Remarks to Liberal Party Room Meeting, Parliament House, Canberra

TRANSCRIPT OF THE HON. TONY ABBOTT MHR
REMARKS TO LIBERAL PARTY ROOM MEETING
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA

TONY ABBOTT:
Team, there are a lot more of you now than there were just a few weeks ago, and I am now going to officially welcome people who are back to this room but who under different circumstances might not have been back in the room, people who have won seats from the Labor Party and, finally, some of the great returning prodigals who have come back to us after a brief absence.
So, first of all, I want to welcome people who have held their seats against the odds to stand, starting with the great Member for Dickson, Mr Peter Dutton. The magnificent Member for Gilmore, Jo Gash. The indefatigable Member for Swan, Steve Irons. And, finally, the outstanding Member for Macquarie, Louise Markus.

I now want to welcome new members of this party room who hold seats which were Liberal seats. First of all, the Member for Kooyong, Josh Frydenberg. The Member for Aston, Alan Tudge. The Member for Wannon, Dan Tehan. The Member for Wright, Scott Buchholz. The Member for Ryan, Jane Prentice. The Member for McPherson, Karen Andrews. And the Member for Macarthur, Russell Matheson.

Now I am going to go through the list of heroes who have won seats from the Labor Party. The Member for Solomon, Natasha Griggs. The Member for Forde, Bert van Manen. The Member for Herbert, Ewen Jones. I think I should say, the youngest person ever to be elected to the Federal Parliament, the Member for Longman, Wyatt Roy. The first – this is a historic moment, this is a historic moment – the first indigenous Member of the House of Representatives, Ken Wyatt. Because of your importance, Craig Kelly, I’ve slipped you in at this point in time. Craig Kelly, the Member for Hughes.

You know, perhaps the deepest heartbreak of the 2007 election was losing the seat of Bennelong. Well, that wrong has been righted. John Alexander.

Now, finally, I want to welcome back to this Party room three people who were outstanding members of an outstanding government. They are great Liberals, they are great friends to all of us. Would you please welcome the returning Member for Leichhardt, Warren Entsch. The returning Member, not for her old seat, but for a seat that’s even harder to win, Teresa Gambaro, and, finally, a man who has overcome enormous political hurdles to be back with us – it’s great to have you here, Ross Vasta.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, let me just say before we resume our private business that this is a great team. It’s a band of brothers and sisters. We are united in our values, we are united in our faith in our selves and in our country and, above all, we are united in our determination to give Australia the best possible government and I want to thank all of you.

I really do want to thank all of you for your work over the last seven or eight weeks. We have not become a government but we have made our country proud of the Liberal and the National parties. I think we have done ourselves proud and we will do our country proud over the next three years.

[ends]