Andrew Leigh: 'The Labor Party today stands at the confluence of two powerful rivers', maiden speech - 2010

18 October 2010, Canberra, Australia

It is hard to imagine a greater honour than to represent your friends and neighbours in our national parliament. Each of us brings to this place the hopes and dreams of the people who chose us. I am keenly aware both of the incredible opportunity the people of Fraser have bestowed on me, and the very great responsibility to them which that opportunity entails.

Let me begin, then, by telling you about my electorate of Fraser, and the city of Canberra in which it lies.

Fraser rests on the right bank of the Molonglo River, stretching north from the office blocks of Civic to the young suburbs of Bonner and Forde on the ACT’s northernmost tip. Because the leaders of the time decided that a capital city must have its own port, the electorate of Fraser also includes the Jervis Bay Territory, home to a diverse community, and a school where kangaroos graze on an oval overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

In the electorate of Fraser, some locations carry the names given to them by the traditional Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, who used what is now modern-day Canberra to hold their corroborees and feast on Bogong moths. Other suburbs are named after Australia’s great political leaders. For the people of Canberra, a nation’s proud history is embodied in our local geography.

Thanks to far-sighted decisions by generations of planners, Canberra’s hills are largely undeveloped. This means that many residents have the pleasure of looking up from a suburban street to see a hill covered in gum trees. From the Pinnacles to Mount Majura, the Aranda Bushlands to Black Mountain, our city’s natural environment offers ample opportunities to exercise the body and soothe the soul.

Economists like me are trained to believe in markets as the best route to environmental protection. And I do. But I also know that smart policy will only succeed if there is a will for action – if we believe in our hearts that we cannot enjoy the good life without a healthy planet.

As vital as our natural environment are the social ties that bind us together. In an era when Australians are becoming disconnected from one another, Canberra has some of the highest rates of civic engagement in the nation. Canberrans are more generous with our time and money, more likely to play sport with our mates, and more inclined to participate in cultural activities. Part of the reason for this is that we spend less time in the car than most other Australians, but I suspect it also has something to do with the design of Canberra’s suburbs.

During my time in this parliament, I will strive to strengthen community life not only in Canberra, but across Australia. In doing so, I hope to follow in the footsteps of my grandparents – people of modest means who believed that a life of serving others was a life well lived. My paternal grandfather, Keith Leigh, was a Methodist Minister who died of hypothermia while running up Mount Wellington in Hobart. It was October, and the mountain was covered in snow – as it is today. Keith was 59 years old, and was doing the run to raise money for overseas aid.

My mother’s parents were a boilermaker and a teacher who lived by the credo that if there was a spare room in their house, it should be used by someone who needed the space. As a child, I remember eating at their home with Indigenous families and new migrants from Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea, Chile, Cambodia and Sri Lanka.

That early experience informs my lifelong passion for Australia’s multiculturalism. With a quarter of our population born overseas, Australia has a long tradition of welcoming new migrants into our midst. Earlier this year, I attended a prize-giving ceremony for an art competition run as part of Refugee Week. First prize went to a Karen Burmese woman who had woven a traditional crimson tunic. Because she didn’t have a proper loom, the woman had taken the mattress off her bed, and fashioned a loom from her pine bed base. It is hard not to be overwhelmed by the courage and spirit of Australia’s migrants.

Near my home in Hackett, the local café is run by the three sons of James Savoulidis, a Greek entrepreneur who opened the first pizzeria in Canberra in 1966, and taught Gough Whitlam to dance the Zorba a few years later. Elsewhere in the Fraser electorate, you can enjoy Ethiopian in Dickson, Indian in Gungahlin, Chinese in Campbell, Vietnamese in O’Connor, or Turkish in Jamison. Canberrans who are called to worship can choose among their local church, temple, synagogue, or mosque. And yet I’ve never heard a murmur from my religious friends about the fact that the local ABC radio station broadcasts on the frequency 666.

My views on diversity and difference were also shaped by spending several years of my childhood in Malaysia and Indonesia. Sitting in my primary school in Banda Aceh, I learned what it feels like to be the only person in the room with white skin. And as I moved through seven different primary schools, I got a sense of how it feels to be an outsider, and the importance of making our institutions as inclusive as possible.

But clearly the experience didn’t scar me too much – because at 38, I’ve spent more than half my life in formal education. Sitting in Judith Anderson’s high school English class, I learned to treasure the insights into the human condition that come from the great storytellers – the works of William Shakespeare and Jane Austen, George Orwell and Les Murray, Leo Tolstoy and Tim Winton. Studying law, I learned that open government, judicial independence, and equal justice are principles worth fighting for. And picking my way through the snow drifts to attend Harvard seminars with Christopher Jencks, I came to appreciate the importance of rigorously testing your ideas, and the power of tools such as randomised policy trials (a topic about which members can be assured I will speak more during my time in this place).

In the decades ahead, education will be the mainspring of Australia’s economic success. Great childcare, schools, technical colleges and universities are the most effective way to raise productivity and living standards.

Improving education is also smart social policy. First-rate schooling is the best antipoverty vaccine we’ve yet invented. Great teachers can light a spark of vitality in children, a self-belief and passion for hard work, that will burn bright for the rest of their lives.

As an economist, much of my research has been devoted to the vast challenges of reducing poverty and disadvantage. I believe that rising inequality strains the social fabric. Too much inequality cleaves us one from another: occupying different suburbs, using different services, and losing our sense of shared purpose. Anyone who believes in egalitarianism as the animating spirit of the Australian settlement should recoil at this vision of our future.

But my research has also taught me that good intentions aren’t enough. As a professor-turned-politician, one of my role models is the late great US Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Moynihan was innately sceptical about every social policy solution presented to him. Indeed, his starting point was to expect that any given social policy would have no measureable effect. But these high standards didn’t make him any less of an idealist, and Moynihan never lost his optimism and passion. What we need in Australian policy today is not more ideologues, convinced that their prescriptions are the answer, but modest reformers willing to try new solutions, and discover whether they actually deliver results.

This spirit of optimistic experimentation has deep roots in our nation. Manning Clark once said that Australia was an experiment for the multiple faiths of the Holy Spirit, the Enlightenment and a New Britannia. So you get the sense that in these early days, the Australian project was one of expansiveness, enlargement and possibility, where people were prepared to take risks and try new ideas in an effort to show that in Australia we did things differently, and better, than elsewhere around the world.

This Australian project is not finished. It’s not something that stopped with the end of the First World War or with the death of Ben Chifley. And all of us, as today’s Australians, are the custodians of this project, a project that stretches back over generations and centuries, and binds all Australians, past, present and future, together in this greater cause. It is like the red sand that Gough Whitlam poured into the hands of the great Gurindji elder Vincent Lingiari, who declared ‘we are all mates now’. We have a responsibility to make sure that the Australian project, for the time that it rests in our hands, is advanced and continued.

To me, the Australian project is about encouraging economic growth, while ensuring that its benefits are shared across the community. It is about making sure that all Australians have great public services, regardless of ethnicity, income or postcode. And it is about recognising that governments have a role in expanding opportunities, because no child gets to choose the circumstances of their birth.

Internationally, the Australian project should be one of principled engagement. Australia’s influence overseas will always rely on the power of our values. A respect for universal human rights and a passion for raising living standards should always guide the work of our military and our diplomats, our aid workers and our trade negotiators. In the shadows of World War II, Australia helped create the United Nations – guided by a belief that all countries must be involved if we were to create a more peaceful and prosperous world. That ideal must continue to inform how we engage with the rest of the world.

Another important part of the Australian project has been democratic innovation. What we call the secret ballot is elsewhere termed ‘the Australian ballot’. We introduced female suffrage a generation before many other nations. We made voting compulsory, recognising that with rights come responsibilities.

Yet for all this innovation, Australians have increasingly become disenchanted with their elected representatives. The problem has many sources: the rowdiness of Question Time, too much focus by the commentariat on tactics rather than ideas, and a tendency to oversimplify problems and oversell solutions. I hope to help rebuild a sense of trust between citizens and politicians.

It starts with respect, and a recognition that we can disagree without being disagreeable. Working as associate to Justice Michael Kirby taught me that intellect and compassion together are a powerful force for change. Admit that most choices are tough. Listen to others. Be flexible. And remember that the fire in your belly doesn’t prevent you from wearing a smile on your face.

Australian politics isn’t a war between good parties and evil parties. At its best, it is a contest of ideas between decent people who are committed to representing their local communities. I am happy to count among my friends people on both sides of this house – and I am sure some of those friends will be happy to know that I don’t plan to name them today.

That said, choosing between the parties has never been an issue for me. I was born in the year that Gough Whitlam won office, and when my mother’s pregnancy reached the nine month mark, she pinned an ‘It’s Time’ badge onto the part of her shirt that covered her belly.

It is a true honour to serve as a Labor representative today, alongside so many capable and talented individuals. Thank you to those who have given me advice already. There is much more I have to learn from each of you.

In the Labor pantheon, the parliamentarians I most admire are those who have recognised that new challenges demand fresh responses. Among these I count John Curtin and Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and John Button, Lindsay Tanner and Gareth Evans. For each of these men, their ideals and values were their guiding light; yet their proposals were as flexible and innovative as the situation demanded.

I also had the privilege to work briefly as trade adviser to the late Senator Peter Cook. Peter was an instinctive internationalist, as keen to chat with a visiting Chinese delegation as to swap stories with the Argentinean ambassador. He believed in ideas, enthusiastically working to persuade colleagues that anyone who cared about poverty should believe in free trade. Peter passed away in 2005, far too early. I wish he were with us today.

I also count among my role models two former members for Fraser. As a 16 year-old, I came to Canberra to volunteer for John Langmore, and was struck by the depth of his principles and the breadth of his knowledge. Never did I imagine that one day I would succeed him.

My immediate predecessor is Bob McMullan. Over two decades in federal politics, the people of the ACT supported Bob for being a superb parliamentarian, and because they were proud to have, on their home turf, a true statesman, who embodied every day the best of what politics can be. I acknowledge Bob, and all those elected by the people of Fraser before him. Their service has set a high bar.

As elected representatives, one of our most important jobs is to speak out on behalf of those who struggle to have their voices heard. The Labor Party has a proud tradition of defending individual liberties. Past Labor governments outlawed discrimination on the basis of gender or race. This Labor government has removed from the statute books much of the explicit discrimination against same-sex couples, and strengthened disability discrimination laws. And all Labor governments strive to protect the right of workers to bargain collectively for better pay and conditions. Our party also stands firmly committed to democratic reform, including the simple yet powerful notion that every Australian child should be able to aspire to be our head of state.

The Labor Party today stands at the confluence of two powerful rivers in Australian politics. We are the party that believes in egalitarianism – that a child from Aurukun can become a High Court Justice, and that a mine worker should get the same medical treatment as the bloke who owns the mine.

But what is sometimes overlooked is that we are also the party that believes in liberalism – that governments have a role in protecting the rights of minorities, that freedom of speech applies for unpopular ideas as for popular ones, and that all of us stand equal beneath the Southern Cross. The modern Labor Party is the true heir to the small-L liberal tradition in Australia.

Alfred Deakin was one of the earliest Australian leaders to make the distinction between liberals and conservatives. Deakin argued that liberalism meant the destruction of class privileges, equality of political rights without reference to creed, and equality of legal rights without reference to wealth. Liberalism, Deakin said, meant a government that acted in the interests of the majority, with particular regard to the poorest in the community.

As for conservatives, to quote Deakin’s description of his opponents, they are:

‘a party less easy to describe or define, because, as a rule it has no positive programme of its own, adopting instead an attitude of denial and negation. This mixed body, which may fairly be termed the party of anti-liberalism, justifies its existence, not by proposing its own solution of problems, but by politically blocking all proposals of a progressive character, and putting the brakes on those it cannot block.’

A century on, it is hard to escape the conclusion that if Deakin were in this parliament today, he and his brand of progressive liberalism would find a natural home in the Australian Labor Party. (And given the numbers in today’s parliament, I am sure my colleagues would welcome his vote.)

For my own part, I would not be here without the support of the Australian Labor Party – Australia’s oldest and greatest political party – and the broader trade union movement. Ours is a party that believes in the power of collective action. When the goal is just and we are one, our movement and our party are unstoppable.

On a more personal level, I would also not be here without the bevy of volunteers who doorknocked, staffed street stalls, and handed out on polling day. Let me thank all of those who worked with me on this campaign, and gave up vast amounts of their time for a cause greater than any of us. Thank you also to my staff, who make me proud to walk into the office each day. I am deeply touched that so many friends, staff and supporters are here in the galleries to share this special day with me.

Let me also acknowledge and express my love for my parents Barbara and Michael, who instilled in my brother Timothy and me the simple values that guide us today: Be curious. Help others. Laugh often.

I hope that I can be as good a parent to my two sons – Sebastian and Theodore – as you have been to me.

To my extraordinary wife Gweneth, who left her home state of Pennsylvania for the unknowns of Australia. No matter how chaotic our lives become, you will always be the fixed point that puts everything else into perspective. In the words of John Donne, writing four hundred years ago to the love of his life: ‘Thy firmness makes my circle just, and makes me end where I begun.’

Finally, to the people who sent me here, the voters of Fraser. With the exception only of the neighbouring federal seat of Canberra, more votes were cast in Fraser than in any other electorate in Australia, and I am keenly aware both of the deep and diverse needs of our seat, and of the great trust and confidence Fraser’s voters have placed in me.

To them, I express my enormous gratitude for the honour they’ve given me of representing them in our nation’s Parliament. And to them I make this pledge – to do my utmost always: to represent their interests to the very best of my abilities, to remember always that their support for me is not my entitlement but their precious gift, and to ensure that, in their name, I make Fraser’s contribution to securing a better, fairer, more prosperous and more just future for our great nation.

Bernie Sanders: 'I know where I came from!', campaign speech - 2019

19 March 2019, New York City, NY, USA

If I might, as I return here to Brooklyn, let me take a moment to become personal.

As we launch this campaign for president, you deserve to know where I come from – because family history heavily influences the values that we develop as adults.

I was born and raised a few miles away from here, in a three-and-a-half room rent-controlled apartment. My father was a paint salesman who worked hard his entire life, but never made much money. My mother raised my brother and me.

I learned a great deal about immigration as a child because my father came to this country from Poland at the age of 17, without a nickel in his pocket. He came to escape the crushing poverty that existed in his community, and to escape widespread anti-Semitism. And, it was a good thing that he left Poland when he did because virtually his entire family there was wiped out by Nazi barbarism.

I am not going to tell you that I grew up in a home of desperate poverty. That would not be true. But what I will tell you is that coming from a lower middle class family I will never forget how money – or really lack of money – was always a point of stress in our home. My mother’s dream was that someday our family would move out of that rent-controlled apartment to a home of our own. That dream was never fulfilled. She died young while we were still living in that rent-controlled apartment.

My experience as a kid, living in a family that struggled economically, powerfully influenced my life and my values. Unlike Donald Trump, who shut down the government and left 800,000 federal employees without income to pay the bills, I know what it’s like to be in a family that lives paycheck to paycheck.

Now it’s true: I did not have a father who gave me millions of dollars to build luxury skyscrapers, casinos and country clubs. I did not come from a family that gave me a $200,000 allowance every year beginning at the age of 3. As I recall, my allowance was 25 cents a week.

But I had something more valuable: I had the role model of a father who had unbelievable courage in journeying across an ocean, with no money in his pocket, to start a new and better life.

I did not come from a family of privilege that prepared me to entertain people on television by telling workers: “You’re fired.” I came from a family who knew all too well the frightening power employers can have over everyday workers.

I did not come from a politically connected family whose multinational corporation got special tax breaks and subsidies. I came from a family where my parents paid their taxes and understood the important role that government plays in a democracy.

I did not come from a family that could afford to send my brother and me to an elite boarding school. In fact, I was educated in high quality public schools here in Brooklyn and began the first year of my college life on this very campus. I should also mention that my brother graduated from Brooklyn College.

Having attended an excellent public college that was then virtually tuition free and living in a rent-controlled apartment, I can assure you that my family believed that government in a democratic society had a very important role to play in protecting working families.

I did not come from a family that taught me to build a corporate empire through housing discrimination. I protested housing discrimination, was arrested for protesting school segregation, and attended Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King’s March on Washington for jobs and freedom.

Mohammed VI (read by Nasser Bourita): 'We will shape the Africa we want to bequeath to our children', Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union - 2018

1 July 2018, Nouakchott, Mauritania

Ladies and Gentlemen, Today, to be African is to live in a land that is, in many areas, a breeding ground for expertise and talent – one that will make it possible to move resolutely forward and accelerate the pace of progress through a rational use of our resources. In this respect, the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area - AfCFTA - provides an exceptional framework through which to boost our trade relations. It paves the way for the anchoring of our economic development in an integrated space by enabling over a billion consumers to hone Africa's competitive edge. The institutional and financial reform process boldly started by my brother, His Excellency President Paul Kagame, will put our continent on the path towards significant, lasting and irreversible change. This endeavour reflects real awareness, which tells us the time has come to build efficient institutions equipped with the best possible governance mechanisms. These institutions are the tools we need to reverse the spiral of poverty and ensure Africa’s emergence, every step of the way. Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, We all know this: the current dynamic cannot really conceal an unpleasant reality. Far too many obstacles and difficulties are still undermining efforts that will lead to the emergence of Africa. One of the major hurdles is endemic corruption – a scourge that is eating away at our societies and that our Summit has rightly made its main theme. Corruption is not just a moral or ethical issue. It has an economic cost as well. It puts a strain on the purchasing power of citizens, especially the poorest segments of society. In some sectors of activity, it represents 10% of the cost of production. Corruption perverts the tenets of democracy and undermines the rule of law. It affects the quality of life and promotes organized crime, insecurity and terrorism. Everywhere we can see positive signs and sustained efforts to curb this scourge. The measures taken are bearing fruit: notable progress is palpable. In the relentless fight against corruption, some African countries - and their number is quite significant - are outperforming others, including some among the most developed nations. These are models which incite us to take the same path. The institutional reforms undertaken within the African Union will also contribute to the emergence of an anti-corruption culture. Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Kingdom of Morocco has realized the devastating effects of corruption and has decided to spare no effort to overcome this scourge. After ratifying the United Nations Convention against Corruption in 2007, the Kingdom of Morocco developed its institutional and legal arsenal, thus aligning its legislation with international standards. To streamline and channel efforts properly, in 2015 the Kingdom of Morocco adopted a National Strategy against Corruption and set up the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which is tasked with implementing the strategy. Spanning a 10-year period, the strategy aims to reverse the trend in a palpable, irreversible way by 2025, bolster citizens’ trust, promote integrity, improve the business environment and enhance the Kingdom’s international standing. Having become a constitutional body, the National Authority for probity and the prevention and combat of corruption has recently seen its powers extended and its mission as a watchdog enhanced. In accordance with the new legislation, it will strengthen the multidimensional action carried out concomitantly in this field by the government, the judiciary and the said authority. Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Africa of today is different from the Africa of yesterday. The fight against this scourge requires the coordination of experiences and the pooling of expertise, building on a common vision shared by all stakeholders. Under no circumstances should this drive become a new form of dominance and pressure. The Africa of enclaves and trading posts is no more. Corruption is not specific to Africa. Corruption is not a typically African scourge. It is a universal phenomenon. It exists in the countries of the South as well as in those of the North and it may well have an adverse impact on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals agreed by the international community. I am delighted there is collective awareness and clear determination in this regard. They will make it possible to stem the phenomenon. Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Corruption is not inevitable in Africa. The fight against this scourge should be made a priority because corruption is the biggest obstacle to economic and social advancement and to the development of our young people. The well-being of our peoples hinges on prevention and on fostering a sense of responsibility in all actors in our societies. This major project requires sincere political commitment: it is possible to tackle corruption through sustained efforts on the part of government authorities and through the necessary civic engagement. In order to stay the course in this fight and to make sure the current institutional reforms are successful, regular consultation will be necessary. This is the course of action to which everyone will subscribe and which will give our organization the authority it needs. To this end, we must match words with deeds at each one of our meetings. I am sure His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari will leave his mark on the upcoming phase. I know how determined he is and also how capable he is of convincing and uniting people in order to create the necessary momentum to root out corrupt practices at all levels. By winning this battle, we will shape the Africa we want to bequeath to our children: a prosperous, solidarity-based Africa that is at peace with itself. Thank you.

Eddie S. Glaude Jr: 'The country has been playing politics for a long time on this hatred', Television interview - 2019

5 August 2019, New Jersey, USA

I mean, America is not unique in its sins as a country. We are not unique in our evils, to be honest with you. I think where we may be singular, is in our refusal to acknowledge them, and the legends and myths we tell about our inherent goodness, to hide and cover and conceal so that we can maintain a kinda wilful ignorance that protects our innocence.

See the thing is when the tea party was happening, we were saying, pundits, ‘oh, it’s just about economic populism, it’s not about race’.

When people knew, people knew, social scientists were already writing that what was driving the tea party were anxieties about demographic shifts, that the country was changing, that they were seeing these racially ambiguous babies on Cheerios commercials. That the country wasn’t quite feeling like it was a white nation anymore.

People were screaming, from the top of their lungs, ‘this is not just economic popularism. This is the ugly underbelly of the country.’

See the thing is is this. And I’ll say this, and I’ll take the hit on it.

There are communities that have had to bear the brunt of America confronting, white America confronting the danger of their innocence. And it happens every generation., So somehow we have to … ‘oh my god, is this who we are?’

And just again, here is another generation of babies. Think about it, a two-year-old, had his bones broken by two parents trying to shield him from being killed. A woman, who has been married to this man, for as long as I’ve been on the planet almost, lost her husband … for what!

And so what we know is the country has been playing politics for a long time on this hatred, we know this.
So it’s easy for us to place it all on Donald Trump’s shoulders, it’s easy for us to place Pittsburgh on his shoulders, it’s easy for me to place Charlottesville on his shoulders, it’s easy for us to place El Paso on his shoulders, this is us!

And if we are going to get past this, we can’t blame it on him. He’s a manifestation of the ugliness that’s in us.

I’ve had the privilege of growing up in a tradition that didn’t believe in the myths and the legends because we had to bear the brunt of them.

Either we are going to change Nicole, or we are going to do this again, and again, and again, and babies are going to have to grow up without mothers, and fathers, uncles and aunts, friends – while we are trying to finally convince white folk to leave behind a history that will maybe, maybe … or embrace a history … that might set them free. From being white. Finally.

Barnaby Joyce: 'Can I say right from the start, this is never about me', Resignation speech following scandal - 2018

13 February 2018, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia

Can I say right from the start, this is never about me.

It's about the person in the weatherboard and iron, something that manifestly expressed what the National Party is about.

It's about the person in Limbri or Woolbrook or Niangala or Dirranbandi, their right to transcend through the economic and social stratification of life.

Their right that even though they might not have had inherited wealth or might not have been born to the best family, or might not have had the best education — their right to advance, limited only by their innate abilities, to get as far ahead in life as they possibly can by the sweat of their own brow.

That is what this has always been about, the incredible privilege that I'm so humbled by, to have been the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, someone who went to Woolbrook Public School.

But it's only fair on those people in the weatherboard and iron, it's only fair on that purpose of trying to make sure we continue that advancement of the person so that if they are on the periphery of society, they can have the best opportunities, that there be some clear air.

Over the last half a month, there's been a litany, a litany of allegations. I don't believe any of them have been sustained. A litany of allegations.

Might I say right here that any person in any political party always says the leaking, the backgrounding, all that, it will destroy not our government, it will destroy any government.

And we work on the premise that what the National Party has done is so important.

It is the reason that you have a Coalition Government, because at the last election we didn't lose a seat, in fact we gained one.

We did not lose a seat, we gained one and by so doing, there was a Coalition Government.

But to give these people in the weatherboard and iron, in those regional and small towns, the best opportunity than this current cacophony of issues has to be put aside.

And I think it's my responsibility to do my bit to make sure that it happens.

Now, might I say, with the last allegation that was in the paper today, I have asked that that be referred to the police.

I've asked for the right of the person who's made the allegation and I've asked for my right of defence that that be referred to the police.

But it's quite evident that you can't go to the Despatch Box while issues like that are surrounding you.

So, I can't enter into any discussions about that. As you all understand if it is going to be before the courts, it is going to be before the courts.

But what I will say is that on Monday morning at the party room, I will step down as the leader of the National Party and Deputy Prime Minister of Australia.

I have informed the acting Prime Minister, Mathias Cormann, of this.

I informed my colleagues of this and there are a couple of other things I would like to clearly say.

I want to thank the people of New England.

I am so humbled that today — today, whilst walking around Armidale, there were people — I don't want to be so bold, but I got a sneaking suspicion some of them didn't vote for me, but they were so good at offering their support.

The people of Tamworth, the same, the people in the small towns. I'm so humbled and I thank you for the overwhelming support.

People literally running up, and some of them crying, and offering their support to me.

I just say, I don't deserve the support that you've given me.

I'd like to say that it's absolutely important, it's incredibly important that there be a circuit-breaker, not just for the Parliament, but more importantly, that it be circuit-breaker for (Mr Joyce's partner) Vikki (Campion).

It be a circuit-breaker for my unborn child, it be a circuit-breaker for my daughters and it be a circuit-breaker for (Mr Joyce's estranged wife) Nat.

It's got to stop, this has got to stop. And it's not fair on them.

It's just completely and utterly unwarranted, the sort of observation that's happened.

If on a humorous side, I think it's got to stop for the poor buggers who are parked outside my house every day. I think it's got to stop the for them as well. They need to go home.

But in all, on Monday morning the whip, Michelle Landry, will have a meeting at 8:00am for the National Party and I will be stepping aside at that point.

Elijah Cummings: 'We are better than this', Michael Cohen hearings, Closing Remarks - 2019

28 February 2019, Washington DC, USA

You know I’ve sat here, and I’ve listened to all this, and it’s very painful. It’s very painful. You made a lot of mistakes, Mr. Cohen — and you’ve admitted that. And, you know, one of the saddest parts of this whole thing is that some very innocent people are hurting too. And you acknowledged that. And, um, that’s your family.

And, so you come here today, you… deep in my heart … when I practiced law I represented a lot of lawyers who got in trouble. And, you come saying I have made my mistakes, but now I want to change my life. And you know, if we … as a nation did not give people an opportunity after they’ve made mistakes to change their lives, a whole lot of people would not do very well.

I don’t know where you go from here. As I sat here and I listened to both sides, I just felt as if … and you know… people are now using my words, that they took from me, that didn't give me any credit. We are better than this. … We really are. As a country, we are so much better than this.
Commentary: Maryland Congressman Cummings redeems Cohen hearing with passionate, poetic closing remarks »

And, you know, I told you, and for some reason, Mr. Cohen, I tell my children, I say ‘When bad things happen to you, do not ask the question “Why did it happen to me?” Ask the question, “Why did it happen for me?” I don’t know why this is happening for you. But it’s my hope that a small part of it is for our country to be better. If I hear you correctly, it sounds like you’re crying out for a new normal — for us getting back to normal. It sounds to me like you want to make sure that our democracy stays intact.

The one meeting I had with President Trump, I said to him ‘the greatest gift that you and I, Mr. President, can give to our children, is making sure we give them a democracy that is intact. A … democracy better than the one we came upon. And I’m hoping that, the things you said today will help us again to get back there.

You know, I mean come on now. I mean, when you got, according to The Washington Post, our president has made at least 8,718 … false or misleading statements. That’s stunning. That’s not what we teach our children. I don’t teach mine that. And, for whatever reason, it sounds like you got caught up in it. You got caught up in it. You got caught up in it.

And, some kind of way, I hope that you will, I know that it’s painful going to prison. I know it’s got to be painful being called a rat. And let me explain, a lot of people don’t know the significance of that, but I live in the inner city of Baltimore, all right? And when you call somebody a rat, that’s one of the worst things you can call them because when they go to prison, that means a snitch. I’m just saying. And so, the president called you a rat. We’re better than that! We really are. And I’m hoping that all of us can get back to this democracy that we want, and that we should be passing on our children so they can do better than what we did.

So you wonder whether people believe you — I don’t know. I don’t know whether they believe you. But the fact is, that you’ve come, you have your head down, and this has got to be one of the hardest things that you could do.

Let me tell you the picture that really, really pained me. You were leaving the prison, you were leaving the courthouse, and, I guess it’s your daughter, had braces or something on. Man that thing, man that thing hurt me. As a father of two daughters, it hurt me. And I can imagine how it must feel for you. But I’m just saying to you — I want to first of all thank you. I know that this has been hard. I know that you’ve faced a lot. I know that you are worried about your family. But this is a part of your destiny. And hopefully this portion of your destiny will lead to a better, a better, a better Michael Cohen, a better Donald Trump, a better United States of America, and a better world. And I mean that from the depths of my heart.

When we’re dancing with the angels, the question we’ll be asked: In 2019, what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact? Did we stand on the sidelines and say nothing? …

And I’m tired of statements saying … people come in here and say ‘Oh, oh this is the first hearing.’ It is not the first hearing. The first hearing was with regard to prescription drugs. Remember, a little girl, a lady sat there… Her daughter died because she could not get $330 a month in insulin. That was our first hearing. Second hearing: H.R. 1, voting rights, corruption in government. Come on now. We can do more than one thing. And we have got to get back to normal. With that, this meeting is adjourned

Killer Mike: 'Neighbour, the time is now!', Bernie Sanders rally speech - 2019

20 September 2019, Bennetts College, North Carolina, USA

One of my favourtie writers growing up was Jamers Baldwin. And I remember Baldwin saying, “You asked my father to wait, my brother to wait, my uncle to wait. How long must I wait on freedom? How long must I wait on rights and equality and liberty?”

And as a black child, that resonated with me, becauser I knew i had been denied, my father had been denied, my grandfather had been denied, and I personalised that.

But as I grew, I started to understand: poor white people had been denied, women have been denied, gays and lesbians, transgender people been denied, Immigrant children been denied. Everybody outisde of that one percent has been denied.

So I want yuou to take a few seconds, look to your left and right. Say, ‘the time is now!’ Look to your neighbour and say, ‘Neighbour, the time is now!’ There are more of us! We’re stronger! We will wait no longer!”

The time is now. When you go to that booth next year, I need you to carry in that booth, the memory of this room. Black. White. Straight. Gay. Men Female.

We are together. We are united. We will not wait fouir more years. We will not wait 20 more years. We will not wait two more presidents. We will not wait three more presidents.

The time is now. The times is not in the future. The time is not some abstract time. The time is not something that might be. The time aint something that could be. The time aint nothing that should be. That would be.

It aint tomorrow. It aint the day after. It aint coming next week!

The time is [now]! The time is [now] The time is [now]! !

Senator Bernard Sanders will be the next president of the United States, thank you all.

Here is the speech in original form, without music or overlay.

Brian Leung: 'The more people we have, the safer it is here', Storming of Hong Kong Legislative Council -2019

1 July 2019, Hong Kong

On 1 July, after months of anti-government protests, protesters stormed Hong Kong's Legislative Council building. Inside, one protester, Brian Leung Kai-ping, removed his face mask and addressed the crowd with an impassioned plea to remain and occupy the legislative chamber. Leung's plea was ultimately unsuccessful: protesters abandoned the building in the face of an approaching police clearance operation. However his courage in removing his mask, thereby exposing himself to almost certain arrest, became the emotional high point of the night and remains a key symbolic moment in the months of ongoing protests. Leung is now in exile in the USA.

Some people broke into the legislative council building (LegCo), in spite of the risks to their lives, pathed the way for us to come inside.

If we retreat, we will become the rioters tomorrow as TVB would coin us.

They will be filming the destruction and mess in the LegCo building, condemning us as rioters.

Thus, now we cannot be separated in this movement anymore.

If we are to win, we win it together. If lost, we lose ten years. Our entire civil society, would not recover from this the next ten years.

Our students would be arrested. Our leaders would be arrested.

So this time, if we are to win, we must win together.

If you could stay in the occupy, if you have considered carefully that you can stay in the occupy, join us to occupy here.

The more people we have here, the safer we will be.

The police cannot fire tear gas here, we will die from it. They cannot disperse 1,000 of us from here using batons. Right?

Let’s urge people outside who can join the occupy to come in and join us.

Because there is no return for us anymore, since we took this step. It cannot be a flash mob anymore. This moment, we are not doing a flash mob. Because it is a once in a lifetime chance to occupy the Legislative Council.

We’re at the point of no return.

So if you have the ability, stay and occupy here.

If not, you can surround the LegCo in a peaceful manner, using your body to protect us, okay?
We cannot lose anymore.

If we go back and sleep in an air conned room tonight , tomorrow morning nothing would have happened in Hong Kong.

Sacrifices made the past month would be in vain.

Do we want the three lost lives, the blood and sweat we shed for many days, to be wasted for nothing?
We cannot lose anymore.

I urge students outside not have picnics anymore, do not do flash mobs anymore. Come in and join us in the occupy.

In the Sunflower Student Movement, after students occupied, adults, leaders advocating for peace, Legislative Council members, were at the entrance to protect us (them).

Therefore, we, as students, first, do not be distracted. We need to have enough brothers and sisters, enough friends, with the courage with the courage to come into this chamber together.
The more people we have, the safer it is here.

The reason why I remove my mask, is to let everyone know that we Hongkongers, have nothing more to lose.

HongKongers cannot lose anymore.

If we lose again, it’s ten years. Think about it, ten years.

Our civil society would sink to the bottom., the government then,
[I’m with you … ]



Bruin Leung was a guest on the Speakola podcast

Christopher Pyne: 'This place brings out the best in us and it brings out the worst in us', retirement speech - 2019

4 April 2019, House of Representatives, Canberra, Australia

Thank you, Mr Speaker. To the chagrin of a few and the joy of many, maybe even some in this place, I'm retiring from the Australian parliament. On 28 April 1992, I was preselected for Sturt. The opening lines of my speech were: 'In 1966, after 17 years, Sir Keith Wilson handed Sturt over to his son Ian. Now, 26 years later, it's time to change again.' Of course, I went on to win that preselection. After almost 27 years, it's time for renewal in Sturt again.

I'd like to thank the Liberal Party in South Australia and in Sturt for giving me the opportunity to carry the Liberal banner in this seat for nine elections, for over a quarter of a century. They're a wonderful group of people. The Liberal Party in South Australia and nationally can be a rambunctious group of people at times, but I believe in the party and I always will. Like the member for Grayndler, I'm a team man. I just happened to go for the team that is the election-winning machine!

I'd also like to thank the electors of Sturt: thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve you and the privilege of representing you. I'm confident that I leave my seat and the great state of South Australia in good shape. I'm sure that the Liberal Party's candidate—and my good friend—James Stephens will retain Sturt at the coming election, and I have every confidence that the Prime Minister will lead the coalition to victory in the election in May.

I would also like to thank my dozens of staff over the years. We all know in this place that they are like a second family to us. They allow us to shine and they help pick up the pieces when we crumble a little. I'd also like to thank my family—my wife, Carolyn, and my children, Eleanor, Barnaby, Felix and Aurelia—as well as my extended family. We are a tight-knit group. My family have been with me every step of my political career. I volunteered but they were conscripted, yet they supported me willingly and graciously.

Since 1993 I have been a backbencher for 10 years and a frontbencher for 16, in cabinet for six years and in the leadership group for 10, in government for 17 and in opposition for nine—which is a good balance! That places me as the longest-serving non-Labor member of the House of Representatives for South Australia since Federation. Four prime ministers have appointed me to their executives, and prime ministers Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison chose me to be their Leader of the House. I am going to miss the stage of the dispatch box, which gives you some amateur thespianism. Some of my favourites include 'a bloodied dagger masquerading as a speech', from the member for Grayndler; 'I'd back the member for Corio in a fast-moving butterknife fight anytime'—I assume he won that butterknife fight; and 'I fixed it'. I thank Sky for giving me a moniker that I have not been able to shake!

As Minister for Defence and Minister for Defence Industry, I have been responsible for delivering the $200 billion build-up of Australia's military capability, the largest in Australia's peacetime history, which, at the same time, we have used to fundamentally reshape our strategic industrial base. These are the largest Navy, Air Force, Army and cyberprojects in 75 years. And, with the other members of the National Security Committee, I created the Pacific step-up to support Australia's strategic position in the South Pacific. Whoever follows me in this role will be the luckiest person in the government. To be a Minister for Defence in the Defence portfolio is to see Australians at their best. Our Australian Defence Force, and all who enable them to use their capability, are one of the greatest attributes of our country's history and our national character.

Beyond the Defence portfolio, I am proud to have delivered the National Innovation and Science Agenda, to have reformed the national curriculum, to have introduced compulsory literacy and numeracy testing for Australian teaching graduates and to have expanded phonics teaching in remote schools in northern Australia with Noel Pearson. But I am particularly grateful that the youth mental health initiative that I created in 2006, headspace, has gone on to thrive and become a fixture in the mental health sector.

In a few weeks my political career comes to an end. Franklin Roosevelt said a long time ago:

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.

I have tried to keep that creed as my lodestar throughout my career because I have had a fortunate life. I don't have a log-cabin story like so many people in this place—although I did once have to get my own lemon for a gin and tonic! That may or may not qualify, Mr Speaker! As the psalms say: of those to whom much is given, much is expected. I have always believed that those who have had great opportunities have a responsibility to work to give others the same opportunities.

Finally, I would like to thank my colleagues on all sides of the House. I once described the House of Representatives as being my natural habitat; you are all my fellow species in this unnatural place! This place brings out the best in us and it brings out the worst in us. I have seen some truly dreadful people come through here over the last quarter of a century. But I have seen many more outstanding people, including my current colleagues. Something drives us all to get here. In most cases, it is a fierce competition internally within our parties and then in the campaign. But we are driven on nonetheless because, my friends, we know, each one of us, that to get the chance to influence the society in which we live, to make a difference in the lives of our fellow citizens, is worth the sacrifices. To be part of politics is to be part of history, and no-one can take that away from any one of us.

For decades I have carried a little card around in my wallet that has written on it these lines that Plutarch once wrote about Pericles in the lives of the Athenians:

Virtue in action immediately takes such hold of a man that he no sooner admires a deed than he sets out to follow in the steps of the doer.

We've all followed in the footsteps of great deed doers, men and women who have assisted Australians to build a great nation. As the member for Warringah is fond of saying, you win the lottery of life when you are born in Australia, and everyone around the world knows it. That didn't happen by accident; it happened because of good governments and good men and women trying to do their best. I've relished the opportunity to attempt great deeds in the one forum that in our democracy allows every Australian the chance to do so, the House of Representatives. Thank you, goodbye and good luck.

Peta Murphy: 'Finally, I want to end with a quote from Pippi Longstocking', Maiden speech - 2019

24 July 2019, House of Representatives, Canberra, Australia

We meet today on the lands of the Ngunawal people. My electorate of Dunkley is on the lands of the Boonwurrung people of the Kulin nation. We recognise and support local Indigenous culture, history and people at the gathering place by the bay, Nairm Marr Djambana. I pay my respects to their elders, past and present, and to all traditional owners. I stand here today to pledge my support for the recognition of First Nations people in Australia’s Constitution and the establishment of an Indigenous voice to parliament based on the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

It’s been quite a journey to this place for a public-school girl from Wagga. I grew up during the Hawke and Keating years, benefitting from the long list of economic, social and environmental reforms their government introduced. Their government was a Labor government who, like all Labor governments before and since, took seriously their core business of enlarging opportunities for those without power or resources. But what really inspired teenage me was the way Hawke and Keating also enlarged our national imagination about who we could be and the place we could take in the world. They made me believe in our democratic system because they demonstrated how that system could deliver good government and how good government could deliver a better future. They, and the values my parents instilled in me, also made me Labor.

Recently I was asked to imagine what, at the end of my parliamentary career, I would like to be able to look back on and say I was proud to have been a part of—what I would like to have achieved. It’s a very long list, those who know me won’t be surprised to hear, only some of which, you’ll also be glad to hear, I’m going to have time to touch on today. But it does span initiatives in my local community, structural reforms to national systems and institutions, and, of course, Australia’s role as a leader in our region and in the world. But, above all else, I would like to be able to say that I left Australian politics—Australian democracy—in better shape than when I joined it, that I was part of a generation of Australian politicians who worked to recover the public’s faith in our democratic system and who strove to reharness politics as that vehicle for enlarging opportunities and enlarging our national imagination, and that we did so by rejecting politics based on fear and division, by refusing to see societal problems as weapons with which to wedge our political opponents and by choosing robust debates about ideas and solutions over personal attacks and petty judgements. It’s what my community wants me to do, and it’s what Australians want all of us here to do. And, be in no doubt, it’s what we have to do. At a time when less than half of all Australians are satisfied with the way democracy works and only one in five say they trust politicians, surely the alarm bells are ringing. There is too often a machismo about politics which mistakes aggressiveness for advocacy, which demands certainty and rejects reflection as weakness, and which is quick to judge and slow to forgive.

This parliament is the cauldron of Australia’s national conversation, and politicians are not just participants in it; we are its custodians, and we must do better. Of course, not everyone in this place shares the same political philosophy and we don’t always agree on the way forward. Politics is a place where ideas should be contested. They should be contested with a passion. They should be contested fiercely, robustly and forcefully, and there will be times when the behaviour, motivations and policies of our opponents should rightly be called out and criticised. But how we do that matters. When the participants in our body politic get so caught up in beating their opposition—in winning the daily argument at all costs—that they stop listening and striving to understand what others are saying, we are not just dumbed down; we are diminished. We are diminished in the eyes of the Australian people and we are diminished in our capacity to tackle the difficult challenges—challenges such as those posed to us by the Sustainable Development Goals, whose pin I’m wearing today, and the challenge of being the first generation to end poverty and the last generation to address climate change; challenges such as introducing a federal bill of rights so that complex, important national debates can occur within a comprehensive national human rights framework; and challenges that my community cares about, including preserving our environment, ensuring decent secure jobs for our children and protecting the egalitarian nature of our society. Meeting those challenges is going to take a willingness from all of us here to persist with complex debates over a sustained period—certainly longer than the 24-hour news cycle.

In the spirit of Louisa Dunkley, I am up for those debates. Although my electorate is named after her, Louisa Dunkley’s story is not widely known to people, apart from those who know me or in some way came across my campaign. As the first woman to represent Dunkley, it’s my responsibility and my pleasure to tell her story. It’s also my hope that other people—girls and boys, women and men—will also find inspiration in Louisa and her achievements. Louisa Dunkley didn’t come from particular wealth or privilege. After her father died someone had to provide for her family, so, in 1882, Louisa entered the Victorian Postmaster-General’s Department as a junior assistant. Over the next decade she worked her way up to become a telegraphist at the Chief Telegraph Office. As her career progressed, so did her indignation at the unfair pay and conditions of her female colleagues.

Louisa Dunkley was a worker, she was a feminist and, in 1895, she became a trade unionist. The Victorian telegraph union of the mid-1890s wouldn’t admit women as its members and it certainly wouldn’t advocate for their workplace rights, so Louisa and her female colleagues took the cause into their own hands and the Victorian Women’s Post and Telegraph Association was born. On behalf of that association, Louisa went before the Victorian colonial public service classification board and advocated for women to be paid the same as their male colleagues. Her advocacy was described at the time as brilliant, and she won pay increases for the women of that office. Meanwhile, the men, whose union had refused to make submissions for fear of putting the colonial government offside, received pay cuts. Of course, not everyone was so pleased with that outcome. In an attempt to isolate her from her female colleagues and supporters, the masters of the Post and Telegraph Office transferred Louisa to a more remote workplace, but they didn’t really think that through. She worked at the Post and Telegraph Office where the means of communication were pretty readily available. So, undaunted by opposition from those who resisted change and those who protected power, Louisa continued her campaign, attracting like-minded men and women alike to her cause.

In 1900, she gained endorsement at the first national congress of telegraph and post office associations to argue for equal pay in the soon-to-be formed federal Public Service. She also played an important role in uniting those associations into what later became Australia’s first national Public Service union. So there is some synchronicity that I stand here today, not just as the first woman to represent Dunkley in the federal parliament but also as a proud member of the Commonwealth Public Service union. Under Louisa’s leadership, two more years of letter writing, lobbying, pamphleteering and demonstrating—activities that many here will be familiar with—led to the inclusion of an equal pay provision in the Commonwealth Public Service Act 1902, which was a remarkable achievement at any time but particularly at that time. After securing that historic achievement, Louisa wrote these words:

… though at first we only asked for equal pay as an act of justice to those women … who had … been doing the same work as men, we now advocate it as the only solution … as to how to keep up the value of the work and provide fair opportunities for employment of both men and women in the future …

In 2019, living in that future, we still have some way to go to achieve Louisa’s aims. Across every occupation women are paid less than men, and the work which is predominantly done by women remains systemically undervalued. Just ask our early childhood educators and childcare workers what it’s like to have to value yourself against a male comparator. And women continue to be under-represented in positions of leadership across all workplaces, including this one, so I’m proud to be part of a political party which has taken real action towards rectifying that. Reforms that encourage sharing of parental leave, make child care more affordable and accessible and better integrate family and work life would also go a long way to redressing the imbalance. So, too, would properly valuing unpaid work—caring for family members, doing the housework—and making it perhaps a little less gender oriented. Louisa Dunkley understood it was work of real value. After both of their parents died, her sister took on responsibility for running the household—real work which Louisa believed deserved real pay, so every week, she split her pay packet with her sister. Louisa Dunkley lived and fought for her values, for fairness, for equality and for the power of collective action. We could all do much worse than follow in her footsteps.

I come to this parliament after a professional career that has spanned the law, public service and politics. As a solicitor, barrister and senior public defender, I have represented the damaged and the difficult, victims and perpetrators, the blameless and the blameworthy. At every turn, I have seen the corrosive effect that intergenerational disadvantage can have on people, families and communities. I have also seen the way the operation of the legal system can cause further distress and damage to people when they’re at their lowest. This is true no matter what socioeconomic background you come from, but it’s particularly true for those who already face other challenges in their lives. Last year, the Peninsula Community Legal Centre in my electorate provided over 9,000 legal services to people in need—people in my community struggling with mental illness, addiction, homelessness and family violence and breakdown.

There are too many people where poor educational and economic opportunities first put them at risk of becoming entangled in the justice system, and then enormous, insurmountable barriers to getting out are put up. Too often, before the kids with the fewest opportunities leave the tail end of our school system, they have already entered the front end of the justice system. Anyone who has worked in the justice system, criminal or civil, will viscerally understand when I say that justice cannot be left to the justice system alone. To really find justice in our society, to break the cycle of disadvantage and dysfunction, we need to take a holistic and long-term approach. We need to start by making sure our public education system and the educators who work in it have the resources and support they need to give every child the best start in life, no matter how much money their parents have. We need services—legal, social, health, employment and education—that are, to use a policy-boffin phrase, bottom up and joined up. We need a political climate and politicians who are prepared to champion the services and the needs of the people they serve. It’s that task that motivated me to move from the law into politics.

I want to now talk briefly about my community of Dunkley. We are wealthy and poor. We’re old and we’re young. We’re migrant and we’re First Peoples. We’re employers and employees. But we have a lot more that binds us than separates us. From the Pines to Mount Eliza, we are ambitious for our children. We are proud of where we live. We would like life to be just that little bit easier for us and for our neighbours. And we really, really love our dogs! We have a lot to be proud of, from our growing industrial and health and education precinct, a strong cultural sector based around the Frankston Arts Centre and the McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery in Langwarrin to a growing number of music and arts festivals, restaurant, cafe’s and craft breweries.

We boast the Dolphins in the VFL, the Waves in the VNL and the Blues in the VBL. We have athletes and clubs participating from grassroots to elite in every sporting code you can name. Sport is more than a game to us, and those who know me know it’s more than a game to me. One, I like to win, but it’s more than a game to me! When local clubs talk to me about why they need better facilities—a new clubhouse, lighting or change rooms for the women’s team—they never talk about winning premierships. They talk about building pride and expanding opportunities. They talk about giving people a sense of belonging. They talk about supporting girls and women to be strong, brave athletes and to have the same opportunities and respect as the men. I love it, and it’s why I’ll always back them.

While Dunkley is socioeconomically diverse, it’s perhaps not one of Melbourne’s most multicultural areas. However, if you wander down to the magnificent Frankston Foreshore on a summer weekend, you’ll find hundreds of people from dozens of cultures all with their picnics and barbecues. They have flocked to Frankston to share in a patch of our coastal paradise. It’s a site of pure joy and it’s a symbol of modern Australia.

We’re also a community that cares deeply about the environment—our beaches, our bushlands, our green wedges. The first member for Dunkley, Bob Chynoweth, was a champion of the environment in the Hawke government. I intend to uphold Bob’s legacy as we face up to the challenges of climate change and the loss of biodiversity. Chris Crewther represented Dunkley in the last term of this parliament and, before him, Bruce Billson was Dunkley’s main cheerleader and advocate for 20 years. I want to acknowledge their contributions to our community today.

For all of our strengths, Dunkley does face local education, health and social challenges, but we’re a community rich with talent and compassion and with people who are using those traits to drive initiatives for local and wider benefits. Hands On Learning, founded 20 years ago by Russ Kerr at Frankston High School and now in more than 100 schools across the state, has been recognised as one of the world’s top 100 innovations in education. It should be in every school in the country with disadvantaged or disengaged kids. Backing in the vision of local researchers and medical professionals, Peninsula Health and Monash University obtained bipartisan support at the last election to establish, in Frankston, a national centre for research and clinical trials to support positive ageing and rehabilitation, mental illness and addiction. I’m so excited to be a part of seeing that vision come to fruition.

Cam and James at Frankston Foundry have cultivated an exciting innovation ecosystem, and they have an ambition to make Frankston the nation’s leader in med tech innovation. I have no doubt that with the support of the community and their new federal member for Dunkley they will succeed. Project O and the Colour of Hope are programs working with schools, in Frankston North and Karingal, to give young women and men confidence and life skills through visual, digital and performing art.

The Women’s Spirit Project has empowered women from across the electorate to change their lives through exercise and self-awareness. Mums supporting families in need do exactly that, distributing donations stored in a warehouse in Carrum Downs to kids and parents across the Peninsula. Guru Glenn—self-named—and That’s The Thing About Fishing give disadvantaged and disabled kids the chance to experience fun and friendship. These initiatives and so many more reflect a community that is stepping up to take responsibility, and it’s my absolute privilege to walk alongside them, to be their voice in this parliament and to fight to get them the support and the recognition they deserve.

In 2011 Rod Glover, my husband, and I were sold up, packed up and moving to San Francisco with big plans for work, life and adventure. Just days before we were to board the plane, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. On one view: confirmation that Murphy’s law is real! But looking at it from another perspective, we were lucky. We had strong, loving families and friends. We had the resources that come with professional careers. We could afford and access the best quality health care. I am acutely aware that this is not everyone’s story and that it should be. I pay tribute to the team of dedicated healthcare professionals who looked after me then and the ones who look after people every day, day in, day out, when they need it the most.

Let’s be frank: cancer sucks. Don’t kick me out for unparliamentary language! It changes the way your body feels and it changes the way you feel about your body. The treatments can make you sick. Sometimes you’re scared. Sometimes you’re angry. In my experience, you’re often both at the same time. You worry about how your family and your friends are coping. You value their support but you resent the fact that you need it. And for too many people, on top of all of this, is the worry about how to pay the bills if you can’t work, about who’s going to look after the children while you’re getting treatment, how you’re going to get to and from your opponents—sorry, appointments; cancer is your opponent—and so it goes on.

For me, though, two good things came out of it all. The first was the decision to make Dunkley, where Rod grew up and his family lived, home. It was the best decision we ever made. The second was the reminder that life can be fragile and we’d better make the most of it. So when the opportunity arose I put myself forward as the ALP candidate for Dunkley for the 2016 election, notwithstanding it then had a margin of 5.6 per cent and had been held by the Liberal Party for 20 years.

As I now know, cancer is not just indiscriminate, it’s sneaky. Two weeks ago, a week after being sworn in as the member for Dunkley, I received the unexpected news that my cancer had returned. You might say, Murphy’s law strikes again. But my mother, Jan, who is a Murphy by marriage, not birth, and therefore able to adopt a less pessimistic personal motto, would say: everything happens for a reason. I am neither unique nor alone in the fight that I am about to take on. Cancer Australia estimates that in 2019 just over 19,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 145,000 Australians will be diagnosed with some form of cancer. I am neither unique nor alone, but I am someone who has a platform that can be used to benefit others. And as long as the people of Dunkley continue to vote for me to represent them in this place, I intend to use it.

I’m going to start by saying this today: ladies, check your breasts!

Men, stop ignoring what your body’s telling you. Fellow members of this parliament, listen to the experts who warn that the promise of universal health care is under threat. Commit to the reform and funding that our health system needs and do whatever is required to ensure that Australia trains, retains and invests in the healthcare professionals and researchers who make our system great. We owe it to our community to do that.

Many are here today to share this day with me—family, friends from university, from squash, from the law. I don’t know why everyone always laughs about squash. It is an amazing game. We boast the best female athlete in the world in Heather McKay, and there’s a world champion sitting up there, Vicki Cardwell, watching us today. So stop laughing at my sport!

I’m just going to start that bit again. Many are here today to share this day with me—family, friends from university, from squash, from the law and from the ALP, and I know many other people would be here if they could. I can’t name you all, but I know that you know who you are and I know that you know how much you mean to me and that my life would not have been, and will not continue to be, as rich and as fortunate if it wasn’t for all of you. I am going to say, though, that Clementine, Joss and Pippa: it’s so excellent you are here today.

I also want to single out my parents, Bob and Jan—they’re here with my sisters Jodi and Penni and my awesome niece Ambryia representing Oliver, Ingrid, Bridget, Saana and Kyomi. Mum and Dad, public school teachers, educators and sporting tragics taught us to make the most of every opportunity in life and they taught us about the unparalleled importance of education. My parents are the two most humble, principled and selfless people I have ever met, and anything I have ever achieved is because of them. Jodi and Penni, I love you and I’m proud of you.

I am very fortunate to have shared the last 20 years of my life with my husband, Rod. Together we’ve travelled, made good friends—great friends—spent endless amounts of time talking and arguing about ideas and have watched every single political drama and BBC police procedural ever made. He won’t let me tell the story about how we met. Rod is compassionate, he’s brilliant, he’s stubborn and he’s silly. He’s my most constructive critic, my most loyal supporter and my greatest friend. I wouldn’t be standing here without him and I wouldn’t want to.

I’m very grateful as well for the love and support of Rod’s mum, Betty, Gary, Donna and Debbie and our whole extended family clan. I’ve also been very fortunate in my life to have bosses who are also mentors and friends. Duncan Kerr and Robert Stary, who are both here in the gallery today, and Brendan O’Connor, who is seated behind me.

I’ve also had the support of Labor colleagues that I value deeply and admire—my great and awesome friend Melissa Horne, who’s now a cabinet minister in the Andrews government, Mark Dreyfus, Paul Edbrooke, Sonya Kilkenny, Julian Hill and so many other people that I would name if only time permitted. To everyone who worked on and supported the Dunkley campaign—particularly Sue Heath and Peachy—my local branch members, my volunteers, all of my union comrades, my friends, thank you so much.

Looking around this chamber, at the gallery, at the people I have the privilege to work with and beside, and knowing that there are people who are watching this at home, I am struck yet again by the awesome privilege and responsibility that has been bestowed upon me. I am humbled by the confidence that my community has shown in me. I will work for all of you each and every day, at home and in Canberra.

Finally, I want to end with a quote from Pippi Longstocking and thank my friend Lucy and her daughter Edie for recently reminding me of it. Pippi’s friend Annika had just told her that she couldn’t beat the strong man at the show because he’s the strongest man in the world.

‘Man, yes,’ said Pippi, ‘but I’m the strongest girl in the world, remember that.’

Thank you.

Steny Hoyer: 'This impeachment asks whether we are still a republic of laws', Statement ahead of House impeachment - 2019

18 December 2019, Washington DC, USA

Madam Speaker, I’ve had the honor of serving in this House for over thirty-eight years. I’ve served during six presidencies. I’ve been here through moments of tremendous progress and terrible tragedy. I’ve seen periods of rank partisanship and patriotic bipartisanship. I’ve seen our two-party system work, and I’ve seen it break down.

Never, in all my years serving in this great institution and the people of my district, did I ever expect to encounter such obvious wrongdoing by a President of the United States. Nor did I expect to witness such craven rationalization of presidential actions, which have put our national security at risk, undermined the integrity of our elections, and defied the Constitutional authority of the Congress to conduct oversight.

We’ve heard from Republicans that this impeachment really has to do with policy differences or concerns about the President’s temperament or that we simply dislike the President. They’ve alleged that Democrats have been itching to impeach him since he first took office. The facts say otherwise.

Throughout the Trump presidency, Democrats have resisted pursuing impeachment even as we watched with dismay and disgust at a pattern of wrongdoing. That pattern included ordering federal agencies to lie to the public, firing the FBI Director for refusing to end an investigation of his campaign, siding with Vladimir Putin over our intelligence agencies, taking funding away from the military to put toward an ineffective border wall, and setting policies that have led to the separation of families and the caging of children. We have, to be sure, deep disagreements with the policies and actions taken by this president. But they are not reasons to pursue what Chairman Schiff has called, ‘a wrenching process for the nation.

In fact, Democrats rejected that process emphatically in three specific votes. In December of 2017, Democrats overwhelmingly voted against pursuing articles of impeachment, including the Speaker and myself. We did so again in 2018, with over sixty percent of Democrats rejecting that path. Again, in July 2019, just days before the infamous July 25 telephone call, we did the same, with sixty percent of Democrats voting not to proceed.

It was not until there was clear evidence that the President was abusing his power to serve his own interests – at the expense of our democracy, our national security, and the safeguarding of our elections from foreign interference – that we were compelled to consider articles of impeachment. Credible witnesses, many of whom were appointed to office by President Trump, have corroborated the details and timeline of his abuse of presidential power, which forms the basis of the first article of impeachment in this resolution. I will not recount them here. They have been laid out fully in the articles before us and by colleagues in their remarks.

What I will do is remind Americans that the House provided President Trump every opportunity to prove his innocence. Instead, he ignored Congressional subpoenas for documents and for testimony by White House officials and ordered his subordinates not to cooperate. This itself is unprecedented. When Presidents Nixon and Clinton were asked to hand over documents and allow officials to testify, ultimately both complied. Because it is the law. Such actions of the President can be taken as further evidence of his obstruction and abuse of power. It is itself impeachable conduct, the subject of the second article in this resolution.

These two articles before us concern two very profound Constitutional issues about the abuse of power in our republic. First, whether it is acceptable for the President of the United States to solicit foreign interference in our elections, undermining our national security and the integrity of our democracy. And second, whether it is permissible for the president to obstruct Congress and act as if he is above the law and immune from Constitutional oversight.

On December 4, the Judiciary Committee heard the testimony of Constitutional law experts who weighed in on these points. One of them, Professor Noah Feldman, cautioned: ‘If we cannot impeach a president who abuses his office for personal advantage, we no longer live in a democracy. We live in a monarchy, or we live under a dictatorship.’

The votes we are about to take concern the rule of law and our democracy itself. Let us not forget the words of the philosopher John Locke, so influential to the Founders of our republic. He warned: ‘Wherever law ends, tyranny begins.’

This impeachment asks whether we are still a republic of laws, as our Founders intended – or whether we will accept that one person can be above the law. In America, no one is above the law, but only as long as we hold every person accountable for breaking the law – even a president. Especially a president.

If the House does not act – if we wait and delay – we run the risk of allowing the President’s misconduct to be repeated at the expense of the integrity of our elections, our national security, and our Constitutional system of separation of powers. Democrats did not choose impeachment. We did not wish for it. But President Trump’s misconduct has forced our Constitutional republic to protect itself.

These votes we are about to take – and the process that will follow in the Senate – are not only an assessment of the President’s commitment to the Constitution or to his oath of office. It is, as well, a test of our own. Damning evidence of the President’s high crimes has emerged. Nevertheless, Republican Members of this House and of the Senate have continued to defend a President whose actions and statements are indefensible.

All of us feel a sense of loyalty to party. It’s what makes our two-party system function. It’s what helps hold presidents and majorities accountable. But party loyalty must have its limits. And as evidence of the President’s impeachable offenses has mounted, it has become increasingly clear that the limits of partisanship have been reached and passed.

Now, Democrats and Republicans together face a test before our constituents, our countrymen, and our Creator.

The New York Times on October 18 summarized the question now posed to House and Senate Republicans: ‘Compromise by compromise, Donald Trump has hammered away at what Republicans once saw as foundational virtues: decency, honesty, responsibility. …Will they commit themselves and their party wholly to Mr. Trump, embracing even his most anti-democratic actions, or will they take the first step toward separating themselves from him and restoring confidence in the rule of law?’

Madam Speaker, we have seen Republican courage throughout our history, from the Civil War to the Cold War. In 1950, Margaret Chase Smith, the Senator from Maine, spoke bravely against the cancer of McCarthyism in her party, leading six of her Republican colleagues in a ‘Declaration of Conscience’ against their own leadership.‘We are Republicans,’ they declared, ‘but we are Americans first.’

In 1974, one Congressman took the brave and principled step of becoming the first Republican on the Judiciary Committee to support impeaching President Nixon. He said to his colleagues and to the country: ‘…It isn’t easy for me to align myself against the president to whom I gave my enthusiastic support… on whose side I’ve stood in many legislative battles, whose accomplishments in foreign and domestic affairs I’ve consistently applauded. But it’s impossible for me to condone or ignore the long train of abuses to which he has subjected the presidency and the people of this country. The Constitution and my own oath of office demand that I bear true faith and allegiance to the principles of law and justice upon which this nation was founded. And I cannot in good conscience turn away from the evidence of evil that is to me so clear and compelling.

That Congressman’s name was Larry Hogan Sr. He represented the Fifth District of Maryland, which I now represent. His son is presently the second-term Republican governor of our state. When Larry Hogan Sr. died in 2017, every obituary led with praise for his great act of political courage. Who among us, many years from now, will receive such praise as a man or woman of courage? Who will regret not having earned it?

When Rep. Justin Amash left the Republican Party, he admonished his colleagues that: ‘This president will only be in power for a short time, but excusing his behavior will forever tarnish your name.’ Rep. Amash, of course, is the only Member of this House who has no allegiance to either party. He is supporting both articles of impeachment.

We need not ask who will be the first to show courage by standing up to President Trump. The question we must now ask is: who will be the last to find it?

The pages of our history are filled with Americans who had the courage to choose country over party or personality. But, as President Kennedy wrote: ‘The stories of past courage …can teach, they can offer hope, they can provide inspiration. But they cannot supply courage itself. For this each man must look into his own soul.

I urge my colleagues in the House and in the Senate: look into your soul. Summon the courage to vote for our Constitution and our democracy. To do less betrays our oath and that of our Founders, who pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Let us neither turn away from the evidence, which is so clear, nor from our good conscience, which compels us to do what in our hearts we know to be right. Let us not allow the rule of law to end or for tyranny to find its toehold.

With our votes today, we can ‘bear true faith and allegiance’ to the vision of our Founders. And we can show future generations what it truly means to be ‘Americans first.’

Hakeem Jeffries: 'We do not take this step to divide', Impeachment proceedings - 2019

Watch @RepJeffries shoot down Republicans' argument that impeachment is ‘divisive’ with a history lesson on civil rights in America pic.twitter.com/YoRA8ZXECC

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) December 19, 2019

19 December 2019, Washington DC, USA

America is the leader of the free world. We play that role because it is in the best interests of the national security of the United States. We play that role because we believe in liberty and justice for all. We play that role because freedom is in our DNA. Freedom from oppression. Freedom from tyranny, freedom from abuse of power, freedom is in our DNA. What role should this committee play in defending freedom? The House is a separate and co-equal branch of government. We don't work for this president or any president. We work for the American people. We have a constitutional responsibility to serve as a check and balance on an out of control Executive branch. That is not the Democratic party playbook. That is the playbook in a democratic republic.

We do not take this step to divide. Though some will cynically argue the impeachment of this president will further divide an already fractured union. But there is a difference between division and clarification. Slavery once divided the nation. But emancipators rose up to clarify that all men are created equally. Suffrage once divided the nation, but women rose up to clarify that all voices must be heard in our democracy. Jim Crow once divided the nation, but civil rights champions rose up to clarify that all are entitled to equal protection under the law. We do not take this step to divide. And at this moment, this committee can rise up to clarify that under the Constitution, here in America, no one is above the law.

We will hold this president accountable for his stunning abuse of power, we will hold this president accountable for undermining our national security, we will hold his president accountable for corrupting our democracy, we will impeach Donald John Trump, we will clarify that in America, no one is above the law.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: 'The message we sent tonight is it's not okay to put donors before your community' Victory speech -2018

28 June 2018, New York City, New York, USA

This victory tonight belongs to each and every single person in this room. (Crowd Cheers)
This room won this seat. These [inaudible 00:00:33] won that seat. Every person out here this evening, changed America tonight.
And what I want to say very, very clear. Is that this is not an end, this is the beginning.
This is the beginning because the message that we've sent the world tonight is that it's not okay to put Donors before your Community.
The message that we sent tonight is that improved and expanded medicare for all, health care for every single person in America is what we deserve as a nation.
What we proved tonight, sometimes the deep midnight and darkness that it feels in our political environment, that there is still hope for this nation. That is what you have given every person in this country. You have given this country hope. You have given this country proof that when you knock on your neighbor's door, when you come to them with love, when you let them know that no matter your stance, you are there for them. That we can make change.
And what you have shown is that this nation is never beyond remedy. It is never beyond hope. It is never too broken to fix. We will be here and we are going to rock the world in the next two years.
Because every person in this room is going to DC with me.
Every person in this room is responsible for change and we cannot finish it right now. This is the beginning. We have to dedicate ourselves each and every single day to this fight cause I can't do it alone.
And we have to do this together. So not only do I need to get elected, we got a whole bunch more primaries to go.
And when we get to November. We should be electing a caucus of people on these beliefs in our [inaudible 00:03:04] (Crowd Cheers).
So I'm doing to tell you right now we've got Aiyana Presley in Massachusetts, we've got Cory Bush in Missouri, Chardo Richardson in Florida, and we have a whole bunch more races.

We got Julia Salazar from New York. (Crowd Cheers)
We are going to introduce a wave of change. Let's take a beat. Let's celebrate tonight and let's recommit ourselves to the future of this great nation. Thank you.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: 'So we have a system that is fundamentally broken', Campaign finance speech, House Oversight and Reform Committee - 2019

8 February 2019, Washington DC, USA

Let's play a lightning round game. I'm going to be the bad guy, which I'm sure half the room would agree with anyway. And I want to get away with as much bad things as possible, ideally to enrich myself and advance my interest, even if that means putting my interests ahead of the American people. So, Mrs Holbert Flynn... And by the way, I have enlisted all of you as my co-conspirators. So you're going to help me legally get away with all of this. So, Mrs Hobert Flynn, I want to run. If I want to run a campaign that is entirely funded by corporate political action committees, is there anything that legally prevents me from doing that?

Mrs Flynn: No.

Okay. So, there's nothing stopping me from being entirely funded by a corporate PAC, say from the fossil fuel industry, the healthcare industry, big pharma? I'm entirely 100% lobbyist PAC funded. Okay, so let's say I'm a really, really bad guy, and let's say I have some skeletons in my closet that I need to cover up, so that I can get elected. Mr. Smith, is it true that you wrote this article, this opinion piece for the Washington Post entitled 'These payments to women were unseemly. That doesn't mean they were illegal.'

Mr Smith: Well, I can't see the piece, but I wrote a piece under that headline in The Post, so I assume that's right.

Okay, great. So, green light for hush money. I can do all sorts of terrible things. It's totally legal right now for me to pay people off. And that is considered speech. That money is considered speech. So, I use my special interest, dark money funded campaign to pay off folks that I need to pay off and get elected.
So now I'm elected, and I'm in. I've got the power to draft, lobby and shape the laws that govern the United States of America. Fabulous. Now is there any hard limit that I have, perhaps Mrs Hobert Flynn, is there any hard limit that I have in terms of what legislation I'm allowed to touch? Are there any limits on the laws that I can write or influence, especially if I'm based on the special interest funds that I accepted to finance my campaign and get me elected in the first place?

Mrs Flynn: There's no limit.

So there's none? So I can be totally funded by oil and gas. I can be totally funded by big pharma. Come in, write big pharma laws and there's no limits to that whatsoever?

Mrs Flynn: That's right.

Okay, awesome. Now, Mr Mehrbani, the last thing I want to do is get rich with as little work possible. That's really what I'm trying to do as the bad guy, right? So is there anything preventing me from holding stocks, say, in an oil or gas company and then writing laws to deregulate that industry, and that could potentially cause the stock value to soar and accrue a lot of money in that time?

Mr Mehrbani: You could do that.

So I could do that? I could do that now, with the way our current laws are set up?

Mr Mehrbani: Yes.

Yes. Okay, great. My last question is... or one of my last questions, I guess I'd say is, is it possible that any elements of this story apply to our current government and our current public servants right now?

Mr Mehrbani: Yes.

Mrs Flynn: Yes.

So we have a system that is fundamentally broken. We have these influences existing in this body, which means that these influences are here in this committee, shaping the questions that are being asked of you all right now. Would you say that's correct Mr Mehrbani, or Mr Shaub?

Mr Mehrbani: Yes.

All right. So, one last thing, Mr Shaub. In relation to congressional oversight that we have, the limits that are placed on me as a Congresswoman, compared to the executive branch and compared to, say, the President of the United States, would you say that Congress has the same sort of standard of accountability? Is there more teeth in that regulation in Congress on the president, or would you say it's about even, or more so on the federal?

Mr Shaub: In terms of laws that apply to the president? There's almost no laws at all that apply to the president.

So I'm being held, and every person in this body is being held to a higher ethical standard than the President of the United States?

Mr Shaub: That's right. Because there are some ethics committee rules that apply to you.

And it's already super legal, as we've seen, for me to be a pretty bad guy. So it's even easier for the President of the United States to be one, I would assume.

Mr Shaub: That's right.

Thank you very much.

Elizabeth Warren: 'I know how to win, and that's exactly what I'm going to do', Houston campaign Q & A - 2019

5 July 2019, Houston, Texas, USA

I want to tell you about the decision I made to run for office. Not for president, but the one I made it actually isn't that very long ago, back for the 2012 Senate race in Massachusetts. So here's how the world looks. I'd been in Washington setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

You know why some Republicans hate that agency so much? It's not only the money it costs the big banks, it's the fact that it proves we can make government work for the people.

Yep. So setting up the consumer agency. You remember pre-approved credit cards? I was a pre-rejected nominee. That is the Republicans told President Obama, "We will never confirm that woman to be the head of the agency." So be it. So I head back, I would have stayed, I really would have, but that's the deal. I'm a big girl. I'm a big girl, so I head back to Massachusetts and I'm going back to teaching. I love teaching. And people start calling me. There is a very popular Republican incumbent in Senate who's coming up for re-election.

Now, Massachusetts loves its moderate Republicans. This guy has a 65% approval rating. He has $10 million in the bank, which sounded like a lot of money at that time, and he had a pickup. So people would call me and they would say to me, "Elizabeth, you should run against him. You should get out and you should definitely run for this office. You're not going to win, but you should run." Now, I have to say, my first response is Democrats get better sales pitch. Damn.

And why was I not going to win? Well, because that guy a few years earlier, had just beaten a, dare I say it, woman. Oh dear. And just people said to me, friends said to me, "You know, Massachusetts is just not going to elect a woman Senator or governor, not now. Maybe next generation, but not your generation. That's just not going to happen." So you know how I heard that get the race, right? Do this. But here's what I decided. I decided I would be in this fight, and there would be two things I would do every single day.
The first one is I would make every day count, to get out and talk about what's broken and how we fix it. To get out and talk about child care, to talk about student loans, to talk about the housing crisis in this country, that people just can't afford decent housing. To talk about a broken criminal justice system. Every single day I would find a group of people somewhere, somehow, and I would move the needle a little by dint of just sheer determination.

The second thing I determined, said I would do, I said this to myself, I'm going to see a little girl every day, at least one. And when I do, I'm going to get down on my knees and I'm going to say, "Hello, my name is Elizabeth and I'm running for Senate, because that's what girls do."

And then we would do pinky promises to remember, and we took lots of pictures and lots of pinky promises. So here's the deal. I started out against that guy who simply could not be beaten. I started out down 17 points, I beat him by seven and a half.

And that's how I see this. You know, you're right. Maybe it takes a woman of a certain age to say, I know how to fight. I know how to win, and that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Alexander Vindman: 'The uniform I wear today is that of the United States Army', Trump impeachment hearings - 2019

19 November 2019, Washington DC, USA

Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member, thank you for the opportunity to address the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence with respect to the activities relating to Ukraine and my role in the events under investigation.

Background

I have dedicated my entire professional life to the United States of America. For more than two decades, it has been my honor to serve as an officer in the United States Army. As an infantry officer, I served multiple overseas tours, including South Korea and Germany, and I was deployed to Iraq for combat operations.

Since 2008, I have been a Foreign Area Officer specializing in European and Eurasian politico-military affairs. I served in the United States embassies in Kiev Ukraine and Moscow, Russia.
In Washington, D.C., I was a politico-military affairs officer for Russia for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff where I drafted the Armed Forces' global campaign plan to counter Russian aggression and Russian malign influence. In July 2018, I was asked to serve at the White House's National Security Council. At the NSC I am the principal advisor to the National Security Advisor and the President on Ukraine and the other countries in my portfolio. My role at the NSC is to develop, coordinate, and implement plans and policies to manage the full range of diplomatic, informational, military, and economic national security issues for the countries in my portfolio. My core function is to coordinate policy with departments and agencies partners.

The Committee has heard from many of my colleagues about the strategic importance of Ukraine as a bulwark against Russian aggression. It is important to note that our country's policy of supporting Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity, promoting Ukrainian prosperity, and strengthening a free and democratic Ukraine, as a counter to Russian aggression, has been a consistent, bi-partisan foreign policy objective and strategy across various administrations, both Democrat and Republican, and that President Zelenskyy's election, in April 2019, created an unprecedented opportunity to realize our strategic objectives.

Relevant Events

In the Spring of 2019, I became aware of two disruptive actors---primarily Ukraine's then-Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, President Trump's personal attorney— promoting false information that undermined the United States' Ukraine policy. The NSC and its inter-agency partners, including the State Department, grew increasingly concerned about the impact that such information was having on our country's ability to achieve our national security objectives.

April 21, 2019: President Trump Calls Ukraine President Zelenskyy

On April 21, 2019, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was elected President of Ukraine in a landslide victory on a unity, reform, and anti-corruption platform. President Trump called President Zelenskyy on April 21, 2019, to congratulate him for his victory. I was the staff officer who produced the call materials and was one of the staff officers who listened to the call. The call was positive and President Trump expressed his desire to work with President Zelenskyy and extended an invitation to visit the White House.

May 2019: Inauguration Delegation Goes to Ukraine

In May, I attended the inauguration of President Zelenskyy as part of the Presidential delegation led by Secretary Perry. Following the visit, the members of the delegation provided President Trump a debriefing offering a positive assessment of President Zelenskyy and his team. After this debriefing, President Trump signed a congratulatory letter to President Zelenskyy and extended an invitation to visit the White House.

July 10, 2019: Danylyuk Visit
On July 10, 2019, Oleksandr Danylyuk, then Ukraine's National Security Advisor, visited Washington, D.C. for a meeting with National Security Advisor Bolton. Ambassadors Volker and Sondland and Secretary Rick Perry also attended the meeting. I attended the meeting with Dr. Hill.

We fully anticipated the Ukrainians would raise the issue of a meeting between the two presidents. Ambassador Bolton cut the meeting short when Ambassador Sondland started to speak about the requirement that Ukraine deliver specific investigations in order to secure the meeting with President Trump. Following this meeting, there was a short debriefing during which Amb. Sondland emphasized the importance of Ukraine delivering the investigations into the 2016 election, the Bidens, and Burisma. I stated to Ambassador Sondland that this was inappropriate and had nothing to do with national security. Dr. Hill also asserted his comments were improper. Following the meeting Dr. Hill and I had agreed to report the incident to the NSC's lead counsel, Mr. John Eisenberg.

July 25, 2019: Parliamentary Election Call
On July 21, 2019, President Zelenskyy's party won parliamentary elections in another landslide victory. The NSC proposed that President Trump call President Zelenskyy to congratulate him.

On July 25, 2019, the call occurred. I listened in on the call in the Situation Room with White House colleagues.

I was concerned by the call, what I heard was improper, and I reported my concerns to Mr. Eisenberg. It is improper for the President of the United States to demand a foreign government investigate a U.S. citizen and political opponent. It was also clear that if Ukraine pursued an investigation into the 2016 election, the Bidens, and Burisma, it would be interpreted as a partisan play. This would undoubtedly result in Ukraine losing bipartisan support, undermine U.S. national security, and advance Russia's strategic objectives in the region.

I want to emphasize to the Committee that when I reported my concerns -- on July 10, relating to Ambassador Sondland, and on July 25, relating to the President -- I did so out of a sense of duty. I privately reported my concerns, in official channels, to the proper authorities in the chain of command. My intent was to raise these concerns because they had significant national security implications for our country.

I never thought I would be sitting here testifying in front of this committee and the American public, about my actions. When I reported my concerns, my only thought was to act properly and to carry out duty. Following each of my reports to Mr. Eisenberg, I immediately returned to work to advance the President's and our country's foreign policy objectives. I focused on what I have done throughout my career, promoting America's national security interests.

Conclusion

I want to take a moment to recognize the courage of my colleagues who have appeared and are scheduled to appear before this Committee. I want to state that the vile character attacks on these distinguished and honorable public servants is reprehensible. It is natural to disagree and engage in spirited debate, this has been our custom since the time of our Founding Fathers, but we are better than callow and cowardly attacks.

The uniform I wear today is that of the United States Army. The members of our all volunteer force are made up of a patchwork of people from all ethnicities, religions, and socio-economic backgrounds who come together under a common oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. We do not serve any particular political party, we serve the nation. I am humbled to come before you today as one of many who serve in the most distinguished and able military in the world. The Army is the only profession I have ever known. As a young man I decided that I wanted to spend my life serving the nation that gave my family refuge from authoritarian oppression, and for the last twenty years it has been an honor to represent and protect this great country.

Next month will mark 40 years since my family arrived in the United States as refugees. When my father was 47 years old he left behind his entire life and the only home he had ever known to start over in the United States so that his three sons could have better, safer lives. His courageous decision inspired a deep sense of gratitude in my brothers and myself and instilled in us a sense of duty and service. All three of us have served or are currently serving in the military. Our collective military service is a special part of our family's story in America.

I also recognize that my simple act of appearing here today, just like the courage of my colleagues who have also truthfully testified before this Committee, would not be tolerated in many places around the world. In Russia, my act of expressing my concerns to the chain of command in an official and private channel would have severe personal and professional repercussions and offering public testimony involving the President would surely cost me my life. I am grateful for my father's brave act of hope 40 years ago and for the privilege of being an American citizen and public servant, where I can live free of fear for mine and my family's safety.

Dad, my sitting here today, in the US Capitol talking to our elected officials is proof that you made the right decision forty years ago to leave the Soviet Union and come here to United State of America in search of a better life for our family. Do not worry, I will be fine for telling the truth. Thank you again for your consideration, and I would be happy to answer your questions.

Donald Trump: 'My administration has has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country' United Nations address - 2018

25 September, New York City, New York, USA

Madam President, Mr. Secretary-General, world leaders, ambassadors, and distinguished delegates:

One year ago, I stood before you for the first time in this grand hall. I addressed the threats facing our world, and I presented a vision to achieve a brighter future for all of humanity.

Today, I stand before the United Nations General Assembly to share the extraordinary progress we’ve made.

In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.

America’s — so true. (Laughter.) Didn’t expect that reaction, but that’s okay. (Laughter and applause.)

America’s economy is booming like never before. Since my election, we’ve added $10 trillion in wealth. The stock market is at an all-time high in history, and jobless claims are at a 50-year low. African American, Hispanic American, and Asian American unemployment have all achieved their lowest levels ever recorded. We’ve added more than 4 million new jobs, including half a million manufacturing jobs.

We have passed the biggest tax cuts and reforms in American history. We’ve started the construction of a major border wall, and we have greatly strengthened border security.

We have secured record funding for our military — $700 billion this year, and $716 billion next year. Our military will soon be more powerful than it has ever been before.

In other words, the United States is stronger, safer, and a richer country than it was when I assumed office less than two years ago.

We are standing up for America and for the American people. And we are also standing up for the world.

This is great news for our citizens and for peace-loving people everywhere. We believe that when nations respect the rights of their neighbors, and defend the interests of their people, they can better work together to secure the blessings of safety, prosperity, and peace.

Each of us here today is the emissary of a distinct culture, a rich history, and a people bound together by ties of memory, tradition, and the values that make our homelands like nowhere else on Earth.

That is why America will always choose independence and cooperation over global governance, control, and domination.

I honor the right of every nation in this room to pursue its own customs, beliefs, and traditions. The United States will not tell you how to live or work or worship.

We only ask that you honor our sovereignty in return.

From Warsaw to Brussels, to Tokyo to Singapore, it has been my highest honor to represent the United States abroad. I have forged close relationships and friendships and strong partnerships with the leaders of many nations in this room, and our approach has already yielded incredible change.

With support from many countries here today, we have engaged with North Korea to replace the specter of conflict with a bold and new push for peace.

In June, I traveled to Singapore to meet face to face with North Korea’s leader, Chairman Kim Jong Un.

We had highly productive conversations and meetings, and we agreed that it was in both countries’ interest to pursue the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Since that meeting, we have already seen a number of encouraging measures that few could have imagined only a short time ago.

The missiles and rockets are no longer flying in every direction. Nuclear testing has stopped. Some military facilities are already being dismantled. Our hostages have been released. And as promised, the remains of our fallen heroes are being returned home to lay at rest in American soil.

I would like to thank Chairman Kim for his courage and for the steps he has taken, though much work remains to be done. The sanctions will stay in place until denuclearization occurs.

I also want to thank the many member states who helped us reach this moment — a moment that is actually far greater than people would understand; far greater — but for also their support and the critical support that we will all need going forward.

A special thanks to President Moon of South Korea, Prime Minister Abe of Japan, and President Xi of China.

In the Middle East, our new approach is also yielding great strides and very historic change.

Following my trip to Saudi Arabia last year, the Gulf countries opened a new center to target terrorist financing. They are enforcing new sanctions, working with us to identify and track terrorist networks, and taking more responsibility for fighting terrorism and extremism in their own region.

The UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar have pledged billions of dollars to aid the people of Syria and Yemen. And they are pursuing multiple avenues to ending Yemen’s horrible, horrific civil war.

Ultimately, it is up to the nations of the region to decide what kind of future they want for themselves and their children.

For that reason, the United States is working with the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jordan, and Egypt to establish a regional strategic alliance so that Middle Eastern nations can advance prosperity, stability, and security across their home region.

Thanks to the United States military and our partnership with many of your nations, I am pleased to report that the bloodthirsty killers known as ISIS have been driven out from the territory they once held in Iraq and Syria. We will continue to work with friends and allies to deny radical Islamic terrorists any funding, territory or support, or any means of infiltrating our borders.

The ongoing tragedy in Syria is heartbreaking. Our shared goals must be the de-escalation of military conflict, along with a political solution that honors the will of the Syrian people. In this vein, we urge the United Nations-led peace process be reinvigorated. But, rest assured, the United States will respond if chemical weapons are deployed by the Assad regime.

I commend the people of Jordan and other neighboring countries for hosting refugees from this very brutal civil war.

As we see in Jordan, the most compassionate policy is to place refugees as close to their homes as possible to ease their eventual return to be part of the rebuilding process. This approach also stretches finite resources to help far more people, increasing the impact of every dollar spent.

Every solution to the humanitarian crisis in Syria must also include a strategy to address the brutal regime that has fueled and financed it: the corrupt dictatorship in Iran.

Iran’s leaders sow chaos, death, and destruction. They do not respect their neighbors or borders, or the sovereign rights of nations. Instead, Iran’s leaders plunder the nation’s resources to enrich themselves and to spread mayhem across the Middle East and far beyond.

The Iranian people are rightly outraged that their leaders have embezzled billions of dollars from Iran’s treasury, seized valuable portions of the economy, and looted the people’s religious endowments, all to line their own pockets and send their proxies to wage war. Not good.

Iran’s neighbors have paid a heavy toll for the region’s [regime’s] agenda of aggression and expansion. That is why so many countries in the Middle East strongly supported my decision to withdraw the United States from the horrible 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal and re-impose nuclear sanctions.

The Iran deal was a windfall for Iran’s leaders. In the years since the deal was reached, Iran’s military budget grew nearly 40 percent. The dictatorship used the funds to build nuclear-capable missiles, increase internal repression, finance terrorism, and fund havoc and slaughter in Syria and Yemen.

The United States has launched a campaign of economic pressure to deny the regime the funds it needs to advance its bloody agenda. Last month, we began re-imposing hard-hitting nuclear sanctions that had been lifted under the Iran deal. Additional sanctions will resume November 5th, and more will follow. And we’re working with countries that import Iranian crude oil to cut their purchases substantially.

We cannot allow the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism to possess the planet’s most dangerous weapons. We cannot allow a regime that chants “Death to America,” and that threatens Israel with annihilation, to possess the means to deliver a nuclear warhead to any city on Earth. Just can’t do it.

We ask all nations to isolate Iran’s regime as long as its aggression continues. And we ask all nations to support Iran’s people as they struggle to reclaim their religious and righteous destiny.

This year, we also took another significant step forward in the Middle East. In recognition of every sovereign state to determine its own capital, I moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

The United States is committed to a future of peace and stability in the region, including peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. That aim is advanced, not harmed, by acknowledging the obvious facts.

America’s policy of principled realism means we will not be held hostage to old dogmas, discredited ideologies, and so-called experts who have been proven wrong over the years, time and time again. This is true not only in matters of peace, but in matters of prosperity.

We believe that trade must be fair and reciprocal. The United States will not be taken advantage of any longer.

For decades, the United States opened its economy — the largest, by far, on Earth — with few conditions. We allowed foreign goods from all over the world to flow freely across our borders.

Yet, other countries did not grant us fair and reciprocal access to their markets in return. Even worse, some countries abused their openness to dump their products, subsidize their goods, target our industries, and manipulate their currencies to gain unfair advantage over our country. As a result, our trade deficit ballooned to nearly $800 billion a year.

For this reason, we are systematically renegotiating broken and bad trade deals.

Last month, we announced a groundbreaking U.S.-Mexico trade agreement. And just yesterday, I stood with President Moon to announce the successful completion of the brand new U.S.-Korea trade deal. And this is just the beginning.

Many nations in this hall will agree that the world trading system is in dire need of change. For example, countries were admitted to the World Trade Organization that violate every single principle on which the organization is based. While the United States and many other nations play by the rules, these countries use government-run industrial planning and state-owned enterprises to rig the system in their favor. They engage in relentless product dumping, forced technology transfer, and the theft of intellectual property.

The United States lost over 3 million manufacturing jobs, nearly a quarter of all steel jobs, and 60,000 factories after China joined the WTO. And we have racked up $13 trillion in trade deficits over the last two decades.

But those days are over. We will no longer tolerate such abuse. We will not allow our workers to be victimized, our companies to be cheated, and our wealth to be plundered and transferred. America will never apologize for protecting its citizens.

The United States has just announced tariffs on another $200 billion in Chinese-made goods for a total, so far, of $250 billion. I have great respect and affection for my friend, President Xi, but I have made clear our trade imbalance is just not acceptable. China’s market distortions and the way they deal cannot be tolerated.

As my administration has demonstrated, America will always act in our national interest.

I spoke before this body last year and warned that the U.N. Human Rights Council had become a grave embarrassment to this institution, shielding egregious human rights abusers while bashing America and its many friends.

Our Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, laid out a clear agenda for reform, but despite reported and repeated warnings, no action at all was taken.

So the United States took the only responsible course: We withdrew from the Human Rights Council, and we will not return until real reform is enacted.

For similar reasons, the United States will provide no support in recognition to the International Criminal Court. As far as America is concerned, the ICC has no jurisdiction, no legitimacy, and no authority. The ICC claims near-universal jurisdiction over the citizens of every country, violating all principles of justice, fairness, and due process. We will never surrender America’s sovereignty to an unelected, unaccountable, global bureaucracy.

America is governed by Americans. We reject the ideology of globalism, and we embrace the doctrine of patriotism.

Around the world, responsible nations must defend against threats to sovereignty not just from global governance, but also from other, new forms of coercion and domination.

In America, we believe strongly in energy security for ourselves and for our allies. We have become the largest energy producer anywhere on the face of the Earth.

The United States stands ready to export our abundant, affordable supply of oil, clean coal, and natural gas.

OPEC and OPEC nations, are, as usual, ripping off the rest of the world, and I don’t like it. Nobody should like it. We defend many of these nations for nothing, and then they take advantage of us by giving us high oil prices. Not good.

We want them to stop raising prices, we want them to start lowering prices, and they must contribute substantially to military protection from now on. We are not going to put up with it — these horrible prices — much longer.

Reliance on a single foreign supplier can leave a nation vulnerable to extortion and intimidation. That is why we congratulate European states, such as Poland, for leading the construction of a Baltic pipeline so that nations are not dependent on Russia to meet their energy needs. Germany will become totally dependent on Russian energy if it does not immediately change course.

Here in the Western Hemisphere, we are committed to maintaining our independence from the encroachment of expansionist foreign powers.

It has been the formal policy of our country since President Monroe that we reject the interference of foreign nations in this hemisphere and in our own affairs. The United States has recently strengthened our laws to better screen foreign investments in our country for national security threats, and we welcome cooperation with countries in this region and around the world that wish to do the same. You need to do it for your own protection.

The United States is also working with partners in Latin America to confront threats to sovereignty from uncontrolled migration. Tolerance for human struggling and human smuggling and trafficking is not humane. It’s a horrible thing that’s going on, at levels that nobody has ever seen before. It’s very, very cruel.

Illegal immigration funds criminal networks, ruthless gangs, and the flow of deadly drugs. Illegal immigration exploits vulnerable populations, hurts hardworking citizens, and has produced a vicious cycle of crime, violence, and poverty. Only by upholding national borders, destroying criminal gangs, can we break this cycle and establish a real foundation for prosperity.

We recognize the right of every nation in this room to set its own immigration policy in accordance with its national interests, just as we ask other countries to respect our own right to do the same — which we are doing. That is one reason the United States will not participate in the new Global Compact on Migration. Migration should not be governed by an international body unaccountable to our own citizens.

Ultimately, the only long-term solution to the migration crisis is to help people build more hopeful futures in their home countries. Make their countries great again.

Currently, we are witnessing a human tragedy, as an example, in Venezuela. More than 2 million people have fled the anguish inflicted by the socialist Maduro regime and its Cuban sponsors.

Not long ago, Venezuela was one of the richest countries on Earth. Today, socialism has bankrupted the oil-rich nation and driven its people into abject poverty.

Virtually everywhere socialism or communism has been tried, it has produced suffering, corruption, and decay. Socialism’s thirst for power leads to expansion, incursion, and oppression. All nations of the world should resist socialism and the misery that it brings to everyone.

In that spirit, we ask the nations gathered here to join us in calling for the restoration of democracy in Venezuela. Today, we are announcing additional sanctions against the repressive regime, targeting Maduro’s inner circle and close advisors.

We are grateful for all the work the United Nations does around the world to help people build better lives for themselves and their families.

The United States is the world’s largest giver in the world, by far, of foreign aid. But few give anything to us. That is why we are taking a hard look at U.S. foreign assistance. That will be headed up by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. We will examine what is working, what is not working, and whether the countries who receive our dollars and our protection also have our interests at heart.

Moving forward, we are only going to give foreign aid to those who respect us and, frankly, are our friends. And we expect other countries to pay their fair share for the cost of their defense.

The United States is committed to making the United Nations more effective and accountable. I have said many times that the United Nations has unlimited potential. As part of our reform effort, I have told our negotiators that the United States will not pay more than 25 percent of the U.N. peacekeeping budget. This will encourage other countries to step up, get involved, and also share in this very large burden.

And we are working to shift more of our funding from assessed contributions to voluntary so that we can target American resources to the programs with the best record of success.

Only when each of us does our part and contributes our share can we realize the U.N.’s highest aspirations. We must pursue peace without fear, hope without despair, and security without apology.

Looking around this hall where so much history has transpired, we think of the many before us who have come here to address the challenges of their nations and of their times. And our thoughts turn to the same question that ran through all their speeches and resolutions, through every word and every hope. It is the question of what kind of world will we leave for our children and what kind of nations they will inherit.

The dreams that fill this hall today are as diverse as the people who have stood at this podium, and as varied as the countries represented right here in this body are. It really is something. It really is great, great history.

There is India, a free society over a billion people, successfully lifting countless millions out of poverty and into the middle class.

There is Saudi Arabia, where King Salman and the Crown Prince are pursuing bold new reforms.

There is Israel, proudly celebrating its 70th anniversary as a thriving democracy in the Holy Land.

In Poland, a great people are standing up for their independence, their security, and their sovereignty.

Many countries are pursuing their own unique visions, building their own hopeful futures, and chasing their own wonderful dreams of destiny, of legacy, and of a home.

The whole world is richer, humanity is better, because of this beautiful constellation of nations, each very special, each very unique, and each shining brightly in its part of the world.

In each one, we see awesome promise of a people bound together by a shared past and working toward a common future.

As for Americans, we know what kind of future we want for ourselves. We know what kind of a nation America must always be.

In America, we believe in the majesty of freedom and the dignity of the individual. We believe in self-government and the rule of law. And we prize the culture that sustains our liberty -– a culture built on strong families, deep faith, and fierce independence. We celebrate our heroes, we treasure our traditions, and above all, we love our country.

Inside everyone in this great chamber today, and everyone listening all around the globe, there is the heart of a patriot that feels the same powerful love for your nation, the same intense loyalty to your homeland.

The passion that burns in the hearts of patriots and the souls of nations has inspired reform and revolution, sacrifice and selflessness, scientific breakthroughs, and magnificent works of art.

Our task is not to erase it, but to embrace it. To build with it. To draw on its ancient wisdom. And to find within it the will to make our nations greater, our regions safer, and the world better.

To unleash this incredible potential in our people, we must defend the foundations that make it all possible. Sovereign and independent nations are the only vehicle where freedom has ever survived, democracy has ever endured, or peace has ever prospered. And so we must protect our sovereignty and our cherished independence above all.

When we do, we will find new avenues for cooperation unfolding before us. We will find new passion for peacemaking rising within us. We will find new purpose, new resolve, and new spirit flourishing all around us, and making this a more beautiful world in which to live.

So together, let us choose a future of patriotism, prosperity, and pride. Let us choose peace and freedom over domination and defeat. And let us come here to this place to stand for our people and their nations, forever strong, forever sovereign, forever just, and forever thankful for the grace and the goodness and the glory of God.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the nations of the world.

Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.)

Bill Taylor: 'There appeared to be two channels of US policymaking, one regular and one highly irregular', Trump Impeachment Proceedings Opening Statement - 2019

22 October 2019, Washington DC, USA

William Taylor testimony by Stefan Becket on Scribd

Lidia Thorpe: 'Being Aboriginal is not all I am, but it's the centre of who I am', maiden speech - 2017

29 November 2017, Victorian Parliament, Melbourne, Australia

Lidia Thorpe, MP Northcote, is the first aboriginal woman to be elected to a lower house seat in the Parliament of Victoria.

I would like to acknowledge the Wurundjeri Willam and Yalukit Willam clans - two of 300 clans and 38 language groups in Victoria who have never ceded sovereignty. I stand before you today a proud Gunnai-Gunditjmara woman, living on Wurundjeri country. For an Aboriginal kid who grew up in public housing and left school at 14, taking my seat in this chamber is something I was told could never happen. Too many of our kids grow up believing this. Their lives are debated but not reflected in our political system. As long as those voices are missing from the heart of our democracy, we limit our children's potential. They cannot be what they cannot see. This is why today matters. It is a moment 161 years in the making, and it does not only belong to me. I have been inundated with messages from Aboriginal people across the country. I speak today on behalf of them. I am honoured to be the first Aboriginal woman elected to the Victorian Parliament. We have sustained and protected this land for thousands of years, and now in Victoria we finally have a say in how our land is governed.

I am also proud to embark on this journey as a Greens MP, a party that shares my passion for social justice, protecting country and giving voice to those who would otherwise not have one. And I am honoured to represent Northcote, a diverse and compassionate community of vibrant multiculturalism, youthful innovation and a real sense of optimism. From the peak of Ruckers Hill all the way to the waterways that surround us on three sides - the Darebin and Merri creeks to the east and west and the mighty Birrarung flowing to the south - Northcote is a place of natural beauty, and I am so proud to call it home. I want to take this opportunity to say to every resident of Northcote, Thornbury, Alphington, Fairfield, Preston South and West Preston: whether you voted for me or not, I promise I will not let you down.

I also want to acknowledge that the road to this moment came about in tragic circumstances after the untimely passing of Fiona Richardson. I extend my heartfelt condolences to her family, friends and colleagues. As a survivor of domestic violence I am personally grateful to Fiona for the work she has done in increasing protections for women.

The possum skin cloak I wore when I walked into Parliament today was made for me by the Loddon Campaspe Indigenous family violence action group and the Centre for Non-Violence. It was hand sewn by a community who share my country and presented to me this week by Aunty Beryl, a Gunnai-Gunditjmara elder from the Victorian Aboriginal embassy.

I stand here on the shoulders of my ancestors. None of this would have been possible without the strong line of Aboriginal women before me. They taught me resilience, self-determination and the importance of standing up against injustice. My nan, Alma Previous HitThorpeNext Hit, who is here today, has worked her whole life for grassroots community change. Raised in Fitzroy, she left school at 12 to work in a shoe factory and support her family. Her mum, my great-grandmother Edna, came to the area after being forced off the Framlingham Aboriginal reserve near Warrnambool as part of the White Australia assimilation policy during the Great Depression. The house Nan grew up in was run-down and often had no electricity. Everyone had to do their bit. But she never looked for pity.

Self-determination was at the heart of everything she taught me. Her motto has always been 'You get up and you have a go', and she did. After the 1967 referendum gave Aboriginal people the right to vote she applied for a loan that helped her and my nan Edna set up the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service. That service saved lives and helped hundreds of thousands of people across this country. To this day it continues to be a vital community hub.

Growing up, Nan's house was a magnet for political discussion. I would listen to the tough conversations our elders had about how they could improve the lives of Aboriginal people. It was not just talk; my family's activism started at home. Nan took in countless people and offered them a safe place to live - like Uncle Lou, a soldier who grew up on an Aboriginal mission where he contracted tuberculosis. If it was not for Nan, he would have had nowhere to go.

It was this upbringing that taught me community is everything. They say it takes a village to raise a child, and that is the life I have known. Growing up in a public housing estate I knew everyone. When mum was out working I would go downstairs to the homework club with the other kids and feel that sense of safety and belonging. Later in life as a young single mum, public housing gave my son and I stability and community. It helped shape the father he is today. From the Turkish neighbour who brought us homemade pizza to the elderly lollipop man who lived on the ground floor, people in public housing communities took care of each other. We cannot remove the only support and security these people have.

At Walker Street in Northcote, one of nine public housing sites across Melbourne being sold to developers, I recently met a family who came to Australia from Somalia. They were anxious that being forced from the community they love will make it harder for their young Muslim son to be accepted. One of the most important jobs in this Parliament is to look after the vulnerable in our community. We cannot marginalise these families. Everyone deserves a safe place to call home, and that is why we must do politics differently. The profits of developers cannot be put before people. Gambling companies must not be allowed to destroy our communities with pokie machines. The system is rigged against the little guy because of dodgy donations flowing into politics. It has to stop.

We need fairness and we need transparency. We need leaders who understand the importance of protecting country, have the guts to tackle climate change and will stand up to the mining companies poisoning our land. We need to protect our native forests from logging and create a great forest national park. As a young woman I led the protest to save the Nowa Nowa gorge from a pipeline that would have destroyed one of the most beautiful places in our state.

I have stood in front of bulldozers, and I will continue to stand up for our communities and our environment. There is a fire in my belly for justice, equality and protecting country. I will bring that to this Parliament. Nan always said politics was my destiny. I cannot separate my culture from my politics. When your people have fought for centuries to survive, it teaches you how to face up to those who hold power.

Being Aboriginal is not all I am, but it is the centre of who I am. My mother's family lived their lives as refugees in their own country on Gunnai land in Gippsland. They were poisoned, shot and herded off cliffs in one of the most ruthless and systematic attempted genocides the world has ever seen. The survivors were rounded up onto Lake Tyers mission and imprisoned on rations. Decisions made in this very chamber took our language away, removed children from our families and forced us from our land. Those scars run deep for all Aboriginal people.

But despite the deep sense of loss, I grew up surrounded by people who refused to give in to hopelessness. Nan Alma taught me to stand up for our community and always stay true to myself: 'Never forget where you come from. Never forget our people'. So I fought hard for my identity. At school, where my cousin and I were the only two black kids, I was picked on by students and teachers for being Aboriginal. It only made me more determined. I never felt for one moment that I could be beaten down. It does not matter where you come from or who you are, education should be accessible for everyone. Today we are joined by Aboriginal students from schools across the Northcote electorate and my daughter, who is going into year 12. I promise that I will fight for you to have the opportunities that I never had. And I look forward to seeing the school funding you have been promised delivered in full.

Although I left school early, I went to work straightaway. I have not stopped working since. Every job I have had, in health, housing, employment and land rights, has been about empowering those who have been denied opportunity. As Victorian NAIDOC chair, I was proud we delivered a calendar of inclusive events, including NAIDOC's first-ever Pride Awards.

Bringing community together is at the core of who I am. I have always been a fighter, but it breaks my heart to think of all the Aboriginal people who have lost that will to survive. There is trauma passed down through generations and entrenched by society that does not see our humanity and treats us only as a problem to be fixed. Many of the kids I grew up with are gone, lost to drugs and alcohol, chronic illness and suicide. I have been to too many funerals for someone my age and I do not want my nine-year-old daughter to have to go through the same. Something has to change.

In Victoria in 2017 Aboriginal children are still being removed from families, our literacy rates are amongst the lowest in the state and our people are locked up at a rate 11 times higher than the general population. This is not because of fundamental flaws in their character but because of a system that has written them off. For some of the elders in our community it has led to a sense of profound despair. They see the extreme poverty, the forced closures of Aboriginal communities and skyrocketing suicide rates, and they ask, 'Has anything really changed since our ancestors were wiped from this land?'.

Clinton Pryor, a young Aboriginal man, walked 6000 kilometres across the country out of a sense of desperation. He walked and gathered stories, many of them soul-destroying. It was a heavy burden for a young man, but he listened - and that is what politicians must do. Our First People must be at the centre of decision-making processes. We need a clan-based treaty to ensure self-determination is at the heart of our future. We are not a problem to be fixed. We are the custodians of this land and the oldest living culture in the world. We must be heard. For those who feel they are not being counted, for those who have lost the will to fight and for those who are no longer with us, I will be that voice. I will fight for you. You have my word, and I will never sell you out.

I extend this promise to all the people of Northcote. Whatever your heritage or cultural background, you are part of a community that I am so proud to call home. My commitment to you is to act with integrity. I will have the courage to put our community first, even when those decisions are tough. And I will respect and protect this land which we all share. Together we can walk forward to a more hopeful future for our kids and grandkids.

I am grateful to many people for getting me here today: firstly, to my ancestors, whose spirit of strength and guidance I feel with me every day of this journey; to my elders, my family and my friends; to the staunch black activists who paved the way for a kid from the commission flats to make it all the way to the Victorian Parliament; to the Greens, who had faith in me from the beginning; to my parliamentary colleagues, for their support; to my campaign team and my wonderful volunteers, I will never be able to thank you enough for you hard work, dedication and passion; and to my children and my grandchildren, I know the work I do has come at a cost to you.

I want to finish today with a story that sums up what this moment means. It is a story of a seven-year-old Aboriginal boy with autism called Eli from Penders Grove Primary School in Thornbury. After the by-election results came in, his mum sent me a video she had taken of his reaction when he found out I had won. It moved me to tears. 'What do you think of that?', she asked him. 'Well,' Eli said, 'Aunty Previous HitLidia'sNext Document got the key that's going to open the door to all Aboriginal people'.

I feel so very honoured to have been given that key. My job now is to keep the door open and to make sure it never closes again. Thank you.

Tim Watts: 'While I'm glad to be able to vote for this bill, I cannot take joy from it', Marriage Amendment Bill - 2017

5 December 2017, Canberra, Australia

I want to begin my remarks tonight by saying to all LGBTI Australians that I'm sorry. I'm sorry that the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 took so long. Every day that a person is forced to live in our society with lesser rights than their neighbour is an injustice. We perpetuated and perpetrated an injustice on LGBTIQ Australians for far, far too long.

It is right that the parliament will this week vote to extend equality before the law to LGBTIQ couples and their families. It is right that elected members of this place will vote to afford the most basic of dignities to LGBTIQ Australians: the recognition that their relationships are just as loving, that their relationships are just as meaningful and that their relationships are just as committed as anyone else's.

I'm sorry, too, for what this parliament put LGBTIQ Australians through to get to this vote. I take responsibility for the inaction of previous Labor governments on this issue during our time in office, recognising the efforts of the member for Whitlam in introducing the 2012 marriage equality private member's bill and the 42 members of parliament, including the Leader of the Opposition, who voted for it. I recognise also the extraordinary work of people like Senator Penny Wong, who worked assiduously within party forums for many years to change Labor Party policy on this issue so that when marriage equality passes in this parliament this week it will do so with more votes from the Labor Party than any other party—but recognising our responsibility for failing to get it done in the past.

I'm sorry that LGBTIQ Australians were forced by this parliament to submit themselves, to submit their rights as equal members of our society, to a national public debate and opinion poll before we could get them to this point in this place. For these reasons, while I'm glad to be able to vote for this bill, I cannot take joy from it. Historians will note the public celebrations following the announcement of the results of this survey, celebrations that the Prime Minister had the good sense to realise that he would not be welcome at. But, in doing so, they will miss a deeper truth of this period in our history. Australians who support justice, equality and human dignity celebrated this result because the alternative would have been unimaginably painful. We celebrate it because a process that inflicted totally unnecessary pain and suffering on LGBTIQ Australians and their families would have re-traumatised these Australians had the result been in the negative. We celebrate it because the next generation of LGBTIQ kids will not have to go through a similar national debate on the worth of themselves and their families.

But these celebrations obscured the hurt, confusion and anxiety that I saw my LGBTIQ friends and family had been put through in this ghoulish process. History should record the repulsion that many of us felt at seeing the Prime Minister take credit for these celebrations while denying the suffering that he chose to inflict on LGBTIQ Australians and their families. I want to give these deeply mixed feelings a voice in this debate today. To this end I want the Hansard to record for posterity the reflections of a comedian who I admire, Rebecca Shaw, and her experience of this process. Bec wrote:

I thought that hearing that the Yes side had won would make me feel happy; that perhaps the months of tension and anger that had built up in my body would dissipate. But the instant I heard those words, I felt my stomach knot further. I turned to my group, more subdued than most of the people around me. I hugged my friends, holding on quietly and for a long time. One looked at me from under her glasses; her face was solemn, but I saw tears streaming down her face. Another was shaking their head angrily. Around me, people were smiling and hugging; … I saw an old couple embrace tearfully. I cried a bit, then – how could I not? But the knot didn't budge.

I can't speak on the perspective of an LGBTIQ person myself, but I can feel this knot in my stomach in this debate today, and I could feel it coming in the lead-up to the results.

I knew I wouldn't be in the mood to celebrate on the day of the results, so I had accepted an invitation to speak at the graduation ceremony of my old high school on the day before. I was optimistic for my old school in regional Queensland, in Toowoomba, which, it was clear to me, was far more enlightened today than it was when I was there 20 years ago. The school now had LGBTIQ kids and transitioning kids, things that were simply denied when I was at the school. But my optimism turned to bitterness when, watching the results, a 'no' result was returned for the seat of Groom in the survey. I felt for those kids as the 'no' result was returned. How did this unnecessary public process of judgement make them feel, this public confirmation of their worst fears about the community that they lived in? What message does this send to an LGBTIQ kid in that community?

It is clear we still have a long path to walk to ensuring that all LGBTIQ Australians throughout our country are afforded recognition as fully equal members of our society. For those who inflicted this process on Australia, I can only express my hope that future governments have the good sense and the political courage not to let it loose on the human rights of other groups. Regardless, the Prime Minister and the Liberal Party will have to live with the question of why they forced LGBTIQ Australians to submit their rights, their equality as citizens, to a national debate when no other race or religious group has been forced to do the same without constitutional requirement. This is the Prime Minister's legacy in this debate.

All of us in this place should make amends for the way that we have failed LGBTIQ Australians leading up to this bill by ensuring that we do not perpetrate similar injustices in future, that we do not commit similar failures of empathy. The relationships of future generations of LGBTIQ Australians won't be subject to legal discrimination, but we will need to continue to ensure that they do not confront social and other forms of discrimination. The reactionaries in our society who seek to exploit and accentuate anxieties about people who are perceived to be different will move on to a new target.

The parliament and the public have so clearly rejected homophobia. The tiny minority of people who think that religion is like a toy plastic sheriff's badge to wave at other people rather than a source of personal moral reflection will be tutting their fingers at someone else soon enough. Indeed, it is clear from the way that the 'no' campaign desperately tried to make the marriage equality survey about anything other than marriage between LGBTIQ Australians that the reactionaries have already chosen their new target—trans kids. The disgracefully dishonest and fact-free campaign against the Safe Schools program comprehensively detailed by Ben Law in his tour de force quarterly essay is a sign of things to come on this front. So, to the MPs who are professing to a Damoclean conversion on marriage equality and recognising the equal human dignity of gay and lesbian Australians in the chamber this week: I implore you not to make the same mistake over again with trans Australians. To the trans Australians and their families watching this debate with trepidation, I want to say that I see you and I will not abandon you.

I have a few happier words to end on. I want to thank and pay tribute to all of the campaigners who ensured that Australia said yes in this survey. Thank you to The Equality Campaign, Australians for Marriage Equality, GetUp! and the Australian trade union movement, particularly the Victorian Trades Hall Council. I want to particularly acknowledge the work of a constituent of mine, Wil Stracke, who led the trades hall campaign and acquired the most famous fence in Australia in the process. Your mum would have been proud, mate. Also I want to thank Raymond Pham for coordinating my office's 'yes' campaign in Gellibrand. In a perfect world, we could have done without their good deeds, but we are thankful for them regardless.

Finally, I want to thank all of those LGBTIQ Australians who lost people that they loved during the long, long wait for this day. When the Western Bulldogs won the flag after a 62-year drought, one of the most common things that I heard at the family day at Whitten Oval the day after the premiership was people wishing that they could have shared this long-anticipated moment of happiness with a loved one who never got to see the day. Lovers, family and friends will be feeling the same way about the vote in this parliament: lovers who never got to propose to the person they love; parents who never got to walk their child down the aisle; children who didn't have a parent there to walk them down the aisle; and friends who never believed that this day of equality would come. The happiness of the breakthrough moment after so long makes the feeling of these losses freshly painful. Many people in the LGBTIQ community and their family members will be feeling this way at the moment. I know I'm feeling this way. I'm thinking of those members of my family who are in the same boat.