Matt Gregg
Deakin · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“Now, let's talk about the challenges faced by the Australian people: a quadrupling of house prices over two decades, unresolved by the Liberal Party in government; and we had 4.1 gigawatts out of baseload energy, unresponded to by the coalition government.”
“This is a government focused on the future and focused on actually resolving the challenges faced by the Australian people rather than whinging about them and going on template tirades which solve absolutely nothing. The coalition then have the gall to say, 'Oh, look, the coalition's less popular.”
“We are going to confront them on behalf of the Australian people, to make sure that they can be optimistic that the future is going to be better. We make absolutely no apologies for that. Today, 1 July—despite me sounding a little angry—is actually a very good day. It's a very good day! Every taxpayer is getting a tax cut.”
“Change is what the Labor government is delivering. We are making difficult decisions that actually address the challenges faced by Australians. We don't just sit here proud of the status quo; we come here to make a difference. It's very easy to come in and make statements. What is difficult is change.”
“Then, suddenly, they come into this chamber as if all challenges faced by society came out of nowhere and are all Labor's fault. It's complete nonsense. We are responding to the issue of energy shortages by developing a 21st-century grid, because we know that energy is the key to future productivity and success.”
“Where do I begin? We start with the member for Goldstein making up quotes to be outraged by, reciting tired old campaign lines from a party fast approaching the abyss.”
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“The right to disconnect, for example, has not led to industrial disharmony. People understand the common sense that underrides the rule, 'Contact them if needed but don't go overboard with contacting your workers when they're trying to enjoy their own time with their families.' The objective of increasing the wages of working people is a noble one. Also, when we think about it, if you create an economy that incentivises a race to the bottom on wages, we see the very kinds of issues we've seen in aged care and child care: if you make it all too easy for firms to compete on a low cost base by undercutting the wages of working people, that's exactly what they'll do.”
“There was a lengthy period of time in Australian history where low wages were a deliberate design feature of our economy. The election of the Albanese Labor government put a fortunate end to that silly spiral that we found ourselves in in the Australian economy. Secure jobs, better pay means that workers get their fair share of the prosperity that their work creates. It means that a person who does their fair day of work gets to go home and live their life with their family in peace, without being concerned by constant harassment through phone calls from their employer without justified purpose. It is a regime that gets the balance right between the interests of workers and employees. We've had very little disputation about many of the new features of secure jobs, better pay.”
“This is a sensible, proportionate and reasonable measure to ensure that we can keep our workplaces safe, that we can serve the Australian people and that we make sure that everyone's right to feel safe and respected at work is preserved. That is why I am proud to support this bill. Question agreed to. Bill read a second time.”
“It is sad that there is an increasing minority of people who have become antigovernment and are engaging in irrational, violent, intimidating behaviour towards government employees across the government sector, be they Services Australia staff or, as my colleagues have pointed out, staff in our electorate offices. That has made working in this sector a little bit harder than it used to be. I know the vast majority of Australians respect our public servants. They respect the work that they do and they treat them with dignity and respect, as you'd expect. But, sadly, we have to create these regimes to deal with a small minority of people who engage in disrespectful or violent behaviour.”
“That also means ensuring that we're protecting their safety, both physical and psychosocial, to ensure that we have the best possible Public Service that we are able to deliver for the Australian people. It is our responsibility to the Australian people as well our employees to make sure that appropriate measures are in place. We need to ensure that we, as employers, take the initiative to put in place these protective measures where necessary to ensure that interventions can be put in place in circumstances where workers have been the subject of intolerable behaviour—that we draw a line in the sand and make sure measures are in place to ensure it doesn't happen in the future.”
“We need to make sure that abuse is no longer tolerated or considered part of the job and that people should never be told that they just have to cop it because it's part of the gig. No, we are entitled to expect that our fellow citizens engage with Commonwealth workers with respect for them as individuals and with respect for their safety. No-one deserves a serve, including Commonwealth workers. We see from the number of workers compensation claims and the number of days of absenteeism that threats and intimidation can have a profound impact on a worker's ability to do their job. Given the importance of the work being done by our Commonwealth workers, we need to make sure that we are enabling our people to perform at their best.”
“I reflect on the important work they do and how difficult disruptive behaviours can make it. It's for workers like that that we really need to ensure that we are doing right by our Commonwealth workers. We need to make sure that teams like Richard's never have to confront violence or aggression. But, with 1,694 serious incidents occurring across Services Australia's face-to-face service channel in a single year, the sad reality is that we need stronger protections for Commonwealth workers. These jobs are important. Our people deserve to feel safe and to be safe, and, when we think about the harms, it's simply not only the danger of physical intimidation and physical assaults but also the psychosocial risk is becoming increasingly prevalent challenge faced in many workplaces.”
“While concerns about access to services are reasonable to raise and consider, the guardrails put into this legislation are reasonably and appropriately adapted to balancing the rights of all concerned. We cannot be distracted from the fundamental principle that no-one should be threatened or assaulted at work, especially not when they're doing such important work for the Australian community. One of the early meetings I took after the election was with Richard, our local manager at Services Australia in Ringwood—it's not far from my electoral office in Mitcham. Like others in this place, my office receives a lot of emails and phone calls from people seeking assistance from Services Australia, and it was great to meet Richard and hear about what he and his team do for our community.”
“There is that flexibility in the way the orders are drafted and in the way this legislation is designed to ensure the delivery of necessary services at the same time as protecting the legitimate rights of workers, the legitimate rights of others in their workplace and the legitimate rights of our fellow citizens to utilise those services. Fundamentally, the imposition of a WPO will not prevent a person accessing necessary Commonwealth services—though it may alter the way they can access those services for a period—nor will it remove their right to political communication. People are entitled to have their political views, but no Commonwealth worker should be subject to abuse, intimidation, harassment, threats or the conduct of physical violence, and there are lines that really must be drawn in the sand in this respect.”
“We're not talking about a criminal penalty or a finding of guilt. This is, by and large, a protective measure. When applying for a WPO, the proposed conditions may, in effect, limit a person's access to Commonwealth services; however, this has guardrails to ensure that individuals subject to those orders are able to receive the services they need. Orders can be made flexibly to ensure that adaptations are made to ensure that those subject to the order are still receiving the services they need at the same time as fulfilling that important need to ensure that Commonwealth workers are protected.”
“Their rights deserve consideration in this respect as well. We've seen workplaces shut down because of unacceptable and violent behaviours, leaving others in the room without the services they need in that given moment. In the context of the Commonwealth government, we're not talking about nice-to-haves. We are talking about essential services—money to put food on the table, the addressing of the immediate needs of the vulnerable and the protection of physical safety. Therefore, there is a public interest in taking action to ensure that those disruptions do not happen and that Commonwealth workers are able to work at their best and do their job for the public good without disruption. This bill also considers the rights of the individuals subject to orders. It's why the bill puts guardrails in place.”
“Of course, we see disgraceful behaviour—and I know in retail the SDA has been running the No One Deserves a Serve campaign for many years, calling on customers to conduct themselves appropriately and for employers to put in appropriate protections for their workers, and, really, this is what this bill is about on a Commonwealth level. As an employer, the Commonwealth is putting in place appropriate protections for its workers. Besides the fundamental responsibility we have as an employer to provide a safe workplace, we also need to make sure that our departments and agencies remain attractive places to work. We cannot let Commonwealth workers get left behind as other sectors tackle abuse and violence. We need to take action, and that is exactly what this bill does. We also need to be mindful of the rights of other service users.”
“This bill is an important step towards creating safer Commonwealth workplaces and sends a strong message that the Albanese government values workers who provide critical government services and that violence and aggression towards these workers is unacceptable. This behaviour is not accepted in any other industry. As my friend the member for Moreton went to in her remarks, you see signs everywhere stating that disrespectful behaviour towards staff will not be tolerated. That could be in your local bank branch, in the drive-through or at a shopping centre. Members of the public—patrons, customers, passengers—are rightly expected to be respectful to the people who are there to help them.”
“While it's a shame that the protections in this bill are necessary, we must do everything we can do protect our workers and ensure our departments and agencies remain attractive places to work. Any violence towards a Commonwealth worker is unacceptable, and this bill aims to deter this disgraceful behaviour. This bill addresses a legislative gap in most state and territory protection order schemes, because, under this scheme, affected workers do not need to bring an application forward in their own name. If a Commonwealth worker needs a protection order to be safe at work, we should be doing everything we can as a government to make that order accessible, including barriers like privacy concerns.”
“The scheme will be available to most Commonwealth workplaces, extending to anywhere a Commonwealth worker is conducting official Commonwealth work. This includes workplaces such as mobile service pop-ups in shops and shopping centres, Commonwealth vehicles or a Commonwealth worker's residence, when working from home. Again, this is about providing a safe workplace for the workers we, as Australians, depend on. Whether it is through implementing our social safety net or keeping dangerous criminals and products out of Australia, Commonwealth workers are essential. Even if you do not often find yourself meeting with a Commonwealth worker, they are out there every day working for the public good.”
“The bill enables an authorised person from a Commonwealth entity to apply to a court for a WPO on behalf of a Commonwealth worker or workplace where personal violence, including threats of violence, against a worker or workplace has arisen out of, or in direct connection with, their official functions and duties. This definition is designed to include acts of violence, harassment and intimidation; threats of harm; and other harmful, non-physical violence such as verbal abuse and conduct engaged in over the phone. Contravention of a WPO would constitute a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment of up to two years. This is about sending a strong message that violence and aggressive behaviour are unacceptable and about deterring this behaviour from occurring in the first place.”
“On 13 October 2023, the government committed to implementing all 44 recommendations of the 2023 Services Australia Security Risk Management Review, conducted by Mr Graham Ashton AM, APM—the Ashton review—which was commissioned after a Services Australia staff member was seriously assaulted with a bladed weapon in May 2023. This bill implements our response to recommendation 17 of the Ashton review and complements the Criminal Code Amendment (Protecting Commonwealth Frontline Workers) Act 2024, which implemented recommendation 18 of the review by increasing the penalties for harming a Commonwealth frontline worker.”
“As recently as May this year, two Australian Border Force contractors were seriously assaulted with a bladed weapon whilst at work. We simply cannot accept this. We cannot accept Commonwealth workers—the people charged with looking after our most vulnerable and keeping our country safe—being threatened and assaulted on the job. This is for many reasons. Of course, fundamentally, no-one should have to deal with this sort of behaviour at work, but it is particularly important for us, as the federal government, to be protecting our workers, because we really want to be an employer of choice. We will run into serious problems as a country if people no longer want to do the jobs our community relies on, and we have a duty to our country and to our workers to protect the people who protect us. That is what this bill is about.”
“I rise today to speak in support of the Commonwealth Workplace Protection Orders Bill 2025. This bill will provide legal protections for Commonwealth workplaces and workers and deter acts of violence and other harmful behaviours by members of the public. The workplace protection orders, or WPO, scheme responds to the increasing risk of harm faced by Commonwealth workers, particularly those in frontline service-delivery roles. It is an unfortunate reality that those government workers who do essential work supporting the most vulnerable members of our community are more likely to be confronted with violence and other unacceptable behaviour than those in many other professions are. Between July 2023 and June 2024, there were 1,694 serious incidents across Services Australia's face-to-face services.”
“But right now it just reeks of hypocrisy to see that the party of ditching net zero is talking about the Albanese government's record on the environment. If there's failure on environmental policy, it would definitely be the coalition's, and it's one that has been around for 18 years— (Time expired)”
“Well, I guess there's a first for everything, and I am actually comforted by the notion that someone in the LNP cares about the environment and environmental policy. If only that care and concern could be extended to the rest of the party and perhaps used to persuade fellow party members that it's time to act on climate change and improving our environmental policies! I can only hope, from the fact that they have raised their concerns about the environment, that we'll have steadfast supporters for the further actions being taken by the Albanese government over the next three years and we can perhaps be on a joint ticket in our efforts to make sure that we have the best environmental protection laws possible and that we're doing everything we can to address climate change.”
“If we listened to the coalition and took their path, we wouldn't exactly call that science based. In the motion, there's criticism about there having been no diary meeting for 18 months, without producing any kind of cause-and-effect argument as to how anything the Albanese government has done has contributed to the algal bloom. It is a horrible event. It is one we need to understand better. We need to make sure that we are doing all we can to protect our local environment. But this is just a very strange approach. When I first read the motion, I thought, 'Oh, the Greens have gone a bit crazy in how they're drafting motions.' But then I was shocked to realise that it's the coalition pretending to care about climate policy.”
“We could see the Liberal Party being hijacked by the National Party when it comes to the environment as well. At two elections in a row, the people have overwhelmingly rejected the coalition's approach to environmental policy. The coalition have spent weeks talking about ditching net zero while, at the same time, feigning outrage about the credentials of the Labor Party, which has not only talked about taking action but taken concrete steps over the last three years and which continues in its work towards improving our environment and the sustainability of our sectors. On the Leader of the Opposition's watch as environment minister, the Great Barrier Reef was almost listed as endangered. We've taken steps to protect that environment, among others.”
“We've lifted our country's emissions targets by half, from 26 per cent to 43 per cent by 2030, and established the target of reaching net zero emissions by 2050, and we've enshrined those targets into the law of the land, sending a message to renewable energy investors around the world that Australia has changed and is open for renewable investment—a stark contrast to what we've seen from the coalition, which seems to engage in self-destruction every time the word 'environment' or 'science' comes up. Right now, we have this kind of flimflam McFlurry of a motion, feigning concern about the environment at the same time the party has just announced it's ditching net zero. It really hasn't had anything resembling a sensible approach to climate or the environment.”
“We've invested $1.3 billion to support the successful Indigenous Rangers Program, including doubling the number of Indigenous rangers, who help manage the feral animals and weeds killing our native species. We've invested over $600 million to better protect our threatened plants and animals and tackle the feral animals and weeds devastating our native species. We've increased recycling capacity by more than 1.5 million tonnes a year, stopping tyres, glass, paper and soft and difficult-to-recycle plastics going to landfill. We've established the world's first nature repair market, making it easier to invest in nature protection.”
“We're also investing, in the longer term, in the tools to help improve the ability to forecast climatic events and monitor ocean conditions, including turning a successful trial of a marine heatwave forecast tool into an ongoing service to help governments, industry, decision-makers, researchers and the public better understand ocean temperatures and forecast them accurately. Labor's environmental record is far from a failure. Since 2022, the Albanese Labor government has passed strong laws to force big polluters to cut emissions so Australia gets to net zero carbon pollution by 2050. This and other actions have reduced Australia's emissions by 29 per cent below 2005 levels. We've also protected—including planned additions—an extra 95 million hectares of ocean and bush, an area the size of Germany, Italy and Norway combined.”
“It's having a massive impact on the South Australian marine environment, businesses and the local community, and the Albanese Labor government has announced $14 million in support for the South Australian government's efforts to combat the effects of this devastating algal bloom and to improve our preparedness for future events. The funding will invest in the scientific research, business assistance and community awareness and support that are needed now, as well as immediate clean-up efforts.”
“I rise to speak against this motion moved by the member for Moncrieff, which appears, really, to be a stew of vague topic references smothered in boilerplate hyperbole and canned indignation. It is quite incredible for this to come from the party that's just looked to ditch net zero and hasn't for 18 years had any kind of cohesive environmental policy which they've managed to coalesce around for more than two minutes. The recent algal bloom in South Australia is a devastating environmental event; there's no denying that.”
“And thank you to the leaders from across Deakin who are working hard every day to create economic opportunity for people in Melbourne's east.”
“Everyone around our Deakin economic roundtable agreed that we need to make sure students are getting into the courses not only by default or as a backstop option but via an informed choice, with a full understanding of the opportunities in our economy, including in construction and manufacturing. All of us in this place have a role in articulating our support for Australian manufacturing and the amazing innovation and jobs in that sector and making sure career counsellors and parents are fully informed of the options available and overcome the prejudices that can sometimes exist around some industries, including manufacturing. We need to make sure we have a full appreciation of what modern careers look like in modern sectors. Thank you again to the Assistant Treasurer for facilitating what was a great discussion.”
“While you're never going to get agreement on everything, we found great common ground on the need to make sure our young people have a better understanding of all the options in front of them. Of course, university remains a pathway to a number of interesting and rewarding careers, and our government's very first piece of legislation after the election was an act to help students with a 20 per cent reduction in their HECS debts. But university is not the only path available. By going through a TAFE you open the door to a number of rewarding careers as well. Free TAFE courses are supporting hundreds of thousands of Australians to get the skills and knowledge they need for a great career.”
“Like many in my community I was thrilled when the Treasury announced the Economic Reform Roundtable. Tackling the big issues on resilience, productivity and budget sustainability is important to our country's future, and these decisions will impact communities right around the country, including in my own community in Deakin. That's why, ahead of the Economic Reform Roundtable last week, I brought together a group of business and union leaders, care-economy organisations, and education providers from around Deakin to talk about economic challenges and solutions for our community. Thanks to my friend the assistant Treasurer for coming along and chairing our discussion. We had people from construction, manufacturing, healthcare, childcare, aged-care, commercial property, and peak union and business bodies around the table.”
“My question is to the Minister for Housing, Minister for Homelessness and Minister for Cities. How is the Albanese Labor government building more homes and addressing the housing crisis the government inherited?”
“That's the kind of change I believe in—change that builds rather than divides, strengthens our communities and leaves future generations with a society they can thrive in, not just inherit. That's my commitment: not to be perfect but to be principled; not to win every argument but to bring good faith and a constructive approach to each one; not to chase headlines but to work diligently for the people of Deakin and for the country we all share.”
“I will do everything I can to contribute to that kind of politics, not because it's easy but because it's necessary. Before I close, I will make a short reflection. My great-great-uncle Jack turned 106 last week. Born in 1919, he has witnessed the Great Depression, World War II and, in what we now call the Deakin electorate, the transformation from orchards and clay pits to many of the suburbs we now call home. His perspective reminds me that change is constant and our communities have always navigated it. The question is whether that change is fair, whether it's inclusive and future focused, and whether we're making decisions that serve both the present and the generations still to come.”
“We must remain committed to principled international engagement and to being a trustworthy and constructive partner promoting peace, mutual understanding, prosperity and sustainability within a rules-based global order. At home, fairness must remain our guiding principle defining our reforms and shaping our national identity. So much of what we do in this place is shaped by culture, not just rules, and you can see that from a cursory look at our Constitution. The culture of politics can either lift people or wear them down. We need to keep asking, 'What kind of culture are we building here?' The Australian people deserve a politics that reflects their better instincts, that doesn't insult their intelligence or play on fears but speaks to their hopes.”
“Deakin is a vibrant and diverse electorate. We're home to an incredibly broad array of sporting clubs, volunteer associations, inclusion organisations, conservation and history societies, Dungeons & Dragons competitions, choirs, places of worship, theatres and many other clubs. Ours is a community that is active, generous and engaged, where there is truly something for everyone. It also has strong and vibrant diaspora communities whose stories are woven into our social fabric. These are communities for whom events thousands of kilometres away are not abstract; they're deeply personal. These connections remind us that Australia's global engagement matters.”
“Our goal should be a digital world build on dignity, confidence and inclusion, where harmful content is sidelined rather than mainstreamed. Adults who wish to engage in that content within the bounds of the law may do so, but it should not define or diminish the experience of everyone else, everywhere, all the time. The relentless push for user engagement, exploiting vulnerabilities in the human brain—particularly those of our young people—to keep us logged in so they can sell more ads has to be tempered by a genuine obligation to protect individuals from unreasonable harm, just as we expect of any other industry or workplace. Commendable work has already been done in this place, but protecting our young people and upholding reasonable community standards will require continued vigilance and a sustained, principled response.”
“Recently, I have heard deep concerns by members of my community about the impact that social media is having on health and wellbeing and on civil discourse. Teachers see it in the classroom. Some of the toughest teachers I have ever worked with have felt they needed to leave the profession, harassed with misogynistic and other antisocial behaviours like never before, which were inspired by, let's say, bad actors publishing their ill-conceived thoughts on social media. Young people themselves feel it in their own sense of self-worth. They know something is wrong. We must continue to meet the challenges posed by social media and the landscape it has created, not with panic but with serious, thoughtful action.”
“Not only am I the proud product of public education; I've taught in public schools, specialist schools, in the country and at a university, and what I know without any shadow of a doubt is that education changes lives. It builds confidence. It builds capacity. It opens opportunities. Every child in Deakin, every child in Australia, deserves access to world-class education, no matter their postcode or background. Every adult deserve the opportunity to continue learning and growing throughout their life, and every teacher deserves the respect and resources to do the job well. That's why I'm proud to become part of a government that has put every Australian public school on a path to full and fair funding.”
“We cannot manufacture everything all the time—we're part of the global economy—but we must be capable of responding to shocks, of pivoting, of innovating. With the right policy settings, we can foster a modern manufacturing sector that's smart, agile and resilient—a sector where entrepreneurs and small businesses can access capital, support and cutting-edge technology through manufacturing hubs and industry programs so they can test new ideas in a supportive ecosystem whilst also continuing to open pathways to allow more people to participate in these opportunities through skills, training and lifelong learning. That brings me to education, a subject that's very close to my heart.”
“That dream has been a defining aspect of Deakin for a very long time—families calling our suburbs home from generation to generation. When you go to football clubs and other societies you see the same familiar surnames on the walls and in the old photos. But that is starting to fade away. It's an erosion of that sense of community and security that we came to take for granted. It's an erosion that is fast becoming one of the great social and economic tests of our time. That is why I'm so supportive of and excited about the government's bold and necessary efforts to address housing supply and affordability—because, when people can't live where they feel like they belong, community itself begins to fray. I also believe that Australia must remain a place that makes things.”
“We must continue to address the big challenges of our time—education, productivity, the provision of care, and environmental sustainability—with long-term resolve. In Deakin I see these challenges play out every day. At our local footy clubs I hear about players who have had to move hours away, not because they wanted an opportunity to play on the field or wanted higher pay but because they couldn't afford a place to live in our part of the world. These aren't isolated stories by any stretch of the imagination. For most of my lifetime, the past 30 years, that great Australian dream—the chance to live, work, raise a family and contribute to the community you love—has become increasingly impossible to realise.”
“What drove me to hand out flyers in 2010 and what drives me now is a belief in the power of public service and in the idea that politics can still be a force for good, that it can be measured not just by slogans and headlines but by real, tangible improvements in people's lives. We live in a time that demands a seriousness of purpose. The challenges before us—economic, social, environmental and geopolitical—are complex and fast moving. At times the temptation can be to retreat—to become reactive, performative and paralysed. But we have to resist that. Our job in this place is to rise to the moment, to face complexity with clarity, to govern not for the next news cycle but for the next generation.”
“My involvement in the Labor Party began in 2010, volunteering for former Labor member for Deakin Mike Symon—knocking on doors, putting up bunting at 2.30 in the morning and all those other jobs normally given to 18- to 25-year-olds during a campaign, happily leaving the argy-bargy to others. I never imagined that one day it would be my face on those campaign posters. But over time I realised I couldn't stay on the sidelines. In 2022 I put up my hand to contest the seat of Deakin for the first time, achieving a narrow defeat. But I learned more from that narrow defeat than I could have ever learned from an easy win. I tried again in 2025, with the support of local branch members, and this time we made it.”
“Because of her, I became a lawyer and my brother a carpenter, just as we dreamed of when we were eight and 10 years old—with probably a little bit more imagination than realism but no shortage of belief that if we worked hard enough we could achieve it. She also inspired me to follow in her footsteps and become a schoolteacher, a career that has been the highlight of my working life and from which I've learnt so much. For my mum and stepdad, politics wasn't their natural world, but they made it theirs for me. They rolled up their sleeves for two campaigns and did it out of love, putting countless hours into our campaign, and that support is something I will always carry with me.”
“That culture of intellectual rigour, constructive debate and mutual respect shaped me. It provided a template for the kind of working environment I want to create in this new chapter of my life. I also want to take this opportunity to thank my family. Without them, I wouldn't be here today. I particularly want to pay tribute to my mum, who's in the chamber today and whose love and support have been unwavering. She taught me to think critically, to speak up and to never walk past a problem I could help fix. For most of my formative years she raised my brother and me as a single mum, juggling work as a full-time schoolteacher, with the trials and tribulations of raising two fairly rambunctious young men.”
“I extend that appreciation to the Deputy Prime Minister, to the Treasurer, to Senator Raff Ciccone and to ministers including Senator Penny Wong and the members for Hotham, Ballarat, Scullin and Fraser. Thank you for lending your voices, your time and your belief in our case. It really made all the difference. I'm also appreciative of the support I received from Michael Donovan and the SDA across two campaigns and his tireless work representing some of the country's youngest and most vulnerable workers. Thank you. I also want to thank the Victorian Society of Labor Lawyers and acknowledge my former colleagues at Slater & Gordon, especially the extraordinary women who continued to support and mentor me over many years. It made me a stronger advocate and I think even a better person. So, thank you.”
“We were, of course, bolstered by Labor's suite of positive, well-thought-out policies that responded to the concerns of people in our electorate and painted a positive path forward. Thank you to the Labor Party more broadly, including those in this room, that contributed to those policies. I'd also like to thank the Prime Minister for believing in our effort and coming down to Deakin many, many times when the media was really asking, 'Why bother?' Not only did his visits have a direct impact but he reminded our local campaign that perseverance and authenticity still matter and that staying focused on people, not the noise, can still cut through.”
“For me, as someone who's not naturally inclined to interrupt people at dinnertime, it did take some practice, but it was worth it in the end. Still, give me a street stall, a doorknock or a market day any day of the week. Our opponents had all the phone boxes and billboards in the area, but we had hundreds of local residents and businesses allow us to put up our little campaign signs in front of their premises, which I think is a gesture far more powerful than any paid ad. Our campaign wasn't about handing out branded shopping bags, not just because we couldn't afford them but because our strategy was to get out into the community and talk to people about what matters to them. It was about listening with curiosity, sincerity, empathy and respect, including for those who held different views from our own.”