Dai Le (Fowler, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker—saving the best for last! This has definitely been an eventful sitting week in the heart of the nation's democracy. My constituents sent me to this place to work for them, to vote for them and to negotiate on their behalf. It is my understanding that I share this mandate with my colleagues in this chamber.

This week I spoke about my journey to this place and the Australian parliament, the centre of democracy. I even caused quite a bit of a stir with my choice of fashion! I'm proud to be an Australian, I'm proud to call Australia home and I display my appreciation and love for this country on my sleeve and, in this instance, with what I wore. I also saw members of my community from Fowler eager to see democracy at work. They came down in five busloads to experience it. Many have never set foot in this House, the people's House. I thank them for being here and for putting aside their valuable time to travel to Canberra. They could see how we elected politicians can get caught up in this bubble. The last few days have been a bit tumultuous in parliament. Debate has been blocked and procedure has been unfair. The Australian people have made it clear that they're moving towards a more diverse and inclusive parliament, one that represents the true essence of who we are as a nation.

I have also taken small steps as there are more opportunities presented to me in this House to raise the impact of the high cost of living on my community. While commending the government on some of its legislation, I also advocated for the community by asking the government to take notice of the families in Fowler and how much we need resources and investment—especially for a settlement city so that our people can grow and thrive.

We do need to move away from the two-party system. Moving forward, I urge the government to work more collaboratively and more transparently with the crossbench, and to work towards evolving Australia's parliament to work for the Australian people. They put us here to ensure the prosperity of their livelihoods. We must do better, otherwise what is the point of having a parliament at all?

So thank you, and have a wonderful evening!

House adjourned at 16 : 57

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Vamvakinou ) took the chair at 09:30.