Gordon Reid
Robertson · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“I rise to oppose this MPI on so many fronts. I want to call it out for what it is: a shabby, cynical little stunt from a Liberal Party trying to crawl out from under the wreckage that they created. For those opposite to come into this chamber and lecture Labor on older Australians is not just hypocrisy; it is gall on stilts.”
“And now, apparently, after years of neglect, they found a conscience—conveniently located somewhere between a press release and a media opportunity. As a doctor, I know a bad handover when I see it, and I'm seeing one right now. The Liberal Party handed over an aged-care system in distress—understaffed, underpaid, neglected and unstable.”
“We are delivering support at home so older Australians can stay independent, supported and connected in their own homes, and we are backing aged care workers with real wage increases, because you cannot fix aged care while treating the people who provide it like an afterthought.”
“But now, in opposition, this Liberal Party slithers back into this chamber, draped in concern, pretending that they are the champions for older Australians. Please just spare us the performance. This MPI is not about older Australians. It is about the Liberal Party trying to torch the evidence before anyone reads the file.”
“What they don't deserve is to be dragged into what we've all witnessed here today, this grubby, little memory-loss exercise of the Liberals, the Nationals and One Nation. This MPI should be rejected for exactly what it is.”
“Sue Lamb has dedicated an extraordinary 38 years to nursing, sharing her wealth of knowledge and experience throughout her career. Her unwavering focus on patient care combined with a strong commitment to supporting and encouraging her team to uphold the highest standards of practice has left a lasting influence on all of those who have w…”
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“What they don't deserve is to be dragged into what we've all witnessed here today, this grubby, little memory-loss exercise of the Liberals, the Nationals and One Nation. This MPI should be rejected for exactly what it is. It is a cynical stunt from a Liberal opposition with, from what I can see, no plan, no shame and—what's more—no moral authority.”
“We are delivering support at home so older Australians can stay independent, supported and connected in their own homes, and we are backing aged care workers with real wage increases, because you cannot fix aged care while treating the people who provide it like an afterthought. We are strengthening Medicare, making urgent care centres permanent and making medications cheaper, and we're also investing in hospitals, all of which our older Australians access. This is what governing looks like. What the coalition and One Nation are offering is heckling from the wreckage. They had the power and wasted it. They had the responsibility and they ran from it. They had the time and they squandered it. Older Australians on the Central Coast and right across this country deserved better.”
“And now, apparently, after years of neglect, they found a conscience—conveniently located somewhere between a press release and a media opportunity. As a doctor, I know a bad handover when I see it, and I'm seeing one right now. The Liberal Party handed over an aged-care system in distress—understaffed, underpaid, neglected and unstable. And now they want to blame the treating team for starting the resuscitation. That is not leadership or concern; that is political cowardice dressed up in a cheap suit. Under this prime minister and under this minister for aged care, this Labor government is doing the work that those opposite were too weak, too lazy and too divided to do, and we are delivering a rights based aged care act, putting dignity, safety and respect at the centre of aged care.”
“But now, in opposition, this Liberal Party slithers back into this chamber, draped in concern, pretending that they are the champions for older Australians. Please just spare us the performance. This MPI is not about older Australians. It is about the Liberal Party trying to torch the evidence before anyone reads the file. They want the country to forget who was in charge when they were in government. They want aged-care workers to forget who undervalued them. They want families to forget who let the system decay. They want older Australians to forget who looked the other way. But Australians aren't fools. The Liberals come in here with clean speeches and dirty fingerprints. They did not just discover compassion here today. No, what they discovered was opposition.”
“I rise to oppose this MPI on so many fronts. I want to call it out for what it is: a shabby, cynical little stunt from a Liberal Party trying to crawl out from under the wreckage that they created. For those opposite to come into this chamber and lecture Labor on older Australians is not just hypocrisy; it is gall on stilts. They had years in government yet ignored all the warnings, letting families fight through a broken system and leaving older Australians waiting, worrying and often, heartbreakingly, begging for the dignity that they deserve. And what did those opposite do? They sat on their hands while aged-care services buckled, and that was even with access to the departments, access to the budget and access to the cabinet table. There were the warnings and the royal commission. They had the power and every opportunity to act.”
“My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. How are Medicare urgent care clinics helping Australians around the country see a doctor when they need it, and why is it so important to strengthen Medicare after a decade of cuts and neglect?”
“My question is to the Minister for Home Affairs. Can the minister update the House on the national threat assessment provided last night by the director-general of ASIO? What role do we all play in helping keep Australians safe?”
“She commenced her career within the Central Coast Local Health District as a registered nurse in ICU; progressed to the role of clinical nurse specialist, clinical nurse educator in ICU and clinical nurse consultant in ICU; and subsequently advanced to nurse unit manager in ICU, where she has led the intensive care service for over 12 years. Throughout her leadership, Sue has been an advocate for excellence in patient care, staff development and multidisciplinary collaboration. She guided and supported the team during the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. On behalf of the people of the Central Coast, thank you, Sue, and all the best in your retirement.”
“Sue Lamb has dedicated an extraordinary 38 years to nursing, sharing her wealth of knowledge and experience throughout her career. Her unwavering focus on patient care combined with a strong commitment to supporting and encouraging her team to uphold the highest standards of practice has left a lasting influence on all of those who have worked alongside her. Sue began her nursing journey at just 18 years of age, studying nursing at the University of Technology Sydney as a part of the first cohort of university trained nursing graduates. Upon graduating, she commenced her career as a registered nurse in the intensive care unit at Gosford Hospital, where she continued to strengthen her clinical skills and professional practice.”
“As well as all the progress that I have mentioned in this speech, I can also update the parliament that there have now been 1,230 first home buyers in my electorate who have been able to access Labor's five per cent deposit scheme. This is a fantastic result, which our government continues to work and build upon. Whether it's through taxation reform, investments in social and affordable housing or changes to overall federal housing policy, it is really only a federal Labor government—it is this Albanese Labor government—that is taking the issues of housing affordability, housing supply and housing construction more seriously.”
“This exciting project, being delivered in collaboration with a Tier 1 housing provider, Pacific Link Housing, and building company Skope Constructions, will ensure desperately needed housing supply will be available to community members from mid-2027. The Treasurer, along with Assistant Minister Emma McBride and me, inspected the construction site and the progress being made to deliver these new homes, and I'm pleased to report that progress is going well and that the project will be delivered on time and within budget. The federal Labor government continues to take a multifaceted approach to helping first home buyers enter the property market.”
“Access to, and the affordability of, housing continues to be raised with me as I meet with constituents across the electorate, and I'm pleased to see significant investments being made by the federal government in this policy area, including the recently announced $2 billion Local Infrastructure Fund, aimed at helping local councils and state owned utilities build essential last-mile infrastructure to unlock and accelerate housing supply. This is on top of our already established $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, which is supporting the construction of social and affordable housing across the regions of the country in desperate need of more housing supply—which brings me to my electorate on the Central Coast. The Housing Australia Future Fund is helping to deliver 21 new social and affordable housing places in Woy Woy.”
“Recently, I welcomed the Treasurer of Australia, Dr Jim Chalmers, to the Central Coast upon invitation from Business NSW to participate in a business breakfast at the Mingara Recreation Club. The Treasurer was the keynote speaker and discussed several aspects of the 2026 budget, including our reforms to the taxation system in relation to negative gearing and capital gains. These important reforms aim to help level the playing field for first home buyers entering the property market and to increase the supply of housing under construction across the country. Housing remains the absolute focus of the federal Labor government because access to housing is a fundamental need. On the Central Coast, this concept is well understood by our community.”
“This is the work that these appropriations support. They support the Home Affairs portfolio, which is central to the protection of Australia's sovereignty, security and social cohesion; they support the agencies and personnel who perform difficult, often unseen work in the service of our nation; and they support the systems that allow Australia to remain open to the world without being vulnerable to those that seek to do us harm. In matters of security, the parliament should always remember what's at stake. It is about ensuring that Australia remains sovereign, secure and free. From the Central Coast to every regional community across New South Wales and beyond, Australians expect their government to act with steadiness, strength and purpose, and these appropriations help provide that foundation.”
“It is practical, it is necessary, and it is about ensuring that the Commonwealth has the capability, the discipline and the operational readiness to meet the threats of the present and prepare for the threats of the future, because our nation's strength is found not only in our agencies, our intelligence capabilities and our border systems but also in the cohesion of our communities, the trust people have in democratic institutions and the confidence Australians have in their government acting in the national interest. That balance matters. Australia can be strong on border protection and still be fair; we can be uncompromising against people smugglers and criminal networks while remaining decent and humane; and Australia can meet a changing security environment with calm resolve and not fear.”
“And they support the work required to counter extremism, espionage, foreign interference and organised criminal activity before they cause us harm. For regional Australia, national security must never be understood as something that happens elsewhere. Our communities are part of the national security architecture. Our hospitals hold sensitive data, our councils operate essential services, our regional transport networks move goods and people, our small businesses are part of our national supply chains, and our emergency services stand on the front line when issues arise. That is why investment in Home Affairs is not an abstraction.”
“They support the capability of the Commonwealth to identify risk, respond to threats and protect the national interest. They support the work of our border agencies in ensuring that legitimate travel and trade continue, while those who seek to exploit our systems are met with firmness and resolve. They support the integrity of our migration system because public confidence depends on a system that is orderly, credible and fair and administered in the national interest. They support the cyber and infrastructure resilience that modern Australia requires, because in 2026 a cyberattack on a regional health service, a port, a freight network or an energy provider is not merely a technical inconvenience; it is a national security event with local consequences.”
“We live in a region and a world where strategic competition is sharpening, where authoritarian states are more willing to test boundaries, where cyberoperations can reach into local communities and where criminal networks are increasingly sophisticated, transnational and technologically enabled. These threats do not always announce themselves at the border. They do not always arrive by sea or by air. Sometimes they arrive through a phishing email to a small business; sometimes they arrive through attempts to compromise a local council, a hospital network, a water provider or an energy system; and sometimes they arrive through coercion, misinformation, illicit finance or foreign interference designed to weaken our democracy. That is why appropriations before the House matter.”
“It is about the integrity of our borders, it is about the resilience of our critical infrastructure, it is about countering terrorism, espionage and foreign interference, and it is about disrupting organised crime, human trafficking and people smuggling. It is about ensuring our cyber defences are strong enough to protect not only Commonwealth systems but the local services and businesses that Australians rely on from day to day, and it is about maintaining confidence in the institutions that keep our democracy secure, orderly and free. This is the serious purpose of the Home Affairs portfolio. Australia cannot afford the luxury of complacency.”
“I rise on the Home Affairs appropriations at a time when the security environment facing Australia is more complex, more contested and more consequential than at any point in recent memory. The first responsibility of any national government is the protection of its people, and that responsibility is not theoretical. It is not confined to briefings, agencies or capital city institutions. It is felt in every community across this country, including in regional New South Wales, including on the Central Coast and including in the homes, workplaces, hospitals and small businesses of the people that I represent. National security today is broader than it once was.”
“Two urgent care clinics have opened in the electorate of Robertson, three across the Central Coast region, including a state based urgent care clinic at the Long Jetty Hospital, seeing thousands of patients and taking the pressure off our emergency departments right across our region. These Medicare urgent care clinics are for if you're too sick for the GP, but not sick enough for the emergency department. Finally, under this Albanese Labor government, you have somewhere to go that's bulk-billed for adults and children.”
“In the men's team, we have Jai McNamara, Lachlan Walter, Max Elliott, Luke Hughes, Luke Stimson, Reef Potter, Declan Walsh, Owen Nash, Connor Bradshaw, Sandor Torok, Taine Beavis and Josh Pethers. In the women's team we have Jackie Morrison, Emily Grellman, Makala Kricak, Lauren Nugent, Rosie Stimson, Ellie Stimson, Harlei Kricak, Zoe Stimson, Taylah Tracey and Claudia Nugent. Again, congratulations to both teams. I'm sure that you will all have celebrated this phenomenal outcome in true style. A special shout-out to all the behind-the-scenes club officials who work incredibly hard to support players pull off these wins too. So go Gosford Water Polo club!”
“Teaching has given Chrissy a life of purpose, growth, and community, and she is deeply grateful for the opportunity to continue learning and giving back. Today I also rise to congratulate the Gosford Water Polo club and its men's and women's teams that have both won their respective finals at the New South Wales senior country championships in Albury, which took place on 23 and 25 January. This is now the third consecutive year that the Gosford Water Polo club has achieved this result. No other club has been able to win this many finals in the history of the competition. I congratulate the following team members for their tremendous camaraderie and sporting success.”
“Former principal Mrs Davies has perfectly captured Mrs Ryan's teaching ethos via the following words: Teaching has never been just a job for Chrissy; it is a calling to nurture young minds, balance enduring principles with evolving research, and ensure every child feels safe, seen and valued. The trust families place in her has always been both a profound responsibility and a joy. What teaching gives Chrissy is immeasurable: the joy of watching students grow in confidence and curiosity, sharing in their learning moments, and continuing to learn herself. Even after decades in the classroom, she remains committed to innovation while holding fast to compassion, respect, and human connection.”
“I also rise to acknowledge a recently retired schoolteacher, Mrs Christine Ryan, formerly of St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School in Woy Woy. Mrs Ryan taught at several schools during her tremendous career, which spanned a period of three decades and included schools in Europe and the United Kingdom. Mrs Ryan grew up in Sydney, achieving a Bachelor of Teaching at the University of Technology in Sydney in 1993, after which she taught at a number of schools across the city. After spending time in the UK and Europe, along with her husband, they resettled and worked in Darwin. Eventually the couple set down roots on the Central Coast in 2005. Mrs Ryan taught at St Patrick's Catholic Primary School in East Gosford, before starting work at St John the Baptist Catholic Primary School in 2022.”
“Her classroom has always been a place filled with warmth, curiosity, creativity and care. Thousands of children have learned, grown and found confidence under her guidance and many still speak fondly of the impact she had on their lives. Mrs Duck has been much more than a teacher. She has been a mentor, a colleague, a friend and an integral part of the fabric of our school. Her commitment to our community, her unwavering kindness and her passion for helping young people succeed have left a legacy that will continue long after she steps out of the classroom. So, on behalf of the entire Central Coast, I thank Mrs Duck for her service to our community and public education, and I wish her all the best in her retirement.”
“I rise to acknowledge a very special former assistant principal and teacher in my community on the New South Wales Central Coast, Mrs Louise Duck. Mrs Duck taught across New South Wales classrooms for the past 34 years, having started her career in the country at Cootamundra before accepting a position at Avoca Beach Public School in 1992. From that time, Mrs Duck quickly became a much-loved and appreciated member of the school community in Avoca Beach. At the end of 2025, Mrs Duck retired and is now enjoying a slower paced lifestyle on the Central Coast. Here is an excerpt from a beautiful message from the current school principal, Mr Thomas. He recently said this of Mrs Duck's time at Avoca Beach Public School: For over three decades, Mrs Duck has given her heart, her energy and her extraordinary skill to generations of students.”
“My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. How is the Albanese Labor government strengthening Medicare after a decade of cuts and neglect? What additional support does the budget provide to lift bulk-billing rates on the Central Coast and in the Hunter region?”
“While Labor is building, others are barking from the cheap seats—and then there's the One Nation-Liberal coalition. There's a party that's spent decades perfecting the politics of the empty fist, all swing and no substance. They come into this parliament thundering about the forgotten Australian, but they have no intention of remembering them once the cameras are gone. On health care, they're not just weak; they are vacant. They have no credible plan for Medicare, no plan for hospitals, no plan for GP access and no plan for bulk-billing—nothing. It's just a long, tired performance of outrage from a party that confuses volume with virtue and anger with intellect. On these tests, One Nation and the Liberals fail every time. (Time expired)”
“A budget is more than a set of numbers. It is a statement of what a government believes people deserve. This federal budget says, clearly and proudly, that Australians deserve health care that is affordable, accessible and there when they need it. This budget invests in Medicare. It invests in bulk-billing. It locks in Medicare urgent care clinics as a permanent part of our health system. It delivers record funding for public hospitals, cheaper medicines and stronger digital health infrastructure. This means a child with a fever can be seen before midnight. It means a pensioner can fill a script without having to choose between medicine and groceries. It means emergency departments can focus on true emergencies. And it means Medicare is not just defended in speeches; it is strengthened in practice.”
“I want to briefly thank the committee, the committee chair and deputy chair, the secretariat and all of the staff for their assistance throughout the committee's deliberations. I commend the report to the House.”
“On review of this information and the information previously provided, the committee was satisfied that the amendments have achieved their purpose of ensuring that the Migration Act is consistent with Australia's non-refoulement obligations. The committee observes that the Migration Amendment (Clarifying International Obligations for Removal) Act 2021 is not national security legislation. The committee therefore considers that it would have been more appropriately reviewed by a parliamentary committee with direct responsibility and experience relating to the Migration Act and international human rights obligations. The committee has therefore made one recommendation—that, in future, any review of these provisions or any related matters be referred to a parliamentary committee with a relevant mandate in relation to immigration issues.”
“The amendment aimed to clarify that the Migration Act does not authorise the involuntary removal of a noncitizen to a country where a protection finding has been made in relation to the noncitizen with respect to that country. The amendments also require the minister, in considering a protection visa application, to consider and make a record of whether Australia has any protection obligations in relation to the person. The committee commenced its review in May 2023 and received 10 submissions from government and civil society stakeholders. This initial review lapsed at the dissolution of the 47th Parliament and the committee reinitiated the review in the current parliament, in November 2025. Earlier this year the committee received a detailed update from the Department of Home Affairs on its use of the provisions.”
“On behalf of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, I present the committee's report entitled Review of the Migration Amendment (Clarifying International Obligations for Removal) Act 2021 . Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e). by leave—This review was conducted under paragraph 29 of the Intelligence Services Act 2001, which required the committee to commence a review of the operation, effectiveness and implications of the act within two years of its commencement in May 2021. The legislation amended provisions of the Migration Act relating to protection visas.”
“In particular, the committee accepts that Hizb ut-Tahrir has advocated conduct constituting hate crimes, including through repeated praise for attacks that would amount to hate crimes if committed in Australia, and that the listing is reasonably necessary to protect the Australian community from social, economic, psychological and physical harm. Accordingly, the committee supports the listing of Hizb ut-Tahrir as a prohibited hate group under the Criminal Code and finds no reason to disallow the legislative instrument. I want to thank, briefly, the committee, the committee chair and deputy chair, and the secretariat and all of the staff for their assistance throughout the committee's deliberations. I commend the report to the House.”
“The committee carefully examined the material provided by the government, including a detailed statement of reasons, and considered submissions from a range of stakeholders expressing strongly held and, at times, divergent views. The committee also held an in camera hearing to test the evidence and satisfy itself that the legislative criteria of the listing had been met and that the process followed was consistent with the requirements of the act. Having considered the evidence before it, the committee is satisfied that Hizb ut-Tahrir meets the legislative criteria for listing as a prohibited hate group and that the listing has been properly made.”
“On behalf of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, I present the committee's report entitled Review of the listing of Hizb ut-Tahrir as a prohibited hate group under the Criminal Code . Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e). by leave—This review was conducted under section 114A.9 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 following the making of regulations in March 2026 specifying Hizb ut-Tahrir as a prohibited hate group. This was the first use of the prohibited hate group framework established by the parliament earlier this year, and the committee approached its task conscious of both the seriousness of the listing power and the need to ensure that the statutory safeguards enacted by parliament were properly applied.”
“My question goes to the Prime Minister. How does the Albanese Labor government's budget build and deliver on the aspiration of Australians? What have been the responses, and what alternatives are there?”
“I also thank Professor Alex Zelinsky AO, vice-chancellor and president of the University of Newcastle, for all his contributions in supporting this project from its early days right up to the opening—Professor Zelinsky is a huge advocate for the Central Coast—and for improving access to education in the region. Lastly, I thank the Hon. Patricia Forsythe AM, chancellor of the University of Newcastle, for her commitment to the new Gosford campus and for her continuing support for increasing educational opportunities for the people of the Central Coast.”
“It is truly exciting, and it's an exciting time for the University of Newcastle and its presence on the Central Coast, with the recent announcement that it has purchased the old council chambers in Gosford to convert them into student accommodation. Once fully refurbished and brought up to standard, the new student accommodation tower in Gosford will be home to 127 students, representing another phenomenal investment in education, infrastructure and services on the Central Coast. I take this opportunity to thank the Minister for Education, Jason Clare, for supporting the opening of this fantastic new learning space and for his exceptional remarks on the day recognising the power of education in changing people's lives.”
“The collaboration that occurred between the federal and state governments, along with the university, underscores what we can achieve when we work together. The project was funded through $18 million from both the Australian and New South Wales governments, with the University of Newcastle contributing $31.1 million towards the campus development. The University of Newcastle Gosford campus will offer several degrees in critical sectors where there are skills shortages, including health care and education, and provide enabling courses for those looking to access tertiary education. Since officially opening its doors, there are currently 1,200 students undertaking their degrees at the campus, with further capacity to grow.”
“As a member of the federal Labor government, I understand the power that education can have to positively shape the future of Australians and the opportunities that open through furthering tertiary education. It was with tremendous honour that I had the privilege to officially open, alongside my local, state and federal counterparts, including the Minister for Education, Jason Clare, the new University of Newcastle Gosford campus. This transformative new educational facility in the heart of the Gosford CBD will provide new learning and study opportunities to thousands of local students. It will also mean that more students living on the Central Coast will be able to study closer to home without having to travel to Newcastle to complete their degrees.”
“This is how we strengthen Medicare—not just in principle but, indeed, in practice. This is why the new Erina urgent care clinic matters, alongside our pre-existing Peninsula Medicare urgent care clinic.”
“It is a clinically appropriate setting for simple fractures, lacerations, acute infections and respiratory illness—care that is urgent, but care that is not critical. It is bulk-billed, walk in and delivered by highly skilled clinicians. This is what a good system looks like. It is about streaming patients safely. It is about preserving capacity. It is about ensuring that, when someone arrives in the emergency department in septic shock or cardiac arrest or major trauma, the system is ready—not stretched, not delayed, but ready. For the Central Coast, this clinic means better flow and safer care right across the health system. It means dignity in access. It means clarity in care. And it means a system that works in the way that it was designed to and the way that it should.”
“They are where cardiac arrests are resuscitated, where strokes are thrombolysed, where polytrauma is stabilised and where lives are quite literally pulled back from the brink. The clinicians who work in these environments are among the very best our system has to offer, and they aren't the problem. They are exceptional, but they carry a burden that they were never designed to carry alone, because alongside those life-threatening emergencies sits a growing volume of urgent but not life-threatening care. When everything is treated in the same place, pressure builds, waits lengthen and systems strain. That is why the Medicare urgent care clinic at Erina matters. This is not a substitute for emergency medicine; it is complement to it.”
“Today, I rise to speak about a reform that, while practical in design, is profound in impact, and that is the new Medicare urgent care clinic at Erina. Behind every policy and behind every service, there is a moment—a mother holding a febrile child unsure of where to turn, an older Australian in pain from a rapidly progressing infection or a worker with a laceration, bleeding, anxious and needing care now. These are not abstract scenarios; they are real clinical presentations happening every single day right across the Central Coast. For too long, the only door open in those moments was the emergency department. Let me say this clearly and without qualification: our emergency departments right across the country are extraordinary. They are places of precision, of courage and of relentless professionalism.”
“Finally, I extend my sincere appreciation to the officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and to the Australian embassy staff in Seoul, whose expertise, preparation and on-the-ground coordination were instrumental to the success of both the consultation and the bilateral program. This report reflects the importance of sustained parliamentary diplomacy and meaningful international partnership. I commend this report to the House.”
“These included security, economic cooperation, energy transition and the governance of emerging technologies. From my perspective as both a parliamentarian and a clinician, these conversations are not abstract. They are about the systems that underpin the safety, health and prosperity of our communities at home. I sincerely thank my fellow delegates President of the Senate, the Hon. Sue Lines, Senator Kerrynne Liddle and the member for Melbourne for their professionalism and constructive engagement throughout the Republic of Korea visit. I also acknowledge the Department of the Senate—including the delegation secretary, Ms Rachel Callinan—for their exceptional support in facilitating this delegation.”
“I present the report of the Australian parliamentary delegation to the MIKTA Speakers' Consultation 2025 and the bilateral visit to Seoul, Republic of Korea, from 10 to 13 November 2025, and I seek leave to make a short statement in connection with the report. Leave granted. I rise to table the report of Australia's participation in the MIKTA Speakers' Consultation and our associated bilateral visit to the Republic of Korea. In Seoul, the speakers consultation provided a valuable forum for dialogue between like-minded countries and reinforced the role of middle powers in supporting sustainability, stability, rules based cooperation and regional resilience. Complementing this, our bilateral engagements allowed for more targeted discussions on shared strategic priorities.”
“Both have longstanding, trusted reputations and have consistently delivered essential services that support and empower individuals and families across our community. Coast Shelter has been operating on the Central Coast for more than 30 years and is a leading non-profit organisation providing specialist services and support programs for those who need help the most. We Care Connect supports families and children across the Central Coast, with a strong focus on fostering a shared community approach and working to reverse the impacts of childhood disadvantage. The Robertson Appeal of 2025 concluded with more than a thousand gifts, all of which were received by Coast Shelter and We Care Connect, making a meaningful difference in the lives of many.”