Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

I very sincerely congratulate the member for Mallee and those who are here to support him. That was a very fine contribution. I listened carefully. He was a leading light in the Victorian Farmers Federation, a former farmer himself, and, as he indicated, a Nuffield scholar, and he comes to this place very well credentialed. I look forward to working with him on a bipartisan basis with respect to some of the issues, particularly in rural and regional Australia, that he raised. I was a little bit frightened for a while; I found myself agreeing with the member for Mallee most of the time. I can only come to the conclusion that he is a new breed of National with strong faith in the market, although qualified—I do not want to misrepresent him. It will be very interesting to see how he sets himself apart from some of the more senior members of the Nationals, such as Minister Joyce, as well as Senators McKenzie, Williams and Nash, who are up the back there. It is good to see them in the House. This will be the big test for the member for Mallee. I hope he will come with the opposition on some more sensible approaches to the market and do some things to give a real lift to rural and regional Australia, something that has been missing in this place—except of course for the last six years—for too long.

There is applause in the chamber. I am assuming that it is not necessarily for me, but I do—

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