Ash Ambihaipahar
Barton · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“They enable earlier, more effective information-sharing to support continuity of care, proactive outreach and smoother transition arrangements, including the earlier transfer of relevant information from Defence to DVA so that claims are processed faster, compensation reaches people sooner and individuals identified as being at increased…”
“Care is not yielding; care is valued work, and we are building a system that treats it that way. He speaks of the social conditions for hope. For too many Australians, homeownership has become a source of despair, rather than aspiration. First home buyers can access a five per cent deposit.”
“It is part of the Albanese Labor government's ongoing, deliberate work to implement the findings of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide—a royal commission this government called for while it was in opposition, because we understood that the scale of veteran suicide in this country demanded more than sympathy.”
“When Pope Leo warns against systems that reduce the person to an algorithm, this Labor government answers, 'Not here—not on our watch.' This letter speaks of the value of work not merely as economic activity but as an expression of human dignity. Catholic social teaching has always held that a fair day's work demands a fair day's pay.”
“Pope Leo also wrote that technology must serve human people, not shape them. Labor's reform, Australia's social media ban for under-16-year-olds, says the same thing in the language of legislation—that no algorithm should be permitted to interrupt a child's becoming.”
“But I want to highlight to this House that progress is not the same as completion, and the work does not end with the passage of this legislation. The health and wellbeing of our defence personnel, our veterans and their families must remain a standing priority of this parliament, not fleeting.”
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“That means the rise in house prices has happened entirely across my young adult and full adult life. So it took a long time for me, as a 39-year-old, and my husband to, between us, to save to buy our first home. I feel very grateful that we were able to buy in the St George area, in my electorate, and be close to family and friends and the places where we work. But since being elected to this place, we've also been able to purchase a small apartment in Canberra so we can juggle the lifestyle between being here and being back in the electorate. I've also had the opportunity to be a scientist and a lawyer. Some people have been making comments today about whether people are small-business owners. I myself was not a small-business owner, but I know there are a lot of people on this side of the chamber who have been.”
“I might just change the tone that's going on in this chamber, because there are some people that are really impacted by this issue. Housing is the biggest issue that I learned of through my time at St Vincent de Paul. I just want to reflect on some of the remarks from the member for Hume today. He talked a lot of smack about other people in this chamber and outside the chamber. But he didn't talk about young people. He didn't talk about the future of Australia. He didn't even provide an alternative to the Australian people, other than taking this down. What we also need to highlight is that we have to be honest about the housing system. It's broken; we know that. Since 1999, house prices have risen by more than 400 per cent. Wages have not kept up. In 1999, I was 12 years old. I am now 39.”
“It moves us away from an outdated model built around landlines and towards a framework that reflects how Australians actually live. A mobile phone is now how many Australians call for help, receive emergency information, access transport updates, produce a digital licence, make payments, contact family and interact with essential services. The law needs to recognise that reality. For communities across the country and for the constituents in Carlton and in my whole electorate, this bill sends a clear message: reliable mobile coverage matters and the standard we accept must keep rising. I commend the bill to the House.”
“They can exist in dense, growing, multicultural communities close to the CBD where thousands of people rely on their phones every day to commute, work, study and run a business, translate information, access government services or even keep in touch with their family. This bill will not fix every telecommunications problem overnight. It will not, by itself, solve every issue with congestion, mobile data, indoor reception and every local black spot, but it does set the right foundation. It treats outdoor mobile coverage as essential infrastructure and gives us a flexible framework that can respond as direct-to-device technology develops and as community expectations change. That is the practical value of this reform.”
“It's a basic part of how people stay safe, access services, participate in the economy and go about their daily lives. The Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation sets a clear expectation that, wherever reasonably possible, Australians should have access to baseline outdoor mobile coverage. That matters in the regions, it matters on our highways, on farms and in our remote communities, and it matters in suburbs like Carlton, where people are still dealing with the frustration and unfairness of unreliable mobile service in the middle of a major city. The example of Carlton shows why this work is so important. It reminds us that the coverage gaps are not always where people expect them to be.”
“This bill, with its evolving framework and its commitment to recognising new technology as it comes into the system, provides a strong, stable foundation for better mobile coverage across Australia. It means that we will not be locked into legislation that considered the landline to be the be-all and end-all as we were before. I hope that this bill sends a clear message to providers: coverage should span the whole of Australia, it should allow you to make calls in an emergency and it should not fail when you're simply using your phone to complete the small but essential necessities of everyday life. This bill is an important step in modernising Australia's telecommunications framework. It recognises that mobile coverage is no longer a convenience.”
“A phone call, a text message, a digital licence, a transport update, a translation app and a payment system are all part of the same basic expectation that when people are out in their community their phone will work. This bill starts with the most fundamental part of that expectation. It says that outdoor mobile coverage should be reasonably available across Australia on an equitable basis. That is the right foundation, but as the technology develops and as the minister considers future designated mobile telecommunications services the lived experience of communities like Carlton must be part of that conversation. We should not build a framework that only asks whether a signal technically exists. We should build one that asks whether people can actually rely on the signal when they need it.”
“It focuses on coverage being 'reasonably available'. That phrase matters, because availability cannot just mean something that exists on paper. It has to mean something that works in practice. I acknowledge that some of the issues in Carlton I've raised go beyond the narrowest reading of this bill. This bill is principally about baseline outdoor mobile coverage, with a particular focus on voice calls and SMS. It is not by itself a complete answer to the congestion, indoor reception, mobile data reliability or every local black spot. But that is exactly why it's worth raising Carlton in this debate. Carlton shows how quickly the line between basic coverage and modern connectivity is blurred.”
“For small businesses already operating on tight margins, these disruptions can have serious financial consequences. One of the frustrations I hear from these constituents is that coverage maps do not always reflect the lived experience. A map may show that an area is technically covered, but that does not mean a person can reliably use their phone when they need to. There is a difference between theoretical coverage and usable coverage. If your phone shows one bar but the call drops, that is not meaningful coverage. If a text message will not send, that is not meaningful coverage. If a person has to walk around a street corner and hold their phone up in the air or wait until they leave the station precinct before they can connect, that is not the standard Australians should expect. This is why the language of the bill is important.”
“These constituents rely heavily on translation apps to navigate daily life, whether it's communicating through service providers, interpreting governmental services and health information or interacting with authorities. When mobile coverage fails so too does the community's ability to access these essential tools. A digital divide is not just a technology issue; it is a matter of inclusion, equity and social cohesion. The impact extends further still into the local economy. Carlton's small businesses depend on reliable mobile connectivity for their day-to-day operations. From processing digital payments to managing online orders and communicating with customers, mobile service is integral to the modern commerce in Carlton. When coverage is poor, transactions fail, productivity drops and customer confidence is eroded.”
“The consequences of poor mobile coverage are not mere inconvenience; they are punitive. I've heard from constituents who have been threatened with fines because they were unable to produce a digital driver's licence or valid transport ticket when requested by authorities. In an age where government services are increasingly digitalised, we must ensure that the infrastructure underpinning those services is reliable. It is fundamentally unfair to expect compliance with digital requirements when the means to access them cannot be guaranteed. Carlton is also one of the most multicultural suburbs in our nation. For many residents, English is not their first language.”
“Constituents tell me that when they're near the station they cannot send any text messages, check emails, make calls or access transport apps for service updates. In a modern city, in a major transport hub, this is simply unacceptable. This problem is compounded by the nature of housing in Carlton. The suburb is increasingly characterised by high-rise and high-density residential developments. While these developments are very much essential to meeting Sydney's housing needs, they also present unique challenges for telecommunications infrastructure. Residents report that their fixed line internet services through the NBN are unreliable and slow, in particular, during peak usage times. In these circumstances, mobile data is not a luxury; it is a necessary backup. Without it, residents are left with no reliable means of connectivity at all.”
“Many would assume that, being less than 15 kilometres outside of Sydney CBD, Carlton is well within a fully serviced and urban telecommunications environment. Yet, for many of my constituents, mobile coverage is poor and, to their frustration, has remained so for many years. Let me begin with one of the most notorious and persistently experienced issues: lack of connectivity at the Carlton railway station. During peak commuting hours, hundreds of residents pass through Carlton Station, commuting to and from work and attempting to access mobile data at the same time. The result is predictable: networks become overwhelmed and speeds drop dramatically, and that's if you're lucky. In most cases, service becomes entirely unusable.”
“The principle is that Australians should not be left disconnected simply because the market has not delivered reliable coverage where people live, work, commute and gather. That principle applies on a remote road. It applies on a farm. It applies in a national park. Just as we are saying that we are a mobile-first country, we must also accept that the principle applies when individuals are just trying to use their phones for the basics of everyday life in urban Sydney as well. This problem of mobile coverage cuts right to the heart of our densely populated and urban communities, like the suburb of Carlton in my electorate of Barton. Carlton is a growing suburb that is home to a culturally diverse community of young families, students, small businesses and essential workers.”
“If a provider believed a place was profitable enough to service, it was serviced. If it was difficult, expensive or inconvenient, communities could be left waiting. This bill changes that starting point. It recognises that outdoor mobile coverage is not just another consumer product; it is part of the national safety net. This bill is a commitment to making sure that such a safety net is fit for purpose so that, when the worst happens, you can always reach out for help. I also want to make this point clearly. A universal obligation cannot just be understood as a regional policy issue. Of course, regional and remote communities face some of the most serious and dangerous coverage gaps in the country, and this bill is a major step forward for them, but the principle behind the bill is much broader than that.”
“However, the minister is granted the power to update these DMTs following the next advancement in mobile services when they so choose. This means that, when SMS becomes the next landline, we can update our legislation efficiently. In the same way, this bill on a whole has a flexible framework which can be adjusted by a disallowable legislative ministerial instrument as the market develops and satellite technology evolves. Importantly, this bill does not simply express a hope that coverage will improve. It creates a legal obligation. It gives government a clearer role in setting expectations for mobile network operators, and it gives the parliament a framework to make sure those expectations keep pace with technology. That matters because, for too long, mobile coverage has been treated as a commercial question alone.”
“I can't say I know the stats for payphones, but it's safe to say it's pretty slim. It is for this reason that consecutive reviews have called the existing USO outdated, irrelevant and also costly. There are clearly few fans of the USO as it stands. Accordingly, this new UOMO focuses on dragging our telecommunications into the modern world. The bill defines the UOMO as 'the obligation to ensure that mobile coverage is reasonably available outdoors to all people in Australia on an equitable basis'. This includes 'the obligation to supply each kind of designated mobile telecommunications service such that the service is reasonably available outdoors throughout Australia'. Said designated mobile telecommunication services are focused on voice calls and SMS.”
“I risk to speak on the Telecommunication Legislation Amendment (Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation) Bill 2025. This bill is about ensuring that, no matter where you are in this country, you will be able to call for help. If you're broken down on the side of the highway, if you're injured on a farm or if you're just lost in the bush, this bill ensures that, if you can see the sky, you will have coverage. The concept of a universal obligation is not new. It originally came in 1991 and applied to the provision of voice services and serviceable payphones to everyone in Australia, regardless of where they lived. Now only 15 per cent of Australian adults use their landlines, whilst 98 per cent of us use our mobile phones. This reliance is even more pronounced in regional Australia.”
“Their dedication and expertise in research excellence give our community hope for a healthier future. I am also a scientist by trade, and I know the importance of investing in research, innovation and evidence-based medicine. Behind every breakthrough are passionate researchers working tirelessly to improve and save lives. Our community is incredibly fortunate to have such talented people contributing to the world-class medical research in St George and Sutherland.”
“I want to sincerely thank Pam Brown and all the members of the board for their dedication, leadership and passion in supporting medical research that changes lives. Their commitment ensures that researchers at St George hospital and Sutherland hospital can continue groundbreaking work that improves patient outcomes and strengthens our healthcare system. I particularly want to acknowledge Professor Emad El-Omar, the director of the Microbiome Research Centre in Kogarah, whose internationally recognised work on the gut microbiome is advancing our understanding of disease prevention and human health. I also want to congratulate the grant recipients recognised on the evening: Dr Joyce Chiu, Dr Michelle Fitzmaurice, Thisun Jayawardana and Dr Jennifer Wen Ying Lim.”
“I had the opportunity to speak with some of the students about my role as the federal member for Barton and share some insight into how our parliamentary system operates. Programs like this help bring civics and democracy to life in a very practical and engaging way. I want to thank Ms Danielle Scott—the principal—the P&C, teachers, parents and the students for organising such a wonderful event and for fostering future community leaders with such enthusiasm and care. I recently also had the pleasure of attending an annual dinner of the St George and Sutherland Medical Research Foundation. It was an evening that highlighted the extraordinary work undertaken in our local health network.”
“It was a pleasure to attend the Mother's Day breakfast hosted at Bexley North Public School recently. The morning brought together students, parents, carers and teachers to celebrate the important women in our lives, who provide endless love and support to the next generation. What stood out to me the most was learning about the school's impressive student parliamentary program. Students take on leadership roles, including the position of Prime Minister, with a ministry set up as well, and they actively participate in debating ideas, presenting and drafting motions and voting on initiatives that impact school life. I was very much inspired to see young people developing their confidence, teamwork and public speaking skills at such a young age.”
“That is why this bill is about restoring and reinforcing trust in fair competition and trust that Australians will be treated honestly when they spend their hard-earned money. That is good for consumers, good for businesses and good for the Australian economy.”
“In other words, consumers will see the true price upfront rather than being confronted with unexpected additions at the end of the process. This does not prevent businesses from charging legitimate fees, nor does it interfere with their ability to structure prices appropriately. What it does is require honesty and transparency about the total unavoidable cost a consumer can expect to pay. Like I said earlier, it is about keeping alive the neighbourhoods our grandparents built and the neighbourhoods we still want to live in today. Australians should not need to navigate hidden traps, confusing interfaces or concealed fees simply to participate in everyday economy and commerce. Consumers deserve transparency. They deserve fairness. Businesses that do the right thing deserve a marketplace where integrity is rewarded rather than undermined.”
“It creates a situation where the initial advertised price does not accurately reflect what a consumer would actually pay. Instead, mandatory booking fees, processing charges, service costs or other unavoidable additions are gradually introduced throughout the purchasing process, making that final, substantial amount much higher than originally expected. Clear and accurate pricing is fundamental to a fair and competitive economy. Consumers can only make informed decisions when they have access to genuine and complete information. If important costs are concealed or delayed, it becomes far more difficult for individuals to properly compare products and services across the market. The reforms in this bill will require businesses to present all mandatory transactions related to charges at the same time the advertised price is displayed.”
“This legislation also takes important steps to address the issue of hidden fees and misleading pricing practices that have become increasingly common in today's marketplace, particularly on online transactions. Australians deserve to know the true cost of a product or service before they commit to making a purchase, yet too often consumers are presented with an advertised price that appears attractive at first instance only to discover additional compulsory charges later at the check-out process. By the time these extra costs are revealed, consumers may have already invested a considerable amount of time entering personal details, comparing options or progressing through multiple stages of transactions. This practice is commonly referred to as drip pricing, which undermines transparency and weakens confidence in the market.”
“These protections will extend beyond individual consumers to also cover small businesses who are entering into standard-form subscription contracts. This is an important inclusion because small businesses can face many of the same challenges as ordinary consumers, particularly when dealing with larger corporations and complex contractual systems. They too deserve transparency and fair treatment. Importantly, these reforms also support businesses that are already doing the right thing. Many companies already communicate clearly with customers, provide fair notice of renewals and make cancellations simple and accessible. Those businesses should not be placed at a disadvantage against competitors using confusing or restrictive practices to retain customers unfairly.”
“The reforms also place significant emphasis on the cancellation process itself, and consumers should not face unreasonable barriers when trying to end a service they no longer wish to use. Businesses will need to ensure cancellation pathways are visible, practical and proportionate. If a person can subscribe online quickly and easily, there should be a similarly straightforward process to discontinue the arrangement. In addition to these measures, further regulations approaching on 1 July 2027 will introduce a reminder requirement for businesses. Consumers will receive a clearer notification before free trials expire or before automatic renewals occur, and these reminders are intended to give individuals fair opportunity to reassess whether they still wish to continue with the service before getting the additional charge.”
“And while signing up may take only moments, cancelling can involve navigating multiple web pages, repeated prompts, hidden settings or lengthy customer service interactions. That imbalance is precisely what this legislation seeks to address. This bill introduces stronger safeguards to ensure subscription agreements are fair, transparent and easy for consumers to understand from the outset. Businesses will be required to provide clear and accessible information before a consumer enters a subscription arrangement, including details about pricing, billing frequency, renewal terms, the duration of any trial period and the steps required to cancel the service.”
“Australians are increasingly relying on subscription based services in their daily lives, from streaming platforms and fitness apps to software services and delivery memberships. Subscription models have become deeply embedded in the modern economy, and many of these services provide genuine convenience and value to customers. However, there is growing concern about the way some businesses structure their arrangements to make cancellation very difficult and ongoing charges easy to overlook. Too often, consumers are drawn into arrangements through free trials or heavily promoted introductory offers, only to later discover that ending the subscription is unnecessarily complicated. In some cases, businesses rely on consumers forgetting renewal dates, missing important notices or becoming frustrated by confusing cancellation processes.”
“Importantly, this reform has been designed with the future in mind. Markets, technology and consumer behaviour continue to evolve rapidly, particularly in the digital economy. A principles based framework allows the law to remain relevant as new forms of unfair conduct emerge, rather than relying on parliament to constantly and continuously amend legislation in response to every new tactic or technology. This approach creates a stronger and more adaptable consumer protection system while also giving businesses greater clarity about the standards expected of them. Ultimately, these changes are about strengthening confidence in the marketplace, supporting fair competition, and ensuring Australians can engage in the economy, knowing that they're being treated honestly and fairly.”
“Increasingly, consumers interact with businesses through digital platforms and online interfaces that are carefully designed to shape behaviour. While many businesses use these tools responsibly, some practices are specifically engineered to frustrate the cancellation process, overwhelm consumers with excessive information, conceal important details or create urgency that pressures individuals into rushed decisions. This bill seeks to address those harmful behaviours. This bill also addresses the growing use of digital design features that create unreasonable pressure or deliberately obstruct consumers from making informed choices. These tactics can include complicated cancellation pathways, repeated prompts designed to completely wear consumers down or interfaces structured to discourage people from changing their minds.”
“This bill introduces a flexible, overarching standard that prevents businesses from engaging in conduct that unfairly influences or pressures consumers in ways that are likely to result in harm. It acknowledges that, while businesses are entitled to market their products and compete strongly, there must be clear limits on practices that intentionally exploit confusion, vulnerability or imbalance in information. This legislation is not designed to stop ordinary advertising or legitimate sales strategies. Businesses will continue to innovate, compete and promote their services. Healthy competition remains a critical part of a strong economy. However, there's a clear distinction between persuasive marketing and conduct that deliberately steers consumers into decisions they might not otherwise make through pressure, obstruction or deception.”
“So, yes, this bill is about stronger consumer protections, but it's also something much bigger. It's about rewarding the good local businesses that do the right thing. It's about standing up to the unfair practices that punish consumers and undercut honest businesses. And it's about keeping alive the neighbourhoods our grandparents built and the neighbourhoods we still want to live in today. One of the central features of this legislation is the creation of a new economy-wide safeguard against unfair business conduct. At its heart, this reform recognises a very simple principle: Australians should be able to make purchasing decisions freely, transparently and without being manipulated through unfair tactics.”
“There are so many of them in my electorate of Barton. I think of Self Raised in Carlton and Bexley North, Greek Cargo in Earlwood and LA Donuts—Frida, you're a genius!—operating in Beverly Hills. I can say that these businesses are not engaging in traps used by nameless, faceless online businesses. They're using online tools to reach more customers, support their staff and keep their bricks-and-mortar stores alive. They're still trying to provide the best quality local service they can. They are still part of our neighbourhoods. They still know their customers. They still care about their reputation, because their reputation is built right here in our community. Without them, our local jobs and our local character will suffer. It would not be the Barton our grandparents grew up in and would not be the Barton we want to pass on.”
“Either way, it's much harder for an everyday consumer to know who they are dealing with when the whole interaction happens behind a screen. When you are trying to buy something quickly—when you're rushing between work, school pick-up, dinner and everything else—how are you meant to actually know whether the site is trustworthy? Many of these virtual storefronts build their business models around the absence of trust. They use traps. They use algorithms. They design systems to extract as much money from a buyer as possible. They do not care about the quality of service. They do not care about the product. They do not care about the person on the other end of the transaction. It is a profit model. But that's not the whole story, because there are so many small businesses on our local high streets that have built an online presence.”
“Now, I know this might sound like a little bit of a nostalgic trip here, but the local marketplace, built on closeness and trust, is becoming less common. Modern families are not always engaging with their high streets in the same way. Life is busy. Shopping online is often quicker, easier and more efficient. When we move from the local high street to the virtual high street, we lose some of those old protections. We lose the closeness. We lose the personal relationship. We lose the ability to judge a business by the way it treats people in our community. These new, virtual high streets are often not grounded in trust or community. Sometimes they are faceless, shady storefronts that just happen to be selling the exact product or service you need. Sometimes they're a huge multinational company whose only face is a logo.”
“One thing that unites these grandparents, even if they live in different suburbs, speak different languages or adhere to different religions or cultures, is that they all insist on paying in cash. Cash is king. Cash is something people understand. It's simple. It's physical. You hand it over in person. You look someone in the eye before you part with your money, and, if someone is ripping you off, Nonna knows. More than that, our grandparents often knew the person they were buying from. They shopped on their local high street, where stores were owned and run by the person you sat next to at church, the person who coached your kid's soccer team or the person who lived across the road. If someone was going to rip you off, chances were you knew about it already. The gossip mill had already armed you well to take on the local grifter.”
“I rise to speak on the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Unfair Trading Practices) Bill 2026. At its core, this particular bill is about making our payment systems and our marketplaces fairer for everyday Australians. It's about making sure people can buy what they need without being misled, trapped, pressured or ripped off. In Barton, when I think about trust in the marketplace, I think about our grandparents. We all have stereotypes of our grandparents—maybe it's Nonna and her insistence on stuffing you full of plates of pasta and homemade salami, or Papou, who's insisting you go check the lamb on the spit that's been there since six in the morning; or maybe it's Nainai, who's using Tiger Balm to treat everything; or maybe it's your Ammappa, who might actually warn you about eating too much durian, because it's a heaty food.”
“This Arncliffe housing development is a strong example of state and federal Labor governments and community housing providers working together to deliver real outcomes and strengthen our community for the future.”
“I know lots of locals will remember what that site looked like before: pretty rundown, low-density dwellings, pretty much in desperate need of repair. Not anymore. Because of the Albanese and the Minns Labor governments, our community is being built very much for a brighter future. I also want to acknowledge the Premier, Chris Minns; the Minister for Housing, Rose Jackson; and Minister Steve Kamper for their leadership and commitment to increasing housing supply in my area but also for delivering practical solutions to the housing crisis felt in New South Wales. I also want to recognise the vital role of St George Community Housing and Evolve Housing, whose experience and commitment will help ensure high quality, secure and affordable homes for the residents of Barton.”
“The New South Wales Labor government has announced that 75 per cent of the homes in this development will be dedicated to social and affordable housing. This is an incredible announcement which means that the Barton residents who need it most will be able to live right next to Arncliffe Station, close to our hospital and shops and public amenities. This announcement means 311 social housing apartments, 291 affordable housing apartments and 204 private market apartments. This increase will help address one of the most pressing challenges being faced in my community. This is a significant shift from the previous Liberal government, who had no plans for any affordable housing in this particular area.”
“Their work, alongside many others, such as the staff and volunteers, has ensured that CASS continues to evolve and respond to the changing needs of my very diverse community. Their passion and dedication were clearly reflected in the warmth and pride felt throughout the entire celebration. Anniversaries like these are an opportunity to not only reflect on the past but also look forward to the future. With strong leadership and community support, CASS will continue to make a very meaningful difference for many years to come. So congratulations again for 45 years of outstanding service, and thank you for everything you do for our community. I also rise today to speak about the important housing development in Arncliffe funded by our federal Housing Australia Future Fund.”
“Tanya Plibersek, Minister for Social Services, who is very committed to inclusive communities and strong social service that reflects the important work that CASS continues to deliver. For 45 years, CASS has played a vital role in supporting families, seniors, young people and new migrants. This organisation has helped generations to settle, connect and thrive, and this milestone is really a testament to the dedication of the staff, the volunteers and the community leaders who have contributed to its success. It was a great celebration, with speeches; performances, such as a Korean royal court fan dance and Vietnamese lion dancing; and a big birthday cake cutting. I would like to particularly thank Stephen Li, Henry Pan, Tica Lee and all the board members for their leadership, vision and commitment.”
“What is happening in Lebanon is impacting a lot of people in the electorate of Barton, and this Albanese Labor government recently announced an additional $5 million in emergency assistance to support one million people displaced in Lebanon. As we continue to see an escalation in this war, we reiterate that all parties must adhere to international law and protect innocent life. I want to thank the club's president, Hassan Chebli, the committee members and everyone who baked, donated, volunteered and attended. Your generosity will go a long way to supporting our Lebanese brothers and sisters. It was a great honour to attend the 45th anniversary celebration of CASS, recognising decades of service and support for multicultural communities across my local community. I was also proud to represent the Hon.”
“I had the pleasure last Saturday at Gardiner Park in Banksia to support the bake sale hosted by Banksia Tigers Football Club to fundraise to support displaced Lebanese families. It was a very powerful reminder of the generosity and compassion that defines my local community. Families, players and volunteers came together to bake, to organise and to sell a wide range of delicious treats, all with the shared goal of helping those doing it tough. From homemade brownies to traditional Lebanese sweets, the effort from everyone involved was truly inspiring. It was great to meet the players, parents and volunteers who worked tirelessly to bring this event together.”
“My question is to the Treasurer. What steps is the Albanese Labor government taking to help Australians with cost-of-living pressures brought on by the war in the Middle East? How does that compare to other approaches?”
“I want to acknowledge all volunteers—those from CASS; the Kogarah Storehouse; the Nan Tien Temple in Kogarah; faith leaders like Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman from the Australian National Imams Council and the United Muslims of Australia, and Father Anthony Azzi from St Charbel; and all community organisations who work tirelessly to bring these celebrations to life. The work is very vital to help build understanding and connection and cohesion across our communities. My own upbringing showed me the importance of these connections. Being raised across cultures and faiths taught me that diversity is something to be embraced and celebrated. Moments like this, when so many important celebrations occur together, remind us that our many traditions very much form part of our collective Australian story and strengthen our social fabric.”
“I also recently celebrated Lunar New Year with CASS and the Nan Tien Buddhist Temple in Kogarah, and my team with Kogarah Storehouse, to welcome the year of the horse. The celebrations were vibrant and joyful, filled with cultural performances, yummy food, community connection and optimism for the year ahead. What stands out across all these celebrations, whether it's Ramadan, Lent, Lunar New Year, Holi or Passover, is how much they share in common. Each encourages reflection. Each promotes generosity. Each celebrates renewal, and each offers hope. These shared values remind us that, while our traditions may differ, our aspirations are remarkably similar.”
“Good Friday is one of the most solemn and significant days in the Christian calendar. It is a time of reflection, sacrifice and hope. I'll also be visiting Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto in Earlwood. It's a place that holds deep personal meaning for me. This is somewhere I visited as a child with the Italian family who raised me, and those experiences shaped my understanding of faith, community and compassion. Returning there now is not only about tradition but also about remembering the people who shaped my life and instilled in me values of generosity and kindness. I also want to take the opportunity to say to my electorate have a holy and happy Easter. I hope that you're surrounded by family and loved ones and that you have time to rest and reflect.”