Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As always, it's an honour to speak in this place. It's particularly special today to deliver this address-in-reply speech, my first as a government member. I'd like to take this opportunity to celebrate my electorate, the regions within it and the very good people of Lyons, who it is my absolute privilege to represent today and every day as their federal member.

As every regional MP in this place knows, there's nothing like a good old-fashioned country show to bring the community together, and I was lucky enough to attend several towards the end of last year. The locals are always out in force at the Westbury Show, and last year's turnout was no different. This annual agricultural show is the oldest in Tasmania, now in its 159th year, having returned with a vengeance post COVID. Westbury Show has all the classic elements you need for a good show: woodchopping, equestrian, show dogs, machinery and, of course, show bags and plenty of places to get a dagwood dog. It has some distinctly unique elements, like the community scarecrow competition, the pet parade and the fancy dressed lamb competition, that make it such a special event. I spent a fantastic day talking to constituents—the weather was glorious—and checking out everything Westbury Show has to offer. As one of the sponsors of the homecraft section, the ladies committee really outdid themselves. I congratulate Westbury Agricultural Society and all its members on another successful event and look forward to celebrating 160 years this year.

The Sunday of the same weekend was an equally gorgeous day in southern Tasmania, perfect weather for enjoying the Brighton Show, which is one of the best country shows in Tassie. In my opinion, it has absolutely overtaken the Hobart show as the pre-eminent southern experience. The Labor tent was one of the most popular stops for those doing the rounds of the Pontville Recreation Grounds. But I can't take all the credit; they weren't there for me. The presence of my two newest family members, Gus and Wolfie, our new miniature dachshund puppies, may have had something to do with the crowds of kids who swarmed our tent. The car show was, as always, a big hit the locals, as was the baby show, the dog high jump, and my personal favourite, the miniature goats. President Geoff Jackson and the entire Brighton Show committee did a fantastic job, as always, over a multi-day show. I, along with the entire Brighton community, am very grateful for their hard work in putting together such a fantastic show every year.

Show season is one of my favourite times of year in my electorate. I also attended the last ag show in Lyons for 2023: Deloraine Show, which was a great day, as always. I'm a very proud sponsor of the sheep section at Deloraine, and it was a pleasure to present ribbons to the winning sheep. I'm particularly looking forward to the Koonya Garlic Festival next weekend, way down there on the Tasman Peninsula; the Kempton Festival on 19 February; and the Bream Creek Show in March, all of which are very popular community events. I would urge anyone listening to this broadcast to get down to Tasmania and attend these fantastic shows.

I recently had the opportunity to represent the Minister for Early Childhood Education and Minister for Youth at the 2023 Australian of the Year Awards for Tasmania. It was a privilege to be in the room and to hear the wonderful stories of these remarkable Tasmanians. I congratulate John Kamara, Tasmania's Australian of the Year; Dr Frances Donaldson, Tasmanian Senior Australian of the Year; Meriam Daoui, Young Australian of the Year for Tasmania; and my personal favourite—because he's in Lyons!—Keith Parker, Australian Local Hero for Tasmania. I'd like to take a moment to tell you a little more about Keith.

Keith is from Sheffield, in the north-west of my electorate. He's a volunteer ambulance officer and Army Reserve ammunition technical officer, which I know that the member for Braddon, who is sitting opposite, will take an interest in, being a veteran himself. Keith specialised in explosive ordnance for his entire army career, serving overseas and assisting the UN on several occasions. When he's not on reserve duty, Keith is saving lives in Sheffield as a volunteer ambulance officer. Since 2011, he has donated an average of 1,500 hours a year, and he is often the first responder if no paramedics are available.

It really is volunteers like Keith who are the lifeblood of our rural and regional communities. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Keith and, indeed, to recognise all community volunteers across Lyons. Our first responder and State Emergency Service volunteers deserve an extra shout-out, having been working overtime in the face of storms and flooding across Tasmania in the last few months, particularly in the Kempton, Break O'Day and Meander Valley municipalities. And I'll give a shout out to the member for Braddon; I note that his community of Latrobe was also affected. A big thank you to all for their tireless hard work and dedication to their communities.

One of the great joys of my role as the member for Lyons, amongst many others, is being able to support the work and achievements of so many people and organisations across the electorate. Whether it's through grant funding, a donation or volunteering my time at the footy club canteen, it's just one way that I can acknowledge the great things being done in my patch. For example, I recently had a great visit to the Swansea RSL, which received a Veteran and Community grant through the Department of Veterans' Affairs to upgrade the kitchen at the RSL. A big thank you to Garry and Julie for the invitation; to Gwyneth, Iris, Judy and Rhonda from the women's auxiliary, who gave me a tour of the new facilities; and to RSL members for the very warm welcome that I received. And it was an absolutely busy day; the Swansea RSL was just absolutely pumping! The new kitchen and accessibility upgrades will ensure the sustainability of the club for years to come, as well is contributing to the health and wellbeing of club members and the community more broadly. So well done to Garry and Peter, the RSL members who spent about 1,200 volunteer hours and the project. It's really hard yakka actually doing that work, and it was a mammoth effort.

I also need to give a shout-out to the volunteers at Wildcare Cradle Mountain for the work they do with the Parks and Wildlife Service to help protect and conserve the iconic Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park in Tasmania's north-west. Recently, Wildcare Cradle Mountain received a volunteer grant which was used to purchase safety gear and high-vis vests for its members. I know this equipment is being put to good use, and the team certainly looked the part at their recent training and information day.

I was also very pleased to be able to support Brighton Food Hub with the donation of a prize towards its upcoming raffle. The Brighton Food Hub is an amazing initiative in the Brighton municipality. It is 100 per cent community owned and operated, and it provides affordable staple grocery and household items to anyone in the community who needs them. Sadly, that need has grown over recent years and, frankly, shows little sign of slowing, while we battle global inflation and cost-of-living pressures.

Christine, the President of the Brighton Community Food Hub, cares deeply about her local community, as do all of her volunteers. She has long been an advocate for the northern suburbs of Hobart. I commend Christine, Vice-President Geoff and the entire team at Brighton Community Food Hub for their incredible commitment and care towards the Brighton community. I look forward to my upcoming volunteer shift at the food hub in a few weeks time. On food hub days down there at the civic centre, you wouldn't believe it. It's like an army mess hall. It's an amazing job that they do.

Recently I had the pleasure of being on the barbecue alongside Alan Briggs, his family and volunteers at Tassie's Cure Brain Cancer Golf Day at the Bagdad Community Golf Club. This is an annual event in memory of Alan's son Rickie and to raise funds to support the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation and its mission to rapidly improve brain cancer survival and vision to ultimately find a cure. Once again, Alan, Justin and the volunteers behind Tassie's CBC Golf Day put on a thoroughly enjoyable event, with a fantastic amount of support from the local community. I've never failed to be amazed by the generosity, perseverance and dedication of organisations like Swansea RSL Club, Wildcare Cradle Mountain and Brighton Community Food Hub and those involved in events like Tassie's CBC Golf Day, as well as so, so many more across Lyons. Congratulations to them all.

The young people of Lyons are truly a talented bunch, and I would like to take this opportunity to highlight some of their recent sporting achievements from across the electorate: Axl from Penna, who plays for Strike Soccer School and has represented Tasmania at the National Club Futsal Championships, which was held in Sydney in January; Leuca from Deloraine, who won silver in the double mini trampoline event at the world gymnastics cup in Portugal in June 2022 and represented Australia in November at the world age gymnasts championships in Bulgaria; Hayley from Dromedary, who competed at the Australian Gymnastics Championships in May last year, coming 10th in her age group for level 8 women's artistic gymnastics in Australia—an awesome achievement for her first Australian championships; and Hudson from Lower Barrington, who represented Tasmania on the state team at the National Cross Country Championships, held in Adelaide in August 2022.

I also give a big congrats to the Tasmanian under-13 girls netball team, who dominated—I must emphasise that; they dominated—at the Combined Australian Netball Association Championships in Queensland. Three team members were from my electorate: Molly from Sorell, Shakoda from Orielton and Millie from Dodges Ferry. The team won eight out of their nine games and went on to win their grand final, making history as the first under-13 Tassie team to do so. Well done, girls.

Thank you, Member for Braddon, I'll take that interjection. I'm also the proud sponsor of many teams and clubs across Lyons. There are too many to mention them all here now, but I did want to quickly acknowledge the South East United Football Club and the success of its Sorell Summer Sixes tournament and the fact that the St Helens Football Club has just announced that they are fielding a senior women's team this season.

As you can see, there is much to celebrate across my electorate. I remain honoured to serve the people of my electorate in this place—people who are warm, resilient, welcoming and, when necessary, tough. In my first speech to the House of Representatives back in 2016, I remarked that I knew I had the best job in the world as the member for Lyons, and this remains very much the case today. I thank the electorate for placing their trust in me once again to continue advocating for them as a member of the Albanese Labor government. It's a privilege and an honour that I never take for granted, and I thank them every day.

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