Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The obvious answer is that the merger would create the largest political party in Queensland. The member for Banks raises the fact that I have been in the National Party before and I have obviously been a Liberal Party member of parliament since 1993. My personal experience is that the rank and file members of both parties are the same ordinary, decent Australians who want a better life for themselves, for their families and for the community at large. I have had an insight into the fact that there has been a false division for so many years. We have Liberal and National Party members of parliament who work together in the coalition party room, and you mostly would not know who is a Liberal and who is a National. What I am really saying is that, for the last quarter of a century, there has been massive self-indulgence on the part of both the Liberal Party and the National Party whereby at state level they have lost focus, focusing on each other instead of their common enemy, the Labor Party.

The very brave decision by the National Party and the Liberal Party yesterday to move towards a merger in Queensland is something which the conservative voters in Queensland have wanted for so many years and it is a very positive step forward. This merger would create the largest political party in Queensland, and the membership base would provide strength to branches and ensure that the party would be a broad based political party to appeal to both rural and metropolitan voters. It would combine the strength of the National and Liberal parties to create a powerful conservative force which would offer all Queenslanders an alternative government.

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