Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight in regard to those people in Australia who take the extra step. I believe our nation is made up of roughly three groups. We've got the group who throw papers out the window of a car. They're always going to be with us, there's not much we can do about it; they're the paper thrower-outers. Then we have the people who talk all the time about the paper thrower-outers. They say how annoyed they are about the paper thrower-outers but they never seem to do much about it. It's great for conversation but it doesn't really leave the world in a better place. Then we've got this marvellous group of people who are the paper picker-uppers—the people who decide they're going to go out and make a difference. They quietly pick up the papers and make our nation a better place.

One great example of some sort of notation and acknowledgement of these people is the Queen's Birthday Honours List. There are so many awards, but I want to go through just a few. Rather than doing it seriatim I'll start with the last one first—that is, Ms Carolyn Noon. Why will I do that? Because she's from my home town, Woolbrook. If you took the Noons and the Henrys away from Woolbrook, there'd be no Woolbrook. Carolyn got the Australian Fire Service Medal. We all know how important people who fight bushfires are, so to Carolyn Noon: it's an incredible recognition of service to your nation.

Peter Dunn up at Walcha also got the Australian Fire Service Medal, and I likewise acknowledge him.

There's a lady called Ruth Blanch. Ruth Blanch does CWA up in Armidale. She's involved with Meals on Wheels, the Ascent Group, the north-west and Northern Tablelands Special Olympics, St Peter's Cathedral, New England Regional Art Museum and New England Wool Expo. She used to be in the Probus Club, she looked after the Aboriginal keeping place, she was part of Friends of the Teachers College, and I think in the other five minutes of the day she used to go to sleep.

The whole thing is a resume of people's service to their nation. If you want to get something done, find a busy person. It is likewise for Sandra Lambkin, who now has an OAM for service to veterans and their families. There's the New South Wales branch of the RSL, New England District Council of RSL subbranches, Tamworth RSL subbranch, where I'm a member and I should get to a meeting, the Tamworth and district ex-servicemen's association, Tamworth Community College, Tamworth's rural referral hospital—and on and on it goes. Once more, the reason our nation is the place it is is that these people take the next step. They don't just say, 'I'll only do what I need to do'; they say, 'I'll do what I need to do and I'll do more, because that's what makes my nation a better place.'

We have Dr Patrice Newell. Dr Patrice and I are possibly on different sides of the political fence, but in recognition of her great work she has been given an AM, an award in the general division of the Order of Australia, for her services to the environment. I know we've had a great win there lately. Something I did support was making sure that Shenhua did not start a coalmine in the middle of the Breeza plain. I think that's one area where Dr Patrice and I are on the same page.

We have Judith Ann Loffel for service to country music, which is incredibly important to Tamworth.

We have people who've received awards but unfortunately have passed on. There's the late Ray Mepham, from Inverell, for service to conservation and the environment. There is the late Ms Therese Margaret Post, from Uralla—I believe she was a member of the National Party up there—for service to the community.

There's Kim Rhodes, at Tenterfield, for service to the community. She's done a lot of work. The Rhodes family have been there for a long while and done great work there. Emeritus Professor James Baber Rowe was awarded an OAM for service as a researcher and educator, and that's incredibly important to the University of New England. And there's Joplin Higgins, who actually lives in Scone and whose address is Singleton. All these people not only have done what was required of them, what was expected of them but have gone the next step. If all of us in our nation took a page out of their book and gave just a little bit more than we have to, we'd make this nation a greater place. We would take Australia to a higher spot.

Question agreed to.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:30