Prime Minister
PRIME MINISTER: Well, welcome back everyone!
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Welcome back, thank you all. Thank you all very much. Thank you colleagues. It's wonderful to be back here and you know who we have to thank for this; that is the Australian people.
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They are the reason. They are the reason that we have the opportunity and the great privilege to serve them each and every day. It was our focus each and every day, that was solely on them. This was a victory, as I said on election night, not for the Liberal Party, not for the National Party, not for myself or Michael or Josh or Bridget; it was a victory for those Australians who just go out there and work hard every day and make this country the amazing country it is. So thank you to Australians once again.
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I’ll have a bit to say in a minute, but I've got some welcomes. I've got some welcomes to give to our Joint Party Room here today, people who are joining us and who were chosen by those quiet Australians all around the country, to come be part of this Parliament.
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Can I start by welcoming Bridget Archer the Member for Bass, Gavin Pearce the Member for Braddon, Phil Thompson the Member for Herbert, Melissa McIntosh the Member for Lindsay, Terry Young the Member for Longman, Dave Sharma the Member for Wentworth, good on you Dave. We very much hope ‘Sarah Richards, the Member for Macquarie’. We also welcome Angie Bell, the Member for Moncrieff, Julian Simmonds, the Member for Ryan from the great state of Queensland. Fiona Martin the Member for Reid. Gladys Liu from Chisolm, how good is Gladys Liu? Katie Allen, the Member for Higgins, congratulations Katie. Celia Hammond the Member for Curtin, Vince Connelly the Member for Stirling. Pat Conoghan the Member for Cowper. Anne Webster, the Member for Mallee, good on you Anne. Joining us, joining us in this Party Room formally from the 1st of July will be Sam McMahon, Senator for the Northern Territory, Claire Chandler, Senator for Tasmania. From New South Wales, Holly Hughes Andrew Bragg and Perin Davey. Matt O’Sullivan, Senator for Western Australia, Paul Scarr and Susan McDonald from Queensland, Gerard Rennick also. Alex Antic, Senator for South Australia and David Van, Senator for Victoria. Let’s give them a big welcome. James Stevens, the Member for Sturt there, there are just so many James, so many.
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Thank you all colleagues. Well as I said, this was a victory for the Australian people. It is our job to govern humbly for this nation. To have them very much at the centre of our thoughts, each and every day. Because as a Government, as we know, when we focus on the Australian people, then that makes our Government stronger. It brings our Government together. It always must and that's where our focus must be. As I said just before the election; we must burn for the Australian people, every single day that we have this privilege of serving them in this Party Room and as a Government. That requires us to not only have that spirit of humility in the way we go about our business and respect for the Australian people and the great institutions of this Parliament, but it's about ensuring that we get and do the obvious things that need to be done. That we do the little things well, as well as doing the big things well. That we focus on fixing the problems that need to be fixed. That we focus on ensuring that we’re delivering on those commitments that we have made and those commitments were outlined in that fantastic Budget delivered by Josh Frydenberg.
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Back in the black, back in the black. Delivering on those commitments and ensuring they roll out. It must ensure that we focus on the strength of our economy.
Now this was a key issue at this election and I think we were able very much to be able to convey that without a strong economy then all else is in vain. You can't tackle climate change without a strong economy. You can't ensure record hospital funding without a strong economy. You can't combat youth suicide like we're going to, without a strong economy. You can't fund the NDIS as we do without a strong economy. The strong economy is what we must continue our focus on delivering; the jobs and jobs and jobs of Australians. By focusing on that, we provide the opportunity to deliver on all of the essential services that Australians rely on and to keep Australians safe and secure.
It's also about ensuring that as we go forward over this next term that we think very much about those Australians and their aspirations. This was this was a victory for Australians who just want to work hard and get ahead. This was a victory for those who put in that effort. They study hard when they're at school, or when they're in training, doing their vocational ed or apprenticeship, or at university, or wherever they are. They work hard in starting their small businesses, they work hard on the land, they work hard wherever they are, planning for the future and delivering for the future. By keeping our focus on them as we engage the issues and challenges which our nation faces - which are significant, whether it's in the economy or national security or in the environment or elsewhere - if we keep our focus on them we will always stay true to the values that we hold dear as Liberals and Nationals in this Party Room.
There are a number of thanks I want to make and I want to start with the first one to Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack.
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As Liberals and Nationals we govern together. We govern together in a partnership which extends back 75 years and it has never been stronger than it is today. That will continue to be the bedrock of our Government as we go forward. I want to thank you Michael and all our Nationals colleagues for the amazing work they did - particularly up there in North Queensland, but not just in North Queensland. It was great work on the New South Wales Mid North Coast as well and particularly seeing Pat here coming in and some great new people coming into the Nats ranks. It's tremendous to see you here.
I want to thank of course my Deputy Josh Frydenberg who has done a tremendous job.
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I want to thank Mathias Cormann for his leadership of our Senate team. He's done a tremendous job and his work up there in CCHQ.
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I also want to thank the tremendous work that has been done by our party organizations, in the Liberal Party's case led by Nick Greiner and Andrew Hirst, a tremendous job in running the CCHQ. Working well together with Ben Hindmarsh and Larry Anthony. I want to thank our party organisations and all of our volunteers and supporters all around the country, who believed very much in what this election was about and believe very much in the ability for us to be here today and to ensure that we can secure Australia's future so Australians can simply plan for theirs with greater confidence, which is really what we're all about.
So the task before us is very clear. There are those who have sat in this Party Room and have been for many years - like Ian Macdonald, who will be standing down at the end of June, and Wacka Williams and Barry O'Sullivan, and Jim is still in the count so we'll see how that goes. But I want to thank all of those members who've served in this Party Room and I want to thank Tony Abbott for his service to our Party and to our nation, who is no longer sitting in this Party Room for the first time in a very long time. As well as to Sarah Henderson and Chris Crewther who are no longer here and we thank them for their tremendous service to our country and to Luke Hartsuyker as well, who retired and the many others who retired at the last election.
But here we are; a fresh team. A team that is hungry, a team that is committed, a team that is united in the in the way we were able to fight on this campaign, to do one very simple thing; that is to ensure Australians will be at the centre of our gaze. We will govern with humility, we will govern with compassion. We will govern with strength and we will govern for all Australians.
Thank you very much.