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

Mr Speaker, congratulations! Congratulations on being elected by this great House to this great honour. I have known the member for some time, since he came into this place in 2016. He knows how to connect with people, this Speaker. He has demonstrated that to his colleagues but also, more importantly, to those he has connected with over his entire life. We can speak of his achievements, as others have in making the nomination, and I thank my colleagues for their recommendation to this House, but I want to talk a bit, and briefly, about the man I know who now occupies this chair.

One of the things I've always admired about the now Speaker is the broad experience that he has brought to this place. He began working life as an apprentice carpenter and joiner, completing his apprenticeship, becoming a builder and starting his own business. Later, well into his 20s, with three young children—four daughters now—he completed a law degree at the Queensland University of Technology, becoming a construction lawyer and a barrister. Then he came here to this place as a member and now as the Speaker. He brings a life experience that I think will aid him much in the responsibility that he now holds.

Of all the qualities that I know of the Speaker, he is a considered man, he is a very intelligent man, he has a keen attention to detail—we all know—he's passionate and he has a compassion in his heart and in his soul which so many of us who know him well have been touched by. He has known difficult times, tragic times and hardships in his life. He has also enjoyed success. I think this enables him to connect with people through all manners of their life experience. He has a sensitivity to it. He is a good man, he is a very decent man and he is a very experienced person.

When asked to nominate one quality for why it's so important that he now occupies this chair, it's that the Speaker is a very fair man. He has a great sense of fairness about him. It is born of all those other qualities. That's why I think it has been right for this House to give him this opportunity to succeed. Of course, we all recognised the member for Casey yesterday for his fine work, but you, Mr Speaker, as you shared with us earlier today, are not Tony Smith mark 2; you're Andrew Wallace mark 1. I think you will bring your own values and your own experience to this chair and be able to ensure that you can continue that work of enabling all the members of this place to be able to realise through this place their aspirations for the people they've come here to represent.

Mr Speaker, I know you're a man of very strong faith—we share that together, and we have on many, many occasions—but I also know you're a man very dedicated to reason. I think that you will blend these two things extremely well in this place, and I think you will move quickly to establish the confidence of this place as it's been invested in you here today. I could not be more pleased for you personally. I am looking forward to your stewardship of this House in that chair. I think it will set a new mark and I look forward, with all of the ministers and members of the government, to working closely with you. I know you will engage with all members on both sides of this House and in all sections of this House and, indeed, with the clerks and others you'll work closely with to ensure the good management of this place. So I'm pleased that you have ascended to this high office this day, and may God bless you in that role.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

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