Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

He is actually a member of the Army so he shouldn’t be in any political party, Prime Minister—but if he was I am not sure that he would be in yours! Having said that, as you know, the ADF are completely above politics. James is a good young man, he and Daisy make a fine couple, and Lucy and I are very, very pleased.

The Prime Minister spoke about the House, and of course our first thanks should always be to the Speaker. We are told that with the Speaker, flattery gets you everywhere. We are very grateful to you, Mr Speaker, for your hard work and we are also grateful for the work of the Deputy Speaker and, from our side, the Second Deputy Speaker, Bruce Scott, and the coalition members on the Speaker’s Panel. All of you, on both sides of the House—the Speaker and all of his deputies and representatives—do an outstanding job.

The Clerk, Ian Harris, after your many years of service, we thank you. You and Bernard Wright make this place run. You give us the wisest advice one could possibly imagine and we congratulate you and thank you for your many years of service. And, Bernard, we congratulate you again on your elevation.

The Serjeant-at-Arms has not been obliged to throw anybody out this year, at least as far as I have noticed—but I am sure there is still the potential for some provocation.

The Parliamentary Library is more important to the opposition than to the government, as a rule, because governments have the massed ranks of the public service to give them advice. So I particularly thank Roxanne Missingham and the team at the Parliamentary Library. My colleagues have heard this before: I remember when I was inducted as a new member of parliament not so long ago, in 2004, Roxanne’s predecessor—a very distinguished woman—looked at us coldly and austerely and said, ‘Our job is to make you look intelligent.’ She said it in a tone of voice that implied that that was going to be very difficult. Tony Burke was there with me and can vouch for that.

I thank all the people who work in this great House. This parliament is an enormous engine. It is an extraordinary monument in every respect but nonetheless works as a very effective parliament. There are hundreds of people who enable it to work, from the attendants here in the House to the cleaners to the security guards. Every possible line of work here is done with good spirit, especially taking into account the very heavy demands we put on these people.

The Prime Minister mentioned the child-care centre and the pitter-patter of little feet. A number of members here are members of the legal profession who would have been admitted to practice in New South Wales when Sir Laurence Street was the Chief Justice. At every single admissions ceremony, a baby in the public gallery would start to cry. Sir Laurence would always say, as the mother got up to take the baby out, ‘No, no—let the little one stay.’ The Prime Minister’s remark reminded me of that, and I agree with him and I agreed with Sir Laurence that the more children we see in this place, the better. I say to every school group that I address—and I think many of you say the same thing—that this House belongs to them. There are some kids up there in the gallery now. Everything we do here, right or wrong and whether we agree or not, is done with their best interests at heart. That is what we are seeking to achieve.

The task of Leader of the Opposition is often said to be a tough job—I think all the jobs in this place are tough—and I could not do my job without the support of my team. I acknowledge, in particular, the support of my deputy, Julie Bishop, the member for Curtin, who has done an outstanding job both as Deputy Leader of the Opposition and in her two shadow ministerial roles—she has been shadow Treasurer and is now shadow minister for foreign affairs. Our leadership group, of course, includes the Senate, and I acknowledge the hard work of our Senate leader, Nick Minchin, and his deputy, Eric Abetz. We have a strong but frank coalition with the Nationals, and I acknowledge the support and friendship I have had from the Leader of the Nationals, Warren Truss.

The Prime Minister referred to Albo’s good humour. The good humour of Christopher Pyne, the Manager of Opposition Business, has been remarkable. When you do not have the numbers it is harder to remain good humoured, as Albo would recall from the days when he was on this side of the chamber. Christopher has really taken the fight up to the government in a way that combines an encyclopaedic knowledge of the standing orders and good humour.

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