Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

We were not mentioning any names. We will not go into that. Labor claimed our government would privatise Medicare and in turn cut much-needed services—which we have not done and we are not going to do. Again, it was another Labor lie. What won't they do? Anything it takes. What is that famous catchcry? Anything that it takes. Labor lied to prey on Australia's most disadvantaged, just so they could have something, anything, to base their election campaign on.

While our government was driving budget repair, jobs, growth and a plan that would deliver for all Australians, Labor drove the political tactics and, quite frankly, abused the trust of voters. Despite this, the people of Swan saw through those lies and returned me to serve as their federal member for a fourth term, and the people of Australia returned our government. They have sent a message to all of us that, if they want strong leadership, transparency and a government that has the ability to deliver on its commitments, they have once again put their faith in us in what is a critical time for stability—economically and in the current international climate.

For those who are interested in statistics, of the 84,464 votes counted in Swan, I received 48.18 per cent of the first preference vote in Swan. I think Western Australia led the first preference votes for the Liberal Party across the whole country. We managed to maintain our primary vote above the 2010 election. Despite redistributions, it was a great effort to receive that 48.18 per cent of primary vote.

The electorate of Swan understands our party's values, our government's actions and, of course, they can see the value of the infrastructure that we have continued to deliver for them over the nine years I have been lucky enough to represent them.

As I return for my fourth term as the member for Swan and as a member of the 45th Parliament of Australia, I look forward to building on the initiatives of this government, including all, but not limited to, budget repair, creating jobs for all Australians and maintaining our strong border policy.

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