Trent Zimmerman (North Sydney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On the weekend I had the great pleasure of attending an important milestone in the history of the New South Wales Liberal Party, the 75th Anniversary of the New South Wales Young Liberal Movement. It is an organisation that, as a former federal and state president, is close to my heart. The history of the New South Wales Young Liberal Movement is one of great political activism and it has always been the conscience of the Liberal Party in New South Wales. It has also been an incredible incubator for talent in the Liberal Party. I am proud of the fact that the first elected president of the New South Wales Young Liberals was one John Howard. It has all gone downhill since then but, nonetheless, he was our finest Prime Minister in my lifetime. Since then he has been joined by people in parliament, including in the current parliament, the member for McKellar, the member for Mitchell and our foreign minister and, in the New South Wales parliament people like our premier, the honourable Don Harwin, Andrew Constance, Shayne Mallard, Catherine Cusack, Scott Farlow and Natasha Maclaren-Jones. They follow a fine tradition of leadership including people like Phillip Ruddock, John Brogden and our former Prime Minister John Howard. I want to congratulate the outgoing president, Chaneg Torres, and the incoming president, Hugo Robinson, who I know will do an outstanding job. I encourage anyone interested in politics to get involved in the youth movements of political parties and, hopefully, make the right decision and join the young Liberals.