Mrs PHILLIPS (Gilmore) (10:41): Well home to HMAS Albatross, the Fleet Air Arm and HMAS Creswell, Defence and Defence industry is pivotal In my electorate of Gilmore. Last week I hosted Richard Marles, the Acting Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, providing a huge opportunity for him to understand the scale of operations in our region and to see for himself the skill and dedication of our defence members on the south coast of New South Wales. With more than 7,500 serving defence members, veterans and their families in my electorate, defence is highly important to people here.

I would like to particularly thank the early educators at One Tree Defence Childcare Unit Tingira, who we visited. They do magnificent work supporting our young ones for our defence families. We made a visit to the MCCI Italian seniors group in Nowra, a valuable networking group that comes together over traditional Italian food, friendship and activities, and we were even treated to Stella's opera singing. We met with electrical and carpentry students at TAFE to see how our fee-free TAFE is making a difference, and it is. It is great to see these classes booming, and now we are making fee-free TAFE permanent because we need more tradies to build more homes.

The Acting Prime Minister also confirmed that, while the previous chopper on a stick could not be revived, there would be a new replacement helicopter, because we know how important it is to show at our gateway to Nowra that we are a proud Navy and defence town. Members of Special Operations Command's Australian Defence Force Parachuting School gave us a super display of different ADF parachuting techniques, showing how important ADF parachuting is for defence capability for our nation.

We visited the fine defence members and staff at HMAS Albatross, including 723 Squadron, which does initial helicopter training for both Navy and Army. We met with avionics maintainers that maintain the MH-60R Seahawk Romeo helicopters. We went to the Romeo squadrons and even popped in a Seahawk Romeo simulator to witness firsthand the fine training our pilots and crews undertake to be prepared for any situation. HMAS Albatross is growing. It is currently receiving a $125 million airport and infrastructure upgrade, and soon there will be a further $140 million in infrastructure works to support new and additional Seahawk Romeo helicopters. This will include a new squadron, simulator and associated infrastructure.

Thank you to everyone involved with this visit. The minister took his time to talk with defence members, and defence members asked great questions. You could see the learning taking place. I certainly look forward to a bright future for HMAS Albatross. If you're a local or from anywhere around Australia, consider a career in the Defence Force today.