Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

As this may well be the last occasion on which I can give an adjournment debate speech in this parliament, I want to thank the electorate of Hughes for voting me in in 2022. I had six weeks and a profile that wasn't as well known as it could have been, and I am extremely grateful, because it has been the greatest privilege of my life to be able to represent and serve my community in the federal parliament. During this time, I think as we all do, we start to reflect. I had a redistribution in October, which has meant that I have lost some suburbs, such as Oyster Bay, Grays Point, Kirrawee and other parts that I have really enjoyed representing.

However, my electorate now stretches down into south-west Sydney. The south-west of Sydney really has been neglected for a long time by governments, both state and federal governments, and governments of both political persuasions. South-west Sydney is very different to Western Sydney, where I think we have invested very well. We have really looked after people in Western Sydney. In Western Sydney—in Penrith, for example—they have a beach. In my electorate now, in Macquarie Fields, an area that has a very high level of people with disabilities, we don't have an accessible lift at Macquarie Fields train station. That's a disgrace—an absolute disgrace.

When I went out to schools at the end of last year, as pretty much all the MPs I know in this place do, it was a great privilege for me to go to schools like Ingleburn High School, Macquarie Fields High School and Sackville Street Public School and hear the work that they're doing. For me, having grown up in the Sutherland Shire, the communities in the south-west are quite different to the Sutherland Shire, but I was absolutely overwhelmed at the fabulous work that they are doing out there. They have different challenges in the south-west of Sydney. For example, there are a lot of attendance awards given out in year 11 and year 12. That's not something that usually occurs down in the Sutherland Shire or the Liverpool end of my electorate, and I think it shows just how committed the teachers are in those areas, particularly those who are working in public education. I am very proudly a product of a public-school primary school and then a public-school high school. We need different priorities going forward for the south-west of Sydney.

I also want to give a massive shout-out to the other parts of my electorate that have been very kind to me since I was elected and have really, I feel, embraced me. We have stood together and fought to save the koalas, for example. We have chlamydia-free koalas in Heathcote National Park and in the Royal National Park, and I have stood there with the Sutherland Shire Environment Centre and fought for fencing—fought the state government, both Liberal and Labor—to prevent these koalas crossing Heathcote Road and being killed. We have stood together on issues like getting more services for disability into the Sutherland Shire. Having sat on a board as a volunteer many years ago in disability services, I fully recognise how important that sector is, not only for people with disabilities, but, most importantly, for their families. I take this opportunity to say 'thank you' to the electorate of Hughes. You will see a lot of me in the next few months. You've seen a lot of me already. I thank the House.

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