Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm going to use the opportunity today to say a few thankyous. I note with some great humility that today is one year since I had the honour of being able to call myself Garth Hamilton MP. And what a year it's been. I want to say a few thankyous to people in this House on both sides; in the spirit of Christmas, I will be very open. It's an incredible privilege to sit here and represent your local community, and, Mr Speaker, I certainly appreciate your help and guidance on that path.

I want to use today to tell a quick anecdote for about the Minister for Health and Aged Care. It was a Saturday night, 15 May, at 7.30 pm. My wife and I had kicked the kids away to the grandparents. It was one of the few nights we were going to have by ourselves this year. At 7.30 the phone rang. It was one of my constituents, and his sister was caught in ICU in Vanuatu. She was in a very, very delicate situation. They didn't have the equipment there to treat her, and the only option for getting her home involved a very difficult process for us to get an exemption to bring someone home from overseas, as you can imagine, in the midst of a pandemic.

I started a series of phone calls with the minister. And he stayed with me the entire night as we went back and forth talking to various CHOs in Queensland and in New South Wales, trying to find a way forward so that we could bring this person home. It was somewhere in the early hours of Sunday morning that we finally had a resolution. Twelve hours after making the first phone call to Minister Hunt, amongst a myriad of other responsibilities he held in the role—and I know this is true for ministers in this government as it is for members across the board; there are a thousand things we have to do—he did what he had to do. Twelve hours later, Judith was in hospital in Brisbane, being treated successfully, and she came out of that very, very close shave. And it was absolutely thanks to the minister for health's intervention and his hard work to get that done. Certainly, to her brother Ian, I'm eternally grateful to him for reaching out to me—on Facebook of all things; that is how he was able to get hold of me that evening.

I want to read a quick text message I got from Minister Hunt which I think is an important one for all of us. In the spirit of the end of the year and being open, I will share this. This was a text from Greg after I informed him that Judith was safe and well and had recovered. He said, 'These are the quiet things that may not receive any attention or publicity but which are the real reasons that we do the job.' And I find that a great truth. I've found it in members on this side of the House and on the other side of the House. And, whilst there may be much that we can improve on in the conduct of this House, there is much that we can learn from that example—that it is in those little things, those things we do for our communities, that our true value is realised here as members of this House. So I raise that to thank him.

I will do something that I have been trying to do for the best part of a year, which is to make three little speeches; I will make them into one. The day I was elected a dear family friend passed away, and I haven't had the guts, quite frankly, to talk about her contribution. She was a wonderful ambassador for regional and women's health. Her name was Sue Collins. Her husband, Brian, was the gun shearer on my grandfather's farm, believe it or not, and we've stayed family friends all the way through. I remember Sue and I thank her for her commitment to Australia. Jaimie Varcoe died on the day of my maiden speech. Jaimie was a strong advocate for regional Australia. He was a great Australian. If you didn't agree with him, you knew it. If you agreed with him, you absolutely knew it. The constant phone calls, the inspiration and the feeling of energy that he gave to me in that very short period when we were together and I was in this office were fantastic, and I remember him in this contribution.

Lastly, I remember my dear friend Alida Viljoen, who passed away recently. She was a wonderful South African expat, with her husband Bassie. I love you very much.