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

Who knows? This could be the last week before the election—or we might have a few more sitting weeks; that's up to the Prime Minister. But we are definitely heading to an election soon, and I would like to reflect, in the time I have, on what a privilege it's been to represent the people of Nicholls. I was elected at the 2022 election along with the member for Menzies, who, might I say, has made an outstanding contribution to this place. It's such an honour to represent an electorate like Nicholls for all of the good things it does for the nation. They're great businesses like SPC, all the dairy manufacturing businesses, food processing, the manufacturing, the farming—all of the things that happen in Nicholls are what's good about Australia.

I've tried to have a real grassroots engagement with my constituents, and that itself has been a privilege. I set out on a mission to train with all 44 football and netball clubs in my electorate. I am only eight clubs off achieving that, and I hope to go to the election saying I trained with them all. The training has been fun, and fitness is good, but it's just engaging with young people—particularly young people who are involved in football and netball clubs—and listening to what sorts of industries they're involved with, what is working for them and what isn't working for them that has been a great lesson for me, and it's informed a lot of what I've done up here.

Big successes can be had, and we can make people's lives better and their jobs more secure and their communities more prosperous, and I've seen that happen. But where I've seen it happen for my electorate and for Australia is with the ethos of the coalition and the focus of the Nationals. And I think, right now, Australia is not going in the right direction. Our economy is suffering, our energy future is in serious doubt, and the tools that the entrepreneurs of Australia need to thrive, be profitable and, most importantly, employ people are being taken away from them—not to mention the social cohesion, and I thought that was something that was ingrained in Australia and that we'd never lose. I've seen that fray over the last 2½ years to my great regret, because it's the country I love.

Countries do really well when they set up a framework for private enterprise to thrive, and I don't think we have that framework at the moment. I think we've got a government trying to control everything, with an ideological bent. And, unfortunately for our nation, that ideology is being mugged by scientific engineering and economic reality. I really hope we can form government, because Australia needs to get back on track.

The Nationals in government will put agriculture back at the focus of this nation and give farmers the tools they need to grow food for our country and for the world. We will ensure that the Murray-Darling Basin communities can continue to irrigate crops and process food, all the while still caring for the river system. People who live in the basin communities understand how to care for the river system, as distinct from bureaucrats who try and run it from Canberra.

The Nationals, in a coalition government, will also build infrastructure, and I know that we will because we've done it before. In my community, we've seen the Echuca-Moama bridge built by the coalition in state and federal governments, and that's changed the lives of many people and many businesses in that community. It's also evidenced by the Shepparton rail upgrade, which is going to see nine return services from Shepparton to Melbourne—an initiative funded by the coalition. Again, it's something that makes people's lives better. And it can happen when you've got the budget in balance. And it can happen when you've got industries that are thriving and taxes that can be paid so that we can pay for these things that we all want—the infrastructure, the hospitals and the education.

I think Australia, Victoria and Nicholls need to get back on track, and I think a coalition government can achieve this. I really look forward to continuing to move around my community, whether it be on the football field, on the netball court, in the clubrooms afterwards, on the street, walking into the private businesses of Nicholls or going through the schools and just talking to people about the Australia they believe in, the Australia they want: do they want the entrepreneurial Australia, the have-a-go Australia, the Australia that's focused on the fair go and the free market, or do they want this rigid control that we seem to be having?

See this speech in context