JASON FALINSKI, MP, MEMBER FOR MACKELLAR
A POSITIVE FUTURE IN AN UNCERTAIN WORLD. Jason Falinski FIVE SHORT YEARS AGO, I STOOD FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE PARLIAMENT, TO UTTER MY FIRST WORDS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. I MARVELLED THEN, AS I DO NOW, AT HOW FEW NATIONS ON EARTH COULD TAKE THE SON OF A MIGRANT, WHO WHEN HE ARRIVED SPOKE NOT A SINGLE WORD OF ENGLISH, AND ELECT HIM TO THE HIGHEST DECISION MAKING BODY IN THE LAND.
In our nation, to serve others is a gift given by those you serve. I am grateful to our country and grateful to my community for the opportunity to serve. When I gave that first speech, I ended it by saying that I believed Australia’s best days were ahead of us because we have so much to hope for and so little to fear. I am reminded of that as I look at Narrabeen Lagoon, badly flooded this week, along with homes in Manly, businesses in Narrabeen, Brookvale and schools in Manly Vale. Some homes were lost, people evacuated, and lives were turned upside down. But I also witnessed the resolve of our community, the instinctive response of so many to look to others, to help where help was needed, and to care for those who could not care for themselves. In our time of need, once more, we found each other. None of the many challenges we have faced in the last three years, both here and around the world, have diminished us. We have not been found wanting. These challenges have brought us together, and in doing so, made us stronger. Like you, I too worry about the future geopolitical tensions, climate change, energy prices, housing affordability and brittle supply chains just to name a few. But the lesson of our history
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is that we only succeed when we face our challenges front on. When this Federation was founded, its promise was for the brave not the timid. Our Founders called to those who wanted to live in a place that did not care who you were or where you came from, but only what you were willing to give. A land where if you had a go, you got a go. A nation whose children would be afforded the best opportunities to develop their talents. A nation that understood that care and compassion came from friends, our families, a community and not a government department. That true fairness comes from equality of opportunity, not outcome. And that when one of us have a freedom removed, all of us are less free. That these are things worth protecting and preserving because they are sacred. No country is perfect, and we are not a perfect nation, nor are we a perfect people. However, our mission is. This election is not about votes. It is about a commitment to that first mission of opportunity for all. Can we commit to young Australians, to once more create affordable housing so they too can share in the Australian Dream? Can we make the lives of working Australians better and easier?
Can we secure the financial future of people who worked and saved all their lives so that they may have a comfortable retirement? And for those who are yet to be born, will we protect and preserve our planet? The answer, of course, is yes. Each of us have a path we have trodden on to this point. I was born in Manly to a migrant father who met my Mum while selling clothes to her shop in Collaroy. We grew up in a fibro cottage in Belrose, with four kids and one bathroom. It gave a very real world meaning to the economic concept of first mover advantage. The house’s most notable feature was a snake in the roof to keep away the possums. My parents founded a computer company that became Australia’s largest. They built a house, a family, and a community around this business. But that dream was shattered, like so many others, during the recession “we had to have.” I watched as the banks, the lawyers and the accountants strip everything for themselves like locusts. Those times left their scars, but good ones. I made a promise to myself that I would always fight for a fairer Australia and I tried to live by that promise every day since. We face choices about how we live every day. In the coming weeks, there is
