Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to advise the House about the diversity of my seat, the seat of Wright, starting from Mudgeeraba on the Gold Coast through to the bottom of the Toowoomba range. Within that seat of Wright is a vast and diverse area covering over 7½ thousand square kilometres. To represent the interests of those people recently at the last state election, the LNP had the wonderful pleasure of endorsing some magnificent candidates. I would like to acknowledge tonight their contribution during the campaign, in particular, John Krause, who only an hour or two ago gave his maiden speech in the Queensland parliament. John was an outstanding candidate, beating a rather large field. He is from the Boonah district, which is where I reside. He is a lawyer with a young family. He comes with overseas corporate experience and recently served with one of Australia's biggest banks. What a bright future he has in representing his electorate in the state and in the chamber fighting for a better deal for Beaudesert. I know that John Krause will do a fantastic job representing the interests of those he will represent in the electorate of Boonah.

In addition to that, Michael Pucci picked up the seat of Logan. Michael is an extraordinary candidate as well, a former gunnery sergeant in the US Marine Corps. Michael met his wife in Australia many years ago and migrated here shortly after. Michael has over 30 years of professional experience and has received many personal awards and honours for his leadership roles and for managing challenging assignments. His former role included working with international companies and government agencies. He has experience in the state government you just cannot buy. I would also like to acknowledge the fourth term re-election of Ian Rickuss, who holds the seat of Lockyer Valley. That takes in the top end of my electorate. Ian is a farmer and a businessman who specialises in intensive horticulture production and exporting produce to South-East Asia. He is a former chair of the Potato Industry Council of Australia and brings a wealth of knowledge to the area he represents, which is essential to the salad bowl of the east coast of Australia. I would also like to acknowledge that Ian's contribution to me personally during the devastating floods in the Lockyer Valley was irreplaceable. It was an outstanding contribution.

Back over on the Gold Coast I would also like to acknowledge the third term return of Dr Alexander Douglas, who holds the seat of Gaven. He is a medical doctor, and he has use of local medical experience and six years experience of representing the state seat of Gaven. He is a softly spoken man who represents his constituents loudly. I look forward to working with him yet again. Alex was first elected to the state government at a by-election. When you get to these places you get to realise how small the world is. It is only when you get to know these guys that you discover that. In this particular circumstance I discovered that Alex's wife's dad taught me how to play rugby across the other side of the state when I was only a wee tacker.

I would also like to acknowledge Ros Bates, who holds the seat of Mudgeeraba for her second term. Congratulations to her on her appointment because she actually picked up a ministry up there in the Queensland government as Minister for Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts. I can attest to Ros's personal motto of 'never give up and never give in'. She is an absolute powerhouse of energy in her electorate of Mudgeeraba and in her former career of 30 years of health experience as a registered general nurse and as the former general manager and director of nursing at the Wesley Hospital on the Gold Coast. Ros has been awarded the Royal Australian College of Nursing's distinguished services award and the Prime Minister's Centenary of Federation medal for distinguished services to the Australian community in health. She is a former winner of the Queensland Telstra businesswoman of the year and she is another distinguished LNP representative in the new state government in Queensland. Ros is going to do an outstanding job over there in that new job and her ministerial portfolio.

In closing, I would also like to acknowledge the new mayors of four councils that run through my electorate: Pam Parker of Logan City Council, who was re-elected unopposed; Steve Jones of the Lockyer Valley Regional Council and who did a fantastic job through the floods up there looking after the valley; John Brent of the Scenic Rim Regional Council—he is also the chairman of AUSVEG and well connected into his community; and particularly I would like to acknowledge the new mayor of the Gold Coast City Council, Tom Tate. He has wasted no time because it was only just today that I received a visit from Annie Norton-Knight, the advocacy officer to the CEO of Gold Coast City Council, lobbying for the Gold Coast's interests. (Time expired)