Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

And should have. Look there's still hope. They should have. You've been so patient, allowing me to go away and do other jobs. I love the people of New England. I love the people of the state of Queensland who gave me my initial job, but to come home to New England, with the support I get on the street and on every corner of it, as we try to do our very best job for them—I really appreciate that. I can't wait to get back after this and go back and do the best service I can in the spare time we have. I've already mentioned the staff there.

I won't go through all the opposition, but I will acknowledge the member for Fowler, Chris Hayes, who actually has been a good mate over a long period of time. I wasn't there for your farewell; I had another job to do. I was watching you on the screen. He is the one person that you can have absolute confidence in. You can go to him and say what you need, and it goes no further than Chris. So I thank you, Chris. Especially in tougher times that I've had in the past, you were a mate.

To the media: I just have to mention you. You can make of it what you like. Thank you so much for your representation of our nation. The fourth estate is a vital part of our democracy, and if we don't have that we don't have a democracy. That's why I'm so fervent about trying to chip Facebook and the others to try and get some of the advertising revenue back in your direction, because you are the people who actually do the job.

There is a certain group. There are a lot of people over Christmas who don't get time off. They work. They're the doctors, and they work. They're the nurses, and they work. They're the ambulance drivers and the policemen, and they work. They don't get time off for Christmas. They love their families just as much as we love ours, but they are dedicated to the task at hand. So I thank you for that and for the sacrifice that you're about to make.

Christmas is such a great time for so many but the worst time for a few. For a few it's the loneliest time of the year. It's a time where they realise that they are divorced, that they are widowed, that they are homeless or that they're away from anybody. If you get any opportunity to reach out to those people—and I've worked for a long time for St Vincent de Paul—then you will get more out of that than you would know. You will get more out of that small act of compassion than you would know. So I thank all those people who assist in that.

Finally—or second finally—the Australian people. You have to think of some group that involves everybody else, so I won't thank the people of the world, but I'll thank the Australian people for their tolerance of us. We are servants of them. This is their house; we merely work here. So, to the Australian people who are about to go into the process of dealing with an election—we hope that we will be in this adversarial chamber, which it is supposed to be—I thank them for the role that they play, all of them, in making our nation a better place.

I conclude by saying we have a welcome to country in our area. It starts with 'Yaama', but I always remember the end, and it is [Gamilaraay language not transcribed], which means, 'Walk with God.' So I say in conclusion, in Gamilaraay, [Gamilaraay language not transcribed].

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