Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

From the disastrous bushfires to the outbreak of COVID-19, 2020 has been a hell of a year. In the lockdowns we have endured, we've all been pushed to our absolute limits. This really has been beyond anything we have ever experienced. It has changed the nature of our lives. It changed where we could go and who we could see. We closed our shops and schools, and we isolated ourselves from the people we love, all for the greater good. It was very hard. Some of us lost family and friends. Many of us were left without a job. We had to adapt. Parents had to get organised for the kids to learn from home. We figured out how to use Zoom. We struggled with our mental health. I'm not sure if those two are actually connected. But we all shared the loss and we all shared the hardships. We missed the little things that turned out to be not so little after all: visiting a loved one at home, sitting in a cafe with a friend, going to the footy, a walk on the beach, and hugs and human contact with loved ones. We missed the big things. Grandparents waited months to meet a new grandchild born during Melbourne's lockdown.

Birthdays, anniversaries, retirements, religious celebrations, weddings and funerals all moved online. Life's biggest moments this year were online on a screen. As much as technology helped us get through and stay connected, these moments passed before us on our screens. As they did, we knew deep down that this was a diminished version of life. It has taken a lot of perseverance and strength to get through all of this and simply get by. Despite all the adversity we have faced, it was our strength of spirit that pushed us through. Instead of cowering and giving up, Australians—particularly Victorians—rose to the challenge. We emerged into the light after a hard lockdown, knowing that, through our efforts—particularly in Victoria—we went from a peak of 700 cases per day to zero cases per day for the last 39 days. No other place in the world has tamed a second wave this large. This says a lot about the Australian spirit. It says a lot about the Australian character and our tenacity. We've proved that, with collective effort and great sacrifice, we can do what many of us thought was impossible.

We should take these lessons and this strength and apply them to the other big challenges that we face as a nation. As we look to recover from COVID-19, we should, with the same spirit, the same resilience and the same strength, tackle the big issues like climate change, homelessness, immigration, inequality and many more. We need to ask ourselves: What do we want our future to look like? How can we create it? We know that Australians, if asked, will work for each other and with each other, even if it means sacrificing a lot. With the resilience and strength we have earned, I think we can be stepping up now. With all of our great and most innovative thinkers, we have an opportunity to strengthen Australia as a compassionate country that looks after every other Australian and where every person has the opportunity to thrive, to succeed and to fulfil their potential.

In this country—not just in my state of Victoria but throughout Australia—we've done something together that no other country has done. It's been a remarkable story. I know how difficult 2020 has been for all of us, and I know many of us have grouched about the challenges and the pain and suffering that we've gone through. But, in some respects, this year has not been a write-off—not in the slightest. It has actually forced us to be stronger, more resilient and more capable than we have been for a generation or two—probably since the generation that lived through the Second World War. I think that strength of character that has been forged over the past year, that resilience, means that we are ready and capable of building a better future for this country. I want to give thanks to the wonderful people I represent, who work so hard, sacrifice so much and make such an effort. I want to give thanks that I'm an Australian. I want to give thanks that we can look to this Christmas with joy and to the new year, 2021, with renewed hope.