I rise today to encourage the Queensland government to work with the Brisbane City Council to ensure that plans to create a community hub on the old Wynnum Central State School will proceed. There is a real potential to preserve the precious green space and the heritage of the school site, which the state government is selling, by creating a civic centre and community park. I know from my conversations with Lord Mayor Campbell Newman that council had been working hard to get the proposal off the ground ever since Deputy Premier Paul Lucas approached them earlier this year about buying the site. The proposal had since stalled because the state government has, according to independent valuers, overvalued the land and will not budge on this inflated price. I urge the state government to remember that it is not about making a quick buck but about ensuring that the land stays in public hands, not those of private developers who may not be focused on retaining green space or providing community services on the site. I know that this proposal also comes with the support of the local councillor, local businesses and the Wynnum Chamber of Commerce. I welcome a happy outcome to this proposal.

I second this motion. In an open and transparent democracy the public deserves to know the rate of failure of all inspections carried out to date and this government must be held to account. I support this motion because it is in the national interest but also because there is a great deal of anxiety amongst homeowners in my electorate of Bonner. Homeowners in Bonner have made numerous representations to me concerned about whether or not they are living in a house with significant safety defects. In addition a number of homeowners in Bonner have asbestos or a risk of asbestos in their roof but had foil insulation installed. These homeowners have a well-founded concern about safety but are feeling left high and dry in relation to these issues. They have been told that they must remove the asbestos from their roof before their house can be further inspected or the insulation removed. This is likely to be at an incredible cost and many of these homeowners are senior citizens.

The government’s Home Insulation Program cost taxpayers $2.5 billion and from its inception it has been an outrageous failure of policy and implementation. As we all know now, and it is confirmed by the Auditor-General, this program was linked to at least 207 fires and the tragic deaths of four insulation installers. As we all know now this government rejected all attempts to warn them of the issues associated with this program and all attempts to shed light on what was really going on with fraudulent claims. This government preferred to put the safety of the public and the accountability of government below their own self-preservation.

While the government now is conducting safety inspections of houses fitted with insulation, in October the Auditor-General’s report found that there had been 29 per cent failure rate-that is, nearly one in three jobs done under the government program were dodgy or dangerous. The Auditor-General found a one in three failure rate but this government has decided that it will only inspect one in five houses at risk. That is not good enough. The most striking issue is that the one in three failure rate discovered by the Auditor-General is based only on a small sample of nearly 14,000 homes. One hundred thousand safety inspections have been carried out now, so it is time to stop hiding the truth.

Anecdotally, I understand that the rate of failure and the number of dodgy jobs is now much higher than one in three. In fact at one inspection that was carried out on Friday of last week an old Queenslander house with non-foil insulation was found to have failed Australian standards in three areas. Firstly, the depth of insulation was too low. Then there was not enough adequate clearance of cellulose around the downlights. Finally, the cellulose was not restrained around the cavity. They were all failures of Australian standards. The inspector said that almost all houses he had inspected did not meet the Australian standards and in 100 per cent of cases he had found the specific issue of cellulose not being restrained around the cavity.

So it is time for the government to come clean. Importantly, this motion also seeks to uncover the number of asbestos related problems. As I mentioned, homeowners with asbestos in their roofs are being left high and dry. It is outrageous for residents to be told that they must remove the asbestos from their roofs before any further inspection can take place or the insulation can be removed. Residents are well aware that the government had no problem in allowing the insulation to be installed in roofs with asbestos in the first place without appropriate oversight, so they must do whatever is necessary to assist these homeowners to rectify the issue that now exists. In the words of Mr Barry Reardon from my electorate of Bonner:

The government has been responsible for getting us into this mess. It has a responsibility to get us out of it.

It is unacceptable for this government to claim that the extent of failures should be withheld because its release could cause unnecessary apprehension. What is causing unnecessary apprehension in the electorate is the lack of information for the public to make informed choices with, particularly in relation to whether or not to remove or remediate the insulation installed under this program. I urge all members of this House to support this motion. It is in the public interest to do so.

It is with regret that I rise today to expose Labor’s unconscionable treatment of a very valuable community group in my electorate of Bonner, the Bulimba Creek catchment group. This Labor government has refused to honour a promise made by the former minister for the environment, the Hon. Peter Garrett, during the 2010 election campaign to deliver $58,000 to rehabilitate the vulnerable flying fox colony at Aquarium Passage, Hemmant.

The local volunteer Hemmant-Tingalpa conservation group, supported by B4C, applied for a Care for Country grant, which was submitted under the Community Action Grants program, in April 2010. They were subsequently contacted by the previous member for Bonner and the minister for the environment, Peter Garrett, on 11 August, prior to the federal election.

A meeting took place at which Minister Garrett made a verbal commitment to deliver the Care for Country grant of $58,000. This promise was covered by the Wynnun Herald, which shows Minister Garrett proudly posing for a photo at the time of the announcement.

However, on 22 October 2010, B4C received a letter from Australian Government Land and Coasts department informing them that their Care for Country grant application had been rejected and placed on a reserve list. Bizarrely, the letter also stated:

Your proposal was not among those recommended for funding at this stage.

Well, that is not what Minister Garrett promised. What an outrageous backflip. B4C is a group that faithfully serves the community and the environment. And like many other community organisations, they trusted what this Labor government said they would deliver if re-elected to govern. This broken promise will gravely impact on B4C’s capability in staffing, staging and preparing the works planned for that site.

If the Gillard government thought that rehabilitation of this flying fox colony was a worthy protect during the election, then I ask them to provide the people of Bonner with an explanation as to what has changed in the three months since the election. Clearly what has not changed is Labor’s inability to honour the promises that they make to the community. Labor cannot play politics with community groups. I ask this government to honour its commitment to the B4C and, if they do not, every representative of this government should hang their head in shame.

I rise to speak about Wynnum Family Day Care and its innovative program and website, HubWorks. HubWorks is a web based childcare management system that allows parents and educators easy access to information directly relevant to their children’s participation in care, including such features as attendance, vacancies and online payment. It has taken two years of hard work and thousands of dollars, but it has all paid off with Cathy Bavage and her team at Wynnum Family Day Care now piloting and building this system for the whole of Australia. Cathy Bavage has also been nominated to head up a national focus group, with leaders from each state to commit to a further two years of expansion into the national framework and other government and community needs.

I want to congratulate Cathy and her team on their insight and courage in having such a strong vision for the future and in pushing the boundaries of what is traditionally a very big cottage industry to bring forth faster, safer and more reliable information sharing. I am confident that, before long, HubWorks will become the world leader in childcare communication.

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate about our nation’s involvement in Afghanistan. I think it is a timely debate and right that we justify our Afghanistan commitment to this parliament given that last month marked the ninth anniversary of Australia’s involvement in Afghanistan and we have seen a number of changes over that period. Last week, on 11 November, Australians commemorated Remembrance Day in honour of those who have died or suffered for Australia’s cause in all wars and armed conflicts. As I participated in commemorative services in my electorate of Bonner, the observation of two minutes silence-one minute for those who returned and one minute for those who did not-touched a chord for many gathered there. I believe that a third minute of silence could also be observed to acknowledge those currently serving and defending our nation in various theatres around the world.

In line with those commemorations, I would like to start by outlining my support and admiration for Australia’s Defence Force personnel. I pay tribute to those thousands of men and women who serve and have served in Australia’s Defence Force, at times in very dangerous and hostile environments. In particular, I acknowledge the 21 Australian soldiers who have lost their lives in Australia’s service in Afghanistan. I salute the ultimate sacrifice those soldiers made in defence of Australia’s national security. I also acknowledge the 152 soldiers who have been injured during Australia’s mission in Afghanistan. I honour your service to date and I know that many of you have continued or will continue to serve our great nation upon your recovery. I also support and admire the families and loved ones of our Defence Force personnel. I understand the concerns that many families of serving personnel have when their loved ones are serving overseas and I empathise with the enduring anguish of the loved ones of those soldiers who have lost their lives.

In assessing Australia’s commitment in Afghanistan over the last nine years and indeed our future commitment, it is important to remember that our mission, and the sacrifices that have been made, is in defence of Australia’s national security. Australia’s national security is articulated through the achievement of a number of objectives, the first of which is freedom from attack or the threat of attack-that is, our capacity to protect our citizens and interests at home and abroad. Our national security was put at risk when terrorists attacked the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001. In that attack, 10 Australians lost their lives. Our national security was again significantly put at risk when 88 Australians were killed in the first Bali bombings. Similarly, the death of eight other Australians in subsequent terrorist attacks in London, Kuta Bali, Jimbaran Beach and Jakarta continued this sad trend.

Our troops are committed to Afghanistan because all these attacks have been proven to be linked in some way back to the freedom of action that terrorist forces enjoyed in Afghanistan. We must remove these safe havens for extreme terror groups capable of extending their influence into Australia’s region and thereby further impacting on our national interests.

However, our mission is twofold. While we must remove safe havens for terrorist groups, we must also engage with the society that has proved to be, often unwillingly, a breeding ground for terrorist groups and assist the building of a stable Afghan state through a combination of military, policy and civilian effort. This is one of the most fundamental aspects of Australia’s mission and one that I support wholeheartedly. I appreciate that progress in this strategy will be very gradual and that advances will be achieved day by day, village by village. It is a slow process, but one that we must follow through so that it will lead to the successful restoration of normality in a country where normality has been a foreign concept for the past 30 years.

I know that there are some voices advocating immediate or near-future withdrawal, but I believe that this is not in any way a viable option. It is not viable for Australia’s national interest and it is not viable for Afghanistan’s security and stability. The irony of this alternate strategy is that an incomplete mission in Afghanistan will see the resurgence of the Taliban, a repressive regime that has operated off the back of the heroin trade. It is highly corruptible and is known as one of the worst human rights violators of recent times. An incomplete mission in Afghanistan also has the potential to send the message to other terrorist organisations which cooperate with and look up to the Taliban and al-Qaeda, particularly in our South-East Asian region, that we are not serious about defeating terrorism and protecting our national security.

The coalition has never taken this commitment lightly. I support Australia’s commitment in Afghanistan and I support the work we are doing, through our alliance with the United States of America and under the auspices of the United Nations, to defeat terrorism at its source, deny terrorist organisations a training ground and support a democratically elected government to ensure that Afghanistan can never again become a haven for terrorism.

I rise to speak in support of the National Broadband Network Financial Transparency Bill 2010 introduced by the Hon. Malcolm Turnbull. I support this bill because the residents of my electorate of Bonner support access to fast, affordable broadband. Availability of and access to broadband services is arguably one of the most contentious and frustrating issues for the residents of Bonner. Many residents-especially those who live in the suburbs of Mackenzie, Wakerley, Gumdale, Ransome, and parts of Wynnum-Manly and Carindale-do not have access to any broadband, let alone faster broadband. The majority of those households do not care about the politics of the situation; all they want is to be able to access the internet reliably, quickly and, most importantly, at a reasonable and competitive price. What they do not want is to wait for up to eight years for technology and service that may be well out of date and, at the same time, is likely to contribute significantly to Australia’s debt burden.

That is why I support this bill, which requires the publication of a 10-year business case for the NBN and, even more importantly, refers the NBN project to the Productivity Commission for a thorough cost-benefit analysis. As others on this side of the chamber have noted, this is not a delaying tactic or an attempt to hold back the NBN. It is simply an attempt to establish the facts and allow an impartial body to assess whether or not this investment-the largest investment of taxpayers’ funds in infrastructure in our history-is a good idea.

I know that there is growing pressure amongst the business community for the government to undertake a thorough cost-benefit analysis of the NBN project. But, closer to home, my constituents constantly remind me that every dollar that this government spends belongs to the taxpayers of Australia. The coalition is beholden to the community to act as responsible guardians for every cent of taxpayers’ money, given that the government has repeatedly refused to undertake a cost-benefit analysis of this NBN project. This government has even refused to refer the NBN to its own, newly-created, specialist infrastructure agency, Infrastructure Australia. The organisation created by this Labor government, and tasked with developing a blueprint for modernising the nation’s transport, water, energy and communications infrastructure, has been refused the ability to scrutinise the biggest infrastructure investment in our nation’s history.

The Productivity Commission is strictly nonpartisan, and is the best possible organisation to ask what the implications of this project are going to be. It is staffed by experts who understand economics but also understand the importance of factoring in non-financial costs and benefits, such as spillovers from and the social consequences of various policy choices. It is astonishing to the coalition and, particularly, to the residents of Bonner that a government is proposing to spend so much money with so little consideration or analysis-particularly when this is against the backdrop of the waste and inefficiency that has been the hallmark of other Labor projects like the home insulation debacle, the green loans scheme, and the Building the Education Revolution school halls fiasco.

An encouraging example of a broadband project that has undertaken a cost-benefit analysis can be found in my home town of Brisbane, where the Lord Mayor of Brisbane and the Brisbane City Council are working with international technology firm i3 Asia-Pacific to facilitate the rollout of a fibre-optic network that has the potential to deliver broadband faster and more effectively than the NBN. I am looking forward to working with the lord mayor to ensure that this exciting alternative proposal is given the full support that it deserves.

Nevertheless, this government’s NBN is going to be an eight-year, $43-billion project. Surely it deserves a rigorous cost-benefit analysis. It would be morally reprehensible and beyond financial recklessness for this parliament not to pass legislation for this government to allow the Productivity Commission-an independent and expert source of advice on economic and regulatory issues-to make an assessment of this investment. The public deserves to know that their money has been well spent. Our economy cannot afford another BER debacle.

If there is one thing that is more humbling than coming to this place for the first time and making a first speech, it is returning here again. It has been just over three years since I last spoke in this parliament and, Mr Deputy Speaker, I am incredibly honoured to stand before you to deliver my first speech in this the 43rd Parliament. Most importantly, I am honoured to once again be representing the people of Bonner and I thank them most sincerely for the faith they have shown in me to be their representative, their advocate and their voice on the national scene.

As the members of this parliament are no doubt aware, the electorate of Bonner was named after a great Queenslander who also happened to be a great Liberal, former senator Neville Bonner. In 1971 Senator Bonner was the first Indigenous Australian elected to the federal parliament. During his 12 years in the Senate he was a hardworking and diligent parliamentarian, respected by both sides of politics. In his 16 years after leaving the Senate, he was a much esteemed elder statesman of Australian public life. I know that he would be immensely pleased that the Liberal Party of Australia and the parliament have now also welcomed the first Indigenous Australian to the House of Representatives, the member for Hasluck, Ken Wyatt.

I am very proud to have served as a member of the Howard government in my first term as the member for Bonner from 2004 to 2007. While I accepted the verdict of the electorate in the 2007 election when I was not re-elected, I cannot deny the incredible personal disappointment I felt at the time because of what I still wanted to contribute and deliver for the people of Bonner. I believe that the last three years have served as somewhat of a sabbatical for me from public service. I have used that opportunity to broaden my experience in the private sector and, at the same time, contemplate my future. However, over the last three years I could not help but continue my involvement with members of the community of Bonner and through those connections I maintained an ongoing dialogue with many residents. It was obvious to me during the past three years away from federal politics that my passion lies in representing and serving my community and I sought to regain the trust of the residents of Bonner. I believe that I have continued to learn and grow during my absence from this parliament and all of those experiences will assist me to be a better and more effective representative of my community’s views in Canberra.

In my first speech in 2004, I said that the electorate of Bonner was a snapshot of middle Australia. This is still true in 2010, but not because time has stood still-quite the opposite. Over the past six years, Australia has experienced enormous change, and so has the electorate of Bonner. As I look at both the statistics and the experience of residents on the ground, I continue to be amazed by the ever-changing demographic in Bonner and how this has taken place over such a relatively short period of time, creating great opportunities as well as great challenges. Bonner represents a way of life that is attractive to young professionals, given its proximity to the Brisbane CBD. It is also attractive to a growing number of families given the exceptional standard of education facilities within the electorate that include both public and private primary and secondary schools as well as Griffith University’s Mitchell campus. Bonner is also, not surprisingly, attractive to a higher than average number of retired or semiretired people, given the relaxed and tranquil paradise along the beautiful Bayside.

I am particularly mindful of the aspirations of all Queenslanders in the electorate of Bonner and not least because Queensland and Australia’s economic situation was very different when I last stood in this chamber. I am very conscious of the impact of budget deficits and government debt on taxpayers in Bonner and how this has translated into cost-of-living pressures alongside higher mortgage repayments. I am committed to being part of a coalition that demands fiscal restraint and responsibility, and I will hold this government to account for every dollar of taxpayers’ money it spends and, sadly in so many cases, wastes. This is my firm commitment to the residents of Bonner in order to ensure that their experience, their values and their aspirations are represented in Canberra.

As a changing and growing electorate, Bonner is in need of investment in new infrastructure and services. This was obvious to me during my first term, particularly in relation to health and community support. As part of that effort, I delivered a much needed Medicare office and Australian Hearing Centre in Wynnum, as well as a family relationship centre in Mount Gravatt. I was also successful in securing a commitment from the Howard government to invest $700 million to upgrade the vital Port of Brisbane motorway, but I am disappointed that this commitment was not acted upon by the Rudd government. I want to build on this past track record in successfully delivering new services. I will continue to work throughout this term towards delivering improvements in transport and road safety, health services, communications and community support.

A key issue for local residents is the availability of access to broadband services throughout the electorate. Throughout the election campaign-and since I was elected-so many local residents have told me that they are not particularly interested in accessing superfast download speeds of 100 megabits per second being proposed under this National Broadband Network. They just want access to the current 25 gigabit per second broadband services, but to be able to do it throughout the whole of the electorate, reliably and at a reasonable price.

This issue is particularly relevant for a family that recently moved from Central Queensland to the suburb of Wakerley in my electorate. While the move was associated with employment, this family also hoped that it would provide opportunities for them to have better access to specialists for their youngest daughter, who is autistic. While living in a remote area, this family found that access to the internet not only provided additional support networks for them but also provided their daughter with learning and development opportunities through interactive media and self-paced learning. They had access to ADSL broadband and had assumed that continuing a similar service would not be a special consideration in their move to Wakerley, which is within 20 kilometres of the Brisbane CBD. However, now living in Wakerley, this family can only access a very expensive six-gigabyte per month wireless service. Very frustratingly for many, this inner-city suburb is significantly lacking in infrastructure and is not even up to regional and remote community standards.

While this example serves to highlight the need for better broadband infrastructure, the government’s NBN cannot be the answer when under this proposal local residents in Wakerley have been told that they will be waiting up to eight years to gain access to any broadband, let alone faster broadband. This is rightly unacceptable to the residents of Wakerley and other residents throughout Bonner, in particular those in Carindale, Mackenzie and the Wynnum-Manly area. I am committed to working on reducing this absurd time frame and ensuring that this investment in communications infrastructure is made as soon as possible, but also with a reasonable price tag.

I am encouraged that the Lord Mayor of Brisbane and the Brisbane City Council are working with private enterprise to offer an alternative to the government’s NBN. This project is in its infancy but I am looking forward to working with the Lord Mayor, as well as Councillors Adrian Schrinner and Krista Adams, to ensure that this exciting alternative proposal is given all the support it deserves.

When considering adequate services to my community in Bonner, health also continues to be an area of particular interest to me. During the election campaign, the government promised $15 million for a GP superclinic in the Wynnum-Manly area. Given that this commitment was made during the election campaign to support a marginal seat, neither the community nor I are yet across the detail of the government’s proposal. I believe that a process like this must be done following thorough consultation with the community involved and my constituents expect nothing less, not least those involved in all aspects of health services. It is imperative that the local community is involved and has ownership of the project to ensure that it delivers improved primary health care that utilises the wealth of expertise and knowledge in the existing infrastructure of health services. The Wynnum-Manly area is unique and therefore a unique solution is needed that will ensure no existing GPs or health providers will be adversely impacted but residents will have improved access to primary health care.

My constituents constantly remind me that this is taxpayers’ money, not the government’s money, and therefore the community must be involved in the process of deciding what they need. They are, of course, absolutely correct and the government should listen to and respect that view. To that end I have written to the Minister for Health and Ageing, the Hon. Nicola Roxon, seeking information about the government’s proposal and I look forward to working with her and my constituents during this parliament to deliver a unique solution for primary health care in Bonner.

Bonner is a growing electorate with growing needs. I mentioned previously the number of families attracted to the area because of the lifestyle offered by Brisbane’s eastern suburbs. This means that education is truly on the minds of my constituents. Everyone aspires to give their children a better future in life, and there is no better way to do that than through a quality education. This is an exciting time for education in Bonner. While a number of state schools have been consolidated under the Queensland government’s State Schools of Tomorrow program, the opportunity has arisen for those schools and students to move to exciting new premises that better suit their needs. The Catholic and independent school sector continues to grow and go from strength to strength in Bonner, providing local parents with plenty of choice-a principle very much supported by the Coalition.

There has been a significant amount of investment in schools in Bonner but I remain committed to ensuring that all schools receive value for money for the school halls and libraries that have been imposed on them under the Building the Education Revolution program. It pains me to see that this program has resulted in an increased divide between the government and non-government school sectors. While Catholic and independent schools have been able to manage their own projects and thus obtain great value for money, the projects at state schools have been centrally arranged by the state education bureaucracy. Sadly, all the evidence so far, both anecdotal evidence from concerned parents as well as official evidence presented to various federal and state inquires and reviews, suggests that billions of dollars have been wasted by state governments around Australia on increased costs, inflated fees and general mismanagement. The end result is that the children in state schools have by and large not received good value for money-certainly not as good as their non-government school counterparts. This has been one of the largest infrastructure programs in Australia’s history and this government has once again proved that it cannot be trusted to properly manage taxpayers’ money to achieve good outcomes for everyone.

I am proud to serve in an Abbott-led Coalition team and I believe Tony is a true role model of determination and strength of character for all of us. Winning the seat of Bonner was the result of team work. It is always a tremendously difficult task to single out individuals for special thanks, but I would like to acknowledge the dedicated group of supporters without whom I would not be standing in this chamber today.

Firstly, I want to thank my family. In my first speech to this parliament in 2004, I outlined my journey to becoming the first representative for the then newly created seat of Bonner. The incredible encouragement and support of my family has continued steadfast on this journey and I would not be here without them. I particularly want to thank my parents, along with my brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and cousins. I would also like to acknowledge my grandmother for her undying love and support.

While I cannot name them all individually, I would like to thank every Liberal-National Party member in the Bonner electorate for their tireless support during what was a lengthy and onerous campaign. Each of you is a stakeholder in this victory and I am indebted to you. I will not let you down.

I would like to pay tribute to my campaign director and now office manager, Nina Schrinner, who with her husband, Councillor Adrian Schrinner, were the people in whom I placed my complete trust and who were my strength and support throughout the campaign. I also thank the core members of my campaign team-Russ, Liam, Steve, Kev, Arthur, Saxon, Cheryl, Col, Ryan and Alana-for all your hard work and special mention must also be made of Frankie, Brett, Nathan, Ally, Mario, Warren and Neil-you guys are tremendous.

I would like to thank my parliamentary colleagues Senator Brett Mason and Senator George Brandis for their long-term support, guidance and advice without which this victory would truly not be possible-I salute you. I thank Senator Eric Abetz, Joe Hockey, Dr Sharman Stone and Peter Dutton, who made key visits and provided invaluable support to Bonner throughout the campaign period. Special mention must be made of Julie Bishop, who took time out of what was an extraordinarily busy schedule to support me in my fight to win Bonner-Julie, you are truly a wonderful person and a great asset to this team.

I thank the Queensland Liberal National State President, Bruce McIver, and the wonderful team at LNP headquarters: Michael O’Dwyer, James McGrath, James McKay, Kepa Andrews and their teams. It is testament to the LNP state organisation that this newly merged party has been successful in winning an additional nine seats in Queensland. This result makes us either the largest or equal largest state represented in the coalition party room.

So the largest, thank you. There are other members of this parliament that have lost their seat and have been fortunate enough to win them back, some as representatives for a different seat. I commend them all. I would like to particularly acknowledge Teresa Gambaro, who proves that hard work and dedication does pay off, and also Jane Prentice, who I know will work just as hard as the federal member for Ryan as she did when she was a councillor for Walter Taylor Ward. Sincere congratulations to Wyatt Roy, who, and I am quite confident, has a great future ahead of him. Finally to Warren Entsch: you just can’t keep a good man down.

I want to thank all Parliament House staff-chamber staff, security guards, committee staff, staff in the cafeteria and at Aussie’s-all those people that make our great parliament function every day. You have made me feel so welcome on my return. I also would like to acknowledge the former member for Bonner, Kerry Rae. Politics is a tough business and I know from personal experience the pain of losing. I want to wish Kerry and her family all the best in her future endeavours.

Finally, to the residents of Bonner I say this: former senator Neville Bonner embodied perseverance and a commitment to all Australians. In the spirit of perseverance and a commitment to my community, I am truly humbled that you saw fit to return me as your elected representative. I thank you for the trust you have placed in me and I will serve you faithfully and tirelessly.

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to the case of Queensland war veteran Robert Rice, who served in Bougainville and Afghanistan,
who said that he was forced to sell his service medals after being financially
crippled by the government’s failed Green Loans program. Mr Rice said: The way the government handled it was absolutely disgraceful.

What does the Prime Minister intend to do to resolve Mr Rice’s trust in government?