Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and International Security) Share this | Hansard source

It is not a question about manufacturing. I have a confession to make. I have a particular affection for the Deputy Prime Minister and the former Minister for Trade. As his sparring partner of some time in our respective occupancy of the trade portfolio—one in government and the other in opposition—I have a view that the Deputy Prime Minister is a decent bloke. I have enjoyed working with him, although you could not necessarily tell that from some of the questions I have asked him during the year. I wish Mark and his family great rest and recuperation time over Christmas.

To my caucus colleagues, this has been a very challenging year for all of us. It has had a difficult conclusion; we all know that and we feel that intensely on our side. I pay tribute to the sensitivity with which members of the parliamentary Labor Party have handled the events of the last week in particular. I say to my colleagues in the parliamentary party: rest well, return to the embrace of your families and your loved ones. It is time to experience the nurture of that and to be strengthened by it, because 2007 will return us to the event whose date the member for Lowe was speculating on—with some accuracy I fear.

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