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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“Last month in my electorate, but also, predominantly, in the electorate of the member for Indi, catastrophic bushfires tore through communities, farmland and bushland. In the area of Longwood, which is a small town and a very proud community situated just off the Hume Freeway, the main road between Melbourne and Sydney, a fire started, and the north-westerly winds pushed it into the bushland and farmland. Over 140,000 hectares were burnt, including the communities of Ruffy and Gooram. The Yarroweyah fires also happened on a similar day, in the same heat event, in the north of Victoria. Yarroweyah is just south of the Murray River. Again, strong winds and hot temperatures pushed this bushfire catastrophe along the roadside, destroying some 10 to 12 houses.”
“I move: That this House: (1) acknowledges the: (a) devastating impact of the Victorian bushfire emergencies on regional communities; (b) tireless work of volunteer firefighters and emergency service personnel who put themselves in danger to keep the community safe; and (c) long-term recovery effort faced by the impacted areas to get back on their feet; (2) notes that the: (a) Victorian State Government is failing to properly manage public land by inadequately carrying out fuel load reducing planned burns which mitigate the bushfire risk; (b) Victorian State Government has not learned the lessons from previous bushfires and is failing to keep people safe; and (c) shutdown of the sustainable native hardwood timber industry in Victoria has limited the capacity to fight bushfires in the state; and (3) urges the Commonwealth Government to: (a) support those who have lost their homes and livelihoods; (b) recognise the need to mitigate the bushfire risk to regional communities through planned burns; (c) ensure Australia has the sovereign capability to fight bushfires; and (d) co-ordinate a national response to bushfire emergencies when they occur.”
“He was the boarding master at Assumption College in the late 1980s and early 1990s, coinciding with my time there, and he once told me that, though Assumption College boarders were, in his words, a serious handful, he wanted to work with people who were more at risk, hence his move to St Vinnies in Melbourne. Many Assumption boarders would concur that Dougie was the epitome of that hard but fair educator, a throwback to the attitude that discipline is critically important for young people. They occasionally need a serious kick in the backside to understand boundaries. Many a wayward young man from the country at Assumption learnt some tough lessons in life from Dougie, and his example and spirit is perhaps needed in the way we guide young people now. Thanks, Brother Doug, for your life of service as an educator and to those in need.”
“Last month, Brother Doug Walsh was laid to rest in my electorate, in the Kilmore cemetery, a stone's throw from Assumption College, one of the many institutions he graced in his life of service. Peter Doug Walsh was born in Werribee, Victoria, in 1937 to Agnes and David Patrick Walsh. He is survived by his twin sister, Maureen. He was educated in the Mallee in regional Victoria and joined the novitiate in 1955 on his way to becoming a Marist brother. He taught across Australia, including in Northam and Subiaco in WA and Traralgon and Kilmore in Victoria. He also founded initiatives to alleviate suffering in the poorer parts of Manila in the Philippines. In later years, he worked with St Vincent de Paul in Collingwood and Heidelberg.”
“They make sure that what happens in this place is fair for everyone—not just metropolitan communities, not just large cities outside metropolitan cities such as Geelong and Wollongong, which are great places. The Albanese government needs to look after those of us who live out in the regions. Be fair.”
“I'm so pleased that, just as I've got going with this, the member for Riverina walked into the chamber, because that Shepparton rail project, critical for the people of Shepparton and their ability to commute between Melbourne and Shepparton, was unfunded and a dream for the people of Shepparton until the member for Riverina, when he was the Deputy Prime Minister, stood over there and said, 'Here is 80 per cent of that funding—$320 million—to make that a reality.' The Victorian government being the Victorian government, it's taken three years longer than they said it would and they needed a bit of a top-up—but it is coming, and that's what governments that care about regions can do.”
“Those opposite like to crow about having lots of regional members in this place, but why aren't they standing up for regional Australia? It's one thing to announce a great-sounding program like Growing Regions or Stronger Communities, but someone's got to get up in budget time and actually put some money and some guidelines together and say, 'Here is a place regional communities can apply to have their critical infrastructure funded.' As I said, the cupboard is bare, and it's just not fair for regional communities that deserve their regional funding.”
“The problem we have when we're looking for funding for these critical regional projects is that the cupboard seems to be bare. Labor has scrapped important regional programs established by the coalition. I'm disappointed that that's happened, but they've established their own programs. Okay, well, that's good. But you've got to keep putting money into them. Labor said that the Growing Regions fund and others would meet the needs of regional Australia. But Growing Regions has been left with no money in the pot after the last budget. In fact, Labor's fourth federal budget had no funding for the Stronger Communities Program, the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program, the Regional Precincts and Partnerships Program or the Growing Regions Program.”
“It's a $323 million project, jointly funded by the Australian, Victorian and New South Wales governments. The Australian government contribution was $125 million. Joint funding is critical to getting projects built, but, tragically, the Albanese government is letting regional Australia down. The projects that need their support keep piling up. I'll give an example of some of them. The Kilmore Bypass and link road upgrades desperately need funding. I made a $20 million commitment to the Shepparton Sports Stadium before the last election. The community desperately needs it; it's the missing link in the Shepparton sports precinct and the tourism and visitor economy strategy, but there's been no money forthcoming from the Albanese government. There's also the Yarrawonga-Mulwala bridge. There are many more, big and small.”
“It's a great partnership between the Victorian government and the federal government, with the federal government coming to stage 3 with 80 per cent of the funding, $320 million. The only problem is that the Victorian government promised to complete it by the end of 2023. I believe we're at the start of 2026, and we're still waiting to see it, but I'm hoping. Another is the Shepparton Foodshare. Shepparton Foodshare is a great organisation. It's a secure base to distribute around 390,000 kilograms of food each year to more than 100 registered emergency relief agencies, schools and other organisations. There's great contribution from the Victorian government and $600,000 from the coalition government. The Echuca-Moama bridge has changed lives and changed the economy in the cross-border town of Echuca-Moama.”
“I rise to speak about the important issue of regional funding. Australian governments have a fine tradition of investing in the regions, often partnering with state and local governments to deliver. That's the way it works best. The coalition did it when last in government. I saw it because I'd been a member of that community for a long time. Here are a couple of examples. The Shepparton regional rail project had $320 million from the then-coalition government and a top-up of $11 million after that to help get stages 1, 2 and 3 of the Regional Rail Revival going. What that does is get us from just four return services between Melbourne and Shepparton to nine return services between Melbourne and Shepparton.”
“Sometimes they're under threat from a lack of a robust, challenged contest of ideas in the tertiary sector. I think we need to acknowledge that, because our social cohesion depends on it. In conclusion, we have many reservations about the ATEC concept and, particularly, with the way this bill has been drafted. Thank you.”
“But, on the bit about 'driving national, economic and social development and environmental sustainability', I put that the university sector should focus on the objectives of teaching, learning and research. Those objectives of teaching, learning and research should be aimed at promoting a dynamic and innovative sector that provides a positive student experience, promotes critical thinking and the contest of ideas, delivers value for money, improves Australia's productivity and supports Australian values. On those last two points, productivity is something that absolutely needs to improve in Australia. We are lagging behind, and many of the economic headwinds we are facing are there because of our productivity challenges. In addition, the Australian values, which we hold so dear, are under threat. I think we all need to accept that.”
“An interim ATEC is already operating, and the legislation will enshrine its operations and authority. I think that clearly there are issues that still need to be addressed and improvements that can be made. I think those improvements may be identified by the Senate inquiry when it releases its report later this month. I think there are a lot of elements and a big question to ask as to what the Department of Education will do. What should it be doing that ATEC seeks to do? There are questions about the crossover and duplication of that. I'll go back to clause 13, on the national tertiary education objective. I think we all agree with the bit about promoting a strong, equitable and resilient democracy.”
“Federation University were the same—in-principle support with issues to be addressed to embed a place based equity guarantee and mission based compacts so that students can study locally. They recommended clarifying how ATEC balances ministerial priorities, equity objectives and community need when setting compacts. Federation University also said that equity and regional participation experts should be included in ATEC leadership appointments. So you can see the flavour of both those universities those operate solely in the regions and also those that have a strong regional presence, including the University of Melbourne and La Trobe University in my electorate. They want any type of commission to have a very strong regional focus with a regional commissioner.”
“Likewise, Charles Sturt University were supportive in principle but suggested, again, at least five commissioners, consistent with the accord, supported by a secretariat staffed with people with experience in tertiary education in regional settings, regional consideration embedded into governance and funding provided for the high costs associated with regional teaching, research and infrastructure. Universities Australia had qualified support. They wanted ATEC to be independent and properly resourced, with the ministerial veto over ATEC's work program, inquiries and publications to be removed. They wanted ATEC to be clarified as a strategic steward, not a regulator, to avoid duplication with TEQSA.”
“Regional Universities Network recommended including specific mentions of students' teaching and learning, research and research training as well as equity, participation and attainment and the need to acknowledge and preserve that institutional diversity that exists within the system. The Regional Universities Network, unsurprisingly, said that ATEC should have more commissioners, and that one of those commissioners should be a regional commissioner. That is not part of this legislation.”
“If they're saying that there's an increasingly dense and fragmented regulatory environment, and we add another layer of bureaucracy, is that regulatory environment going to become more dense and fragmented? I acknowledged earlier the support within the sector for ATEC, but it's not unequivocal. I just want to touch on some of the submissions to the inquiry. Regional Universities Network were supportive of the establishment of ATEC but proposed amendments to the bill. Those amendments were around flexibility to adjust the number of commissioners and a need to provide robust, unprompted advice to government at its own discretion, including on the student contribution component of higher education and on university research, training and infrastructure.”
“The legislation enshrines the national tertiary education objective, which I've spoken about. On 27 November 2025, these bills were referred to the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee. The committee is due to report towards the end of this month—on 26 February, I believe. I, and others around the parliament, will be very interested in their findings and recommendations. Perhaps, it would have been wise to get those findings and recommendations as part of helping draft this legislation. The same committee held a previous inquiry into the quality of governance at Australian higher education providers, and it reported in December 2025, and additional opposition comments noted, the 'increasingly dense and fragmented regulatory environment' that the tertiary education sector faced.”
“Talking to these students—these are students who would never have got involved and would never have done a medical degree if they had had to go to a city to do it. But, because it was offered in their hometown—namely, in greater Shepparton—we are going to get some fabulous new, young doctors who have a regional focus. In addition, my own experience is of a Bachelor of Agricultural Science, which I completed at the Dookie campus of the University of Melbourne. It is commendable that a university such as the University of Melbourne has a commitment to a regional campus and a regional area and to agricultural science, which is best delivered in the regions. ATEC was one of the recommendations from the Australian Universities Accord report. This was published in February 2024.”
“In my own electorate, the previous coalition government funded an expansion of the La Trobe University campus, and that has had a significant impact on the delivery of tertiary education opportunities for people who, for a variety of reasons, can't go to capital cities to participate. In addition, one of the great initiatives of the previous coalition government, working together with the tertiary sector, was to develop the medicine pathway of the Bachelor of Biomedical Science undergraduate degree, leading into a Doctor of Medicine postgraduate degree. Apart from the James Cook program in Townsville, it's the first time there's been a regional end-to-end medical degree. The first lot of graduates graduated earlier this year, and I was there to see that.”
“I've always thought, when it comes to tertiary education, particularly in this day and age as opposed to previously—previously tertiary education was seen as something you did when you left school, but, now, it's becoming something that people can access at different times in their lives—that when people can access tertiary education is critically important. Being from a regional electorate, I argue strongly that where they can access tertiary education is extremely important. Tertiary education needs to be relevant to critical thinking and the contest of ideas. I worry that the way this legislation is worded tries to direct the tertiary sector in certain directions without that overlay of critical thinking and a battle of ideas. The coalition has a strong record of supporting universities, particularly regional universities.”
“We must have comfort around what an additional layer of bureaucracy will achieve in the tertiary sector, and we should have questions in respect of the cost of ATEC. ATEC will cost $54 million. That's $54 million for a bureaucracy that is designed to direct. Not one cent of that $54 million goes to students or their actual education. So it's another layer of education bureaucracy delivered at considerable cost. Will it deliver what we need, and is it merely going to duplicate things that are being done or should be being done by the Department of Education? Many people in this place have talked about how important tertiary education is and what an incredible impact it can have on people's and families' lives. It's the same with me.”
“What are those missions, and on what basis are they driving national, economic and social development and environmental sustainability? Those things, and how to achieve those aspects in our country—and what those aspects even are—are highly contested, including in this place. I would hate to see the tertiary sector, via a commission, be the instrument through which a minister of the day directs it to try and drive a certain type of ideology. In terms of regional education, standalone regional universities and universities that have committed long-term to regional campuses should be specifically recognised in any commission and in any focus on any bureaucracy—indeed, by the existing department—on growth funding and sustainability.”
“This is a great concern, and it goes against the recommendations of the accord report for the ATEC board to include several further commissioners, including an equity commissioner and a regional education commissioner. There are also concerns around the lack of independence in ATEC. ATEC will prepare reports and provide advice and recommendations if requested by the minister, and the minister will dictate what it should be providing advice on. The bills enshrine a national tertiary education objective for which ATEC must have regard—among other things, driving a national, economic and social development and environmental sustainability, as recommended in the report. ATEC, around these parameters, will negotiate new tailored mission based compacts.”
“I, too, rise to speak on the Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill 2025 and the Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025. I acknowledge the support for the principle of ATEC in the university sector, but, given the flaws, omissions and governance issues in this legislation, I have reservations about a further bureaucracy in the tertiary sector and the way that that bureaucracy would be structured and operate. The Nationals and the coalition believe in less regulation and less red tape, not more of it. The combination of additional regulation and duplication, or regulatory overlap, is even less desirable. I also have concerns about the lack of regional representation on the commission.”
“They thanked Josh Frydenberg for looking after them by introducing JobKeeper. That did put some pressure on the budget, and it did put some pressure on inflation. But I remind those opposite that they wanted to spend $81 billion more for JobKeeper and other measures during COVID. So how much worse would it have been coming out of that absolute crisis had Labor occupied the Treasury benches then? I think it's a really important thing to remember when people are saying, 'What we inherited.' They have very short memories, and I remember how difficult that time was for the private sector and the fact that the previous coalition government actually looked after them during COVID.”
“It doesn't mean we don't want higher wages across the board, but there's got to be that balance. Keating understood there had to be a balance and Costello understood there had to be a balance, but I'm not sure this Treasurer does. I'll quote Judith Sloan from the Australian , who said yesterday in the paper: … it is becoming increasingly clear that Chalmers doesn't understand how the economy works. I don't know when that has been said about a Treasurer in the past. I also want to just touch on, in the minute that I've got left, and address some of the dishonesty in the debate about what Labor inherited. I wasn't in this place during the last term of the coalition government. I was out working in the private sector. I can tell you that when COVID hit it was very frightening for those people who had businesses.”
“You go out to those farms and to those factories, and you can see what's driven Australia and why so many migrants over many years, as soon as they get off a boat in Sydney or Melbourne, come to Shepparton—because it's the land of opportunity. It's inspiring to see what those people have done and will continue to do. But all those people who run these businesses are telling me it's getting harder to do business. Why? Because the imports are getting more expensive. There are so many examples of that. If you run a farm, fertiliser is more expensive because of energy prices. If you're running a business, wages are going up because there are people who don't understand that if you put too much energy into the public sector there's a rise in the costs for the private sector.”
“What does this mean? It means it's getting more expensive to get a mortgage. If you're already paying one off you're paying a lot more, and the cost-of-living crisis is now affecting you even more than it was. If you aspire to buy a house, it just got a lot harder because you're going to need a lot more in your repayments. Not only is that an issue; business is getting harder and harder to do in Australia. I go around my electorate of Nicholls, which has the Goulburn Valley, one of the great entrepreneurial places in Australia. We have a high proportion of private sector economic activity as opposed to public sector.”
“It's based on ideology, not reality—and if you want to know that, talk to RepuTex. In an attempt to paper over this failure, with sleight of hand the government gives out energy rebates—one of a very great number of government spending measures by this Labor government that thinks fiscal responsibility is an optional extra. The Treasurer thinks: 'That's okay; we'll give out energy rebates and that will reduce the headline rate of inflation. No-one will notice and everything will be rosy for the economy.' The issue for the Treasurer is the RBA are a bit smarter than that, and they take into account the trimmed mean inflation number as well; therefore, interest rates have gone up. Before people talk about criticising us about the rebates: we wouldn't have had such a ham-fisted energy policy that increased prices in the first place.”
“Let's have a think about what has happened this week as a result of inflationary pressure—the uptick in the inflation numbers. Interest rates have risen. What does that mean for people? It means their mortgage repayments have risen, and it means the cost-of-living crisis just got a lot worse. That's a serious problem for people out there who live in the real world—not in the chamber, where sometimes people are more interested in talking about political games than what actually matters to people. There's a lot of duck and spin in parliament this week about why this has happened, but I want to put some points together and try and link them logically; try and follow with me. Firstly, the government's failing energy policy is putting the retail cost of energy power up. It's going up because the policy's a dud.”
“I just would urge the government to see if there's a workaround where we could get the educators to be able to record that, hold it for a very short period of time and only use it for the students that missed the class and can watch it within the week or something like that and get the benefit of that education. But otherwise I commend the bill to the House.”
“A sensible approach would be to allow for that on-demand or catch-up—as long as it meets the dominant purpose test in section 28, and that is educational instruction. So I support the modern, practical copyright laws that balance the user access with creator protection. Those wonderful artists, musicians and people who are creating all sorts of things need our protection and need to continue what they're doing. But I think the change to the law, which I commend the government for, that allows educators to be able to use some of this material, and the orphan program, are positive steps.”
“So, for remote educators, that's going to be difficult and limiting, because they'll give a lecture—they'll use this material—to students and broadcast it live, in real time. But there will be students, of course, who can't get to that lecture or can't get to that class—they may be sick; they may need to catch up—and, if they can't watch a recording of that, it's going to limit the teacher's or the educator's ability to deal with that situation. I think it's just one little piece that the government could look at to try and see if there's a commonsense solution to that, moving forward, so that, without breaching copyright or keeping something indefinitely recorded, there is a way that, within a certain period of time, there could be a catch-up lesson used without breaching those copyright requirements.”
“I've been informed ahead of this debate that a clarification will be made to ensure that the remote learning exception works even when the technical equipment being used to deliver a remote lesson is being operated by someone other than the teacher, such as an IT support person. That's just common sense. The bill as drafted had an unintended consequence: that teachers could not use the orphan works scheme for works and broadcasts. But I'm assured that that will be addressed. That brings me to one last sticking point, and I hope that there's a way through this and that common sense can prevail. The exemption applies to live instruction but not on-demand or catch-up learning.”
“An example of that is my own experience where I was able to complete an MBA at the Shepparton campus of La Trobe University. A lot of the time, there were five of us with a facilitator in the front room of the La Trobe University Shepparton campus at night, receiving the lecture that was coming from Melbourne. That was broadcast to us, and we were able to get, in real time, the lecture that the students at the business school in Collins Street, Melbourne were getting. That will be further enhanced by this legislation, because there won't be the copyright problems that existed with broadcasting some of that material. There have been some sticking points.”
“This also clarifies the education exemptions that apply to instruction delivered in person, in online or hybrid classes, or via real-time digital technologies. It reflects the modern and connected world we live in and, importantly, acknowledges the reality of delivering remote learning and distance education. Remote learning has been happening in Australia for a long time. I think back to the School of the Air and what that meant to so many remote families, with the way that children could get an education through the School of the Air. That's obviously become more of a reality in the age of the internet and the web. It's enabled better educational facilities and facilitation for people who live in those rural and remote areas.”
“Music should be something that people can make a living out of, and that's getting harder and harder with the proliferation of music-streaming programs. It's been made harder after COVID, which had a really significant effect on the live music scene. But, having said that, I note that music is a really important part of education, and we want to make sure it's there for young people to use, to be inspired and to learn not only about music but about the art of creation and the release of endorphins and, as a former prime minister said, the chemical reaction that happens in a brain when they hear a certain piece of music, I'm referring, of course, to Mr Keating, who was a big fan of the works of Mahler and Debussy and other classical works from that period.”
“It means that a larger collection of cultural, historical and educational works held by our cultural and educational institutions will be available for the benefit of researchers, educators, students, family historians, creators and the wider Australian community. The bill also amends section 28 of the act. Section 28 offers an exemption where a literary, dramatic or musical work is performed in a class for the purpose of education. It's not deemed a public performance, which would enliven the copyright, if the audience is limited to persons who are taking part in the instruction or are otherwise directly connected with the place where the instruction is given. The bill modernises the act to take account of the modern methods of learning, and that's really important.”
“An orphan work is basically copyright material for which the owner cannot be identified or located to seek their permission to legally reutilise it. Permission is ordinarily sought from the copyright owner before using copyright material in a way that engages the rights of the owner of that material under the act. But, if the copyright owner is not known or cannot be located after reasonable effort, the orphan works scheme would facilitate the use of these works as long as reasonable efforts have been made and notice is given in a clear and prominent manner that the work is being used for the purpose of the orphan works scheme. The intended outcome of this is a very good outcome, particularly in the realm of education.”
“If the idea existed and then someone else gains from it, there does need to be some clarification and restitution for that artistic idea. I've also had a keen interest in looking at this bill through a regional lens, particularly as there are a lot of implications for distance learning. The Copyright Amendment Bill 2025 amends the Copyright Act 1968. Have a think. That's a long time ago for a law to be updated. The bill introduces an Australian orphan works scheme, and I support this. It clarifies the scope of section 28 of the Copyright Act, relating to the performance and communication of copyright material in the course of educational instruction. This is an important change for regional, rural and remote education, from early childhood through to tertiary, as I'll explain.”
“I always want to make sure that the ideas that I put forward are protected in some way. It's interesting to see the way the music industry has evolved, particularly with a number of claims. One famous one was by the American guitarist Joe Satriani, who had a piece of music called 'If I Could Fly'. The melody is remarkably similar to Coldplay's 'Viva La Vida', and, when that was challenged, it was settled out of court. Of course, there's also the famous Australian example of the Men at Work song 'Down Under' and 'Kookaburra' about the Kookaburra who sits in an old gum tree. It's become something that courts and, indeed, legislatures across the world and in our own country have had to grapple with. What is an original idea? When has someone else used it, even if they didn't mean to breach the copyright?”
“I, too, rise to speak on the Copyright Amendment Bill 2025. By its nature, it's a rather uncontroversial bill. As the member for Deakin said, it's supported across the chamber. It makes a lot of technical changes. These reforms are the result of several years of consultation, roundtables and review work commissioned by the government in 2023. I just want to say that I and a lot of us are strong supporters of copyright. Creators—whether they're artists, musicians, writers or photographers—should be paid for the reproduction or use of their works and should be acknowledged for those things. Copyright has become very topical in the last 10 to 15 years. My own artistic endeavour is music, and when I was a wannabe rock star, back in the day, I was in a band called The Hunted and I co-wrote a song called 'The Ballad of the Aimless Artist'.”
“The member for Indi and I met with the Strathbogie Shire Council, which is the council that was most affected. They are saying, 'We have had so much infrastructure damage and we have such a small rate base; how are we going to build it back?' I thank the Minister for Emergency Management for coming to visit with them, but the issue we have is the Strathbogie shire is still awaiting funding for infrastructure that was damaged in the 2022 floods—namely, Kirwans bridge. They're worried that they're not going to get the government support to fix the infrastructure that they've lost in this natural disaster. I ask the Minister for Emergency Management and Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories to come to the party and help the Strathbogie Shire Council.”
“Earlier last month large areas of my electorate and the member for Indi's electorate were ravaged by bushfire. Fires that started around the Longwood area were pushed by a north-westerly into farmland and bushland, devastating more than 140,000 hectares. In addition, there were fires up in the north of my electorate in a place called Yarroweyah. Many houses have been lost. Many businesses have been affected, including farms. The iconic Fowles Winery has lost vineyards, and farmers have been forced to go out there with their rifles and put down livestock. I want to give a big shout-out to the state member for Euroa, my National Party colleague Annabelle Cleeland, who has gone above and beyond to help her community with fodder drives and other support.”
“It is critical for us, as a parliament and as a nation, to look inside ourselves and not just make legislative change—that we'll debate, as we do in this place—but embrace the more challenging question of cultural change. It is the cultural change that we need, to right the ship that is Australia at the moment. It's going to take difficult conversations, it's going to take honest conversations, and it's going to take us all looking inside ourselves to ask what this nation is, what we want it to be, and why we have drifted to a point where something like this can happen in such an iconic place in our nation. We owe that to the victims, to their families and to our beautiful country.”
“What are the norms in our society, and what do we want them to be? Do we have the courage to call out the antisemitism in our nation—wherever it resides? Examples of where it resides were articulated so well earlier today by the Member for Berowra. A precious part of our Australian community was attacked in December, and we need to have their backs and give them the support they need. My heart goes out to those whose lives were cut short and the families who grieve. I also give thanks, from a grateful nation, to the amazing heroes who intervened and the first responders who went running towards those people who were injured and subsequently died, many of them, at Bondi that day. We saw the best of Australia in them. Australia will never be the same. This is an absolute tragedy.”
“As refugees and migrants coming over many years, they've set up the fruit farms, the dairy farms and—most famously—the packing technologies that drove those industries forward. There was a synagogue; it's no longer there, but there's a memorial stone on Poplar Avenue in Shepparton where the synagogue was. After the terrible events in Bondi, the Shepparton Interfaith Network, a group of all faiths—Sikhs, Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Jewish people—all gathered for a candlelight vigil and to talk about the way that faiths have been able to exist together in the Goulburn Valley in a peaceful way. There was no radicalisation, just faith in a culture that says, 'We respect your right to your faith as long as you respect ours.' It's a culture that's eroding in parts of Australia. So where to from here?”
“Sunday 14 December 2025 will go down as a day of tragedy and infamy for our nation. It was a day when thousands of people who were peacefully and gracefully celebrating the festival of Hanukkah were attacked—attacked for being Jewish. Fifteen of them—not them, but fifteen of us—were killed. It's hard to find words to describe how despicable, cowardly and evil this act and the people who perpetrated it are. Aussies at a beach, embracing faith—epitomised by Matilda, a 10-year-old with so much good in her, so much potential and with so much to offer our community—were cut down by hatred and an ideology with nothing to offer. The Jewish community has got a proud history in my electorate, in Shepparton and in the Goulburn Valley.”