Mr BROADBENT (McMillan) (16:02): That was an interesting contribution from the member for Blaxland. Actually, those Luddites ended up forming the trade union movement that allowed you to speak here today. There are parts of your address that I would agree with. More importantly, the opposition leader talks about infrastructure, and infrastructure is important to those people that actually care about where our kids are going to be in the future. I think the member for Hunter might be the only member on the opposition side at the moment who has a very regional area so that he can talk about the infrastructure and roads that are so important. Mr Clare: Bendigo, Ballarat— Mr BROADBENT: And you are not even regional either. Is that correct? Mr Clare interjecting— Mr BROADBENT: I think you have some regional roads? No regional roads? Mr Fitzgibbon: Mr Deputy Speaker— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Randall ): Order. Member for McMillan, resume your seat. Member for Hunter, do you have a point of order? Mr Fitzgibbon: I do, yes, Mr Deputy Speaker. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: What is it? Mr Fitzgibbon: I do represent a rural seat, yes, and we have a number of regional members— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: That is not really a point of order. Resume your seat please. I call the member for McMillan. Mr BROADBENT: Regional seats; their regional members! The member for Hunter takes his opportunity to get up— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: It is not a point of order, as the member for Hunter knows. Mr BROADBENT: His seat is very similar to mine in that roads are extremely important to the infrastructure of our communities so that our businesses can operate. Why do we want our small businesses to be successful? Why do we want our farmers to be successful? That is in the member for Hunter's portfolio. It is because it creates jobs and opportunities and the sorts of educational opportunities that the member for Blaxland was just talking about. Actually, so many of us in this House come from the same place. We may come from different sides of the parliament. We may be elected in different ways—either through favour of the union movement or by being supported by our own community or being a rather independent member—perhaps the member for Moore from Western Australia, whose electorate is quite different to that of mine of McMillan. But I tell you what we all want: we want a future for our children, we want comfortable and happy and reasonable families, we want to be able to provide the best education we possibly can, and we want to try, through the states, to give our communities the best teachers that we can possibly afford. The point that the member for Blaxland made about science, and all those things that surround science, means that this nation will be a greater nation. Today I stood outside on my balcony and past me ran about 12 little kids, who, I would say, were from the childcare centre here in Parliament House. As I saw them run by, I thought, 'What we're actually on about here in this place is: we—even those members who are new members and younger members—in the decisions that we take today, are going to affect those children and their lifetime opportunities.' We have got to think ahead. We have got to stay together on some things. That is why I have pleaded, often, for the Labor Party to consider passing some of the bills that are put before the Senate. You have the opportunity, as a party, to support those things. I do not know how much time I have—not much. But if I go back, to Paul Keating—it just gets you going sometimes! Dr Leigh interjecting— Mr BROADBENT: No, it does; it does. I tell you! I think it was in Adelaide. He was walking out—I think it was during the election campaign—and there was a row of people condemning him as he walked out of the room— Mr Thistlethwaite: It was tongue in cheek. Mr BROADBENT: No, it wasn't tongue in cheek. Mr Husic: Yes, it was. Mr BROADBENT: It was not tongue in cheek. He looked at that kid and he said, 'Get a job.' 'Get a job'! And the reason he said that was not because he was just having a bit of fun on the campaign trail. The reason he said it was: it is actually terribly important. I heard the member for Forrest the other day say how they started their small business—how they borrowed $80,000 and they had $15,000 of equity— Dr Leigh interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Fraser is not in his seat. Mr BROADBENT: in their farm, and they grew their farm and their dairy herd from that. They grew it from that. I went into Mr Stern and I said, 'Mr Stern, I want to start a fabrics business,' and he said, 'Take all the stock you want.' Within four months, I had paid him back and bought a whole lot more. He knew I would do well. I mean, that is what we do. That is what we have always done. We are here in this place to create opportunities for people who would not otherwise have opportunities. And we are always trying to look to those who need a hand up, not a handout. We have the greatest country in the world. So here, on this Thursday afternoon, when we are having a bit of biff about a few things and each person has made their contribution, I am appealing to you, as I speak to the nation, and as I speak to my own electorate: we will do the very best we can, each one of us, for our electorates; we will get the infrastructure; but we must get this nation on an even keel. And to do that we are going to have to work together in many ways to create those opportunities for our young people.