Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Don’t encourage my wife or she might be on the phone! May I also pay tribute to the work that the minister has done thus far in the current government. I think to be, as minister for finance, the guardian of fiscal rectitude must have been very difficult indeed in this government, which has, as we know, presided over a significant change in the fiscal position of the Commonwealth. The member for Melbourne and minister for finance has been, as all of us would expect and understand, a hard political player. That is the role which is inevitably thrust upon most of us here. But he has been, in my opinion and in the opinion of most of us on this side of parliament, a man of honour within the restraints that politics imposes upon us, and I suspect he must be disappointed in some way with the events of the last 24 hours. But, that said, when he says that the events of the last 24 hours had nothing to do with his decision we believe him. I am sure there is no sense of reluctance to continue serving, and I do believe that this place will be the poorer for his absence.

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