David Smith (Bean, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As we near the end of 2019, I'd like to wish everyone across Bean a safe and happy festive season and a prosperous 2020. The electorate of Bean, stretching from the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, in the south, to the National Arboretum—but not forgetting everything in between, or Norfolk Island—is a beautiful electorate. The real beauty, though, is in the people that make our community work, from our schools, workplaces, sports clubs, unions and faith organisations to our community councils, voluntary associations and organisations devoted to care and support. It has been an honour to work with you all in 2019.

Christmas can be a difficult time, in particular for those who are disadvantaged and/or separated from family. Just yesterday my fellow Canberra Labor representatives and I hosted a BBQ to raise money for the work of St Vincent de Paul across our region, and we heard firsthand from volunteers about the pressure on services. The pressures arising from real costs of living outstripping pay and the inadequate level of Newstart are felt here in Bean as they are around the country. I would like to recognise and thank those that work particularly hard over the festive season, from our emergency and care workers to those working in transport, retail and hospitality. How shameful it is to reintroduce antiworker legislation today, on the cusp of Christmas. How shameful!

The beauty of our natural environment here in Bean and across the country provides a challenge over the hot summer months that is too apparent at the moment. Many families across Bean were affected by the devastating January 2003 bushfires and are conscious of the risk this summer. Already our emergency services have felt the pressures as they have helped their colleagues right across the region. It is critical that our emergency services personnel and the Parks personnel that they work with are properly resourced right across the year.

I would urge all in this Chamber and the House to embrace, across our retail and hospitality sectors, the SDA's No One Deserves a Serve campaign and treat retail and hospitality workers with respect and dignity over this busy period, as they should right across the year.

On behalf of my wonderful team: thank you to all in Bean for everything you have done in 2019 in making our community a much stronger and kinder place. Let's work together for a united Bean in 2020.

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