Ms VAMVAKINOU (Calwell) (12.40 pm)—I want to report to this House the findings of a community survey that I conducted in my electorate of Calwell just before Christmas last year.
Residents were asked to number in order of importance the federal issues that mattered to them most. The survey listed some 14 different issues for residents to choose from.
Mr Speaker, investing in education is both an investment in our children’s future, and an investment in the future prosperity if Australia.
Investing in education, skills and training is about preparing Australia for the economic and social challenges that lay ahead.
(Following is a private members motion on David Hicks moved in Parliament by Maria, followed by a copy of her speech on David Hicks. Six MP's spoke to the motion. All speeches can be found by going to the following link and scrolling down to p. 39:
David Hicks has spent 5 years in detention without trial for a war that we are told is being waged in the name of freedom and democracy. Yet David has become an example of the way this same war is in danger of eroding the very freedoms and rights that it claims to defend and uphold.
Ms VAMVAKINOU (Calwell) (9.20 pm)—Tonight I want to talk about the effects of climate change and the very real sense of crisis that surrounds the growing problem of water shortages in Australia.
Many local residents living in my electorate of Calwell have written to me expressing their concerns over the water shortages affecting our region and our country and the lack of federal government leadership and action when it comes to tackling climate change.