Speeches

It's a great honour and privilege to be here with you all this morning to support the life-changing work that is performed by the Salvation Army.

We are here today to acknowledge the enormous contribution made by older Australians -- to their families, their local communities and also our modern Australian society.

Mr Speaker, over the past few months we have witnessed a series of truly tragic natural disasters - both here and abroad.

Thank you to Darren Sibson for that introduction and also thanks to Khiraan Kumar for inviting me here today to address this conference. This is a very familiar building to me.

Thank you Paul [Howes] for that introduction and thank you brothers and sisters of the AWU for that really warm welcome.

Thanks HG for that introduction.

Mr Speaker, there are many stories of tragedy, heroism and community spirit which come from the floods of recent weeks and of course the cyclones in North Queensland and Far North Queensland.

Thanks very much for having me and for that kind introduction.

Can I start by thanking:

Thanks Nick [Martin] for the introduction, and thanks to the Chifley Research Centre and the editors of this book for bringing together so many friends dedicated to such an important topic – Labo

I move that this Bill be now read a second time.

Mr Speaker,

International Update Mr Speaker, two years ago this Government participated in an historic crisis meeting of the G20 group of leading economies in Washington DC.

Thanks very much for that introduction and for that very warm welcome.

Thanks very much for having me here today and thanks Lisa [Middlebrook] for that introduction.

Thanks John [Phillips, Chancellor of the University of Western Sydney] for that introduction and can I also thank the Whitlam Institute and the University of Western Sydney for inviting me here

Introduction Thanks Kochie, and thanks everyone for having me here tonight. It's good to be home and escape the depth of Canberra's winter for a while.

I'll begin by thanking Joe Khatter [President, Australian Lebanese Chamber of Commerce], not just for inviting me along today but also for the leadership he provides to the business community.

Thank you Paul [Donnelly, President and CEO, Macquarie Capital Markets] for that warm introduction.

Thanks very much, it's great to be here. I was really pleased to be invited to speak today – so thanks to Bruce Baird, Chris Brown and Brett Gale.