Speeches

It’s Get Ready Queensland Week, a time to prepare for unpredictable weather. Get Ready Queensland’s catchphrase, ‘Weather doesn’t plan – but you can,’ rings true for my community of Hinkler. In the five years prior to being elected as the federal member for Hinkler, I worked as the community resilience and disaster management officer at…

I’d like to applaud the local media in my electorate of Hinkler for helping me spread the word about democracy and how civics works in all three levels of government, and for letting the people of Hinkler know what’s happening in the parliament while I’m here in Canberra. A special mention goes to the eloquent…

My home of Hinkler is one of the most famous food bowls in the nation. Starting this Friday, for 10 days, locals and tourists will enjoy the annual Taste Bundaberg Festival. It will showcase the finest local produce from our farms, and freshly caught seafood, and will celebrate the world-class makers, processors, retail and hospitality…

Too many lives are being lost on our roads. In my electorate, I’m sad to say the statistics are among the worst in Queensland. The Wide Bay district, which includes Bundaberg and Hervey Bay, has recorded the highest number of road crash deaths this year—31 lives lost. That is 11 more than the same time…

As the newly elected federal member for Hinkler, I will fight for all of those across my diverse electorate. As an election commitment I pledged to do everything in my power to deliver a Hervey Bay electorate office, an essential service for my community. The very first official correspondence I sent following my successful election…

I rise to support the motion moved by the member for Wide Bay and fellow former Queensland police officer, Llew O’Brien. I am honoured to speak after all the others who have spoken in this chamber from all sides of the parliament who either have been police officers or are supporting police right across Australia….

Today my community farewells a beloved personality. John Greenhalgh, Bundaberg born and bred, passed away on August 14. He coined the phrase, ‘the Paris end of Bourbong’, a reference to the eastern end of the city of Bundaberg’s main street. It’s this part of the CBD where his family business, the famous Avenell Brothers, proudly…

Delivering and advocating for civics education is an absolute priority of mine. Whilst the Speaker has made the admirable commitment to visit each of our electorates around the nation to help spread the good word, my undertaking is to visit every single school in Hinkler throughout this term. That’s a total of 54 schools. These…