James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Having entered this place only five months ago, this is going to be my first Christmas as a senator for Queensland. As is customary at Christmas, you think about the year that has passed and the year ahead, and you think about those who have helped you and those who hindered you along the way. But, also, you start to think about those people who have been good and those whom you would like Santa Claus to bring presents to. I should particularly mention three wonderful people in the whips office, otherwise I will never get a speaking slot in this place ever again—Charlotte, Bec and Megan—hope that they take this offering in goodwill.

There are those who are good and those who are bad. The Labor Party and the Greens, I am afraid, have been very naughty boys and girls this year, and I do not think Santa Claus is going to be bringing too much for my friends in the Labor Party and the Greens. I think there might be some lumps of Queensland coal for the Labor Party and, hopefully, extra coal for the Greens because of their naughtiness and how they have behaved, sadly, over these past few months.

I would like to set the record straight, to remind the Greens and Labor of the achievements of this government. If I have time, I can then highlight some of the disappointments and some of the naughtiness of Labor and the Greens. It would be very wrong of me to talk about what happened in our party room today, and I would get in lots of trouble from the whips office, but what is in the public sphere at the moment is the presentation that the Treasury gave about the highlights and the wonderful things that this government has been able to do since the election on 7 September 2013. So what I am going to do is just very, very quickly give you a highlight—

Senator Moore interjecting—

I know my friends in the Labor Party really, really look forward to this!