Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Not that I saw. That's true, Member for Ballarat. I thank the Treasurer. He's a dear friend, as are my colleagues I serve with. You rely heavily on the deputy leader of your party, and this deputy leader has been such a great and loyal deputy leader. I know he has worked closely with all of our colleagues in the Liberal parliamentary party and sought to support them and ensure that their interests and issues have been raised and well understood within our leadership. He is a dear friend, and I wish him a happy Hanukkah. I know he celebrates Christmas as well. He gets the best of both worlds there, or at least the kids do, anyway. I wish him all the best.

To the Deputy Leader of the National Party and to the Leader of House, two great Queenslanders: I wish them well over the break and thank them for stepping up into their roles, particularly the Leader of the House and the service that he is providing us here. I also thank the Leader of the House for the outstanding work that he's done since he became Minister for Defence. He is a very long serving Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. That is a series of lessons that we share, but as Minister for Defence he has been a tower of strength.

To the Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Birmingham, and the deputy leader, Senator Cash: thank you for your support in the other place. Can I also add a very personal thanks to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Women and co-chair of the cabinet task force on women, my dear friend Marise Payne, for the tremendous work and support that she's provided to me and also to Jenny as a close friend. Thank you very much.

To all the coalition members and their staff: rest up, because next year we go forward together as always, making that boat go faster, as we've always said. I wish them and their families well and thank their families for all their many sacrifices over the course of this year. Those sacrifices: we will show next year as a team how we come together to ensure that Australia continues to have the strong government and the good government that Australians deserve and need.

I thank my chief of staff, Dr John Kunkel, and all of those who work in my great team for their hard work and effort. I know they're looking forward to a break. I thank particularly, back there in the shire, Julie and all the team in my electorate office—thank you.

There are many thankyous. Thank you to the attendants and to the Federal Police who look after us, particularly my own detail and those who provide support to, sadly, too many of the members of this place. We saw in the United Kingdom this year the death, the murder, of a member of parliament. I know that reminded us all that in our service of our nation there are some risks that we perhaps underestimate. In that case we were reminded of those who keep us members of parliament safe in this building and when we're out and about doing our duty. Thank you to the catering teams, the Library, Hansard and the support staff. Of course, the cleaners assist us, particularly Anna, Maria and Zia: thank you very much. They've been there a very long time. I'll continue to seek to be as tidy as I can.

This has been a challenging and difficult year for our country. Mr Speaker, I wish you all the best, as I do to all of the Speaker's panel for the work they have done here in this place. To the crossbenchers and their families I similarly extend my best wishes.

The House is rising, but elsewhere in our country Australians are facing down those floods, and our gratitude continues to be with those who are serving them. We might have been separated by borders for the last few years, but those border closures are certainly lifting. As our vaccination rates are at world-high levels, we look forward to those being lifted and we look forward to Australia continuing to open safely so we remain safely open. Our hope and our prayer is for a quiet summer where there are neither fires nor floods, but, if there are, Australians know that those who work across our government will be there to support them in their time of need. May it be a time of great peace, renewal and refreshment, and may 2022 be a better year than that which preceded it. 2021 is in the rear-vision mirror; 2022 is the way forward. God bless and merry Christmas to all.

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