Sam Birrell
Nicholls · National Party · Australia
“They will put it maybe in New South Wales, Western Australia or Queensland, but they won't even consider Victoria. The taxes, the government interference and now this proposed work-from-home legislation just mean that Victoria is not an option.”
“The Mitchell Shire Council has identified the Kilmore-Wallan Bypass as one of the highest advocacy priorities, but the project has been languishing for years. The bypass is essential to improve safety, reduce congestion and return the historic town centre to local residents and businesses.”
“As I've often said in this place, it's a great privilege to represent the electorate of Nicholls in northern Victoria, one of the great food-producing parts of Australia. Recently, I had the great honour to go to a place called Legacy Packing in Cobram for the official relaunch of their state-of-the-art packing facility.”
“As at the last election, the AEC boundary changes meant that the town of Kilmore came into the electorate that I represent, the electorate of Nicholls, and Kilmore is one of the oldest inland towns in Australia. It's a beautiful place. It has bluestone buildings, a historic jail and a monument to Hume and Hovell.”
“A major agribusiness operator in northern Victoria who operates very successfully has told me: 'We're doing no more investment in Australia. The government's making it too hard.”
“We've also got high-tech investment in the dairy industry and the apple and pear industry and we have some new investments in the processing facility SPC, which is an iconic brand in Australia that processes peaches, pears, apples and also tomatoes.”
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“There were many compromises that were made to reach an agreement that not everyone liked but everyone was able to live with. The previous minister came in and said, 'I'm going to tear those agreements up. I'm going to tear up a socio-economic neutrality test.' That test, which protected basin communities, had been painstakingly arrived at by state premiers, many of them Labor state premiers. I want to pay particular tribute to the former water minister in the Andrews government, Lisa Neville, who was very constructive in this area. That test was torn up and taken away, and we've ended up with regrettable and unnecessary water buybacks. Agriculture is really important to my region, and it's important to Australia from a cultural perspective, from an export perspective and an employment perspective.”
“We grow 90 per cent of Australia's pears and over 50 per cent of Australia's apples, and we produce a significant proportion of Australia's dairy products, particularly those that get exported. That all relies on access to reliable and cheap irrigation water. When governments come in and want to pull a whole heap of that water out of what we call the consumptive pool for irrigation and put it into environmental accounts that, in many cases, do not get used, it damages our economy. It damages Australia's ability to export food, and that's something that we do so well. It's an area I'm very passionate about. There were a lot of compromises through many governments, from the Gillard government to the coalition governments, and with the states.”
“It's very difficult to make assessments of what you should do without knowing what it's going to cost, and we don't know that. In relation to water, I was very vocal in the last term of parliament about incredibly regrettable changes to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. I thought they were unnecessary. I thought they were based on politics and not science. I've been following this, having been involved in irrigated agricultural agronomy before I came into this place. As CEO of the Committee for Greater Shepparton, I was trying to futureproof the economic prosperity of the Goulburn Valley and the Greater Shepparton region up to the Murray Valley. It's based on irrigated agriculture; that's what we do.”
“I think we have to have a much more technology-agnostic approach to this area. I worry about legislating ourselves into a corner where we could seriously damage our economy in trying to reduce emissions, which—let's face it—given the percentage of our emissions compared to the rest of the world, wouldn't have an overwhelmingly significant impact on global climate change. There's not only that. The rollout of wind turbines, solar factories and transmission lines is happening without social licence and without community consultation, causing great distress and great anger in the regions. That needs to be addressed. We need to have an honest conversation and an honest answer from the government about what this is going to cost.”
“I said in my maiden speech that climate change is an important and serious problem facing Australia, but the transition is an incredibly nuanced and complex problem. If we get it wrong, all that will happen is that businesses will see that Australia is too expensive a place to do business, and they'll move the business, the economic opportunities and the jobs offshore, along with the emissions. So in terms of reducing global emissions, which I think is the desire of many people, we will have achieved nothing. But we will have damaged our own economy and the future of our generation. I don't think the energy transition is going as well as the minister would have us believe. I have serious doubts about thinking that you can do the energy transition limiting yourself to a very small number of technologies.”
“However, I feel this is under threat from the policies of the Labor government in relation to energy, water, infrastructure and labour. I think that, if you want to see an example—not the only example but an example—of the entrepreneurial spirit that has built Australia, you can go up to the Goulburn Valley. See what waves of migration and that entrepreneurial spirit have done—arrive with nothing and build it into a terrific business based on the principles of liberalism and the free market. In relation to energy, obviously there's a lot of talk in this place about net zero, which is an ambition. It's an ambition I support. It appears to be somewhat more of a slogan than a policy.”
“(): I rise to speak about Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026, Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2025-2026 and Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026 in relation to the budget. It gives me an opportunity to talk about the things that are important to my community and my electorate of Nicholls, which is, as many people in this place would know, in northern Victoria. The northern border of it is the Murray River. The Goulburn Valley, which is obviously the Goulburn River, comes up through the middle of it and provides fantastic irrigation, water, fertile soils—some of the greatest agriculture in Australia—and the ability to grow, manufacture and process food that not only benefits Australia domestically but earns great export dollars.”
“There are positive signs that Tegan is on track for a healthy outcome, and she is using her experience to raise awareness, because she doesn't want other people to go through this. She wants more people to be aware that bowel cancer happens to people under the age of 50. We need to encourage screening and develop clinical practice guidelines for people who are going through this at a younger age. We need to invest more into research about the cause of early-onset bowel cancer. Bowel cancer is one of the most preventable cancers, but it still claims the lives of 101 Australians every week. Tegan has been through so much, but she maintains an incredibly positive attitude. We owe it to all of those brave ambassadors here today to help raise the level of awareness about early-onset bowel cancer and of how early diagnosis can save lives.”
“Today I was pleased to lodge the Parliamentary Friends of Bowel Cancer with my co-chair the member for Adelaide. Bowel Cancer Australia is in the parliament today, including 50 inspiring young people from across the country who represent the growing number of early-onset patients. Bowel cancer has affected my own family, and today I send a shoutout and my best wishes to Trent. Tegan, from my electorate of Nicholls, is in the gallery and one of the most inspirational people I've met. Prior to her visit today, we shared a coffee in her hometown of Kilmore, and she told me her story of being diagnosed with bowel cancer at age 39. Tegan has endured chemotherapy and radiation, all while being a mum to three young kids.”
“There are a number of food manufacturing companies, such as, from the fruit industry, the iconic SPC with its processed fruit products. While I've got the time to talk about this, everyone is welcome to come to my office and take the peach challenge. I know the member for Hunter has taken the peach challenge—”
“National Skills Week is upon us, and it gives us an opportunity to talk about where we're up to with skills and training in this nation and where we need to go. I think there needs to be some serious thinking about the tracks we're on, and I think we have the opportunity to look overseas, which I'll talk about in a minute, to see what other countries have done and how successful they've been in skills training, particularly in vocational skills training. The area I'm from is one of the greatest food manufacturing regions in not only Australia but the world, supplied by the Goulburn-Murray irrigation system. Water flows out across the fertile soils of the Goulburn and Murray valleys. A great deal of produce is grown, and a lot of that produce is processed.”
“The 2026 Commonwealth Games was a chance to change that, until it was squandered by the Victorian Labor government, who will instead pay Edinburgh and Glasgow $200 million to host our games. There is still a chance, though. The Albanese government must put vital funding into the Growing Regions Program so that the proposed Shepparton sports and events centre and many other important regional projects have an opportunity to seek funding. We in the regions need funding programs to deliver the infrastructure required. So the challenge to you, Labor government, is to put some money into growing regions. Don't just talk about letting the regions thrive; make it happen.”
“Shepparton, in my electorate, has a thriving visitor economy. The pillars of this are an important part of our economy, our arts and exhibitions and our sport. Shepparton Art Museum, or SAM, funded by a coalition government, is currently drawing people to see Brett Whiteley: Inside the Studio, a selection of Whiteley's works across various media, including painting, drawing and sculpture. From 13 September, the Museum of Vehicle Evolution, a great attraction, also funded by a coalition government, opens a new exhibition, Art in Motion, showcasing vehicles so refined that they are indeed works of art. The Shepparton BMX Track will host the 2026 GWM BMX Racing National Championships. There is a missing link, though. The Shepparton Sports Stadium was built in the seventies, and it can't host major events.”
“Tax was discussed, but I don't see any real appetite for reform. And efforts by the previous coalition government to address the productivity-killing phenomenon of bracket creep were reversed by Labor. So, what does this all mean? Well, it appears that we're on a pathway to managed decline, and that means a decline in our living standards and opportunities for our next generation, and we need a bold government to address these factors in a serious way.”
“This is evident in the regrettable changes to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and the new industrial laws, which have hit small businesses hard with a mountain of regulation. In addition, Labor is on a spending spree, with diminishing economic activity to pay back the debt into the future. According to data published by the Centre for Independent Studies in July this year, more than half of Australian voters rely on government for their main income, through public sector wages, welfare payments or subsidies. The Institute of Public Affairs found that, between August 2022 and August 2024, 82 per cent of new persons were employed in the public service. Now, that's not to say that people who work in the public sector in many cases don't provide a valuable service. But an economy based on taxpayer funded jobs is a house of cards.”
“Energy policy was barely discussed at the roundtable, as though everyone accepts that the transition is going swimmingly and that cheap and affordable power will just continue as we move from generation techniques such as coal and gas, which are 24/7, to an intermittent supply. Anyone who is seriously assessing the grid and looking at the successes and failures of other nations in their energy transitions would see the flaws in this approach. This particular energy transition is one of the biggest economic gambles Australia has ever faced. The probability and the consequences of getting it wrong are too horrific to contemplate. I worry that government ministers seem to put the viability and competitiveness of businesses, particularly small business, last on their list of priorities when drafting legislation.”
“The Labor government's touted productivity roundtable, or economic roundtable—whatever it was eventually called—seemed like a bit of a stunt to create the impression that one of the critical challenges faced by Australia, our fall in productivity, is in fact actually being addressed. Many of us gave it the benefit of the doubt, because you have to discuss these issues, and businesses having dialogue with our leaders is a good thing. But here's the problem. Labor, under this prime minister and this treasurer, is fundamentally an antiproductivity government. It is obsessed with government-directed wealth redistribution, crony capitalism and the welfare state. It is dictated to by the unions, and these dictations find their way into legislation, and that legislation makes us less competitive and less productive.”
“Nexus offered the flexibility and support she needed while studying the master of teaching, and she is now teaching business management and consumer education at Cobram Secondary College. When I was with her in the classroom I was able to chip in and have some great discussions with the students about free trade agreements, how they are negotiated and how they impact our region. If anyone has ever thought about teaching, the Nexus program is a fast track to a rewarding career. For students, it brings in educators with diverse backgrounds, from a wide range of professions, who can give them a broader perspective.”
“Nexus is a fantastic program run by La Trobe University that encourages people with undergraduate degrees and experience in different professions to fast-track a master of teaching degree while working in a classroom environment. Recently I visited Cobram Secondary College and spent some time in the classroom with the inspiring Carly Marriott. Carly demonstrates the profound difference educators can make in students' lives, empowering them to pursue their passions and unlock their full potential. After building up a diverse range of skills over her career, and juggling life on a family farm raising three young kids, Carly was looking for a meaningful career change that still allowed her to stay connected to her local community.”
“If this is the way forward, at least inform providers and recipients that this is what's going to happen and how it will affect them into the future.”
“But, if we make changes to it, we've got to carefully examine the impact of those changes—sometimes they might be unintended. This might affect the ability of rural and regional service practitioners to do what they do and therefore provide the service that is so sorely needed. Providers are saying to us that cutting travel supports will reduce access for regional clients, and that's something that we've got to be really careful about analysing. Once again, it's the same old story: where you live dictates what support is available, and that's just not good enough. It's inconsistent with the goal of equitable access across Australia, and it should be reviewed. I hope that the Albanese government can look at this, take the three-month deferral, consult with the industry and see whether there are better ways that we can do this.”
“It's a disappointing move. The member for Herbert has written to the Minister for Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme, calling on the government to defer these changes for at least three months to allow for consultation and planning around changes to service delivery, and I support that deferral. The NDIS supports independence and social and economic participation of people with a disability. It was developed so as to have a nationally consistent approach to access to, and the planning and funding of, supports for people with a disability. I think people all around this chamber agree with the intent of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and it received bipartisan support when it was brought to this parliament.”
“We all agree that the NDIS needs to be financially sustainable; however, we need to be cautious that changes do not have a disproportionate impact on regional Australians simply because of where they choose to live. The Albanese government has some form in this area with changes made to registered nurse minutes in aged care. Regional aged care does not have the same access to qualified nurses, and meeting the requirements has meant employing agency staff, which means labour costs have soared and the viability of services has decreased. Again, it's that lack of understanding that things are very different in regional Australia. We're concerned that, with these NDIS changes, once again the Albanese government has failed to consult with the sector and failed to understand the needs of business and service recipients.”
“I've said it in relation to agriculture and business. I've said it in relation to transport. I've said it in relation to aged care. But sometimes you've got to put a different lens over things in relation to regional and rural Australia. The businesses that service clients in rural and remote areas—clients are not spoiled for choice, and the practitioners must travel to reach clients. The reality is that in the bush you often don't have the services you need where you live. Either you travel, or the service provider travels to you. Under these changes, the compensation that providers can claim for that necessary travel has been cut.”
“I thank the member for Herbert for this motion. I too have grave concerns about the reduction in professional fees and funding for travel costs outlined in NDIS pricing arrangements and price limits 2025-26 . The issues I have are with the substance of the changes but also their timing. I've been told that providers were only given a few weeks notice, despite the significant impact these pricing changes will have. In regional Australia, these providers are small businesses and, on the whole, they're striving to provide important services to NDIS participants. They're not in the big city, where services are abundant and delivery is a lot simpler. It's a theme of mine—coming into this place to explain that things in regional and rural Australia are quite different from things in the city. I've said this in relation to industrial relations.”
“So I'm hoping that the Labor government focuses on regional infrastructure and that we can get some things moving. The projects that funded those were the Roads of Strategic Importance, the Building Better Regions Fund, the Regional Airports Program, and the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program. I do give credit to the Labor government for their Growing Regions Program. There was $15 million for the Seymour Community Wellbeing Hub and $11 million for upgrades to Echuca's Victoria Park. That's welcome, but Growing Regions has ended now, and there doesn't seem to be any budget allocation to continue it on for the other infrastructure projects that are needed. I'm hoping that that happens, and that regional infrastructure becomes a priority of this government as it was of the previous coalition government.”
“The two communities have been completely isolated from each other because of the inability of this bridge, which spans the Goulburn Weir, to be opened, so I'm hoping we can get a resolution on that. I also made commitments that, if we formed government, we would provide funding towards the redevelopment of the Shepparton Sports Stadium, which is a critical part of Shepparton's visitor economy; the Shepparton bypass; and the completion of the final stages of the Welsford Street arterial road. Shepparton's a growing community, as are many of the communities in Nicholls, and the infrastructure needs to keep up. In my experience, before I came into this place, it did keep up with investment from the coalition government, but that's been lacking a bit in the last three years.”
“I hope to get a response, and I hope to get some positive action towards some funding towards these critical infrastructure projects. A critical one in the region around Nagambie is Kirwans Bridge. I've raised this directly with the minister, and we've made a number of funding applications for this, but we haven't been able to get a resolution. Kirwans Bridge is a heritage bridge. It's a wooden bridge. It was damaged in the 2022 floods. As a result of that damage, it was closed down. The Strathbogie Shire estimate that it would cost in the vicinity of $7 million to $8 million to repair it to the point where it could be opened up again and connect two communities.”
“A very, very welcome addition to the electorate of Nicholls is the township of Kilmore. I've had ongoing engagement with the community. It's a great community. It's actually the community where I went to school. There are a lot of priority projects that that community needs, including the bypass, which has long been mooted but never really progressed, and also the link road. It's got some challenges. It's got a very narrow streetscape, but it's a growing community. The infrastructure issues in Nicholls are very important to the constituents. It's a regional area. It requires infrastructure upgrades. I've written to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government about these priority projects.”
“A huge proportion of Australia's wealth is created in regional Australia, and that's just the nature of our economy. A lot of it's in mining. A lot of it's in agriculture. And that wealth creates tax dollars for this nation and always has. It's what this nation really has been built on—the sheep's back, but then the mining industry and, more recently, other agricultural crops. So the tax base for Australia really does rely, in large part, on what is created in the regions. My observation of this government is that most of what the Labor Party talks about is distribution of taxpayer dollars. I think you won an election on it. Congratulations—and that's fantastic. So my advice is don't attack the industries and the regions that provide those tax dollars if you want to continue to distribute it.”
“I thank the member for Hunter. I look forward to working with you through this term in the Parliamentary Friends of Men's Health. I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun doing it and, hopefully, will spread a good message.”
“The reason I mention those sorts of things is that I think that, if we can enable physical health through supporting community sport and community sport infrastructure wherever we can; if we can support mental health through the arts by supporting not just the arts that might be a bit more elitist—not that there's not a place for that—but also community arts, where committee members, whatever their level of talent, can become involved and express themselves that way; and if we can also focus on that strong economy, competitive in the world, we will have businesses like agriculture and food manufacturing in my electorate that give young men and young women that sense of purpose and that sense of hope that there's a future for them, there's earning potential, there's camaraderie with work colleagues and there's all of the positive mental health outcomes that that brings.”
“It means that the whole community comes together and issues such as domestic violence can be addressed. I've seen that very positively, particularly in the community of Yarrawonga, which has had this approach towards ending domestic violence, with both the men and the women of their community—the netball players, the football players—in the room together. In my view, mental health is lifted by the arts. Music—or whatever your form of art is—is an uplifting experience and is very important for our mental health. If young men have a purpose, meaningful work, the ability to support themselves and their families, and a contribution to a business and to a community, that helps.”
“I've had professionals tell me that they think that that should be reinstated to 20 Medicare funded mental health sessions. In terms of what I see in my community, what does positive mental health, particularly for men, look like? For me, there are three aspects of it. It's physical health, it's mental health and also, if I can put it this way, it's financial and purposeful health. In regard to physical health, many people might know that I've been on a mission to train with every football-netball club. I have trained with 44 clubs—half netball, half football—and you can see people's mood lift as the endorphins are released and people do this exercise together. It has a great impact on mental health because of the togetherness. We can look in particular at Victoria and the way in which the netball and the football come together.”
“Some very notable people took that option, and the sadness that's left behind and the impact on the community can't be overstated. I think we've seen an increase in the challenges around mental health since the COVID pandemic. I get that it's easy to look at this stuff with hindsight, but I do think that we need to look at the way in which some states, particularly my state of Victoria, approached that particular issue in terms of lockdowns and, perhaps, the mental health issues that were not being addressed when the more physical issue of the COVID pandemic was being addressed. The Morrison government did put forward funding for 20 Medicare subsidised mental health sessions. That has been reduced to 10. I think that's a regrettable step.”
“I, too, would like to thank the member before Hunter not only for bringing this motion forward but also for his friendship. It's an honour to co-chair Parliamentary Friends of Mental Health. This is a place that I think all of us recognise can be a difficult environment to work in, and these relationships that we have across the aisle are important so that we look after our own mental health in this place. This doesn't mean that I'm not going to disagree with some of the Labor policies of the member for Hunter, but having that contest of ideas and doing that in a friendly way is an important part of what we do here. As has been said by previous speakers, 3,000 lives are tragically lost every year to suicide. Approximately 75 per cent are of men, and that has touched us all. It has touched me in my electorate of Nicholls.”
“So I think it's irresponsible for this Climate Council report to make such a broad-sweeping claim. When you look at some of the evidence, it looks very much like a desktop study. Climate change is an issue for us to have a serious conversation about—adaptation, energy transition and whatever that looks like. And it needs to be done with a basis in reality. But scaremongering like this and trying to frighten people in my community about their area being uninhabitable by 2030 is just not on and not in keeping with a sensible and rational debate.”
“My community has the right to be and is pretty angry about 60 Minutes reporting of the Climate Council of Australia's claims that Shepparton and Mooroopna, in my electorate, will be uninhabitable due to the impact of climate change and that 90 per cent of properties will be uninsurable by 2030. We've some floods in our region. Shepparton and Mooroopna were built where the Goulburn and Broken rivers meet. We had major floods in 1916, 1917, 1939, 1956, 1958, 1974, 1993 and the recent ones, when I was first elected member in 2022. What we noticed about those floods was that the estates that had been built after 1974 had been designed and built in such a way that, whilst there was water all through the parkland and through the roads, the floods actually didn't inundate any of the houses.”
“So health and education are very important, and it's very important not to forget regional people when we're delivering on these policy areas.”
“It was put together by the coalition in 2018, and we're about to see the first graduates of that medical degree. Regional education is a great passion of mine. I wasn't able to get to a big city to study in tertiary education, but, to my fortune, the government of the day had supported the University of Melbourne having an agricultural campus in Dookie, which is near the town of Shepparton, and I was able to do my agricultural science degree there. Also, La Trobe University ran their MBA program in a great facility at the Shepparton campus, and that meant I was able to get a master's degree while still living in a regional area. The coalition government supported La Trobe to expand its offering and its campuses into Shepparton, and that's a great thing for people who live in the regions.”
“Indeed, in regional health we are about to see the blossoming of a great piece of coalition policy: the Murray-Darling Medical Schools Network. That moved Commonwealth-funded places for a medical degree out of cities and into the regions, up to the Department of Rural Health at the University of Melbourne's Shepparton campus. That means we've had kids studying there for over four years—in some cases longer because there is a Bachelor of Biomedicine that you do before it—and they have developed roots in the country. They've met people. In some cases, they've bought or rented houses. When they graduate with their medical degrees, they're going to stay practising in regional Australia. That is a great policy step forward, and it just shows you what you can do if you put in some long-term, visionary policy.”
“It's a blatant money grab, not indexed, which will hurt agriculture and hurt people in regional Australia. The concept of taxing unrealised capital gains has so many technical problems around it, including who is responsible for valuing assets and properties, that it's going to be a very complicated and difficult policy to implement. When there is complicated policy to implement, what does that mean? It means costs for people. I'd also like to say that it's a great honour to be asked to serve as assistant shadow minister for regional health and regional education along with my friend the member for Flinders. These are two areas that I'm incredibly passionate about and have had personal involvement in.”
“We still have incredible problems with irrigation water allocations and uncertainty around our agricultural businesses because of the changes to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan—regrettable changes—that were made in the last term of government and also because of infrastructure. We'd like to see the Albanese government get on with delivering regional infrastructure. I fear there are policies that the Albanese government are pursuing that will make things worse for Australian people in the long term. The superannuation bill—this friendless policy to tax unrealised capital gains in superannuation—is going to be reintroduced, and regional businesses, including farm enterprises, will be affected, as will people who are putting money away into their super now.”
“Perin Davey was an incredible advocate for the people of regional Australia and did an amazing job in the shadow water portfolio. I'd also like to acknowledge the former member for Menzies, Keith Wolahan, one of the finest people I have ever worked with in my life. I thank the Nicholls voters. It's an honour and privilege to be re-elected, and Nicholls is one of the finest parts of Australia, producing enormous amounts of food products and exports for Australia. It is a magnificent part of the world. But their problems are more acute than ever. The cost-of-living issues still reside with us. Electricity prices have gone through the roof. Energy is unreliable and expensive.”
“Congratulations to Labor on their victory in May. I warn Labor against the hubris that sometimes come with big majorities. Unfortunately, we saw it with the Prime Minister ripping up 30 years of convention between the government of the day and the opposition by personally cutting the opposition's staffing allocation. That not only puts people working in this place out of work but also makes it difficult for the opposition to hold the government to account, and I'm sure that was the intent of it. I think that, if the Prime Minister says that he respects the parliament and respects the conventions of parliament, that act did not show that. I want to acknowledge the departed colleagues of mine, in particular Senator Perin Davey, Nationals senator for New South Wales, whose home town is Deniliquin.”
“I suppose that there's that ideology about identity, or all coming together and striving for a similar goal, and that similar goal is an Australia where everyone has an opportunity and we look after everyone to get ahead, but the rewards for hard work are there, and no-one's locked out of aspiring towards those rewards if they're prepared to work, to access the education that's on offer, to take a risk and to become part of what has become one of the great societies in the history of the world. It's going to be an interesting term for us. Obviously, there are fewer numbers on this side. We'll be a strong opposition. I wish everyone all the best this term for spirited debate, and, hopefully, we can move Australia forward.”
“People from all over have made their way to this region, often coming with nothing, and they have made extraordinary lives. My observation as a member of this community is that we seem to do better when we celebrate each other's different cultural identity but moreover— the bigger thing is that we— embrace each other's humanity, the humanity being a stronger bond between us than any divisions that tend to be amplified by race, gender, sexual orientation or religious view.”
“In many cases, our demand doesn't shift, but through regulation—which governments such as the Albanese governments seem to have an obsession with—we lock ourselves out of the economic opportunities for our own people, and there's also the fact that we will do some of these necessary things, like provide food for people, provide hardwood timber and provide energy, and we'll do it in a better way. Finally, there's been a lot of commentary on both sides around social cohesion, and I think we understand that's not going in the right direction in Australia. Some things I'm seeing disturb me greatly. I'd just like to point out something that I said in my maiden speech. I said: In addition, the electorate of Nicholls is, I believe, one of the most successful examples of multiculturalism in the world.”
“This all leads me to make this point: there's a concept in Australia at the moment where we ban things in Australia only to have them expanded or replicated overseas—but with less regulation so that the damage in other parts of the world is worse. Take the energy transition. We sell our coal, gas and other minerals, including uranium, but we ban them from being used in our own country. We ban the live export of sheep. The demand for live sheep doesn't reduce, particularly in the Middle Eastern countries, but the industry is taken over by countries like Sudan and South Africa, who don't have anywhere near the animal welfare standards that we have. We ban hardwood timber, but then, when we need hardwood timber, we import it from New Zealand or Indonesia. The concept is that global demand doesn't shift.”
“We want to reduce emissions and we want to be part of a global effort that the large emitters contribute to, but we don't want to damage our environment with renewables in inappropriate places, and there's a bit of that happening in my electorate and a lot of it happening in some of my colleagues' electorates. I think we need a range of technologies to help us get to whatever our emissions reduction targets are, and they've got to be realistic. I think that might be solar and wind, but only in the right location and only if they're viable. I think there's going to need to be a significant increase in gas exploration to supply industry, and I honestly believe that nuclear will have a part to play in the mix and that we should lift the moratorium sooner rather than later.”