STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr CHAFFEY (Parkes) (13:39): Today, it will be my absolute honour in this place to welcome a young man to parliament, named Dusty. Dusty is from Warren in my electorate of Parkes, and he has walked more than 540 kilometres here to Canberra. It has been a journey that's been months in the making, with the support of his extended family, including his mum, Sarah, and every community along the journey, to raise funds for Little Wings.

I first met the team of Little Wings in Nyngan as I travelled the electorate before the last election, and I have heard many stories of the great work this organisation has done to help save lives in regional communities, like Warren. It is truly an organisation that brings heart, skill and resources together to provide health care in regional areas. It's also an organisation that is already having to cut back services because of a lack of secure funding from this Albanese Labor government.

The need for paediatric services across the Central West and beyond is so clear that it has pushed a 12-year-old boy to walk hundreds of kilometres for help. This morning, Dusty had raised more than $430,000. Those funds will help many young children throughout regional Australia.

Dusty has two wishes he plans to share with the Prime Minister. The first is that he will announce that he'll match these funds already raised, and the other is that there'll be a commitment given for a five-year ongoing funding support for Little Wings. Congratulations to Dusty and his supporters for their great strength and spirit in believing in this vital service.

I hope the Albanese government can do the same.