Page 2266 - Week 07 - Thursday, 27 August 2020
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perfect three-cornered tear in a very snazzy pair of suit pants. We never did use the pictures but they did seem like a good idea at the time.
There have been some outstanding staff along the way. I want to mention Ian and Steve. They, along with Tio, made a formidable campaigning trio. It is a shame that, because of COVID and other things, we have not got that band back together.
With respect to my Liberal colleagues with whom I have served, as is always the case in politics, we did not always see eye to eye. Once I managed to get myself suspended from the party room, but, as Wayne Berry and I can both attest, being suspended from party room or caucus meetings is not actually a punishment. These disagreements did not lead to ongoing enmity. They were all put behind us a long time ago, and especially after what I have been known to call the “outbreak of love” which still bears fruit today. Whether we were factional allies or we agreed to disagree on social policy, I can say that I have learnt something from all of them. Sometimes it was about tactics or campaigning; at other times it was about how to be compassionate, from Doszy, or it may just have been Pratty’s superior line in argot. I am sure Kate Davis will know of which I speak.
I need to thank the Liberal Party. I know that I am not in this place on the strength of my sparkling personality and my own, individual work. It has been magnified and augmented by the hundreds of volunteers who hand out, raise money and turn up. We, the Liberal members, might be their standard bearers, but we would not get very far without the foot soldiers. To the current president, John Cziesla, and former outstanding presidents Arthur Potter, Peter Collins and Tio Faulkner, and also our senator and my friend Zed Seselja, I thank you for your leadership and commitment.
The people of Ginninderra not once but five times have sent me to this place. I thank them all for their ongoing faith in me. I thank the hundreds of people who over the past few months have contacted me or spoken to me in restaurants, coffee shops and supermarkets and thanked me for representing them. I hope that they are satisfied and that they consider that I have lived up to their expectations. It has been an honour to serve them.
I have to turn to family. I want to begin by paying tribute to my father, Frank Scarrabelotti, who, at the ripe old age of 98, still does not understand my politics. But I think that is mainly because he does not recognise that the party that he supports parted company with him years ago, perhaps at about the time that Labor took the “u” out of their spelling. I want to thank my brother, Gary, for all of his support. Gary is not here today because our Dad is not well, and he has gone to be with him. Nineteen years ago, I spoke of my family in the following terms:
Nothing would be possible without my friend, my soul mate, my love, Lyle Dunne. Lyle’s wit and wisdom, his patience and poetry, have enriched me for half my life.
Now that has become over 40 years, so the time has passed. I said at the time:
Lyle and our splendid children, Olivia, Thomas, Julia, Isabella and Conor are an entirely unmerited gift and the depth of my pride in them is truly immeasurable.
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