Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

on indulgence—I thank the House for the opportunity to join with the Leader of the Opposition in paying great tribute to the member for Fowler. Take his keys, Bernadette!

When I first came to this place back in 2007 and we had our induction, I was sitting next to Bernadette at a function upstairs in the members' dining room. Chris was there, and I met them together. As a new member coming into this place, meeting such a wonderful couple, who clearly have travelled life's journey together, as you continue to do now, was a great encouragement to a young member. Coming to this place takes a terrible toll on relationships with the pressures and the demands that come with being a member of parliament. They are a tremendous team and I'm sure the member for Fowler would join me in saying that. Bernadette, I'd say, is the driving member of that team, as I think all of our partners and spouses are, when it comes to our ability to serve in this place. So I want to pay tribute first to you, Bernadette, for your friendship to so many in this place, particularly the partners and spouses of members of this place. You led the group of partners and spouses. You were always reaching out to them whenever you could, and you were a source of encouragement and a source of great friendship to so many. You made people feel incredibly welcome, including a young—or younger—member for Cook when he arrived on that day, and I thank you for your kindness to me and to my wife, Jenny, as well.

In regard to the member for Fowler specifically, it is true that he has achieved something quite unique in this place. He is an adornment to this place and we will miss his presence greatly.

I think above all people who come to this place bring many talents and skills but the one that the member for Fowler brings is a great pastoral spirit. He is someone who looks at another human being and seeks to connect with them as another human being first. He doesn't see anything else. Those other things come later, I'm sure. But he connects with people and he establishes that bond of trust, which, I have no doubt, is why he has been so successful as a local member in his own community. People of many different backgrounds, of which he wouldn't have as much experience or knowledge, would see a genuine person in an instant, connect with him quickly and form a lasting bond, as he has with so many, if not all of us, here in this place.

He and I share a fraternity of being the sons of police officers. I want to thank him for his fraternity in talking about and addressing these issues over many years in this place. He kindly wrote to me after my father's passing with a very touching note. I deeply appreciated it at the time and I thank him for that. He met by father and my brother at a police event once and he struck up the same rapport there very kindly with my father and brother straightaway. They said to me, 'Gee, he is a good bloke' and he indeed is a good bloke.

It has been a great pleasure to know you in this place. I trust we will see more of you. If not around this place, we will bump into each other along the way on life's journey. I am quite certain that I won't bump into you alone because you will be there in a coffee shop or in a car or talking to someone or in a pub or at a game or something like that and you will be there with Bernadette, continuing to share life's journey. Thank you for your great service to this House.

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