David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

or FAWCETT () (): Thank you, Senator Sam McMahon. I've had the privilege, in the three years that you've been here, to chair both the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee, which you were a member on, and the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, where, as other people have said, you showed a great interest in defence but also took on the responsibility of chairing the PFAS subcommittee and working with communities around Australia. Whilst I won't echo all the other comments about how you've approached the task more broadly in the Senate, in those two particular areas can I just say: thank you for bringing your scientific mind and your commitment to evidence based policy to the various inquiries and reports that we did through the environment and communications committee, particularly in the environment area, where there's a lot of passion and a lot of people feel strongly about things but often the arguments aren't based on fact. Your ability to dig into the science and to bring forward fact was really prescient, and I really appreciate that contribution you've made as well as the contribution you've made to the whole area of foreign affairs, defence, trade and the PFAS subcommittee. Thank you, Sam.