James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

It is ancient history, but the Liberal National Party is a united force in Queensland, and the fact that we hold 70 per cent of the seats, the fact that David Crisafulli is Premier of Queensland and that Adrian Schrinner leads a long-term administration in Brisbane—the largest local government authority in the Southern Hemisphere—is partly due to the leadership of John Moore stepping up and making sure that there still was a Liberal Party when the Liberal Party was at its lowest.

I speak as a Liberal. I speak as someone who grew up on a farm. Dad would go out and help the Liberal Party and come back at night and the results would be in and my father would always say, 'The Liberal votes always come in late.' Well, they never came in later. They never came in. To Senator Scarr's point, when the party was at its lowest—and we've had a lot of low points in Queensland—John Moore stepped up, because he knew that part of public service is making sure that your political party, who is a standard-bearer for your beliefs and your values, is an operational political party. If there hadn't been a Liberal Party, there would not be a Liberal National Party in Queensland today. That is thanks to his leadership.

John had many friends in the Liberal Party—and Senator Scarr is a leader of the western suburbs and now the greater Ipswich region—but there were fights in the old Liberal Party. John Moore had a lot of enemies, but he had a lot of friends who understood that his heart and his soul were in the right place and that, if John Howard were someone who would have him sitting around his cabinet table—notwithstanding the rather boisterous history between those two—it is a classic case of the party putting their best people forward.

So, on behalf of the people of Queensland, on behalf of the Liberal National Party and on behalf of the members of the Liberal National Party, I want to thank John's family and his friends for lending us the service of John Moore. They should all know that our country is a better place because of the life lived by John Moore, particularly the service that he has given to this country.

Question agreed to, honourable senators joining in a moment of silence.