Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's a great honour to second the nomination of the member for Fisher for Speaker of the House. I remember more than one instance since meeting the honourable member in 2017 when he lent an ear to me as LNP Women state president, having been elected himself for only two years. He supported, he guided, he reasoned and he patiently offered no advice—just counsel and friendship. The honourable member listened, and, as we heard yesterday from many members in this place, that is the most revered attribute for a Speaker.

Since I joined the honourable member for Fisher in this place in 2019, our friendship and respect for one another has grown. I have had the privilege of working with the member on the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services, which he has ably chaired with confidence, grace, fairness, firmness, respect and dignity—and no shenanigans allowed! My fellow Queenslander is a good man, and there is no better member in this House to take the Speaker's chair. He is well respected across the chamber and eminently qualified and experienced as chair of three House committees, a member of the Speaker's panel and a former barrister.

The member for Fisher has produced a flurry of substantial reports over the past two years into homelessness, age verification, Pacific defence cooperation, credit cards and gambling, domestic and family violence, litigation funding and more. He is calm, measured, respectful and intelligent. He is a stickler for solid building engineering. He is never seen around this place without a highlighter pen, and, sadly, he does love his bike lycra outfit! In his own region, he led public campaigns against his local council to stop a lucrative casino development and an inappropriate light rail project because he believed both were wrong for the good people of the Sunshine Coast. He has proven himself as a passionate local member in his community.

The honourable member simply loves this place and this parliament. He reveres its tradition and revels in the standing orders. He has the fearless wherewithal required to keep us all in check to be the best we can be. There is no doubt that the member for Fisher will preserve the integrity and the dignity of the House of Representatives for the remainder of the 46th Parliament, and, hopefully, with the support of the Australian people and God willing, as the Speaker into the 47th Parliament.

Some would say that the member and I are unlikely friends, but we always seem to find a place where we can agree to disagree in the most democratic of ways. That is why we are mates. He has all the right attributes for Speaker of the House, and, simply put, I'm sure you'll all agree he's simply a great bloke who will do the right thing by Australians and every parliamentarian in this place. I commend this nomination to the House.

The Clerk: Does the honourable member for Fisher accept the nomination?

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