On Australia Day, like most Australians, I reflected on what it means to be an Aussie and how proud I am to live in the greatest country in the world.

Everyone has a different opinion on what makes them an Aussie and what they love about living in our great Land.

My family story is typically Australian. Just like 4 million other Australians since the Second World War, we immigrated here as part of Australia’s generous migration scheme.

Our family of four are lucky to be recipients of Australia’s hospitality and warm nature. Warmth and hospitality is what makes our country so great and attractive to people looking for a new home.

It would be fair to say that many families who have migrated here have done so to escape the troubles of their home land. Our family were desperate to escape the oppression and ruin of Eastern European Communism.

The warm nature of people throughout our great land was best displayed when I travelled through the new, vast Federal Division of Wright on Australia Day.

From a citizen’s awards ceremony in Boonah to a flag raising ceremony at Mudgeeraba and from a cricket match and BBQ at Davenport park, Benogin to a festival at Logan Village, every community is always welcoming and wonderfully warm to anyone wanting to say G’day or have a yarn.

The warmth displayed by people as I shook hands and talked to them about being Aussies is the same warmth I felt as little 6 year old girl who arrived here in 1983 to start grade 1 with not a single word of English.

Aussies nurtured me and helped my Family. Aussies taught me their unique English, and then gave me the opportunity to become a Barrister. This sense of mateship and willingness to help anyone who needs a hand is the exact reason I have decided to re-pay my debt to Aussies and serve Australia through a rigorous commitment to public office.