We are in the midst of a parliamentary sitting at the moment, and there are important issues on the table.
Among them is Labor’s $5,000 cap on veterans’ allied health care. This move has caused shock throughout the country. How can we put a restriction on health care for people who have risked all to serve their country?
Amendments to reverse the decision have been passed in the Senate and will now come back to the House of Representatives for debate.
Veterans and RSL sub-branches across the electorate of Parkes, including Gunnedah, Dubbo, Narrabri and other advocates have raised this matter with me in clear distress about how this will impact on veterans. The people who have served our country deserve better.
I also continue to fight the unworkable gun laws introduced by the Federal Government, and hope to introduce a Private Member’s Motion in Parliament to repeal these laws.
Almost every day I hear from gun shop owners such as Dave and Nancy Thwaites in Walgett, and farmers and sporting shooters across the Parkes electorate who have themselves been made the target after the terrorist attack at Bondi.
The acts of two extremists has resulted in close to a million law-abiding gun owners across the country facing confusion and a lack of direction for the way forward.
On a happier note, it has been my pleasure to welcome a number of schools to Parliament over the past couple of sittings, including Tooraweenah Public School, Gunnedah South Public School, Warren Central School, Parkes Public School, St Philomena’s School in Moree, St Bridget’s School in Coonamble and Narrabri West Public School.
These visits are very valuable in teaching our future leaders about how democracy works in Australia – and it’s great to see some friendly, local faces in Canberra!
Outside of Parliament, I have been to some wonderful events across the electorate. I have celebrated the business winners at the Forbes Business Awards – otherwise known as the Boscars, been to the Parkes and Condoblin Shows, popped in to pay a visit to the 1st Dubbo Scout Group and spent time with the young students at the Peak Hill Preschool to congratulate them on the preschool’s 60th anniversary.
It was an absolute delight to officially open the newly upgraded Lightning Ridge Bowling Club’s outdoor children’s playground, and to see students hopping straight in to enjoy it.
I was in Gunnedah for a citizenship ceremony for five new Australian citizens, and to congratulate some of the winners of the Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards, Austalia’s longest-running and largest poetry competition for children.
In Moree, my wife Judy and I attended the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Charity Ball, the first event in the Moree Cup weekend. It was a great event that raises money for an incredible cause.
I would also like to pay tribute to the Men’s Sheds in operation across the Parkes electorate, from the Moree Plains Shire in the north, Bland Shire in the south, Broken Hill in the west and Nyngan where I visited last month – and everything in between! It was Men’s Shed Week at Parliament last week with some of the projects and craftsmanship of Men’s Sheds on display.