Over the past weeks there have been a lot of calls from government MPs and business leaders—not all but some—for people to stop complaining about the federal budget measures and to get on with the business of putting shoulders to the wheel to collectively address the so-called pending budget emergency or the debt problem—as the member for Hindmarsh constantly referred to it in his contribution this evening—by putting an end to the age of entitlement. Underlying these calls is the message that the Australian people have never had it so good and therefore a bit of pain for the sake of the nation's prosperity is justified. There are so many ways in which this narrative is so very, very wrong. It is wrong because these budget measures are predicated on a series of untruths, concealments and broken promises, as evidenced by the Prime Minister's own words throughout last year leading up to the federal election.

An inevitable part of life, especially in an ageing population, is coming to terms with the passing of many loved people, especially community stalwarts and personalities in our electorates. My electorate of Calwell lost one such resident to cancer last year.

I want to pay tribute today to an amazing woman who lives in my electorate. Her name is Wendy Dyckhoff and she was recently awarded the silver medal by the Kangan Batman TAFE college for her achievements in adult literacy and learning.

It is a great privilege to speak today to the address-in-reply on the occasion of the formation of the 44th Parliament. I want to begin by thanking the people of Calwell for their generous support and endorsement of my candidacy in the federal election of 2013.

Today my fellow co-convenor of the parliamentary friends of Palestine, the member for Reid; the convenor of the UN parliamentary group, the member for Fremantle; and I had the pleasure of hosting the launch of the United Nations Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

Last Friday, it was my very great pleasure to conduct the sod-turning for the new super clinic that will be built in Broadmeadows by Dianella Community Health.

International Rare Disease Day was on 28 February. The day gives us an opportunity to support those whose lives have been impacted by a rare genetic disorder.

Today I wish to speak about a celebration that I attended recently in my electorate, the Vietnamese Senior Citizens Group in Meadow Heights, who I join annually for their New Year celebrations. This year is of course the year of the horse. These celebrations are always a feast of cultural tradition and great food, and on that day I left with copious amounts of traditional Vietnamese cuisine, which I should say my son enjoyed thoroughly.