Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my constituents in the electorate of Hughes a very merry Christmas. Although our nation faces many ongoing difficulties and challenges and many will do it tough this Christmas, I hope that over this Christmas period we can all reflect on how truly blessed we are. The rate of unemployment in my electorate is now down to just 2.4 per cent. We live in an area surrounded by natural beauty: the Royal National Park, riverfront bushland reserves, the crystal clear waters of Port Hacking and magnificent golden beaches such as Garie. In counting our blessings we recognise that never before in human history have there been greater opportunities for the average Australian citizen in travel, in communications, in arts, in sport, in access to information and in health care.

We also live in a time of abundance. Never before has the world produced more food. Never before in human history have so many been lifted out of poverty as in the past decades. As we count our blessings this Christmas and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, we should never forget the importance of our history and our traditions and how they have worked to deliver the prosperity that we will enjoy this Christmas.