Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

May I thank the Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister for their very generous comments. This is not a valedictory. I will leave others to speculate, but let me just say I thank the electors of Parramatta, Dundas and Berowra for their continuous support. I thought about this matter last week and I thought the person most deserving of thanks was my wife, Heather. We have been married for 39 years plus. She has spent most of her married life as the spouse of a member of parliament—a very considerable obligation, accepted very willingly but imposing a very significant cost.

I thank my two daughters, Kirsty and Caitlin, both of whom I am very proud of and who have succeeded in their own careers. They have nevertheless known nothing other than politics, and that imposes a very significant demand and sometimes a penalty upon them, but they have exceeded my every expectation as a doting father. They bring great credit not only to their family but also to the nation. If I can just spend a lighter moment, Kirsty was asked what her father did for a living when she was three and she said, ‘He sorts papers.’ Caitlin was asked whether she wanted to be a politician like her father when she grew up and she said, ‘No, no, I’m no good at telling stories.’

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