James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Cyber Security) Share this | Hansard source

The evening is getting on. I fear the drinks are getting warm and the food is getting cold, and I don't want to detain people any further from that. But I did just want to make a short contribution in recognition of our friend and colleague Senator Payne for her outstanding service to the parliament, to our country and to our party. You are a legend of the Liberal Party, you are a legend of the Senate, and you will leave a legacy of which you and your family can be very proud.

I know you won't be offended by me repeating something I've said once before about us, which is that, if you lined up the Liberal party room from left to right, you would be pretty close to the left end of the spectrum and I'd be pretty close to the right end of the spectrum, but you will not find someone who is a bigger fan of your performance, particularly as foreign minister, than me. It was simply outstanding, and all Australians should be proud of that. It's not often that foreign ministers introduce legislation into this place, yet you did on a number of occasions. They are things which foreign ministers in the future will rely on to safeguard our national interest, our sovereignty and our values.

The Magnitsky legislation was a really significant achievement that I think we will all be proud of and that continues to be used time and time again. Yes, it was a great bipartisan achievement, but that doesn't mean it was easy and that doesn't mean there wasn't any resistance, which Marise knows better than anyone else. If it were easy, someone else would have done it a lot earlier, but you were the one that did that, and it is now being used consistently with our values. So too was the case with the foreign arrangements scheme. The most common feedback I heard from our constituents about that was that they thought that was the case already—shouldn't the federal government be in charge of our foreign policy? Yet it was you as foreign minister who ensured that the federal government had the legal power to ensure that our foreign policy was always consistent between the states and territories. That is something that foreign ministers will rely on in the future to safeguard our country.

It was you who cancelled our extradition treaty with Hong Kong, which didn't take much prompting or much pressure, unlike previous battles over extradition treaties—with which you're very familiar—and that was a very great decision in the national interest and for our values. On a personal level I'm very grateful for the personal support you gave me and Andrew Hastie when we found ourselves being banned from visiting our friends in the People's Republic of China. It was from that moment onward that we very much bonded on those issues. When it comes to national security, foreign policy or defence, I can't think of a single issue on which you and I have disagreed, and I'm very proud of all that you did for our nation in that role. Thank you, Marise.