in my community. It has been just impossible for people to be able to get into the market. That policy is really important. It's going to mean that thousands of people across my electorate are going to become homeowners. They're going to move out of the rental system and into the homeowner market.”
“If it means that someone leaving university is going to have $5,000 or $10,000 less of their HECS loan to pay off over the life of the loan then I think that's an important contribution. It's one that I was so proud to support and one that we've got done already. And even this week we announced that we are bringing forward the five per cent home deposit scheme, which is going to help first-home buyers. That is something that kept coming up over and over again: 'What matters to you?' 'Well, we'd like to be able to buy our own home.' In Macnamara I met hundreds and hundreds of people, couples and families saying to me that that's something they want to do, but it's just not possible, and it's not possible because of the deposit.”
“They do watch politics in as so far as they think about what it means for them, their family and our community. That was ultimately what I think we got an endorsement, from not only the community of Macnamara but the broader Australian public, to deliver on. We got a mandate to deliver on policies that hopefully will make a tangible difference to the lives of Australians. We've already started to roll them out and to deliver them in this place. The first bill we all voted on was to reduce university debts by 20 per cent. That is a fantastic acknowledgement of the genuine difficulties that young people and people with HECS debts are facing and of the importance of what this place can do, the meaningful difference it can have.”
“And what I heard from the people of Macnamara was that people cared about health care, they cared about jobs and they cared about having financial security. They want to be able to buy a home. They want to be able to do things for themselves and their families and the community that they love. They want to be safe. They want Australia to stand up for the values that they feel are representative of our community. I don't think it's more complicated than that. I don't think it's about tricks in campaigns and all of these sorts of other things. Ultimately, people think about their own lives. They think about what matters to them, and they think about what matters to their families. For every single person I spoke to in Macnamara, it was clear that the people that live in our community are thoughtful.”
“It was rarely a situation about their own personal needs or anything like that. It was: 'What does our family need? What does our community need? What do the people I care about need? How do we help get through, frankly, pretty difficult economic times?' When you speak to parents, they are concerned about whether their kids can buy a home or that their kid are at university and have huge debts or even about being able to go and see a doctor. These were the sorts of things that kept coming back to me over and over again. I think that, regarding this election, there are lot of things that are said and done about what happened here, why it was so successful and why it wasn't successful. Ultimately, I don't think there is a silver bullet. It's just about people.”
“Macnamara is extremely multicultural, with a growing Indian diaspora and a growing Chinese diaspora. We are proud of each and every nook of our wonderful part of Melbourne. But one thing did bind and unite a lot of them when I was speaking to literally thousands of people in my community in the lead up to the election. In the lines and on the doors, the question I would often ask my amazing constituents was: 'What do you care about? What matters to you? What is going on in your world?' The answers that came back were a wonderful reflection and a wonderful mirror on the sorts of people that I'm privileged to represent. There were often concerns about their kids, their community, their family, the direction of their country and the sort of things that they want to see for our local community.”
“I want to congratulate Benson and Sonya for leading their teams. They were both thoughtful and respectful, and it was a really good example of what elections in democracy can be. I only wish them both the best for the future. To understand Macnamara is to understand, as I said, some of the most diverse but also vibrant parts of our country. We have incredible arts. We are the home, I think, of arts and cultural institutions in this country, in Southbank, South Melbourne and Port Melbourne. We have incredible national institutions, such as the National Gallery of Victoria, and we are investing in the redevelopment of the NGV Contemporary. We also have a large Jewish community and a vibrant LGBTIQ community. We are full of young professionals and people from every corner of the globe.”
“We set up our campaign office in Port Melbourne on Bay Street, and it was such a hub of activity and of campaigning and of events, and it was a place where people were just dropping in and people in Port Melbourne were walking by. It was just such a great place to be based, and I loved it. I want to say thank you to all the people who contributed to our campaign in Macnamara. I also want to pay tribute to my political opponents, two people who worked extremely hard, as did their teams. The volunteers for Benson Saulo, who was the Liberal Party candidate, and Sonya Semmens, who was the Greens candidate, were incredible. They turned up and worked really hard for their candidates, and it was a great example of democracy in action. People were passionate but respectful, and we all gave it our best shot.”