Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to acknowledge the outstanding work of the Labor candidates and their campaign teams across the great state of New South Wales. As the duty senator for the great seats of Farrer, Hume, Parkes, Riverina and Robertson, I was indeed privileged to campaign alongside some incredible Australians: members of the Labor movement; friends of the Labor movement; unionists who stood with us; community members. Some 70 per cent of the volunteers in the seat of Robertson were people who had never participated actively in politics in this nation previously but were inspired by the leadership of the candidate there and by the need for change in this country, and they came to life. And of course it was a remarkable result.

I want to, in particular, acknowledge the campaign of Dr Gordon Reid, now the member for Robertson. There's a degree of pride, in that I live in that community and, having represented Robertson myself in the House between 2010 and 2013, I know how hard it is to win, as a seat, and I want to congratulate him on his tireless and very effective work to make Robertson a Labor seat again. Dr Reid, you are a true son of the coast—one of the finest examples. I also want to thank Jo Lloyd, his incredible campaign manager, and his campaign team: Jesse Corda, Sarah Loaney, Heidi Helyard and all of the other countless volunteers who ensured that Labor became a majority government, that the Central Coast is now entirely Labor-held and that our margin in Robertson was the biggest it had been in nearly three decades. It just gives flesh to the reality of this historic campaign that will be spoken about and written about for many, many years to come.

On other seats where we put up a great fight: I'm sorry that I won't be joined by new colleagues Darren Cameron, Greg Baines, Jack Ayoub or Mark Jeffreson, who are local branch members who really put their shoulders to the wheel and achieved incredible swings and successes in their push for a place here in this parliament in the House of Representatives.

Thank you to Darren Cameron for your years of friendship and your selfless decision to run for the Labor party in Farrer. Thank you to your remarkable campaign team and particularly to the people who really operationalised that campaign in the city of Albury. I'm sure that the success of the campaign that you achieved in such a short period of time is an indication of a revitalisation of the Labor movement in that region, up and down the Murray River.

Thank you to Jack Ayoub, our tireless candidate for Parkes, and the stellar campaign team that he had on the road with him all the time: Zac Hatzsis, Stephen Lawrence, Phil Priest, Darriea Turley, John Gordon and Marion Browne—and this is a seat that covers from the South Australian border, up and down the length of the Darling River and right out to Dubbo—in an amazing commitment to that seat. We made a number of commitments that are very important, especially on delivering for the two dialysis buses for the far west—particularly impacting the Indigenous community in Wilcannia, who let us know, on the banks of the Darling, as we sat there with them on Barka country, that people simply could not afford to go and get dialysis in Broken Hill; they couldn't afford the petrol to put in their car, and people were dying because of a lack of access to the service. So that's a remarkable commitment from Labor, and it was hard-earned by that community and the campaign out there.

To Greg Baines, our outstanding candidate in Hume: fantastic swing to Labor on 2PP. I hope the next adventure of his life is equally exciting. Thank you to his team. There was some incredible leadership there by Michael Pilbrow, former senator Ursula Stephens and the former candidate, Aoife Champion. It's a big seat and they ran a brilliant campaign. To Mark Jeffreson, down in the beautiful city of Wagga: thanks for sticking your hand up once again to run for the Labor Party in what was then the safest seat in New South Wales—but thanks to Mark that is no longer the case; Mr McCormack has some serious competition! Congratulations to that campaign team, including Nick Spragg, Graham Cotter, Dan Hayes, Tim Kurylowicz and all the other members who fly the flag in tiger territory for the party. This was an excellent result.

We have to represent all Australians everywhere, and I am absolutely committed as the duty senator to the western part of New South Wales in the course of this parliament.