Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

and dignified'—thank you, Member for Forrest, 'end to your life because you build this place.' We can say that about Australia. They built Australia, that generation. They built in Australia. They built my community. They built Shepparton. They built farms—dairy farms. They built places like SPC. And there were some federal government contributions. For them to have the minister, a Western Australian, come in—and I'll never forget what he said—and say, 'You deserve this because you build this town, and now is the time for you to sit back in comfort and look around at the society you've built.' It was very moving.

While I've a minute or so left, I do want to go through how personal it is. I hope everyone indulges me in sharing these personal anecdotes, but aged care is so personal for us. I knew earlier this year that my father had to go into aged care at some point and I took him to a place called Moyola Lodge in Tatura. We were hoping to get him in; Dad hadn't been that organised. Moyola is in a small town called Tatura, and my dad moved to Tatura in 1971 as a young lawyer. I wanted to show Dad around Moyola and make sure that he was not scared by what he was seeing and that he would be welcomed. Polly Devine, the CEO of Moyola, said to my dad: 'Brian, you were a great footballer for Tatura. I've heard legendary stories about what you did, the law firm you created in this town and the number of people you've helped.' And he knew that he was going to be looked after and would be okay there. Sadly, he died the next week and never got to see that.

Aged care and what we do in this place are really important for our families, and I'm really pleased with the bill we've been able to negotiate and come to an agreement on.

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