James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday, I had the opportunity in the debate on the address-in-reply to touch upon the federal election and pay tribute to the members and volunteers of the Liberal National Party, the Liberal National Party HQ and my colleagues in this place, along with Wyatt Roy, Ewen Jones and Joanna Lindgren, who sadly were not re-elected. Tonight, I would like to continue my reflections upon the federal election campaign.

It is worth reiterating that Queensland is a citadel for the Turnbull-Joyce government. Queenslanders gave an emphatic endorsement to the national economic plan of Malcolm Turnbull and Barnaby Joyce. This is a state where, on a two-party preferred basis, 54 per cent of people voted for Malcolm Turnbull and Barnaby Joyce, and the Liberal National Party. We returned 21 members out of 30, in relation to the other place, along with five senators. One of the reasons we did so well in Queensland—along with the fact that we had a strong economic narrative—is that the Queensland members of parliament are reflective of the broader community and of Queensland. They do not come from a particular cadre of political class or a particular or certain demographic; they come from all over Queensland.

I am going to touch on each of our members, because I think it is important for Queenslanders and for those listening in to understand that the Liberal National Party is the only party that is for all of Queensland. You can start up in the Cape, in Cairns, where we have Warren Entsch, the member for Leichhardt. He is a former crocodile hunter, a grazier and someone who has evolved into a gay rights activist—something which makes some of us blush sometimes. You can go down to Dawson, with George Christensen, a larger-than-life former journalist and community activist. He is also, you could probably say, a gay rights activist, but from the other perspective!

You can go to Capricornia, based around Rockhampton and Yeppoon, with Michelle Landry, a former bookkeeper. For the first time in decades, Michelle Landry, who is an incredibly hard worker, held that seat against a disgraceful Labor campaign. Around Capricornia you have the seat of Flynn, with Ken O'Dowd. There is not a job that he has not done. He is a former publican and he understands intrinsically the wishes and desires of the people of Flynn, because he is Flynn.

You can go to Hinkler, based around Bundaberg and Harvey Bay, with Keith Pitt, who comes from a cane-farming family—similar to me, but he has actually worked the land. You can look at my hands and you can tell that, while I might be the son of a cane farmer, I am not a cane farmer! Keith took up a trade, went to university as a mature student and has run his own business.

On the Sunshine Coast, we have Ted O'Brien, who also ran his own business as a management consultant. We have Andrew Wallace in Fisher, who started life as a chippie, put himself through night school and retrained as a barrister and is now the member for Fisher. In Dickson we have Peter Dutton, a former copper and small business owner. Just across the highway we have Luke Howarth, someone who ran his own small business with his family in relation to pest management. Just over the river, we have Ross Vasta—someone else who has run his own business. Andrew Laming in Bowman, who has more PhDs than, I think, the rest of us in this place combined, is an incredibly intelligent person. Back across and up the river we have Jane Prentice, someone who, once again, has run her own business in events management, and is a former Brisbane City councillor.

You may be picking up a theme or a trend here, if you are listening in to this speech—that is, the number of Liberal National Party members who not only have a diverse background but also have been involved in small business. They understand the power that business has. People do not start a small business to stay in their garage or stay in a shop in the main street; they want to grow their small business. We have Bert van Manen, who ran a financial services small business. We have Stuart Robert, a former Army officer. We have Steve Ciobo, who was involved in business and is also a former staffer. Karen Andrews was an engineer. We have Scott Buchholz, who has run his own trucking businesses and, for a glittering period of time, was Barnaby Joyce's chief of staff.

These members are joined by some other new members. We have Llew O'Brien, the new member who replaced Warren Truss—and I will talk about the retiring members at another time. Llew O'Brien is someone who was raised in Gympie; married his high school sweetheart, Sharon; and has been the local copper in Gympie and up in Kilkivan. He is someone who will be a really strong advocate for the Wide Bay area. We had Trevor Evans win the seat of Brisbane. Labor thought they were going to take the seat of Brisbane, because Labor have a bit of a hereditary principle when it comes to certain seats. Labor think they are their seats by design or by right. In the seat of Brisbane they always saw Teresa Gambaro as a bit of an interloper. Well, with Teresa retiring and Trevor taking over—Trevor is giving his maiden speech tomorrow—there was a swing towards Trevor in that seat. This is someone who was a CEO of the National Retailers Association.

Up in Maranoa, we have David Littleproud, someone who I got into a little bit of trouble over when I did a tour with him in Warwick and out to St George. I said that he would be future leader of the National Party and a future Deputy Prime Minister. He is a banker and someone who runs a small business in Warwick, someone who understands the seat of Maranoa and understands the issues impacting upon rural and regional Queensland. Of course, we should not forget John McVeigh, who replaces my good friend Ian Macfarlane. John McVeigh is someone who worked with my dad—conflict of interest—in the Department of Primary Industries many years ago in Toowoomba. John was an excellent ag minister in the former LNP government in Queensland, and he is someone who is going to be a fantastic member for Groom. I have been joined by Senator O'Sullivan here in the chamber. Senator O'Sullivan is someone else who adds to the patina of the Liberal National Party as a former police officer who served with distinction and then went into business.

This is the challenge that is facing Australia at the moment. We have one side of politics who understands that the best way—in fact, the only way—to grow Australia is by supporting business. And it is by understanding, if you have ever employed someone in a business, that it is actually quite tough. If you have ever worked in a business, sometimes you would not pay your own bills because you wanted to make sure that your employee got paid. It is something that those on the left of politics fail to understand because they have never run a business. They do not understand a PNL. They do not understand because they have always worked for a union where the money comes in or they have worked for government or they have worked for NGOs. They have worked for organisations where the money comes in and they are all right. They have never understood the danger and the excitement of employing people and what you can do.

The challenge for Australia over the next three years is what we do for small business and what we do for business. Because the only way that we can really help Australia is by making it easier for people to start businesses and to grow businesses, to make it easier for people to employ people, to make it easier for people to understand. When I start my small business in my garage or when I get that empty shop and I give it a paint job, I do not want it just to be a small business; I want to be a big business. I wanted it to grow, I want it to become a chain, I want to do better for my family and I want to do better for my employees. The challenge for us in the Liberal National Party, with the experience we have behind us, is to make sure that we do everything possible to support business because, by supporting business, whether it is on the land or in the cities, Australia will become richer and if Australia is richer then it means that Australians will be richer.