Tim Wilson
Goldstein · Liberal Party · Australia
“Now, we see even more immoral leadership as the Prime Minister and his ministers refuse to audit whether federal money has found its way into the hands of organised crime through the CFMEU Labor cartel.”
“The silence that we heard from our prime minister and our national leaders every step of the way led to horrific incidents like, on 10 November, the protests at the front of Central Shule in Caulfield South in the Goldstein electorate. It led eventually to the most horrific terrorist incident on our most famous national beach.”
“The idea that you would put the social solidarity of the most marginalised section of our community on a ballot paper knowing it would fail is an abrogation of leadership and responsibility and something I do not think this prime minister will ever be able to shake.”
“I've recently been spending a lot of time thinking about what moral government is and what type of government seeks to divide citizens, feed corruption and break trust within the community. The short and sharp of it is that it's an immoral government.”
“But to engage in citizenship stacking, where they deliberately went around and targeted electorates and got people to become Australian citizens on the eve of a national poll, is absolutely disgraceful.”
“There is hope. We can have a moral government again that's focused on uniting Australians and building trust and taking Australia forward together. But the only way we can do that is by seeing a change of government and the end of the Albanese government.”
The complete record
Every one of 1,081 lines we hold for Tim Wilson, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 11 of 22.
“We're seeing the same thing in the UK, where Labor governments think they can somehow tax people into prosperity, where they can tax people to the point they'll look for foreign jurisdictions, where they're taxed out of their patriotism. That is exactly what is happening under this government—that we're all becoming poorer as a nation. And, of course, crypto provides a very fast pathway to do that, and that is what we're now staring down—the risk of capital outflows from this country because Labor can't manage the budget. They're exposing Australians to inflation. That means higher interest rates. That means that, as part of the Chalmers' rate-rise cycle, Australians will get poorer and will be taxed out of their patriotism.”
“We know full well that, if we have crypto in a legal framework that encourages investment, it could be part of capital flows that can invest in the future of this country, and we can increase the economic opportunity that every Australian enjoys. The failure is what is happening right now, where people are investing offshore and Australians are disconnected from the opportunities of crypto. Now, I understand why a lot of Australians are—and only the other day I had a constituent say that they are—moving their capital offshore, because of the approach of this Labor government, and moving it to foreign jurisdictions, in a legal way. And this is now a very common story.”
“But the government, in their way, can't help but go off and refer things to different agencies like ASIC. As to ASIC and having oversight of ASIC, let's be polite and say that, at times, calamity follows and there's their complete incapacity or unwillingness to regulate certain sections of the market—let alone the absence of the knowledge, capacity or skill. We have recommended that this bill go off to a committee because we believe that it is deficient, we're not convinced ASIC can do the job that's been charged to them and there's a serious need for further work to be done. But we'll see on that. There's the spirit of the bill, but the practical application of it is something we're going to have to not just revisit through the committee process but continue to revisit into the future, because the cost of getting this wrong is serious.”
“So I imagine that a large part of the reason why it's taken so long is that they've been desperately trying to figure out how they can extract, from crypto, cartel kickbacks to the CFMEU, to go into the slush funds of the Labor Party and the trade union movement and perhaps other funds as well. It continues to be a criminal activity, but, unfortunately, when we know that Australian taxpayers' money has flown into organised crime and bikie gangs, courtesy of state and federal Labor governments, there is a moral evil here that must be expunged. And, until we remove this government, crypto, traditional assets and your tax dollars will not be safe. No Australians' assets will be safe until we remove this government. We're supportive of the principle of this bill and what it's seeking to achieve.”
“That's why Senator Bragg did an outstanding job leading a parliamentary inquiry to look at how we take the grey into the light. The government has picked up significant parts of Senator Bragg's efforts and passed them off as their own homework. We still, ultimately, welcome the effort—even if there isn't the acknowledgement and we're seeing the government trying to pretend that they have somehow invented this work. But we can understand why the Labor Party took so long to introduce this legislation, because, at every point, we know, the cartel relationships that operate between the Labor Party, the trade unions and the industry super funds are a giant money-laundering operation, and of course one of the problems with crypto is that it sits outside of the frames of legality.”
“But that's not what this bill, the Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025, addresses. What it does do, though, is to give a legal framework, a pathway, for Australians—young, old and everything in between—to invest, as they see fit, complying with law. We welcome that, because there are a lot of issues that a lot of people who invested in crypto earlier, before this legislative framework, had. There were big grey areas around the property rights underlying their investments, the legality of them, the transferability of them and their capacity to seek redress, and there are lots of the more complicated things that flow on, for instance, from capital gains tax. We, on this side of the chamber, have always understood how important it is to get this framework right.”
“So the one thing I will say at the moment is that I'm afraid crypto probably is—and this is general advice, not financial advice—good value in hedging against the economic tyranny of the Albanese government, because the Chalmers rate-rise cycle has only just begun and there will be much more of it yet to come. I say that with sadness, because there's nothing Australians can afford less right now, after they've paid their Christmas credit-card-debt bill and are paying for school fees, uniforms and all the other costs that come with the new school year. The worst thing they could have had yesterday was an interest rate rise, and unfortunately, under the Chalmers rate-rise cycle, you should fully accept that that's not going to be the end of the matter.”
“But we know this is not going to be the end. So long as you have expansive fiscal policy—borrowing from the future for debt spending for today to cover up on the economic mismanagement of this government—Australians will be at risk of higher inflation and higher interest rates. We're a stand-out, but for all the wrong reasons, on a global scale around interest rates. It's directly connected to decisions by state and federal governments who simply want to cover up for their economic mismanagement by borrowing more money so that they don't have to acknowledge that they're strangling the private sector of the economy.”
“We nonetheless welcome the pathway that they're providing for a framework for cryptocurrencies. Fair enough too. When I look at cryptocurrencies—I've always been a bit of a sceptic not from a sense of opposition but from a sense of, 'What's the underlying value?' I'm in the Warren Buffett camp at the end of the day, if it's productive capacity in use. But one thing I have always given credit to cryptocurrencies for is that I think that they're a hedge against inflation and expansive monetary policy from central banks—entities that I am not very trusting of because they have successively and consistently got decisions wrong, which has led to what we now have to acknowledge is the Chalmers rate-rise cycle. We had, of course, one interest rate rise yesterday off the back of shocking inflation data.”
“Of course I welcome the pathway to be able to make sure that the financial instruments that Australians use on a day-to-day basis operate with the compliance and framework of law. So in seeking, in the loose terms of the spirit of this law, to support it, I welcome the fact that the government is finally taking steps to bring about a legal framework to include cryptocurrencies and the sorts of digital assets that we need to be part of not just a modern economy but the global economy. It has taken the government an incredibly long period of time to get here, and I know their agenda has been incredibly detailed and complicated in so many different areas, of which not a single one I can name. But that's probably a reflection of the busy work and fights that go on between the Prime Minister and the Treasurer.”
“The lists are getting longer and longer and longer and longer and longer. This feeds distrust and resentment within the Australian community, because those who need services are not able to access them, and we're not getting the health outcomes that Australians desperately need. In the context of putting forward a practical, modest measure, I implore the government that finally they might start to work towards a healthcare system that works for the Australian people based on honesty, based on patient outcomes and based on improving the health and wellbeing of this nation.”
“That's going to continue to be a big challenge for our country into the future. We know what happens if we don't do that. We're going to have higher costs and unsustainability in the system that will come through via lower quality care in communities, particularly in lower socioeconomic communities and rural and regional areas. We know that it will make it harder to be able to build a robust and resilient health system that this nation needs. You only need to look at what is happening in the British and Canadian systems. Because of their rigidity with a system geared towards the interests of union members, not patients, the consequences that then flow from that mean people increasingly have to wait, they are denied care and, because they can't buy things on the basis of price, they are forced to ration on the basis of lists.”
“But when there are improper and rigid guidelines around access to certain healthcare services and certain medicines there are a select few who, unfortunately, abuse that trust for their own gain and their own benefit. Getting the balance in law is right because it's such an important part of it. What we have here is legislation that addresses a pathway for registered nurses who are qualified, have capacity and have the regulatory framework to be able to do their jobs better, to allow better outcomes for patient care. On that basis, I'm very supportive of the principle of the legislation as passing it will improve patient outcomes, will improve healthcare services and will actually free up capital and time for nurses, doctors and specialists to be able to support patients where it's needed.”
“That is a worthwhile objective, and, frankly, I'm very open to many measures that seek to achieve this in many realms, particularly in the healthcare system, to make it more sustainable, to reduce costs and to improve best outcomes for Australians and best healthcare outcomes for Australians. Having served on the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ahpra from 2010 until about 2013, I've seen what happens within the sector. You see the enormous pride that nurses rightly take in their profession. But, as is often the case with disciplinary and registration boards, you also, tragically, see the consequences of when trust is abused. We see that in this place with certain committees as well, where trust is abused.”
“So that's the situation we currently face in health care, but that doesn't mean that occasionally we get pieces of legislation that come along that at least can do some good to try and change that, because even the Labor Party know the gig is up and they're not going to be able to sustain the health system that they rhetorically promote through their words and their propaganda on television because Australians know the gig is up because they're living the opposite reality. So, when you empower registered nurses to be able to prescribe things off the PBS in certain circumstances and when they're authorised to do so, you help empower nurses, reduce costs and hopefully get better care pathways through to achieve what I believe the central objective of the health system should be, which is to improve patient outcomes.”
“I think we should run a healthcare system focused on patient outcomes that actually empowers Australians to be able to get the health and support and community through primary care to minimise long-term dependency on tertiary care and, more importantly, to make sure that people can live their best, full lives as healthy, engaged participants in the community and the workforce so that they can be happy, not a system designed to keep people ill to feed the benefits of the unions and the people that they are paid to represent and to maintain the political control by the Australian Labor Party.”
“You have to wait longer for higher and more expensive health care, principally so that they can feed the interests of the select few they seek to represent through the trade union movement rather than what we should actually be doing in health care, which—call me radical!—is focusing on patient outcomes. That's my radical proposition.”
“A Medicare card comes with a credit card if you want to be able to access a doctor in large parts of this country. No matter what they say and no matter what they do, they are not delivering on the words they promise. You think about the distrust that breeds within the community, where they see the so-called political leader of this nation waving their card around and saying, 'We're the answer and we're giving that pathway,' and then they go and live a very different reality of a co-payment. Let's be honest about health care. Let's be honest about how people are living and what happens with health care. You can ration health care by one of two ways: price or lists. And the answer of this current government is to do both of those things, which is a completely irrational conclusion.”
“The problem is anybody who has actually gone and visited a doctor. And let's start with the ACT, which is not my constituency, and I can assure you it probably never will be. But, as people who live in the ACT said to me only the other day, there are no bulk-billed doctors in the ACT, the heart of this nation politically. Surely, if the government is going to achieve its objective anywhere, it is here. Yet there are no bulk-billed doctors in this capital city for people. So, if you're low income, you're not getting support. You're a pensioner who doesn't have the financial means and resources to be able to pay. So, despite the bluster and the rhetoric and the holding up of the Medicare card and waving it around and all of the other rubbish that the Prime Minister goes on about, it is not being lived by Australians.”
“One of the things that COVID demonstrated or revealed to all of us is the health inequity that exists across our country around access to services between not just rural and regional areas but also affluent and less affluent parts of capital cities. In a moment of crisis, when people need care, it's explicitly revealed to the whole of the nation. The question is how you seek to address that and make sure that the system is sustainable and gives people the support that they need. What we've heard from this government to date around health care has been principally, as they hold up their Medicare cards, that everybody can go to the doctor for allegedly free. I now see the television propaganda that has been pushed out by this government to try and reinforce their political messaging.”
“I thank the member for Wannon for his enthusiasm at the opportunity to listen to a speech characteristically to legislation before the House from the member for Goldstein—of course, certainly better than the predecessor member for Goldstein, I'm sure, on the subject matter of which he is humbly agreeing with as well. The point of this legislation, of course, as was mentioned by the previous speaker, is straightforward, but we need to acknowledge it sits in a much broader context about the health care of this nation. We all have a natural interest in having a sustainable health system for our country. Doing so is one that supports the workers to be able to go on and deliver the primary care they need in community, and that's of critical importance.”
“One of the things that has disappointed me over the past couple of years—and I've said in this parliament that I don't want to distract from this motion—is that I don't believe we've had enough strength in our leadership. And I think, as I've said in other debates, that extremism begets extremism. That's a very different thing from people's freedom to debate and contest the important issues and affairs that define our country and its future. But, when we don't stand up, it leads to a pathway through radicalisation or cultivation to the point of tragedy or near tragedy, as we have seen in this case. It behoves all of us to stand up for what we believe in and, importantly, for this country. I want a nation that's built on respect. I want a nation where every Australian feels confident about how they're going to live their life—”
“There certainly is no place for violence, whatever its motivation, in this country—whether it's, as some members quite justifiably regularly raise, family and domestic violence or the public acts of violence that we've seen more recently. Every single step of the way it comes down to leaders to stand up and condemn this violence. Not only is it the intent of so many people to cause specific harm; sitting behind that is the motivation of seeking to promote fear and to stop people living out the fullness of their lives. That's why I wanted to speak on this motion—because I think the spirit of it is right. It behoves all of us in this parliament to stand up and fight for the type of country we want to be. But it isn't in our words; it is in our deeds.”
“We do need to acknowledge, of course, that the matter is still being investigated, and it's very important that it's done. That is not to defer or delay; it's simply to acknowledge that we need to understand what the motivation was and what the intent was. But it's impossible to say that it was anything good. The investigation will go to the extent of the connections and matters beyond that. What really distresses me is where we are seeing extremism and violence occur in this country. Many of the reasons that I and many members of parliament stood up for public office are that we're fighting for the type of country that we want to be. And the type of country and the type of nation that we want to be is one that's respectful, one where every Australian citizen can live out the fullness of their life.”
“But, and I say this with a genuine sense of sadness, we have seen a spike in the level of racism in this country over the past few years on a scale that is very hard to imagine in our more recent history, particularly in the context of the rise of antisemitism, which of course we know led to tragedy in Bondi. And now we see very distressing signs in Perth—and I acknowledge that there is still a police investigation at the moment that may raise serious questions about what occurred in Perth. Racism should be condemned by every good, decent, well-meaning Australian. I see the minister on the other side of the table nodding her head, and I do not doubt her sincerity for one second, knowing her previous experience in the area. And I'm sure it's shared very directly by other members in this chamber on the opposition side as well.”
“I want to rise in support of the spirit of the motion. I may not necessarily agree with every step of the wording that's used, but I think the spirit of it is resolutely clear. I would think that every member of this parliament is deeply distressed by what occurred in Perth on 26 January and what it could have been as well. I say this in context, of course, of what we have seen over the past couple of years. I'm not going to try and pretend—nor should anybody—that there haven't been past incidents of racism in this country; there absolutely have been.”
“We know the Labor Party is compromised after the Prime Minister said previously that he would never accept donations from the CFMEU, and in the ABC disclosures he was exposed for telling a fib. We know directly that the Prime Minister has now been caught out misleading the public—and why? So they can continue the cartel kickbacks from taxpayers' dollars at the state and federal level, funded by Australians, to the CFMEU, who have direct connections to bikie gangs and organised crime. Taxpayers' money should never land in the hands of organised crime or bikie gangs, but this seems completely irrelevant. There is only one pathway through this: we must change the government.”
“And I can tell you, Deputy Speaker, that I would never come into this parliament and boast, as members of the Labor Party have, about how I'm such a successful economic manager when 15,000 Australian households lost their capacity to be able to fund their costs last year, lost the pathway to be able to support their families. It isn't something to be proud of. It is an absolute disgrace. Forty thousand Australians have lost their incomes since this Labor Party came to government. Labor have their priorities wrong. I hear so many Labor members screaming out, 'Well, what would you cut?' I'll make it crystal clear: we would not resist for one second cutting the cartel kickbacks that the Labor government wants to pass on to the CFMEU, which is increasing the cost and passing it on to Australian taxpayers and consumers.”
“That's why, off the back of inflationary data, you don't just see a rise in the cost of prices of goods and services; you also see it in tax rates, where so many state governments now engage in the active process of taxation inflation to increase the charges that are going on small business. Households are doing it tough. Small business are doing it tough. What does the Labor Party say? 'There's nothing to see here. It has nothing to do with us.' Well, that isn't the lived experience of the 40,000 small businesses that have gone insolvent under the Albanese government. They can't bear the cost any more of higher interest rates, higher inflation, higher industrial relations inflation and higher taxation inflation—15,000 in the past year alone, a record in Australian history since records have been kept.”
“Well, Deputy Speaker Claydon, have you ever watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail , the episode with the Black Knight? I think they, on the other side of this chamber, in the Albanese government, are trying to pretend that it's a fiscal flesh wound. It is so much more serious, because, when you borrow from the future to spend for today, you have too much money chasing too few goods and services, so prices rise and interest rates go up. And that's precisely what is happening under this government. We know it's not just their fiscal recklessness; it's also industrial relations inflation. They come into this parliament every single time and make the case about why they need to increase the costs on employers, directly attacking the root and branch of small business in this country.”
“But, unfortunately, the Reserve Bank has delivered some terrible news to those households today. And, of course, we know it will be passed on by the banks quickly. While the government want to defer responsibility and say they are not to blame, that simply isn't the case. Even IFM Investors' chief economist has said, 'The fiscal guardrails have come off.' Time and time again we have heard from economists that it's government expenditure at both the state and federal level that is driving inflation. Debt spending of borrowing from tomorrow to fund today is driving the inflationary pressure and the pressure that sits on the Reserve Bank to increase interest rates. You can see it in the headlines of only a few days ago, where it was reported that the government got its projections around expenditure $57 billion off.”
“Today is a sad day for millions of Australians. As they finish their work and drive home—or catch the train or a tram if they're in Melbourne—they'll be hearing over the radio about how the Reserve Bank has increased interest rates off the back of inflationary data that shows that the government has lost all control of its fiscal purse strings. Australians are going to receive this news at a time when their Christmas credit card is coming and when they've just paid for new uniforms and books and all the other costs of kids going to school for the new school year. There has never been a time in Australian history where people can less afford to absorb higher interest rates, particularly families who are only just getting their head above the financial water.”
“Social cohesion is essential to the type of Australia we want, not just for Australians of Jewish heritage but for every Australian. It will decide whether we honour our inheritance, and hand a nation that makes us proud to the next generation, or whether we knowingly blink in the face of those who sow discord. Goldstein's constituents have lived with the cost of inaction, as many others have. They see the scale of the problem with clarity and can see that, too often, our nation's leaders have blinked. They are now looking to this parliament to lead and to give them hope that once again we can rebuild the safe and free nation that we want Australia to be, that it should be and that they desperately need it to be.”
“Anyone who thinks today's bills will cage the antisemitism threat that has been unleashed misunderstands the challenge and the necessary effort to contain it, just as the government misunderstood the consequences of leaving it unchecked. Their inaction will be judged as lacking moral clarity and courage when they were warned. They knew what was right, and they refused to act. Now is the time for good people to stand up. It will not be demonstrated in our words but, of course, in our deeds. When we tolerate extremism against Australians of Jewish heritage, it does not end there. We have already seen an uptick in homophobic violence because we know that the equal and opposite reaction to one form of extremism is other varieties of the same.”
“The need for vigilance to oversee these new powers will be very important in protecting the community and also our liberal democratic norms. I note some members in this debate have already talked about how these laws have been rushed through the parliament and normal processes have not been followed. I agree with some of those concerns, but I find it odd that they're seeking to move amendments to expand those powers without any proper process to be able to understand the consequences, and I caution them against doing so. We know the evil we are seeking to target, which is those people who preach hatred, particularly extremism and the radicalisation pathways that promote violence against Australia's community of Jewish heritage. We should understand that's the specific nature of the cause we're focused on now.”
“No-one would be surprised that I raised my own concerns about how these sections were drafted. The government has now withdrawn them. The Jewish community has expressed their anger that the firearm provisions were a deliberate distraction from the broader issue. I'm happy to support the migration amendments, but the minister already has wide-ranging powers. The minister has been using them, of course, and we know he's been using them against Israeli visas. My hope is that he will use them against those who preach Islamic hatred and extremism instead. Finally, my liberal instincts teach me to be wary of some of the new prohibited hate group powers, and I am wary of them. After reading the bill and having looked at the referral, oversight, transparency and renewal obligations, I think it's fair to say that I'm alert but not alarmed.”
“Instead, we had floated an omnibus bill that brought together new speech laws, firearms regulation, migration amendments and the creation of new prohibited hate groups, and we were told take it or leave it and decide in record time. This is not how a mature democracy nor a mature government behaves. In response to the Bondi terrorist attacks, Jewish Australians have said the answer is to be more Jewish. And in response to a terrorist attack attacking our way of life and a government that is dismissive of our democratic processes, our parliament has rightly reasserted itself and our democratic processes and lived up to the best of our democratic institutions. The bills have now been split. The response from Goldstein constituents, Jewish and non-Jewish, to the government's so-called hate speech provisions was visceral.”
“I rise to speak on the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Criminal and Migration Laws) Bill 2026. Since 7 October 2023, Australia's antisemitism crisis slowly evolved from words to protests, intimidation, harassment, fire bombings and, ultimately, catastrophe on 14 December 2025. Throughout this whole period, Australia did not have a problem with laws; it had a problem with enforcement. That was missing. Certainly, there's always room for refinement, but what was missing more than anything else was leadership. This government is seeking to use the law to fix the problems of absent leadership. After this tragedy, Australians wanted our leaders to unite our country and elevate the nation, but it was not to be.”
“As my colleague the member for Berowra said this morning: … Bondi will wither be the crescendo of a bad chapter in our history or the midpoint of a story that gets worse. Our task is one of honesty, leadership, vigilance and courage. It is not through our words but our deeds. Only then will we honour the words. May their memory be a blessing.”
“When I hear calls for new laws because otherwise our government won't be able to stop antisemitism, I worry they underestimate the scale of the challenge. If we could pass a law that ended an ancient bigotry from the human heart, we'd all pass it tomorrow. We need more than a repeat of media-cycle political fixes in place; we need the enduring commitment that this moment compels. A royal commission is welcome. Some law will help. We know the evil we want to confront. Those who cultivate radicalisation to do harm have no place in this nation. What the community wants from us now is clarity, to call out, of course, the Islamic extremism that motivated this antisemitic terrorism and to lead, because Bondi represents a day when our fraying social fabric was violently torn. The task of restitching it is long and tightening it an enduring one.”
“My anger is that not a single person in our government will talk about the cause of the problem.' Four days after, I joined a small number of people at Bondi pavilion as the sun rose. Shortly after I'd laid flowers on behalf of the Goldstein community, a women broke down on my shoulder as she told her story of the community she loved being torn apart. In the days after the tragedy, the Jewish community have spoken of their defiance, and, correctly, they've said that the answer must be to be more Jewish. But the responsibility falls to all of us to be our best selves for them too, because Bondi showed the moral clarity and courage that ordinary Australians can show in an instant. It also shows, for all of us, so much of what has been lacking that led to this tragedy.”
“One local rabbi exclaimed to me in the days after: 'Everyone is saying, "Light through the dark," but where were they when it was dark over the past two years?' Another Goldstein constituent shared: 'The government is offering more money for bigger walls, but I don't want to live behind bigger walls; I want to live a life without them.' While we thank the volunteer Community Security Group, or CSG, for protecting the Jewish community—and we do; they protect the community, schools, synagogues and events—Australians of Jewish heritage don't want to need them. Another constituent wrote to me: 'My anger really is not with the jihadis; they're kind of doing their thing.”
“Some told me family members were safe; others had friends who had sustained injuries but were stable in hospital. And some needed help. I also had to make phone calls to express condolences to grieving families. While these families were days into processing their loss, they were also two years into living a bigger trauma: that, since 7 October 2023, the ancient bigotry of antisemitism is once again out of its cage. They know that, once antisemitism is let out, there is no quick fix; only sustained leadership can stop it, and, once it is out, it will also come for you. Their anger comes from the frustration of saying something repeatedly and not feeling heard.”
“Bondi is, of course, a long way away from Goldstein, but the communities are connected by their people. On the Friday before the Bondi attack, I went to Central Shule in Caulfield South, and we discussed how wonderful it was that everything was seemingly returning to normal, and the mood was joyful at Chanukah at the Racecourse, just before 7 pm, as I arrived, on 14 December. But, as the news trickled in, the mood turned, as attendees lived the fear of texts going unanswered and phone calls ringing out to loved ones they knew were at the sister event in Sydney. Moreover, we all lived the daunting fear of whether we were safe in the context, and this has become the lived experience for Australians of Jewish heritage. In the days that followed, I contacted many people I saw that night.”
“My father said when we leave this world we take nothing with us. But he did. Eleven bullets were found in his body. A silent record of the final minutes of his life. Minutes filled with courage, with clarity and with selflessness. I was privileged to hear this tribute from Sheina Gutnick to her father, Reuven Morrison, at the Bondi Shloshim at St Kilda Shule, as well as Perele Goldhirsch's tribute to her brother, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, last Monday. Today we honour their memories, with Edith Brutman, Dan Elkayam, Boris and Sofia Gurman, Alexander Kleytman, Rabbi Yaakov Levitan, Peter Meagher, Marika Pogany, Adam Smyth, Boris Tetleroyd, Tania Tretiak, Tibor Weitzen and, of course, Matilda, and the many others who were injured, as well as the first responders and the bystanders.”
“(): When the first shots rang out and people dropped to the ground, my father lifted his head. He shouted at the terrorists, swore at him, challenged him: "how dare you come here, how dare you come to our place, to our people". A woman later told me as she lay over her children whispering shema certain it was her final moment, the gun was pointed at her. And then suddenly the terrorists turned, my father had distracted him, he had pulled him away. Then came the footage the world saw. My father throwing a brick at an armed terrorist, not out of recklessness, out of instinct, out of refusal to stand by. More footage followed. My father grabbing the gun, he knew how to use one, and he was ready to fight. He was shot in the wrist, then another bullet, and then another, he collapsed to the ground.”
“I understand how many members have regarded or made comment about the fact that Richo lived to make sure that he could see D'Arcy finish his secondary education, and that now he is going onto university. I'm sure he would have been enormously proud of that achievement. But whatever it is, and whatever contributions Richo made to this world, it was clearly a colourful life filled with rancour, contests, contribution and, of course, warmth and friendship. He was, nonetheless, a figure who I always found to be incredibly generous and supportive, who offered counsel and was incredibly warm, so I'll miss him. I pay tribute to him but also acknowledge that, one day, if I make it to heaven and he happens to be there as well—I promise you, Richo, that I will buy you lunch.”
“When I went to ask for his bank account details on the eve of the election—because I was not oblivious to the realities of the situation—he said, 'Next time you're in town, buy me lunch.' Then, a few days later, I said, 'When am I going to honour the bet?' When it came down to it, I never really got to Sydney to be able to honour the bet. He SMS'd me more recently and said, 'Actually, I'll buy you lunch,' which was very kind and generous of him but, of course, I couldn't possibly do that—I'm a man who honours my debts. In that spirit, when his widow, Amanda, and D'Arcy came to parliament the other day for this motion, I extended that I still owed them lunch. I want to make sure that that is honoured. I extend my warmest condolences to both Amanda and D'Arcy.”
“The reason I owed him lunch was that, in the lead-up to the 2022 election, we took a bet live on air about the result of that election. I lost the bet in more ways than one. But, as a consequence— A division having been called in the House of Representatives Sitting suspended from 10:49 to 11:02 I feel it's appropriate that this section of the speech begins almost in the spirit of Richo. I can imagine him saying 'since I was rudely interrupted by democracy, in continuation'. The question is: why did I owe him lunch? The short answer is that in the lead-up to the 2022 election, live on air, we took a $100 bet about the outcome. As I was saying, I lost that bet in more ways than one—let's just say that.”
“So I honour very much his legacy as a member of the Labor Party and his contribution to it, though, obviously, sometimes I probably disagreed vehemently with what he was fighting for. He used to regularly taunt me when he was doing his television shows on Sky News, sometimes when I was on his program and sometimes when I was not. He'd say, 'I don't know about that Tim Wilson. He could have potentially been a member of the Labor Party,' until he heard my views, and then he suddenly would adjust. But it showed that he was always prepared to have a laugh, have a go and, with a smile, engage on the important issues at the time. And so I always enjoyed his counsel and always enjoyed his friendship. So the question is: why did I owe him lunch?”