Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Prime Minister for his very kind and gracious words to the member for Cook, and I congratulate the member for Cook for his success. It was a hard-fought preselection, as is often the case. I was down there during the course of the by-election. He is a vibrant and passionate member on behalf of a local constituency that has a number of needs, particularly around housing and support for small business. Simon has done an exceptional job in bringing together the local community, and I congratulate him on his success.

Starting out in humble beginnings, he went on to complete a law and commerce degree and worked at McKinsey. He has worked on a number of major projects and been a major contributor to our country, and that work will now continue in this House.

Prime Minister, I did say to my colleagues earlier that if they wanted to feel good about being a Liberal they should go down to Cronulla during the by-election. There was a lot of love at the booth there. There were six people in blue Liberal shirts. There was one Greens lady in a green shirt. She wanted a selfie with me; she said I was doing a good job. I want to thank her very much as well! Fortunately for all of us, no Labor people were in sight—

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