Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today we debate the appropriation bills. The name is arcane but its content is anything but. For it is in these bills that this parliament renews its ancient vow to faithfully serve the people of the Commonwealth, to ensure their freedom and rights to equality of opportunity, to give meaning to those rights that come not from the state but from the hands of God and allow us to build a fair community for prosperity and peace. The mere presence of many of us in this place point to the success of the Australian dream. From the beginning, this nation was cast out as the last refuge of the dammed, a place that our settlers wanted to be known around the world as hell on earth. Instead, it became the world's last best hope for any person who wanted to live a life of hope and opportunity. British governors were replaced when reports of our nation's opportunities were reported to them in Europe. The great project of our nation, whose goals can never be achieved, is a journey. It is our journey, a journey towards a more perfect nation. As each challenge is met and conquered, a new one begins, so it falls to us to bring about a new justice for a new generation that can no longer wait. So let us begin.

My story begins in many places, from the cold tundra of Kurdistan, a surrounded city in Russia's north, an ancient enclave in Poland's south and the safe surrounds of Collaroy on the beaches. From a father who came here as practically a refugee without even his own father to a mother who was always here but whose parents came from two warring tribes, an English Protestant and an Irish Catholic, they built a large business and then began again without bemoaning once their loss. The amazing thing about this story is that it is so common in this nation yet so very rare everywhere else.

I believe that the story of my parents and my family is different yet it rhymes with so many others in so many other parts of the community I represent. I come from a part of Australia that saved Christmas and then saved new year. This achievement was not without its selfless sacrifice from so many, like the 77-year-old grandmother who could not see her family on Christmas Day, the family that had cancelled their holidays for a fourth time that year. The businesses that were geared up for peak season did not let a person go, because that is not how we do it on the Northern Beaches, that suffered losses and are still waiting for proper compensation from any level of government. Over the pandemic, their federal government has had their back. More than $500 million has been sent directly to businesses on the Northern Beaches through JobKeeper. The cash flow boost added even more. During the Christmas lockdown, the federal government paid over a million dollars in pandemic pay. For some, this is not enough and, indeed, I would fall into that camp. However, I note that it stands in stark contrast to the help given by other levels of government. This was a local outbreak with a local lockdown that required a local response. But too many who bear responsibility sought to duck and weave rather than stand up for their community when it mattered most. Too many self-appointed community groups that were meant to work for the benefit of their community instead chose to ingratiate themselves with local power brokers.

If we cannot respond to a crisis without politicising it then we are all diminished. So it was during this lockdown and it is a matter of grave disappointment. Everyone wanted to see all three levels of government working together, because my community always works together. It is my regret to report to this House that that did not happen. However, there were two points of light where there should have been a thousand. They were Chris Kavanagh from the Mona Vale and Newport chambers of commerce and Stu Cameron from Pittwater Business. Never have two people so forcefully and persistently represented the interests of small business in our area.

Once again, the Northern Beaches community was the North Star of bringing out the best in all of us. That was from sporting and rescue groups, who protect our community through selfless volunteerism, through community groups who coordinate volunteers to make this world a better place to some of the most innovative and creative companies in the world, which started and thrived on the northern beaches. Unfortunately, there is not enough time to mention by name all of these fantastic groups and all the fantastic people who made them fantastic. However, as is common on the northern beaches, do not let practical considerations get in the way of ambition.

Our community is home to more surf-lifesaving clubs than any other place in the world. Andrew Pearce, of Whale Beach Surf Lifesaving Club, has set the standard that others follow when it comes to giving back. As Andrew famously said, 'Volunteering is the rent we pay for living on this planet.' It is such a good quote that Muhammad Ali used it about 30 years earlier!

The South Narrabeen Surf Life Saving Club and its executive, Martin Heywood, Richard Dowling and Claudia Ritter, run the Bush to Beach program, which brings underprivileged Aboriginal Australians from Brewarrina to the beach each year. It's a fabulous program that shows how surf lifesaving gives much more than it takes. That is why I was so proud to help secure funding for the Long Reef Surf Lifesaving Club to replace their temporary clubhouse of some 70 years of age. Peter Kinsey and Rob Pearson show what it means to never, never, never, never, never, ever, ever, ever, never give up. Hilariously, and consistent with this project's history, the build has only just begun and already it is two years behind schedule. Then, of course, about a month ago the Prime Minister made a visit to Greg Broome, president of the Collaroy Surf Lifesaving Club, where he announced more than $10 million for training and equipment to help them to save others.

The northern beaches also has more Rural Fire Service brigades than any other equivalent area in Australia. It also has the most famous one, at Davidson, which is run by the indefatigable Trent Dowling, and includes Tony Abbott as one of its members. The now commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Five Service, of course, started learning how to put out fires when he was a member of the Belrose brigade.

I'll also mention that the three best Marine Rescue groups in Australia are housed on the northern beaches, at Broken Bay, Cottage Point and Terrey Hills. The Broken Bay brigade is overseen by Jimmy Arteaga and the Terrey Hills brigade can tell you where every single boat off the coast of New South Wales is currently located. Recently, after a mere 14 years of complaining, arguing and besieging, the Liberal government was able to secure funding for improved telecommunications services at Cottage Point. Optus has stepped in and this project is proof that in Australia anything is truly possible.

Rotary is a mainstay of so many communities and mine is no different. There are so many people to mention, but allow me to focus on just two: Liz McDougall at Dee Why and Rob Haynes from the Upper Northern Beaches Rotary club. Rotarians have, in one way or another, made this world a better place. Together, they set us on a course to eliminate polio from the face of this planet, while at the same time they have also ensured that their feet are planted on the ground by removing graffiti from walls or organising fun runs that raise money for local charities. There is little that Rotary has not turned its mind to.

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Zonta breakfast at the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club to hear the announcement of the Pittwater Woman of the Year. This year's award went to Lynleigh Greig. Lynleigh gave one of the best speeches I have heard, both on the cuff or off. Of course, that was helped by the fact that her home contains many snakes and one very large goanna—always good material for an off-the-cuff speech! Her sense of purpose and life, and what one person can achieve in one area, is boundless. She is an example of the spirit that we have on the northern beaches. Zonta does so much in the world—so much good in this world. Susan Benson and her executive have only enhanced the work of this group. Their breakfast reminded me that educating women, especially in developing nation, has so many widespread benefits. It is something that I hope that this parliament can recommit itself to anew.

And then there are the entrepreneurs, the dreamers and the mad people, who believe when all others told them that they would fail but still did it anyway. Where some saw problems, they saw challenges. Together, they have created some of the most enterprising companies in the world. Marcus Blackmore and Toby Browne of Blackmores and PharmaCare have created the world's leading alternative medicines. They have done what few other countries could do. When you think of the supplementary medicines, wherever you are in the world you will be thinking of PharmaCare and Blackmores and what was created by these two companies.

Brett Crowther, of Incat Crowther, is designing ships for the US military, not because he wanted to and not because he won a tender but because they are literally the only boat designing company in the world that can actually develop such ships, such is the technical capability of the people of the Northern Beaches. North Sails ranks as one of the best sail-making companies in the world. And then there's HIFraser. When you want to keep a submarine dry on the inside, you go to HIFraser to get a seal. There's Medical Devices Australia, which has provided robots for 30 per cent of operating theatres in Australia and is at the leading edge of some of the medical devices in this country. When a high-end restaurant wants high-end kitchenware, they don't learn French and ring a company in France; they go to Roband, even if they're in sitting in Europe, Beijing or Singapore, such is the capacity of our great nation and such is the capacity of the community I'm honoured to represent.

In one way or another, the thing that all of the above have in common is that they belong to the working class. I got elected so I could represent this group of people in our nation's capital. Their values, their concerns, their hopes and dreams are my values and my concerns. I care about ensuring that they have a fair chance of achieving their hopes and dreams. I belong to a philosophical tradition and a political movement that has always stood for the proposition that it does not matter where you come from but where you are going.

The working class in this country believes that the problem with our politics is not too much moral argument but too little. Politics is overheated because it is mostly vacant—empty of moral and spiritual content. It fails to engage with big questions that people care about. Liberals, above all, understand that a free society is a precondition of a fair society, because no enslaved nation has ever set a single person free. But the surest path to serfdom is a government that seeks only equality of outcome and imposes its values on people and obliterates the equality of opportunity.

To those who say that a compassionate society only exists if imposed by a benevolent government rather than enabling people to live lives of full potential, we say that history has borne witness far too often to horrible compassion. Compassion cannot be found in the actions of a bureaucracy but rather in a civil society of free people, like our friends, families and those organisations that we choose to join. We've seen, all too often, the awful consequences of up-ending tradition for no better reason than it associates and ideologue or earns the unearned applause of an obeying crowd. The laws which pretend to protect the vulnerable only ever end up serving the powerful on whose advocacy we too often unquestioningly accept.

Because no nation's wealth should be judged by the treasures we possess but in the gifts we share, empowering people through economic opportunity, making their lives easier and giving them the tools to care for their families, friends and communities is our great project. These bills set out the very nature of this commitment.

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