Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much. I appreciate the support from the deputy leader of opposition business, who is required to be here in order to be supportive of the Manager of Opposition Business. I note that most of my colleagues have found my speech less than erudite and less than compelling but, as they say, that is the nature of these things at this end of the game, at the end of the year.

A valedictory is an opportunity to thank a number of people who make this House work and to acknowledge quite a few people. The first person I would like to acknowledge is the Speaker. Mr Speaker, we on the opposition side give you many opportunities to make good decisions, particularly in question time. We do not always find that you take up the offer that we give you with the enthusiasm that I know you would bring to that if only we were all in the same political party. Nevertheless, Mr Speaker, you do a fantastic job and we will continue to give you many opportunities to make good decisions that will allow the opposition to get answers to questions from the government. I am sure that sometimes even the Speaker’s feigned patience and wisdom is tested by ministers at the dispatch box when they refuse to make their answers relevant to fine opposition questions.

Yesterday, I think we tested the Speaker’s patience even further and maybe confused him somewhat by using the term that Joe Hockey brought to the dispatch box of ‘con brio’.

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