Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm on the committee that helps organise the political exchanges between this parliament and various other countries across the world. I think there are about six or seven other countries that we have regular political exchanges with—generally newer members of parliament or maybe even people who have aspirations to be members of parliament. I was very pleased that, the week before last, I was able to invite the delegation from New Zealand that were here in parliament to have a day in Dubbo. I always get a little bit frustrated that, when our visitors come to this country, they get to look at our capital cities but don't get to look at the regions. So I was really pleased to welcome: Rima Nakhle, who is a member of the National Party; Reuben Davidson, a member of the Labour Party from up in Christchurch; Cushla Tangaere-Manuel, who is a member of the Labour Party but also represents a Maori seat; and Greg Fleming, from the National Party. So it was a bipartisan group from New Zealand.

In their visit to Dubbo, they managed to visit the Royal Flying Doctor Service, where they saw the valuable work that that service does. I think the New Zealanders were quite impressed by the areas that were covered by the flying doctor and that Dr Shannon Nott, who is the lead physician for the Royal Flying Doctor Service south-east region, was able to also address the group. They also caught up with Mike Sutherland from Australian Strategic Materials and talked about the importance of the rare earth and strategic minerals that are going to be so important for our future that are going to be mined in the Dubbo area. We caught up with Mayor Mathew Dickerson and the general manager, Murray Wood.

I think the highlight for the group was going to REDI.E, which is an Aboriginal employment organisation run by CEO Peter Gibbs. They got a real insight. It was interesting because one of the people they spoke to was actually a Maori who has been living in Dubbo and training young Indigenous people to shear sheep. Part of their success is that young Tyron Cochrane from Goodooga actually went to the shearing competition and won the junior Golden Shears in New Zealand, beating the Maoris for the first time, I think, since about 1961 or 1962. His partner at the time, Jolie Orcher, from Bourke, came third in the wool rolling. So they were able to understand the importance of these young people—some of them quite often from disadvantaged backgrounds—and they heard about a young lad from Walgett who at the age of 15 desperately wanted to be a shearer and how he shore his first 100 and then ultimately went to New Zealand as well.

It was a great visit because they got to understand the scale. We did do a bit of socialising and had bit of a gossip at the Commercial Hotel Dubbo as well. It's really important that those are the relationships we build with other parliaments around our region, and you do that over a period of time in a personable way. I'm a little bit concerned to hear that REDI.E is under threat of having their funding cut, and I've reached out to Minister Burney today to see if we can do something about that. They are a successful organisation, and they have about 1,000 people that they care for. They've done things like the Wilcannia store. They've taken it on in partnership with outback stores. They've done the same thing in Goodooga. They do a great job.

To finish up, I'd like to also mention that my friend Brendan Moylan has been preselected from a very strong field in the by-election for the seat of Northern Tablelands following the resignation of long-term member Adam Marshall. Brendan is a family man from Moree—with three children and a wife—a lawyer, a much-respected man and a man of character who is his own person. I think he'll be a fantastic representative should he be elected for the seat of Northern Tablelands. He's a down-to-earth, good fellow, and I'm wishing Brendan all the success in the by-election that's coming up in about the middle of June.