CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Mr KENNEDY (Cook) (16:30): I want to recognise local legend in the Sutherland Shire, Phil Bagnall. Phil has spent decades training people right across my community in his Anytime Fitness gyms in Cronulla, Caringbah and Miranda. Now, anyone who knows Phil or who has been trained by Phil wouldn't describe his training style as gentle or always polite.

He has screamed the occasional obscenity in my direction, calling me a pencil necked politician, and has no hesitation telling me when I need to work harder and giving me gratuitous advice on what I should be telling the Prime Minister about his taxation policies. But, underneath all the obscenities is a guy with a massive heart. Phil genuinely cares about people.

He holds us accountable, he gets us results and, importantly, when someone's doing it tough, he's the first person to step in to help and put his hand in his own pocket. He trains people from every walk of life: elite sportspeople, professionals, tradies—all types of ordinary Aussies simply trying to be healthier and better versions of ourselves—and he makes us accountable.

I'm very grateful, Phil, for what you do for our community and for what you've done for me. I've dropped over seven kilograms in six weeks. Phil, without question, you're the most in-shape 65-year-old I know.

You don't look a day over 60, mate. Thank you for everything you do for our community. I want to congratulate Defence Kidz.

Cook is home to a substantial defence and veteran community. The 2021 census recorded 503 Australian Defence Force members, 130 reservists and well over 2,000 former serving members of the ADF. That's almost 3,000 residents who are current or former ADF personnel in Cook.

Behind those people are partners, children—families—and they experience parental deployments, long separations, relocations and interrupted schooling and are often asked to settle in new classrooms all around the country. Defence Kidz helps these children feel seen and supported. It has distributed more than 550 deployment packs, 18,000 books and provided free resources.

I want to thank Hayley Boswell, the CEO and founder of Defence Kids, for what she does. The Commonwealth should work with states and territories to establish consistent, voluntary ways of identifying these children so governments can better support defence children and their families. Their parents serve our country.

Their children deserve to be recognised, treated, valuably and never be left to feel invisible.