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Time to Reflect

The new President of the Senate, the Honourable Sue Lines, wants to abolish the praying of the Lord’s Prayer before the beginning of proceedings each day. She is reported to have said “Personally, I would...

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Unconditional Love

Sister Brigid Arthur was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to social welfare, particularly with asylum seekers and refugees, and to Catholic education. Bishop Philip Huggins described her as 'a...

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Shop Local, Support Locals

Did you know that Australia is home to over 3.5 million small businesses? Just like this one here, the Warragul Flower Shop. Small businesses play a big role in Gippsland – they’re the backbone of...

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Keep In Touch With Russell

Russell Broadbent MP

Russell Broadbent MP
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Federal Member for Monash

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The House of Representatives has announced the national My First Speech competition for year 10 to 12 students across Australia.

This competition will provide the opportunity for three lucky students to be flown to Canberra with a parent or guardian to present their speeches live and undertake a program at Parliament House.

The competition asks year 10 to 12 students to consider what they would say if they were a newly elected Member of the House of Representatives and record themselves presenting the speech on video.

A website has been established for the competition at: www.aph.gov.au/myfirstspeech

Entries for the competition close at 5pm EST 31 August 2022.

For more information on the competition contact the House of Representatives, Information Management Office, email: comps.reps@aph.gov.au

This competition is a wonderful way for our next generation of community leaders to have a say in our national parliament. I hope you can promote this to students at your school. ... See MoreSee Less

19 hours ago
The House of Representatives has announced the national My First Speech competition for year 10 to 12 students across Australia. This competition will provide the opportunity for three lucky students to be flown to Canberra with a parent or guardian to present their speeches live and undertake a program at Parliament House. The competition asks year 10 to 12 students to consider what they would say if they were a newly elected Member of the House of Representatives and record themselves presenting the speech on video. A website has been established for the competition at: www.aph.gov.au/myfirstspeech Entries for the competition close at 5pm EST 31 August 2022. For more information on the competition contact the House of Representatives, Information Management Office, email: comps.reps@aph.gov.au This competition is a wonderful way for our next generation of community leaders to have a say in our national parliament. I hope you can promote this to students at your school.
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One suggestion would be to avoid the managerialism that has spread throughout society and take an invested viewpoint that people can support.

This change in policy actually turns its back on the regions and destroys opportunities for people to grow their country communities, because who's going to go to a country community if they can't get a doctor?

It's a typical new government making a crazy mistake. It's a sugar-coated disaster, and that is how it will be seen. ... See MoreSee Less

1 week ago
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So why did you vote against Helen Haines’ amendment that would have secured a better deal for regions?

Will be a great community when a nuclear power station is built in Baw Baw, right Russell

Goodonya being real! when speaking about our wonderful country communities 🙂

We are moving back into your electorate Russell and I hope I can help promote health care with you. 👩🏼‍🦱🤔

Spot on rusty

Hear hear

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The next round of Dysons Community Grants opens on 1 September 2022. The Dyson Group of Companies has established this funding program to provide grants in support of community groups and organisations around Victoria.

There are two rounds of the Dysons Community Grants annually, each with $10,000 available and a maximum grant of $1,000.

Eligible organisations include pre-schools, schools, sporting clubs, not-for-profit groups, charities, welfare agencies, local societies and emergency services.

Applications close on 30 September 2022.

For more information and to apply, please visit: dysongroup.com.au/about/community-grants ... See MoreSee Less

1 week ago
The next round of Dysons Community Grants opens on 1 September 2022. The Dyson Group of Companies has established this funding program to provide grants in support of community groups and organisations around Victoria. There are two rounds of the Dysons Community Grants annually, each with $10,000 available and a maximum grant of $1,000. Eligible organisations include pre-schools, schools, sporting clubs, not-for-profit groups, charities, welfare agencies, local societies and emergency services. Applications close on 30 September 2022. For more information and to apply, please visit: http://dysongroup.com.au/about/community-grants
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Newborough Primary School Matt Davey

Tracy Lee-Ann

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I want to talk about sugar. The member for Barker has just come in on duty. I wish he'd been here to hear the member for Mayo's address and the member for Mallee's address. If you put the two together you have a description of the whole sugar-coated mess that, within two weeks of the parliament, you have created for regional people in Australia. Just like that. It is one decision that is going to have huge ramifications for every regional area. We already have a massive shortage of doctors, which I've talked about so many times. My beautiful township of Moe hasn't been able to get doctors for years. It struggles to get doctors. People have to travel to Traralgon and to Trafalgar for any doctors' services. We spend weeks waiting. In Moe it takes six weeks to get in. You're pretty firmly damaged by the time you have to wait for a doctor for six weeks. So what do you do? You go straight to the emergency department in Traralgon or in Morwell, don't you? You have to. What alternative have you got? Under COVID, and for other reasons when I talk about sugar, the Australian population is becoming more unwell, because our policies don't talk about caring for those people prior to them getting ill. We're quite happy that people are consuming more and more fast food and more and more sugar. People are becoming unwell because of their lifestyle and then expect to go in and get a pill from the doctor to fix it. But things that we should be promoting to make a difference to health care are not being promoted. Many years ago we did. 'Life. Be in it.' was the program, and there have been others since. But this small change, which they thought would be politically wonderful, really damages the opportunities for our regions. The new Labor government made all its promises on health care, and what did the promoter of this particular scheme say? 'We deliver.' What was the sugar-coating 12 years ago? It was called: we're going to have 50 super clinics, and they are going to alleviate the hospitals. Fifty of them right across Australia. What did we get in the term of the government? Was it five or nine? And then it was completely forgotten about. By the way, the five, which have probably been being taken over by private organisations, were all in—well, Labor-held seats were the first ones to get up at those times. I'm pretty sure Mildura didn't get one. There were parts of Adelaide that didn't get one. Parts of mostly regional Australia never heard of one, because there was no money to be made in regional Australia. We have had incentive after incentive for doctors to come. In my time we created a medical school for doctors at Monash University in Latrobe Valley. John Howard gave us 40 places for doctors to be trained. We still have a medical training centre in Warragul because we know, and we knew then, that if you can train a medical person in an area they're likely to, hopefully, fall in love with someone and stay. But that's the only way you're going to get them. You've got to train them in the country so they accept the opportunities in the regions. This change in policy actually turns its back on the regions and destroys opportunities for people to grow their country communities, because who's going to go to a country community if they can't get a doctor? Who? Who's going to go to Parkes? Who's going to come to my electorate of Monash? No, they're not. It's a typical new government making a crazy mistake. It's a sugar-coated disaster, and that is how it will be seen. The people of my electorate will know exactly how they've been dudded by this government. They've been dudded at the most crucial part of their families' being: the health care by their GP, which they can't find.
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Sugar-Coating Bad Policy

Russell Broadbent MP 68 views 2 August, 2022 2:13 pm

It's always an honour to follow the member for Cowan, and I would say, 'Here's to all the Daves and the Daves of this parliament who support us in our work in and outside the parliament and put up with an awful lot on our behalf!' Deputy Speaker Claydon, I also congratulate you on your elevation to the position of Deputy Speaker. It's a proud position to hold, and other people have gone on from your role to become the Speaker of the House. But Deputy Speaker is just as important to the workings of this parliament as the Speaker is, because of the work that I know that you do. Having said that, I will say that as a member of parliament who has lost four election campaigns—two as a candidate and two as a member of parliament—and being there once or twice, I believe that for those people on both sides of the House in the election campaign that has just passed who lost their seats, this is the cruel reality of politics, that expectations are dashed and careers are thrown on a heap. And it's often very hard for people to pick up the pieces. As former politicians, we don't have the structures or benefits that we once had and that were part of the package that was offered as we came in as parliamentarians. Those supports are no longer there. In fact, when you lose out of this place, you are on your own. So I do feel for and identify with all those people who lost their seats at the last election. It's alright for us to come here and celebrate the place being full of those who won their seats at the last election campaign. But there are a lot of people who are feeling quite a bit of grief today because of the position they've found themselves in and that they were not expecting. So, I just send a message out to all of them. For the whole of my career—in business, in the community and in the parliament—one of my very special topics has been aged care. You know that, Deputy Speaker; you've heard me speak on it a thousand times. But we've never faced the crisis we face today. I don't blame the previous government, I don't blame the government before that, and I don't blame the government before that, because the last thing John Howard said to me before he lost his role was, 'Russell, don't come to me and ask for more money for aged care'—that was in 2007—because the exponential rise in the costs was dramatic. We're facing that today. I will speak on it further in the future. But we are in dramatic times; we're in unprecedented times. And governments of all persuasions are going to have to address this issue before it gets out of control.
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Aged Care - Sound the Alarm!

Russell Broadbent MP 12 views 2 August, 2022 2:04 pm

Mr Speaker, thank you for the kind invitation to speak. I congratulate you on your election to the office of Speaker. I think I have been here for all the Labor speakers since 1990. That means I've spent a lot of time in opposition. I fondly remember Speaker Harry Jenkins, who brought to the chair integrity, humility and humour, and I wish you all three. I come to speak about the passing of Harry Sasse. I come not to grieve but to honour. Harry Sasse was a staffer at Liberal Party headquarters, at 104 Exhibition Street, when I first became a member of the party and became aware of these people. But perhaps I'll begin not with my words but with the words of former Premier of Victoria and president of the party Ted Baillieu. He notes that Harry was a Liberal Party professional staffer in Victoria for many, many years. For more than 20 years, Harry saw up close every aspect of the Liberal Party and its operation, but he was widely trusted. Harry was long responsible for the health and day-to-day activity of the local branch network. When Harry was in charge of the ballot box, everybody was comfortable. Everyone knew Harry. Everyone accepted his counsel. He was politically adept and always focused on the best interests of the party. Harry enjoyed the respect of all members. He had an uncanny capacity to moderate any storm, to smooth over any cracks and to calm any combatants. He and his wife also ran an early childcare business in those days. He had a long-term professional relationship with fellow staffer Frank Hangan, who, like Harry, was an unassuming and thoughtful individual. For me, the Harry Sasses of this world, in that day, put integrity first, second and third. They were punctual. They were classic administrators. They took detail seriously. Sasse was a profoundly decent gentleman of another era. Respect, manners, dress, presentation, humour—he was a mentor to many young members like me. He was generous with his time and his counsel. Harry's pride, which was conveyed to others, was a pride in the Liberal Party and in the nation that he served. He felt responsible for Australia and its people. I met him at a time when I was young and extremely naive about politics. He was there under the tutelage of the state director at the time, John Ridley, and there were other staffers there of the same ilk, like Tony Conheady. Australia has been blessed by men like this, men of stature and integrity, within all our political parties of bygone eras. We have the values and inspirations that we still enjoy today because of men like Harry Sasse. Vale, Harry. I honour you.
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Harry Sasse - A good man by anyone's measure

Russell Broadbent MP 20 views 28 July, 2022 3:40 pm

The new President of the Senate, the Honourable Sue Lines, wants to abolish the praying of the Lord’s Prayer before the beginning of proceedings each day. She is reported to have said, “Personally, I would like to see the prayers gone. I’m an atheist. I don’t want to say the prayers. It is not something I can decree. But it is “certainly on the agenda and would be raised with the Senate procedure committee.” I would like to remind everyone that Senators and Members are not required to be present or participate in the reading of the Lord’s prayer. On 6 July 2011, I tabled a petition when this issue was raised in the House. I asked the late Bishop John Wilson to write a preamble to the petition and this is what he wrote: “We the undersigned as citizens of Australia ask that the use of the LORD’S PRAYER BE RETAINED by Parliament as integral to good government and Australia’s national heritage. The prayer acknowledges our shared and common humanity under a caring God, in a context of humility and respect; It asks God to fulfil his just purposes for the earth; It seeks from God the provision of our daily needs and requires by implication generosity on our part; It confesses our need to be forgiven and to forgive; It recognises the lure of corruption and our entanglement with evil, from which we need to be delivered; Finally, it places our lives and actions in an eternal perspective. Even for those who do not pray to God, the recitation of these words at the beginning of the Parliamentary day allows a few moments for quiet reflection on our shared humanity, our daily dependence on the good things of the earth, our need to forgive and be forgiven, the temptations of office, and the broader perspective against which our efforts must be judged. Such a time is not wasted.” As I said, being present or participating in the reading of the Lord’s prayer is not required so why abolish the prayer? Respect for others of faith is much needed. There are many in the Senate and House of Representatives who will see this as another attack on our Christian heritage. The Creator God of all knows how much we need divine wisdom and perspective.
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Time to Reflect

Russell Broadbent MP 47 views 28 July, 2022 2:15 pm

Sister Brigid Arthur was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to social welfare, particularly with asylum seekers and refugees, and to Catholic education. Bishop Philip Huggins described her as 'a beautiful soul who persisted in caring for some of humankind's most vulnerable people and does this with a practical kindness—always kindness.' In her own words, Sister Brigid said that her motivation for decades of work with refugees and asylum seekers came down to: A certain stubbornness, probably, that there are a lot of things wrong and while we can do something about them we shouldn't give up, we should do it. I think I’m motivated by the fact that no one of us, and no one organisation or government, has the right to set up structures and adopt policies that are really cruel and that often don't recognise that the people who are being victimised by those structures and policies are quite vulnerable and need to be protected and not punished. Unconditional love. We know what that's about with our own children; we give them unconditional love and support. But what about the unconditional love that comes from Sister Brigid? I had only known her as Sister Brigid; I didn't even know her name was Brigid Arthur. How is it that Sister Brigid can give unconditional love to the lost, the lonely, the broken, the poor, the refugees? Perhaps she even gave unconditional love to a parliamentarian walking a lonely road.
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Unconditional Love

Russell Broadbent MP 49 views 28 July, 2022 9:00 am

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