27/09/2022

Governor-General's Speech

Address-In-Reply

Mr REPACHOLI (Hunter) (16:21): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I'm extremely grateful to be standing here in this place to represent the people of the Hunter electorate. It is my privilege to stand on the land of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, the traditional owners of this place, and I pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging. I also want to pay my respects to the traditional owners of the lands of the Hunter electorate, the Wonnarua, Awabakal and Darkinjung people, and I pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging. Anikanyantin wantakalowa yarma-which is hello and welcome in the language of Wonnarua, Awabakal and Darkinjung people.

I'm not your average person. I am certainly not the average person you would expect to be in Canberra, in this place. I'm not the guy who came through the usual path to politics. I was born in Carlton, Victoria, and spent my early years growing up in Melton South in the newly formed seat of Hawke. My mother was a nurse and my father was a quarantine officer. I definitely feel that mum had the harder job. My older brother, Jason, and my younger brother, Stephen, and I had what you would call a normal upbringing. Our days were spent out with our mates on our bikes, outdoors. We had to be home when the streetlights came on. If we were late or did something wrong mum would get the wooden spoon out, and if we were really bad she would just tell us, 'Wait till your father gets home.'

When I was 26 I found out that I had an older half sister, Karen. I'm glad that you found us. It's been an absolute pleasure getting to know you and your family over the last 14 years.

Melton was where I found my love for shooting. I attended the Melton Pistol Club from as early as I can remember. Mum worked nights and weekends, so the old boy had no choice but to take me and my younger brother to the club. We were known as the gruesome twosome.

I attended Melton South Primary School and Wilson Park Secondary College, now called Storeton College. Let's be honest: I wasn't the greatest student and I couldn't wait to leave. After leaving school at 15 I started my apprenticeship as a fitter and turner at D&H Rodwell Tooling. I spent 10 years working for Don and Heather, learning my trade with a small team of dedicated workers. I'm still friends with many of them today, like Dennis, John, Chris, Steve and my older brother, Jason. It wasn't easy working with my older brother. I was a pretty lippy apprentice from what I can remember. I copped it from all the tradies. I probably deserved everything I got. It was a hard, old-school workplace that really taught me well. Thanks, Don and Heather, for taking a chance on me. It's odd that we have three tradies in the family, especially given the old boy, who doesn't even know which end of a screwdriver to use.

It's fair to say that there were plenty of people involved in shaping me into the person I am today: my first shooting coach, John Corral; my first sponsor, Darrell Bevious; most of the members of the Melton Pistol Club; Norm and Margaret Edwards; Allan and Julie Evans; Judy and Terry Kennedy; Uncle John and Aunty Anne Alisbury; my mates; and, of course, my mum and dad-I would not have achieved the milestones in my life without the sacrifices that you both made for me. Thank you.

I played many sports growing up, with the main focus being on basketball and shooting. Unfortunately, I was better at the sport that wasn't very appealing financially! Representing Australia on the world stage is an incredible honour, and I feel very privileged to have represented Australia since 1998. I've competed in world championships, world cups, Oceania championships and national championships. I've won over 50 national titles. I've represented Australia at five Olympics and four Commonwealth Games. I have three Commonwealth Games gold medals and three bronze medals-or, as my girls and I call them, the brown ones. Mr Speaker, can I tell you there was no better feeling than winning the gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in front of my wife, Alex; my daughters, Zoe and Asha; and a large group of my family and friends. Turning around to see the excitement on their faces is something that I will never forget.

I started work in the mining industry in 2009. I began working as a line borer, travelling around the state before landing a full-time position at Mount Thorley Warkworth. It was an opportunity to drive something I really could say was bigger than me! I spent seven years working at Mount Thorley Warkworth. I was a union delegate, a dispatch officer, a trainer and an operator. Being an operator is the best job in the pit. The biggest concern you have for a 12½-hour shift is what setting the aircon is on-one, two or three?

At the end of 2017, I was headhunted by Rusty Russell at Double R to manage a new engineering shop in Singleton. Our focus was working in the mining industry and trying to grow the business to around 15 people. Fast forward four years and we had grown the business to 70-plus employees working around the Hunter and beyond, specialising in tractors, ag equipment and parts sales as well as our core business in repairs and heavy engineering. I had some amazing times both professionally and personally whilst I was working at Double R, and I still feel it is by far the best team I've ever been part of. I know me ending up in this place wasn't in our 10-year plan, Rusty, but you know you have to take every opportunity that life throws at you. Thank you to Kate, Rusty and the Double R team. It was an amazing ride.

I've been lucky to travel the world doing the sport that I love, and that has given me some of the most amazing experiences of my life, but there is nothing better than coming home to the best country in the world-Australia-and especially my home in the Hunter Valley, the gateway to paradise. The Hunter is such a dynamic electorate, stretching from Wyee Point at the tip of western Lake Macquarie, Australia's largest coastal saltwater lake; working its way around the back of the Wollombi state forest all the way to Sandy Hollow, across to Muswellbrook and down to Cameron Park, Edgeworth and Glendale; and taking in major towns such as Morisset, Toronto, Cessnock and Singleton. The electorate is 10,640 square kilometres, and I currently have 128,759 bosses that reside in the Hunter electorate.

Some would argue that we have the best wine in Australia coming out of the Hunter. There certainly is no argument from me. We do have the best wines in Australia. In fact, we have the best wines in the world, from Australia's oldest and first vineyard-Wyndham Estate, planted in 1828-to some of the most iconic wine brands in Australia, like Tyrrell's, Scarborough Wine Co, Mount Pleasant Wines, Ernest Hill Wines and many others, and the new winemakers in industry who are really making their mark, like Usher Tinkler Wines, Mercer Wines and John Wallace Wines, just to name a few. Tourism is a massive part of the Hunter economy, from regattas and families holidaying around the beautiful Lake Macquarie to the world-famous golf courses, restaurants and boutique breweries scattered throughout the Hunter, to our world renowned horse studs in the Upper Hunter, home to champions like Winx, Home Affairs and So You Think.

The Hunter has been a powerhouse of the NSW energy and