Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this afternoon to record my thanks to the residents of the electorate of Petrie for placing their trust in me to represent them here in this place as their member for Petrie in the 45th Parliament. I thank them very much. I ran for parliament back in 2013 because I believed locals deserved better representation. Since my election, I have been working hard to deliver many infrastructure and community projects, and I am honoured that locals have given me the chance to continue this work.

Elections are not won by individuals; they are won by a team. The most important people in my team are my family. Thank you to my wife, Louise, and our sons, William, Thomas and Samuel, for supporting me and realising that, while I am not home at times very much, you are, indeed, the most important people in my life. My mum and dad are remarkable. My values have been shaped by them. Their support during the past three years and during the election campaign was outstanding. They have a wonderful work ethic and were campaigning for me full time. Dad and a long-time supporter, Barry, led the team putting up signs right across the electorate, and because we had so many signs throughout the electorate this, by any means, was no small task. They then tackled the enormous job of taking all the signs down again after election. I really appreciate everyone who put up signs during the campaign. I sincerely thank you and will do my best for you in this term of parliament.

We had a terrific team of volunteers. Team Petrie was marvellous! John was out and about in the campaign ute and David and Eleana and Michael and Allanna were out at the Carseldine Markets for months in the lead-up to the election. I do not have time to mention all those volunteers who letterboxed, many times, the whole electorate, but to Ross, Margaret, Ange, Bernadine, the McDougalls and others: thank you. To our phone canvassers and those who got up early to wave my signs beside the road and then returned in the afternoon: thank you. The famous Rothwell roundabout, which we recently secured funding for and which is about to be upgraded, was not the same after the election without Max there.

But, after eight long weeks, then came the pre-poll and manning of election day booths. Our pre-poll team was led by Isaac, Danielle and Will, and, with an army of volunteers, all the pre-poll booths were set up and manned for almost three weeks. On polling day that volunteer army swelled again, and I thank every single one of you. Again, there are too many to mention. At least with a winter election, we did not have too many sunburnt volunteers this time around!

A big thank you to the former member for Groom, Ian Macfarlane, for travelling down to the Petrie electorate on a number of occasions. He also came down on election day to add a bit of firepower for me, and that was great: thank you, Macca. Thanks must also must go to the member for Bowman and the member for Dickson. They were great mentors for me in the lead-up to the 2016 election, as well as all of the class of 2013 colleagues from when I was first elected in the 44th Parliament.

To my campaign team, led by Kerri Anne: thank you very much. Kerri Anne, you are outstanding. To my FDC executive, Chris, Robert, Rodney and Mark: thank you for all the many hours you spent on the campaign. To the youngest and probably most enthusiastic volunteer of my campaign, Jake—his dedication saw him roadsiding, letterboxing, doorknocking, putting up signs, helping at our market stalls and a whole range of activities: so thank you, mate. Thank you, Jake.

To the LNP team in Brisbane, campaign director Lincoln Folo and deputy Ben Riley: a huge thank you. To the all the Liberal-National Party team in Brisbane: you have done a wonderful job. To my office staff: thank you for the long hours that you have put in. You did a great job and you have all been very productive, and I appreciate that. As the former Australian boxing champion, Jeff Fenech, said, 'I love youse all.'

The Turnbull government has a plan. We are committed to making a big difference. At this point I want to thank the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister. They also came up to my electorate. I would also like to thank all ministers that helped during the campaign.

To the people of Petrie: rest assured, I am looking forward to working extremely hard for you in the 45th Parliament and, with the government, delivering a lot more infrastructure, trying to produce an environment in which we create more jobs, rolling out the NBN through the electorate and ensuring that the university in Moreton Bay in the seat of Dickson is built. Thank you very much. I will do my best and I will not let you down.