Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I do not intend to delay the chamber for long, but I do want to place my condolences on the public record. I had a very high regard for Senator Jeannie Ferris. As the honourable member for Moreton indicated, I sat very close to her in the coalition party room. In fact, I do not know whether your own party room in your capacity as a member of the Labor Party, Mr Deputy Speaker Hatton, has an order of where people sit. In our party room, although no-one is ever given a particular place to sit, everyone knows where he or she should sit. I am in the front row next to the Attorney-General and often I would find that my seat had been usurped by Senator Jeannie Ferris and there was a bit of to-ing and fro-ing. It did not particularly worry me and it did not particularly worry her, but it was often an opportunity for both of us to participate in a little frivolity in the party room. If you arrived five minutes late, you would find Jeannie sitting in your seat.

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