Mike Kelly (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence Industry and Support) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to commend my colleague on her speech, which preceded mine. Obviously, she has taken very much to heart the interests of her constituents. She has an electorate that embraces a critically important base for the Australian Defence Force, with a dedicated team who are serving there now, introducing the Joint Strike Fighter capability. The member has been extremely vigorous and forceful in representing the interests of her constituents to the Defence portfolio team in the Labor Party. She has been like a dog with a bone on not only their issues and interests but also those of the broader community, particularly on the longstanding PFAS issue. We all look forward to hopefully bringing that to a satisfactory conclusion for all involved. I want to commend the member on her advocacy, her passion and her commitment to those interests.

I've also been fortunate to follow my good friend and colleague the member for Solomon with his own extremely fine record of service. He has delivered on his commitment to represent the interests of veterans in this place. There has been no more forceful advocate in our party room in that respect. I know he will continue that great work. I think the people of Solomon should be proud of sending a person like the member to this chamber and to our party. He is doing them proud. He is an extremely fine representative for the electorate of Solomon, which I know also has a hugely significant component of the Australian Defence Force.

I've lived through the process of moving the army up there in the so-called APIN program—the Army Presence in the North. It has made a huge difference to the community and the economy up there. It has been very, very warmly embraced by the community. It has also has dealt with a lot of issues over time, as we've had returning veterans from a period when the operational tempo was intense. That has brought to light a lot of the problems and the issues that we've been seeking to address and, I have to say, there's been a lot of goodwill on both sides of the chamber to try and get this to point.

I think we've had a little bit of a problem with consistency in the portfolio, through no fault of any of the ministers that have served. But I do hope that, after the election, whoever wins—

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