00:00Here we are, 13 years on, so many of you still part of this incredible movement of independence.
00:08But better than that, so many people who weren't there then and are here now.
00:14Don't for a second ever let anybody tell you that this isn't a movement that isn't continuing to grow.
00:22Because it was actually more than 13 years ago, it was 14 years ago, less than 100 kilometres from here
00:28that the seeds of change for representation in this region were planted in a library meeting in Wangaratta.
00:36Such a vanilla kind of thing.
00:40Just a quiet little meeting in the library in Wangaratta.
00:43And at that time, the Federal Electorate of Indi was stagnant in the status quo of two-party politics.
00:51Stagnant.
00:53Our communities felt taken for granted, ignored political self-interest and vested interests.
00:58Came before the interests of the people who actually lived here.
01:01So we demanded a better way.
01:05We demanded a different way.
01:07And we wanted representation that actually represented who we are and what our values are.
01:14Representation that put personal ambition aside and focused instead on the ambitions of our region
01:21and the ambitions of regional Australia.
01:25Now I'm not going to give you a history lesson today because you all know it and I'm sure many
01:29of you,
01:30in fact probably all of you, have read a certain book that tells the story.
01:34But we must never forget our history because history does show us something so very important.
01:40Because that movement, which was founded in Voices for Indi and grown from community conversations,
01:47captivated not only the people of Indi, but as our emeritus member for Indi would tell you,
01:55it captivated the nation.
01:58It captivated the nation.
02:01We forced change at a federal seat that had been considered a safe, conservative stronghold for more than 80 years.
02:12And I say this today not just to slap ourselves on the back, although we should.
02:17But we built a good strategy.
02:19We campaigned hard.
02:22We campaigned smart.
02:24We campaigned with kindness.
02:27But we were nobody's fool.
02:30Against the tide.
02:32Against the greatest of odds.
02:35We won.
02:37And we won again.
02:39And we won again.
02:40We won again.
02:42And we won again.
02:44What has happened since has shown us what is possible
02:47when a community stops accepting the politics it is given
02:52and shapes the representation that it wants.
02:57Then your federal member for Indi, well, it makes me so very proud.
03:04You know, I'm getting goosebumps just saying it.
03:07And that's seven years on.
03:08I feel so proud and so privileged to represent you.
03:14And it's a really, really big responsibility.
03:18With pride comes responsibility.
03:22I take it very, very seriously.
03:24I don't take myself that seriously.
03:26I have a lot of laughs, actually, particularly at myself.
03:29But I take the job so seriously.
03:33And honestly, together with my fantastic team,
03:36we make sure that we make every minute count.
03:42And I want to say to you that independence have helped bust
03:45one of the great myths of Australian politics.
03:49And that myth is that you can only have influence
03:53if you are in government.
03:55Now, the major parties will tell you that.
03:57They'll say that unless you're on the government benches,
04:00you won't get the funding,
04:02you won't be able to shape policy,
04:04you haven't got a seat at the table.
04:07They'll say that the only way to get something for your community
04:10is if you're part of a party
04:12and you can come out with an oversized cheque at election time.
04:16There's a word for that.
04:18We've already seen the taxpayer-funded cheque book
04:21come out this election, haven't we?
04:23What do we think of that?
04:24None.
04:25It's lousy.
04:26It doesn't help anyone, actually, in the end.
04:29It's a self-serving narrative that the major parties
04:32keep perpetuating, not for us,
04:34but for their own survival.
04:37Because they don't want change in this game.
04:40And right now, this whole narrative gives them a leave pass
04:43when they aren't in government
04:45to promise public money to shore up votes
04:47when elections come round.
04:49The old, I can't do anything, we're not in government,
04:52well, it doesn't wash with me
04:53and it shouldn't wash with you either.
04:56So let me just give you a few examples
04:58of what I've tried to do.
05:01Just a few little kind of wins that we've had.
05:04Just over the past month,
05:06I've been working in the south of the electorate,
05:09far from here.
05:10I've been working on some little bridges
05:12in little places.
05:14Little bridges that got burnt out
05:16in the shocking fires in January
05:17and some of them got washed away
05:19in the 2022 floods.
05:22Now, these are small bridges
05:23with small numbers of people living around them,
05:26but they create really, really big problems
05:29for people in communities like Akaron and Fawcett.
05:32There's a bigger bridge that's been on my in-day budget submission
05:36out in Strathbogies.
05:38The councils and the communities have been stuck
05:41in a bureaucratic, absolute bureaucratic bottleneck, actually,
05:45over trying to get these little bridges built.
05:47It's hugely frustrating for their councils,
05:51and these communities are feeling completely and utterly ignored.
05:56I visited Fawcett recently,
05:58and I went into the tiny little wooden hall
06:00and gathered some people around me,
06:02and we sat in a circle,
06:03and we talked about how they felt.
06:07They felt left behind.
06:09They felt invisible.
06:11And it was heartbreaking, actually,
06:13because many of them felt hopeless.
06:15One woman said to me,
06:16I don't think government cares whether we live or die.
06:19I mean, not a thing to hear.
06:22Well, anyway, that ignited a massive fire in my belly.
06:26It really did.
06:28Honestly, these were people who were starting to think
06:31they might have to have a series of sausage sizzles
06:33to fund the repair of their own bridge.
06:37So, the funding maze is complicated.
06:40It covers state and federal responsibilities,
06:42different programs, different processes,
06:44and one of the bottlenecks was the state needed
06:47to make the ask for the federal government
06:48to help with the funding.
06:50So I went to the federal parliament,
06:52and I made speeches about it.
06:53I went to the federal minister,
06:55talked to her about it.
06:57I wrote to the new premier of Victoria.
07:00I was at a community event in Port Punkah,
07:02and I tapped the new Victorian Minister for Emergency Services
07:05on the shoulder when I came across him
07:07and got him to focus on it.
07:09I worked with the council
07:10to get additional information they needed.
07:12I went back to the federal parliament,
07:14and then we looped in the media.
07:16And all through it,
07:18the community was there, side by side,
07:20constantly there.
07:23I kept making the case.
07:25Not least,
07:26I pointed out the comparison
07:27that Victoria had spent
07:28around $100 million
07:30every time they removed
07:32a level crossing in Melbourne.
07:34$100 million.
07:35And they couldn't find $450,000
07:38to bring this bridge
07:40back up to the standard it needed to be.
07:42So, guess what happened next?
07:45Government actually worked with me.
07:47We got department sign-off
07:48to fix the bridges.
07:50And now the final sign-off
07:51is sitting on the prime minister's desk,
07:54and I've checked, it's there.
07:55And we're going to get those bridges.
07:57We are going to get those bridges.
