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

on indulgence—On behalf of the coalition I want to formally congratulate our colleague Paul Fletcher for the amazing contribution he's made to the Liberal Party, to many areas of endeavour, in different portfolios, but most importantly to the betterment of our country. He has been in our leadership group as Leader of the House. As he said, he's served under four leaders in our party, and we have each seen great qualities in Paul, and he hasn't let us down. He's been able to contribute to many debates because of his business background and because of his intellect, and his capacity has been on display around the shadow cabinet table and the cabinet table for a long period of time. We will miss him in his seat, but I know he's done a lot of work to help Gisele and provide support to a transition, which is going to be incredibly important, because we want to maintain that seat, and we want Gisele Kapterian in this parliament as the next member for Bradfield.

Can I just say thank you to all of Paul's supporters who are here today and, most importantly, to his beautiful family. Families often make a sacrifice, and that's true in the Fletcher household as well. But Fletch has an incredible next career ahead of him. He has been a dear friend, a confidant and a great supporter to many of us for a long period of time, and we wish him every success in the next phase of life.

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