Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to make a brief contribution tonight. This is the first opportunity I've had since our quite remarkable election victory to pay tribute to some of the unsung, hard workers of the campaign. In particular, I had the privilege of working with a candidate in an—unfortunately—safe Labor seat, the seat of Fremantle, Nicole Robins, a wonderful young candidate who put her energy, her drive and her enthusiasm for young people into a wonderful campaign. Nicole is a truly remarkable person. She is only 30 years of age but she's already been in local government for over a decade. She has an extraordinary amount to offer our side of politics, and I certainly hope and trust that Nicole will have a very bright future in our party.

I also want to pay tribute to those hardworking members of Nicole's campaign committee: her husband, Brendan; the president, Paul Connolly; Michelle Hoffman; Derrick Ruane; Josh Olsen; and Joanne and Garry Foxton, Nicole's mum and dad. And I also want to thank Michael Hayden, Maddie White and Kate Price for their sterling hard work. Theirs was an unwinnable campaign but we fought the good fight and contributed to the Western Australian Liberal Party being able to send three senators to this place—with the addition of Matt O'Sullivan, which is a wonderful addition.

I want to add to that list Jo Stanton, the Fremantle women's president, who also made a remarkable contribution day after day on prepoll booths. These are the unsung heroes of our election victory—people who put themselves out and volunteered their time. They did so because they believe in the values of our great Liberal Party, because they believe in what we stand for and because they believe in delivering good government to this country and to my home state of Western Australia.

In conclusion, I want to pay tribute to our state director, Sam Calabrese, who did an outstanding job across the state, managing a number of hard-fought marginal seat campaigns where the kitchen sink was thrown at our sitting members and at new candidates in previously Liberal seats. The whole team at head office did an absolutely remarkable job. It was a very well-oiled machine—very professional, very dedicated and hardworking. Again, these are the unsung heroes of the election campaign, and I just wanted to pay tribute to them tonight. Thank you.