James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to add my condolences to those expressed this afternoon in this chamber in remembrance of former senator Russell Trood from Queensland. I did not serve with Russell, but I was the campaign director in 2010 who failed to see get him re-elected—a failure which, I am happy to report, he did not hold against me personally. Looking up at former senator Mason there, in relation to the story of the preferences from the Sex Party, which has become either the truth or an urban myth about how we got Senator Mason over the line, I wish that perhaps the Sex Party had got more votes and we could have got Russell Trood over the line.

Russell was a great servant not just to the Liberal National Party and the former Liberal Party, which he served a branch chair, but to the public at large. More importantly, he was a great servant to thinking. He was one of those rare creatures in this zoo—someone who actually thought before he spoke. Sometimes when I speak I wish I had his patience to slow down my tongue before my thoughts manage to catch up with me.