Carina Garland
Chisholm · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“Having seen them again last week, I can say the students of St Roch's are absolutely leaders. They debated whether video games should be an official sport, if plastic packaging on all food items should be banned, whether museums should return ancient artefacts to countries of origin and whether smartwatches should be banned in the classro…”
“We're also clarifying the CFMEU administrator's biannual financial reporting requirements, which currently require a report effectively immediately at the conclusion of a given financial year. In this bill, we're also committed to ensuring truckies get a fair go.”
“This government is giving them the tools to do just that, and I'm really proud to be able to represent so many bright young people in this place. Just last week, I had the great pleasure of visiting St Roch's Catholic Primary School in Glen Iris as a guest adjudicator for their year 6 civics and citizenship debating competition.”
“The intention here is to ensure that more truck drivers can access our quick and easy process to challenge an unfair contract in the Fair Work Commission.”
“It's important to highlight that our reforms are essential in ensuring that our workplace relations framework continues to be fit for purpose, continues to deliver fairer wages and secure jobs not just in my electorate of Chisholm but right across Australia.”
“We know that secure jobs drive participation in communities. I spoke about this in my very first speech—that, when people have certainty over hours and wages, they can make commitments to their local communities. They can put down roots. They can know that on their weekends they'll have time to give to their local sporting clubs.”
The complete record
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“I've met with a number of women's health researchers over the years, and I am so encouraged and inspired by the work they do every day with their colleagues to encourage people to better listen to women and to help our communities be healthier and stronger. The reality is that it has been for too long that women have not been listened to and their health issues not taken seriously. I remember studying 19th century history and feeling so shocked at the brutal way the scientific and medical communities treated women at that stage. Unfortunately, there have been so many examples of women not being listened to and being treated poorly in our own times.”
“I'm really proud to be part of a government that is delivering more choice, lower costs and better care for Australian women. I think this delivery is demonstrative of what happens when you have women at the table making decisions and a government that represents the communities we come from—with over 50 per cent of the population being women across Australia. This is a really important issue for my community. We've held forums and conducted surveys around women's health in the last term of government. I was stunned at the volume of responses that people shared, and I was so grateful for the generosity of the stories that were told about people's personal experiences. It made me even more determined to advocate, alongside my colleagues in government, for better treatment for women.”
“Their participation in democracy was undermined because of the corruption of the previous government. Our commitment to transparency is unwavering—”
“We know trust declined over the years that those opposite were in government, and it is really important to me and my community—and our government—that we restore that trust. Australia's reputation was absolutely trashed by those opposite, and we fell in the ranks for the first time in almost a decade. We had the worst result, in terms of corruption perception, of any OECD country and the worst result in Australia's history. This is simply appalling. This index is a very important independent measure. It acts as a barometer of global integrity and a powerful reminder for us in this place about what is at stake when corruption is allowed to take root. We saw that for ourselves in this country. We saw that there was a link between corruption and people's faith in government being dismantled.”
“I am really pleased to speak on this topic, because I know that maintaining—and, in fact, since we came into government, having to restore—the conventions of democracy is really important to me and my community. I remember when I was first a candidate in 2021 how appalled my community were at the absolute failure of those opposite to have delivered a National Anti-Corruption Commission when they were given the privilege of being in government. Our government's commitment to restore trust and integrity to federal politics is really important and it was recognised earlier this year, with Australia back in the top 10 nations in Transparency International's corruption perceptions index.”
“I look forward to visiting the organisations to see how the implementation of the projects develops and how the funding is going to be put to use in the not-too-distant future. It is a great pleasure to support so many local community groups, and I congratulate everybody once again.”
“They are: Ewing Kindergarten, Boroondara Writers, Alamein Neighbourhood and Learning Centre, the Scout Association of Australia Victorian Branch, Camberwell Lacrosse Club, Craig Family Centre, Pied Piper Toy Library, the Scout Association of Australia, Baptist Union of Victoria, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, Eastern Dragons Cricket Club, Umbrella Dementia Cafes, Notting Hill Community Association, Richmond Cricket Club, Laburnum Cricket Club, Cerebral Palsy Education Centre, Box Hill United Pythagoras Soccer Club and Burwood City Football Club. Congratulations to all successful recipients. Thank you for your efforts and all you do in our community. I hope that the support received from our government will be helpful in ensuring that you can extend your work.”
“The intended outcomes of the program are to encourage and support participation in local projects, improve local community participation and contribute to vibrant and viable communities. This year my electorate had many worthy applications, with the process being extremely competitive, and I thank everybody who took the time to apply. I'm pleased to advise the House of the successful organisations for this round.”
“We in this place all know that we have some outstanding community groups in our electorates, and I'm always so inspired and impressed by those in my electorate of Chisholm. These are groups that do an amazing job of supporting locals and building community, keeping our electorates vibrant and flourishing. We also know that a lot of these groups do most of what they do on very limited resources and, of course, on the tireless support and effort of their wonderful volunteers. That is why I'm delighted to inform the House of the successful recipients of the round 9 Stronger Communities Program in my electorate of Chisholm. The objective of this program is to deliver infrastructure projects that provide social benefits for local communities.”
“Also as of 31 March this year, almost 2.7 million employees were covered by a current enterprise agreement, which is the highest coverage since bargaining began in 1991. Ultimately this bill is about fairness. It is about respecting the millions of Australians, including thousands in my electorate of Chisholm, who work public holidays, weekends, late nights and early mornings to keep Australia going. In this spirit, I commend the bill to the House.”
“This is a very important piece of legislation. We, of course, respect the role of the Fair Work Commission as an independent industrial tribunal. They are the umpire. That role is unchanged under this legislation. What we want to see is enterprise agreements deliver better deals for working people, better wages and conditions and more cooperative and productive workplaces. Our government has really been focused on reinvigorating the enterprise bargaining system such that we now have a record-high number of employees covered by federal enterprise agreements, and we are already seeing that these agreements are delivering real wage increases for Australian workers. As of 31 March this year, the Fair Work Commission approved over 9,800 agreements covering nearly 2.5 million employees.”
“We want this legislation passed as a top priority, which is why we're here in week 2 of the sitting weeks of parliament and this has been introduced. This is really important. We need to do all we can to protect workers from loopholes that could see their take-home pay go backwards. Modern awards are so important in providing entitlements such as pay, hours of work, rosters, breaks, penalty rates and overtime. We really want to protect those gains and ensure that the safety net of minimum wages and entitlements for Australia's lowest paid workers is maintained. We know that people who are covered by these awards are more likely to be women, work part time, be under 35 and also often be employed on a casual basis. So these are marginalised workers as well that we are seeking to ensure are protected.”
“This legislation will mean that proposals, as I mentioned earlier, to undermine worker pay cannot be included in modern awards. It's really ensuring that the safety net remains. We are going to protect the penalty rates and overtime rates of low-paid workers and enshrine protections for penalty rates and overtime rates in modern awards. In practical terms, this will mean workers won't have to worry about that safety net. We have done this because Labor governments are committed to strengthening the modern award system without adding unnecessary complexity. The bill will not stop parties engaging in ways to make awards easier or from ensuring that award terms can be adaptable to modern working needs.”
“We know that there are current cases on foot where employers in the retail, clerical and banking sectors have made applications to the Fair Work Commission to trade away penalty rates of lower-paid workers on awards. Sadly, we know that the coalition have always been too willing to back these kinds of positions. We on this side of the House take a very different approach, really wanting to back in fairness for Australian workers. We know that people put their faith in a Labor government to be custodians of the Australian workplace relations system and to look out for workers' best interests, especially where clear and obvious gaps exist. This bill here before the House is about making sure that we are taking action to ensure that the best interests of workers is at the heart of our workplace relations system.”
“Importantly, our laws are working to deliver real wage increases, improved conditions and more cooperative and productive workplaces. We are continuing that work with this bill, which will protect penalty rates and overtime rates in modern awards. Penalty rates and overtime rates do matter. They are a longstanding feature and a vital part of the modern award safety net which supports some of Australia's lowest paid workers. We know that, right now, the safety net can unfortunately be undermined. Under current rules, penalty rates and overtime rates can be rolled up into a single rate of pay that leaves employees worse off. I would hope that no-one in this place would like to see employees worse off in this country.”
“We've ended the forced permanent casual loophole—which does seem like an oxymoron, but it was the way many workplaces functioned in this country for too long. And we've provided a proper pathway for conversion for casuals who do want that. We've also given workers a right to clock off through the right to disconnect. It's important to understand, too, that more than half of employers who responded to a recent Australian HR Institute survey have indicated that Labor's right-to-disconnect laws have in fact improved employee engagement and productivity. Worker wellbeing is important to productivity in this country. The latest figures on enterprise bargaining show that nearly 2.7 million Australians are now covered by a current enterprise agreement, which is the highest coverage on record since the system began.”
“Labor governments want to see wages increase and to see workers being valued for all they do in our communities. Since we've come to government we've reinvigorated our bargaining system, which means employers and workers can reach agreements in workplaces that do result in higher wages through negotiation and receive better conditions and better productivity. We've ensured that gender equality and job security have become new objects in the Fair Work Act. We've banned pay secrecy clauses. We've criminalised intentional wage theft and we've stopped the underpayment of workers through the labour hire loophole. We've introduced world-leading minimum standards for road transport workers.”
“We know that many of our frontline service workers in this country are reliant on minimum wages. I'm proud that I can always look them in the eye and tell them we're doing our very best in this place to ensure that they receive the wage increases they deserve. It is disappointing—a great shame—that those opposite have not taken the opportunity to support some of our hardest-working, lowest paid workers. Our government has always advocated to the Fair Work Commission for minimum and award wage rises—every single year since we were elected in 2002. That is quite a contrast to when those opposite sat on the treasury benches and put wage stagnation and low wages at the centre of their economic policy. I think that is a real shame for this country.”
“This side of the House is really pleased that from 1 July minimum wages have been increased by 3.5 per cent. These are significant reforms, and we've fought hard to deliver them. Labor governments will always support workers to receive fair pay and decent conditions. We know that our changes to legislation are being felt by workers in our communities and are delivering improved outcomes, not just for workers but also for their employers. These are really important outcomes that are significant for people in my electorate of Chisholm. These are outcomes that have resulted in thousands of workers receiving up to $60,000 extra in their pay packets each year. One of the greatest joys in my job—and I've mentioned this before, in other speeches to this place—has been to visit some of our frontline service workers.”
“A very important memory for me will always be the moment I stood with the then opposition leader, now Prime Minister, when he was asked during the 2022 election campaign whether he supported a $1 pay rise for Australia's lowest paid workers, and he said—famously, now—'Absolutely.' At the time, and I think it's important that we remember this, he was criticised roundly by those opposite for making such a claim. Well, our government, our Prime Minister, has been backing in pay rises for Australia's lowest paid workers ever since, with the support of the Australian community. And of course in our most recent submission to the Fair Work Commission we called for an economically sustainable real-wage increase for workers on the minimum wage.”
“I'm really proud that in our first term, during the 47th Parliament, the Albanese government delivered landmark workplace relations reforms with a clear goal, which was to get wages moving again for Australian workers. We addressed and closed loopholes that undermined principles of fairness and improved access to secure jobs and better pay. We reinvigorated enterprise bargaining and, significantly, put gender equality at the heart of workplace relations. We improved workplace conditions and protections right across the board. And in every single wage review since taking office we have backed, unapologetically—in fact, proudly—minimum wage increases.”
“I'm really proud to speak on this important legislation. The Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Penalty and Overtime Rates) Bill 2025 is delivering on our key election commitment to protect penalty rates, and this is legislation that Australians overwhelmingly supported at the last election. The intent of this bill is simple: if you are a worker who relies on the modern award safety net and you work weekends, public holidays, early mornings or late nights, then this Albanese Labor government believes that you deserve to have your wages protected. We believe that you deserve laws that ensure that pay will not go backwards. That's why it is so important that, as one of the very first orders of business, we're delivering for workers. This will mean a lot to workers in my electorate of Chisholm and for workers right across Australia.”
“My question is to the Minister for Workplace Relations. What action is the Albanese Labor government taking to protect penalty and overtime rates for award-reliant workers? Why is this an urgent priority for the government and what puts these protections at risk?”
“We have a young hero in our electorate, Maxwell Chang, one of the 300 young leaders to have been selected to attend the National Leadership Forum here at Parliament House in September, and I had the pleasure of meeting him, recently, in my electorate office. Maxwell is currently studying law and commerce at Deakin University, and he is a vice-chancellor's scholar. He participates in local initiatives, like the Gardiners Creek parkrun and cultivating community at Burwood Brickworks, and he is serving as the youngest member, representing the under-21 demographic, on the Shaping Whitehorse Community Panel. It was terrific to meet Maxwell. I look forward to hearing about how he gets on at the National Leadership Forum later this year.”
“We have some extraordinary young people in the electorate of Chisholm, and I absolutely love visiting the marvellous schools in Chisholm, whether it be for mock parliaments, Q&A sessions, leadership forums or just to attend assemblies and say hello. These schools are nurturing some of our brightest stars and future leaders. Some of my recent visits include a mock parliament at Wattle Park Primary School and Q&A sessions at Huntingtower school and Brentwood Secondary College. I've also attended a teacher leadership event at Sacre Coeur, which happens to be my old school, as well as a year 10 politics class at Avila College. I'm constantly amazed and impressed by the knowledge and the questions from students at both primary and secondary schools in Chisholm.”
“Forgive me, Deputy Speaker, for not taking seriously the free advice issued by the opposition today in light of the fact that they have absolutely decimated industry and sovereign capability in this country. We're going to invest a billion dollars for critical technologies, including AI. There are lots of other programs that I'm afraid my time is too brief to run through today. But there should be no question in anybody's mind in this place or in this country that our government takes very seriously the opportunities presented to us as a nation through artificial intelligence. Thank you so much.”
“And we also know Australia needs a regulatory environment that facilitates innovation while mitigating harms. And harm is a concern the community has, so it is our role as government to make sure we do what we can to mitigate those concerns. We have a range of laws that regulate AI, including economy-wide laws on privacy, administrative law, online safety, corporations law, intellectual property, competition and consumer protection and antidiscrimination. We will continue to collaborate on the science of AI safety through the International Network of AI Safety Institutes. This is very important. When it comes to government initiatives concerning AI, we have of course established the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund, providing targeted investment to diversify and transform Australian industry.”
“These are researchers working on projects such as the virtual dementia experience, which is an immersive, emotive and interactive experience that aims to capture and simulate the experience of living with dementia. The Applied Artificial Intelligence Initiative enables Australian industries to leverage state-of-the-art breakthroughs within research settings and provides organisations the opportunity to explore otherwise unavailable solutions. I've taken ministers out to visit this facility, and I look forward to more visits to this outstanding university and to talking about this initiative over the course of the 48th Parliament. We know that building AI capability is critical to capturing the opportunity of AI. We know that Australia is an attractive place to invest because of its strategic location.”
“Deakin University, in my electorate, is home to the Applied Artificial Intelligence Initiative. This initiative has a focus on the translation of fundamental research into tangible outcomes and products that affect the wider community, covering a range of projects from trauma support and aged care to advanced manufacturing and security. This demonstrates quite clearly the breadth of opportunity that educational institutions like Deakin University are investing in and helping to facilitate when it comes to the practical application of AI. Our brightest minds are leveraging AI to work on projects that involve deep learning and machine learning on projects like early cerebral palsy screening, assistive technology and autism research.”
“Our approach to AI is consistent with our guiding principles—no-one held back, no-one left behind. We know AI and emerging technologies are creating new opportunities to increase our national competitive advantage. AI is vital to Australia's future economic resilience, competitiveness and productivity; we know this. AI can help solve some of the biggest challenges of the coming decades, including reducing carbon emissions, enhancing health care and improving citizens' interactions with one another and government. In terms of the opportunity, we know AI has the potential to contribute up to $200 billion a year to Australia's GDP and to create an additional 150,000 jobs. Indeed, in my own electorate of Chisholm we have some of the country's brightest minds working in this space at our universities and within our business community.”
“I know they say comedy is subjective, but I probably would have engaged ChatGPT to write some better jokes! I'm pleased to be speaking on this motion today, brought to the House by the member for Casey, on the topic of AI. I trust the member for Casey is paying close attention to the things that are said in this Chamber today on this topic. The Albanese Labor government is on record as stating it wants to seize the opportunities of AI in a way that improves the lives of working Australians. Indeed, in the last parliament I sat on committees that looked very carefully and seriously at the question of artificial intelligence in a range of settings. I was pleased by the bipartisan cooperation we were able to enjoy on those committees, and I invite the opposition to cooperate with the government once again.”
“We've wiped $3 billion of HELP debt already, and we've also established a Commonwealth prac payment scheme which will make it easier for so many people to study and complete the courses they want to do.”
“It was a divisive issue for households, not just for students with debt but for their families, too, when they went to cast their vote on 3 May. That we were doing what we could to support people through higher education was seen as very important to my electorate. We have Deakin University in my electorate, and Monash University is just outside the boundary. I know that we've got lots of academics as well as students in my electorate who are eager to see this change and, indeed, all the changes that we have brought so far to this place based on our reforms from the Universities Accord process. These changes will make a meaningful difference to people with student debt, and I know both current and former students in my electorate do welcome these changes. These are not the only changes we're making to the lives of students.”
“I know it has been awhile since he served in the other place, but I would, for his benefit, let him know that we have changed arrangements to indexation since we came to government in 2022, meaning that the indexation will be based on the lowest of either the WPI or the CPI. Through this bill we will see students right across the country getting the maximum benefit possible from this student debt reduction. It'll happen automatically, which is really important. Students will not have to apply, as the ATO will process changes at their end. They don't need to do a thing to access this 20 per cent debt reduction. While it might take a bit of time for the ATO to do this work, once the bill passes, cuts will be guaranteed. This was a really prominent issue in my electorate of Chisholm, both before the campaign and throughout the campaign.”
“If you have a debt of $50,000 it will be cut by $10,000, and if you have a debt of $60,000 you'll see a $12,000 debt reduction. These are important numbers. They mean more money in the pockets of people in our communities. This is recognition of the need for university education to be affordable and accessible to as many people as possible in our country. Overall, our government will cut student debt by over $16 billion. Student debts will be cut by 20 per cent based on what it was on 1 June this year, before this year's indexation occurred. And I acknowledge one of the members opposite—indeed, the only member opposite who has spoken on this bill today—who was talking about indexation.”
“A total of 26,053 people with a student loan debt in Chisholm are in line for a 20 per cent cut to their student debt following the introduction of legislation to this House on the very first sitting day of this new 48th Parliament. This is legislation that both the Prime Minister and this side of the House promised to introduce as the first piece of legislation under a re-elected Albanese Labor government, and it is a promise that of course we have kept, which obviously is very important to the Australian people. We're cutting the student debt of three million Australians by 20 per cent. More than 26,000 of these students are in my electorate of Chisholm. We know that the average HELP debt today is about $27,600. So, when this legislation passes it will cut that debt by about $5½ thousand.”
“I think we need to note the unusual process today in the House, where we've had only one speaker from the opposite side on this motion, which is very disappointing—that they've absolutely vacated the field when it comes to talking about making life easier for people around this country who have student debt. I'd like to thank the member for Swan for bringing this important motion to the House today. This is an important motion to my community in Chisholm, too. It is important to me. Indeed, in my very first speech in this place, in the 47th Parliament, I spoke about the importance of higher education to me, to my family and to my community, and I maintain my enthusiasm for higher education and reform in this area.”
“Throughout my first term, I would say to people, 'I don't know how long I get the privilege of being the member for Chisholm, so every single day I have is an extra day of work I get to do to deliver for the community.' For however long I get to keep this privilege and this honour of being the member for Chisholm, I will work as hard as I can, every day that I have, to make my community proud.”
“We know that Labor builds the things that our nation needs, whether it is universal health care through Medibank and then Medicare, whether it is the superannuation system, whether it is the NDIS, whether it is making sure we have paid parental leave programs for people. I know there is always going to be work for governments to do. The job is never done. It never will be done. But I'm so proud to be part of a team that puts shoulder to the wheel, will seek to solve the problems that present themselves to us and won't shy from the challenges that are thrown our way by a changing global geopolitical context. I'm proud that I have this opportunity, but I don't ever want to take this opportunity for granted. My word to my electorate is that I will work as hard as I can with every day that I have in this place.”
“It is hard not seeing the children in your family always at those special moments, when you'd like to, but I think all of us do what we do because of the people that we love and the people who support us. It is right that I take this moment to thank them for all that they do for me. I always do seek to find those moments that I can spend with them. To my colleagues here, both returning—I don't want to say old—and new: it has been an honour so far, and I am sure the privilege and honour will only grow as our numbers have. We are going to be able do some amazing things for our country together.”
“I thank all the scrutineers that we had helping us out too: Tessa Jones, Peter Bearsley, Harmon Barrett, Parsa Ghodsieh, Kurt Liffman, Julie Dickson, Hamish Welte, Dominic Burns, Jackson Walmsley, Alessandro Papaleo, Anton Grodeck, Jim McCabe, Kevin Adlard, Tess Robb, Herb Ramselaar, Janie Sue Brooks, Mark Sims, Gillian Davenport, Edwina Kay, Tom Whiteside, Elijah Buckland, Shara Teo and Nick Richardson. In my final few minutes here, I want to thank my family for their support over the years. I don't know if they quite realised what me being a member of parliament would involve, but I'm really grateful that they have been so understanding and supportive. I do miss the time that I would otherwise have spent with them.”
“I thank the booth captains that helped make sure that we were able to hand out how-to-vote cards and ensure that everyone in our community participated fully in our democracy: Naveen, Robert Lowe, Garry Dirks, Jimmy Li, Paul Ting, Jonathon Wight, Peter Spriggins, Ava Howard, Rangika Iddamalgoda, Dustin Kim, Xavier Andueza, John Watson, Peter Fiske, John Burgess, Jeremy O'Keeffe, Harrison Valentine, Thomas Nash, Michael Schaefer, Jacob Clifton, Harsha Guneratne, Carlo Buratto, Michael Gotze and Mithun Rajan.”
“To Deb Pidd, Lisa Carpenter, Bruce Carpenter, Graeme Bond, Rod Short, Todd Moore, Noah Blumhoff, John Milhuisen, Angus Reynolds, Anton Grodeck, David Higginbottom, Diane Hardidge, Evelyn Clarke, Greg Hughes, Huifen Xiao, Julie Dickson, Lesley Hardcastle, Manfred Xavier—who I first met volunteering on the 2007 Bennelong campaign for Maxine McKew, so we go way back—Melva Austin, Michael Murray, Paul Halliday, Rob Grimmer, Phil Robinson, Susanna Mason and Veronica Davies: thank you.”
“I want to thank people who turned up time and time again to knock on literally thousands of doors in teams every single week: Campbell Frost, Bayley Mackie, Angus Duske, Marko Mrksa, Simone Milhuisen, Meghan Williams, Rod Carls, Alex Gilders, Rudy Blums, James Lintott-Southwell, Gavin O'Loughlin, Geoff Rundell, Jason Zhao, Mark Warburton, Zhiyuan Pan, Thomas Campbell, John Nihill, Gail Hall, Phil Ryan, Shaoting Yan, Julie Vine, Mandy Li, John Morter, Hayden Makmur, Tristan Walde, Alessandro Papleo, Esther Fan, Oneja Jayaweera, Radha KC, Chloe Davies, Tanmay Kabir and Emily Mao. It's been amazing to have met all of you and to have worked with you.”
“Every day I'm in this place and every day I'm in the community, I will remember that I owe so much to the people who have put their faith in me and who worked so hard to see a re-elected Albanese Labor government. We knocked on so many doors and we spoke to so many people because we believed in the Labor movement and the Labor cause and in what we could do together as a re-elected Albanese Labor government.”
“I am a very proud member of the United Workers Union, like so many in this chamber, and I want to thank the union for all their support. In particular, I want to thank Paddy Keys-Macpherson, Felix Sharkey, Corey Matthews and Gary Bullock for all their work. I've received incredible support from the Young Labor movement, so I want to thank all the students involved in Deakin Young Labor, Monash Young Labor and Swinburne Young Labor for their efforts. I want to acknowledge the support of Michael Miao, Nos Hosseini, Winnie Huang and their teams. They phoned many people in our community and spoke in language with our wonderful diverse community. I want to thank every volunteer who gave up their time to help our campaign—and it really was our campaign; it was not simply my campaign.”
“This is not just a political friendship. We grew up on the same street. We worked at the same supermarket, on the check-outs, and I maintain that working in retail and working on the check-outs at a supermarket remains the best training I have had for this job. Talking to people, taking an interest in their lives and understanding that some people are going to have had a bad day and you need to treat them with kindness and empathy was wonderful training for being an MP who seeks to listen and learn from her community. I want to thank my very dear friend Senator Jess Walsh for her support on this campaign, and I want to thank her team for volunteering on their weekends to come and help me: Courtney Zavalianos, Lucy Skelton, Sean Doherty, Steven Blacker, Maddison Lewis, Riley Geary and Atticus Corr.”
“I want to thank my team for their hard work: Jarrod Panther, Matt Lawler, Meg Swain—who I congratulate on her new role in the Prime Minister's office—Evelyn Garcia, Vivian Liu, Barbara Harman, Jerry Cui, Grayson Lowe, Jordan Liang, Matt Merry, Jordon Conway, Josh Chuah and Tharun Balasubramanian. I want to thank our amazing field organisers for all that they did leading our field campaign, recruiting volunteers and coordinating very large numbers of people and maps and taking on enormous logistical work. I want to thank Alfonso Silva from the national secretariat for his hard work and support. I want to thank, too, Paul Erickson and one of my oldest and dearest friends, who also happens to be the Victorian secretary of the Labor Party, Steve Staikos. Steve and I knew each other well before politics.”
“Ours was truly a community campaign, and that is a source of great pride for me. We had over 500 volunteers. We knocked on over 60,000 doors and made over 80,000 phone calls, attempting to contact every person in the electorate. It was a campaign that brought together people from all walks of life. We focused on optimism and hope. We focused on our community and wanting to build a kinder, better country, and it's been wonderful listening to all the first speeches in this place over the last couple of days and hearing that theme of kindness resonate so strongly in everybody's contributions. I have a lot of people I would like to thank, and I want to make sure that they are recognised in Hansard , so please bear with me.”
“But I remember stepping out of that school environment and into university and indeed, I must admit, into the Labor Club at university and thinking that I didn't really belong there and that the contributions I wanted to make were not possible. I look back now and I look around this chamber and I see that we have a majority female government, and I hope no young women in universities or at schools or in workplaces feel as discouraged as I did back then. And I thank you, Deputy Speaker, and I thank all the women in this place and those who have come before for opening up those opportunities and helping me find more confidence to be involved in the Australian Labor Party and the broader labour movement. I want to thank the labour movement for all their support throughout my campaign.”