Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Brand might like to wait for a moment because I'm going to say some very complimentary words about the WA Labor Party and the WA election. I congratulate Premier McGowan on his amazing achievement in being returned to power two weekends ago with an extraordinary majority. Great credit must go to the Premier. He steered Western Australia through one of our worst health and economic crises since World War II and was duly rewarded at the polling booth. And, because of that very strong result, there have been some changes in the members of the state parliament representing electorates across my large electorate of O'Connor. Congratulations to some of the new members who have been elected: Rebecca Stevens, in Albany; Ali Kent, in Kalgoorlie; Jane Kelsbie, in Warren-Blackwood; and Jodie Hanns, in Collie-Preston. I wish them all the best and look forward to working with them—as I have done with outgoing member Peter Watson. I consider Peter a friend and I wish him and Di all the best. I believe they have bought a campervan and are planning to travel around Australia—a well-earned break for Peter, who has served the community of Albany since 2001. All of us here are politicians, we're professionals, and when you see someone like Peter hanging onto a seat by 50 votes at one election and by 65 at the next, you have to take your off to the work that he did. I also want to mention Mick Murray, who served the Collie-Preston community for a similar number of years and hung on in some pretty tight elections. Mick was much loved and respected by his community and I wish him all the best.

I also want to mention some of the outgoing members. Kyran O'Donnell was the member for Kalgoorlie. Kyran's personal vote held up very well. He had a swing of minus three per cent, which was far and way one of the better achievements of our sitting members. Kyran did a great job in Kalgoorlie for the four years he was there. I was very pleased to work with Kyran over that period of time and I wish him all the best for the future. Terry Redman, the outgoing member for Warren-Blackwood, is one of the most decent human beings you'll meet in this game. Terry served with distinction as the member for Blackwood, and as Leader of the Nationals at one point. He was minister of several portfolios throughout his career. I wish him all the best. The people who retained their seats across my electorate include Peter Rundle, my next-door neighbour at Katanning—Pete did very well; there was a small swing against him in the seat of Roe—and Mia Davies, who held the very safe seat of Central Wheatbelt. I look forward to working with those members across my electorate.

I believe that the unsung heroes of our democracy are those people who put up their hand to run in seats that we euphemistically refer to as difficult to win—and never more so than in the election we've just faced! Marie O'Dea is a very dear friend of mine from my Muresk days. Marie is a great community person who serves on the Shire of Plantagenet and many other community organisations. Marie put up her hand quite late in the picture in a seat that was held by Terry Redman but ultimately won by the Labor Party. She did a great job and was a great credit to the party and to herself. I'm very heartened to hear that she will stay involved with the party and get involved in some of the policy platforms because we need great people like Marie O'Dea involved going forward.

Scott Leary, in the seat of Albany, was I think the only Liberal to have a swing towards him—a very small swing of 0.8 per cent. It was a fantastic achievement. He worked very hard. Scott has indicated that he's keen to go again. It's all about being in the cycle at the right time, so all the best to Scott.

David Dwyer worked extraordinarily hard in the seat of Roe. It's a huge seat by state standards. He travelled from Esperance throughout the electorate over a long period of time. Obviously the result that we were looking for wasn't there, but he worked very hard.

Rob Forster also worked very hard in Central Wheatbelt. Jane Goff in Collie-Preston had a very ordinary sandwich served up to her with the energy policy effectively closing down the town of Kalgoorlie. I wish all of those candidates the best. I thank them for their service to not only the party but democracy. (Time expired)

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