David Smith (Bean, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to take this opportunity to recognise the long list of meritorious and military award recipients in Bean who were recently recognised in the King's Birthday 2023 Honours List. Firstly, I would like to congratulate two outstanding members of our first responder workforce—Commander Joanne Cameron, on being awarded the Australian Police Medal, and Mr Jason Jones, for being awarded the Emergency Services Medal. I thank them for their ongoing dedication to keeping our communities safe.

In Bean, 13 residents received recognition for their commitment to public service and have been awarded the Public Service Medal—Mr Bobby Antoniou, for outstanding public service to public health as the liaison officer for the ACT COVID-19 Clinic Health Emergency Centre; Mr Graham Archer, for outstanding public service through leadership to deliver nationally significant measures and reforms; Ms Margaret Hayes, for outstanding public service in providing culturally safe access to aged care for First Nations people; Mr Dac Ho, for outstanding public service in providing data extraction for reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic; Ms Vanessa Hoban, for outstanding public service to public health in the ACT's clinical response to COVID-19; Mr Daniel Lalor for outstanding public service to public health as the director of pharmacy at Canberra Health Services at Canberra Hospital; Ms Stacey Matthews, for outstanding public service in supporting the ACT's whole-of-government COVID-19 response; Ms Margaret McManus, for outstanding public service to public health as the nursing lead for the ACT COVID@Home program; Mrs Melissa O'Brien, for outstanding public service to public health through leadership and practical assistance to the ACT's COVID-19 response; Ms Melissa Ryan, for outstanding public service through leadership and implementation of complex reform and policies to assist vulnerable Australians; Mr Ajay Sharma, for outstanding public service in strengthening accountability and transparency throughout the ACT public service; Ms Emily Springett, for outstanding public service in leading Access Canberra's COVID-19 response; and Ms Cathy Toze, for outstanding public service in leadership and commitment to support Australia's COVID-19 response. I thank these outstanding public servants for their selfless dedication to serving Australians and Canberrans.

Additionally, I would like to recognise and congratulate the following Defence personnel on being awarded the Conspicuous Service Medal—Commander Gary Page of the Royal Australian Navy and Group Captain Catherine Wallis. Commander Page was awarded the Conspicuous Service Medal for his devotion to duty in training and education delivery for the ADF. Group Captain Wallis received her Conspicuous Service Medal for her devotion to duty in managing inquiries and investigations in the Office of Inspector-General in the ADF. A community is made when people help others, and I commend these outstanding recipients for their work in making our community a better place.

In just over a week, the National Anti-Corruption Commission comes into operation. This was a key commitment of the Albanese Labor government, and it was a high priority for my constituents in Bean. The former Liberal government promised to legislate a federal integrity commission that would regulate government integrity. Instead, they gave us the sports rorts affair, secret ministries and the illegal Robodebt scheme, and so much more, as we find out every week. By the time of the 2022 federal election, trust in government had diminished and our global corruption rankings were at historic lows. My electorate of Bean voted for Labor because they wanted greater transparency, greater integrity and greater accountability in public life, whether at a representative or an administrative level.

The NACC will reduce government corruption by detecting, investigating and publicising corrupt conduct. The NACC will have timely investigation of corruption issues, capacity to publish reports on the investigations and education programs for the public sector on how to prevent corruption from occurring in the first place. The commencement of the NACC on 1 July, is evidence that the Albanese Labor government is delivering on better federal transparency and accountability for the Australian people and doing that incredibly important task of rebuilding trust in government.