Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

To our officials.

Opposition members interjecting—

No, no. I do want to thank our officials. I want to thank everyone. We have spent all day today thanking every Australian we can—in every agency, in every Public Service sector, in every part of our country—who has done something to contribute. They have been magnificent. That's the difference between government and opposition. That's the difference between leadership and a failure of leadership.

We are coming to the end of the year and going into the Christmas break. In every pub, in every street, in every bar, in every part of the country, Australians have a great pride in all of their governments and their country, and they should. They should be proud because we've come together. They should be proud because we've done something which no other part of the world has done. They should be proud because we've got a plan going forward to not only retain the benefits from the health sacrifices we've made, which have put us in the best stead in the world, but to take advantage of the economic opportunities with our advanced industrial manufacturing plans, our defence sovereign capability plans and all of the forward-thinking things that will put us in good stead to have sovereign capability here to create those jobs, to back Australians' innovation, to back those small and medium businesses. That's what people want from their governments, state and federal. They want some hope. They want some audacity of hope. They will not get it from the Leader of the Opposition.

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