MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS

Mr HAMILTON (Groom) (12:07): I want to thank the member for Boothby for allowing me to just jump in very quickly. I want to acknowledge the work and the leadership of the member for Leichhardt on this issue and the bipartisan way he has reached out. He is very generous in his comments, but he is a leader in this place on this issue, as there are many others, and I've been very proud to see a bipartisan approach.

There's a long history of that since I've been here. Working together is an important thing that we can do to show young men and young boys a way forward. I'm going to quickly acknowledge that, like far too many of us, I've stood at a vigil—most recently, for Jana Armstrong in my electorate—and asked the same question we all ask: why the hell are we here?

It's one of the most confronting things we can possibly do. It draws you to ask the question of yourself as a man and as a leader: what steps can I take to prevent this from happening again? I do want to quickly acknowledge in my electorate a gentleman by the name of Adair Donaldson, a dear friend of mine who has been a strong advocate of having these conversations with young men, much like the member for Leichhardt, pointing out and showing what being a man actually is and being willing to step up and have those difficult conversations in difficult times.