Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

Congratulations on your re-election, Mr Speaker. You are fair, sometimes even funny. You are measured, you are considered, you are impartial. You are everything a Speaker should be. And you're the only Speaker in the parliament who has not thrown me out since I arrived here in 2010—there's always time! Mr Speaker, I don't even think you've threatened to throw me out under section 94(a). The member for Parkes did, when he was Deputy Speaker, filling in the—

Ms Plibersek interjecting—

Yes, Member for Sydney, there is still time! But the then member for Mackellar threw me out. But, on behalf of the National Party and certainly on behalf of rural and regional Australia, I want to say congratulations. I want to say good luck.

I don't give up private conversations with other members of parliament, but I'm going to because I know the person! I'm going to publicly and at the despatch box. It was the member for Grayndler. We were sitting on a plane going to Sydney one time and, in a free and frank conversation, the member for Grayndler said, 'Tony Smith is a very, very good Speaker—a very good Speaker,' and he extolled your virtues, as I do today. I know that you care deeply about the Westminster system. I know that you care deeply about tradition. I know that you care deeply about future. And I know also that you care deeply about rural and regional Australia, which of course is so important for me, for the National Party in particular, for the government and, indeed, for all parliamentarians, particularly at this time of drought. The Speaker has, on several occasions, phoned me to ask about my own electorate, to ask about the ongoing implications of the drought for all those rural and regional electorates so badly affected by this prolonged dry spell.

That's the measure of the man. We have re-elected him. We wish him well. We know you'll do a good job in this 46th Parliament. Congratulations.

See this speech in context