Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As we meet here, the National Leadership Forum is meeting in Parliament House. It's my great pleasure to co-host the forum alongside the member for Berowra, Julian Leeser. Every year since 1997 the National Leadership Forum has been held in Canberra, hosted by MPs and senators. The forum is made up of a group of nominated young leaders from across Australia. I thank the Prime Minister for his time and generous words of advice for our future leaders this afternoon, and I thank parliamentarians from all sides of the House for hosting groups this year. The purpose of the forum is to counter the cynicism of young people. They often tend to feel cynical towards the political system because pretty much all they see about parliament is question time and partisan fights, which are a very small part of the work we do here. The forum seeks to promote a greater understanding of our democratic system and a greater understanding of the leadership foundations and leadership aspirations of the delegates.

We all come to this place for different reasons and from varied philosophical starting points, but in this place we work closely together, mostly in a bipartisan way, across many issues that are not captured by the media. It is a shame the bipartisan work in this place is not given more credence by the media, and it is a reason why initiatives like the forum are so important. The forum shows our young leaders that our democracy is not only defined by what they might see in the media—the scandals or the gladiatorial contests during question time. Just this week the parliament has shown cross-party leadership on housing, where the government joined with members of the crossbench to get that historic legislation through the parliament. The forum offers a good program, and I urge anyone who is eligible to apply to be a forum delegate next year. I encourage all members and senators to nominate a young person from your electorate or your jurisdiction to be part of the program if you have not already done so. Good leaders listen before they speak, and outstanding leaders do the right thing, even if it is hard. That's why I acknowledge my co-host, Julian Leeser, for taking a principled stand and showing some leadership, which has sadly been missing from some in this place.

Speaking about leadership, Essendon legend Michael Long is one of the greatest I have met. Just this morning I was privileged to walk up to Parliament House with the Prime Minister and hundreds of others as Michael Long arrived here in Canberra on his new long walk. This walk is an early celebration of the 20th anniversary of his original walk. It was my great privilege to join him on his walk from Melbourne to Canberra in 2004, and I learnt a great deal from that experience of walking with Michael and other First Nations leaders. When you walk there is a lot of time to talk, and I gained a very different perspective on the history of Australia from the perspective of those First Nations leaders. It was obvious in some towns that in 2004 Aboriginal people were marginalised and that racism was alive and well. Racism wasn't shown by the majority by any stretch, but it was definitely there. I distinctly remember in 2004 making the symbolic walk up Commonwealth Avenue to this place, so it was a special moment this morning to do that again with Michael. The questions Michael was asking in 2004 remain the same, and we continue to ask them. Where is the love for First Nations people? Where is the Voice for First Nations people? Where is the vision for First Nations people? We are asking the same questions today, and they can be answered with a simple word: yes.