Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Twenty years ago today I was elected as the member for Jagajaga. No matter what any of us do in public life, our first duty is to our constituents. It was and is an incredible honour to be Jagajaga's local voice in the national parliament. Our community has worked together to make our part of Melbourne a better place to live. One of the first campaigns I ran was the fight to save the Austin Hospital from Jeff Kennett's efforts to privatise it. Today, the Austin Hospital is still in public hands. It has been redeveloped and expanded by a Labor government and it is now a core part of the largest medical, precinct in Australia and I will do anything to protect this hospital.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme that I helped to create will start transforming the lives of people in my community from July this year. In my first speech, I spoke about citizenship. I said:

It means being able to share in the life of the community. It means enjoying a certain level of security. It means belonging.

I am proud to belong to the Jagajaga community. I want to thank you, the people that I represent, for working with me all these years and I look forward to working with you in the years ahead.