Julian Leeser
Berowra · Liberal Party · Australia
“Third, the bill gives the minister unilateral power to impose conditions on higher education providers under the new section 36-65 of the HESA, which is introduced by this bill. The current version of section 36-65 of the HESA requires that there be an agreement in place with the provider. The new version does not.”
“Presumably, if you're a university and you get a bad decision, then your only recourse is judicial review, litigation or a constitutional writ. It's not a great option when the target of your litigation will be the minister who will make the future decisions that shape your ongoing financial viability.”
“This bill changes it from capped funding to capped places, but the places cost different amounts depending on the course. The Commonwealth contribution to a history degree is $1,316; agriculture costs $32,400. Could a university which typically teaches history be allocated 100 places and decide to convert them to agriculture?”
“I said very clearly that I understand the value of international students to Australia. I also said: We will want to make changes to the settings around international students, but I want the sector to know that we want to work closely with you to develop these policies and announce them in due course.”
“This so-called system steward, ATEC, can be bypassed at any time by a minister choosing to exercise this power. Again, this means universities are, under this bill, subject to extraordinary control by this minister or any future minister.”
“He said that Australian kids should be taught Australian values, which he defined as democracy, the rule of law, basic freedoms and a fair go.”
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“Attorney, why has a billion dollars of taxpayers' money delivered nothing more than a shiny new nameplate and slower justice for Australians? When pressed on this, Labor point to the spike in student visa refusals, as if that's not also their responsibility. The figures are damning. When we left office, there were 2,725 student visa cases before the AAT. Now there are 40,275 before the ART, with an average resolution time of 62 weeks. That's not reform; it's failure. The same is true for refugee matters. When the coalition left office, there were 37,025 cases before the tribunal, with a medium finalisation time of 113 weeks. Now there are 41,846 cases, with a medium time of 175 weeks—that's three years. Yes, that's three years for Australians and those seeking protection to get a decision. On transparency, the picture's no better.”
“Justice isn't some abstract concept; it's the difference between safety and fear, stability and uncertainty, and accountability and chaos. Under this government, we've seen these mechanisms flounder and weaken. Take the Administrative Review Tribunal. Labor abolished the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and rebranded it as the ART. They spent more than a billion dollars on this so-called reform. But what has it delivered? Slower outcomes, growing backlogs and a justice system that's failing ordinary Australians. When the coalition left office, the AAT had around 67,720 cases on hand. The median time to finalisation was 30 weeks. Today, under Labor, the ART has 111,755 cases on hand and a medium finalisation time of 68 weeks. That's a backlog blowout of more than 44,000 cases and an additional nine months of waiting.”
“When Australians think about the justice system, they think about the safety of their community. They think about the desire to keep family safe, and, if something were to happen, our government would look after them. As I've said many times, all law-abiding Australians deserve the full protection of the law, and that's the task of the Attorney-General's portfolio. Legislative responsibilities, the front-facing government employees and the independent statutory agencies that fall within its remit are meant to uphold the rule of law and protect Australians from abuses of power. They're meant to ensure that justice is neither delayed nor denied. Australians have a deep sense of fairness, and, when that fairness is undermined, the confidence of the community is shaken.”
“I want to particularly acknowledge the wonderful work of Jasmin Cooper for the success of the program and the effort that she and the other wonderful Cherrybrook school teachers provide, including Principal Harry Vassila, Relieving Principal Glen Lakeman, Stage 3 Assistant Principal Paula Davis and teachers Joanne Sikorski, Amy Kelman, Deb Morgan, Ashley Eaton, Suzanne Sambell, Sonya Fishpool, Chaseley Roberts, Jade Bell, Rachel Owens and Jessica Carter. It was a pleasure to speak to so many wonderful students who worked so hard across term 3 and to see how proud their teachers and their families truly were of them. Congratulations again to the wonderful Cherrybrook Public School on a great evening and a very enriching program from all the year 5s and year 6s.”
“Genevieve from 6E designed a sustainable dance studio, accompanied by dance costumes made from repurposed fabrics. Sebastian combined his experiences living in our local area with dedicated research to develop a new plan for improving the longevity and sustainability of the turf at Campbell Park. It's so important that children discover their passions and the way they can make a difference both to our local community and to our country. Opportunities like these create a love of learning and help the student drive more deeply into their interests and provide solutions to real-world problems. For year 6 students, Passion Projects is a great chance to develop discipline, self-regulation and study skills that will benefit them through their high school experience, and I look forward to attending next year's Passion Projects.”
“Students were asked to link their passion to solving a real-world problem using their creativity to tackle practical challenges. I want to highlight just a few of the excellent projects that students shared with me. One student, Miller, created a project based on the important message of 'reduce, reuse and recycle'. He designed a football boot library to ensure we're making the most out of our sporting gear and shared amazing research he'd done about mushroom leather as an alternative material to synthetics. Sahir in 5E took up the challenge of researching and designing sustainable tyres to be used in Formula One. Danika in 6K focused on the monumental task of cleaning up space junk and used LEGO, drawing and 3D modelling to make her ideas come to life.”
“Berowra's best and brightest were on display when I attended the Cherrybrook Public School Passion Projects evening, showcasing the hard work, research skills and dedication of the school's year 5 and year 6 students. I left the event inspired and full of optimism for the future of our community and our nation. The Passion Projects were started last year under the guidance of one of Cherrybrook Public School's outstanding teachers, Jasmin Kooper. Last year, it was offered as only an extension project to select students, but it was so successful that, this year, all of years 5 and 6 could take part. Students spent one hour a week working on their project on a topic of their choice and put in extra hours of effort at home, culminating in the showcase on 23 September. The theme for this year's Passion Projects was 'fixing it'.”
“The changes in the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment Bill provide essential clarifications to ensure that the agencies that keep our nation safe can continue to do so in an era of rapid technological development. The coalition will always support sensible reforms which ensure that the men and women serving in intelligence and law enforcement roles have the tools they need to take down criminals no matter where they are hiding. We will be supporting this bill without amendment.”
“In the 2024-25 financial year the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation's Child Protection Triage Unit received 82,764 reports of online child sexual exploitation. I just want to underscore that by saying it again. The ACCCE received 82,764 reports of online sexual exploitation in a single year. That equates to an average of 226 reports per day. The need for strong action against these predators has never been more acute. These amendments ensure the law is fit for purpose in addressing the most abhorrent online crimes where the persons under investigation are anonymised, including on the dark web and encrypted communications platforms.”
“Schedule 5 amends the Crimes Act to clarify the threshold for authorising and varying controlled operations in the circumstances in which a participant is protected from criminal responsibility and indemnified against civil liability. The anonymous nature of online crime means law enforcement may lack information to assess potential risks when deciding whether to authorise or vary a controlled operation. The amendments will clarify that authorising officers must consider the indirect and reasonable foreseeable consequences of controlled conduct when varying a controlled operation. Schedule 5 also provides clarity around legal protections for officers involved in undercover operations targeted at taking down sexual abuse syndicates.”
“Schedule 4 corrects a technical issue with the operation of interception international production orders in the T(IA) Act that was preventing international production orders from being given to US based prescribed communication providers in certain circumstances under the agreement between the government of Australia and the government of the United States of America on access to electronic data for the purpose of countering serious crime. The amendments clarify that interception orders issued to Australian law enforcement and national security agencies may be used to obtain prospective content data from communications providers in a country with which Australia has a designated international agreement regardless of the technical method by which that prospective data is sent to the agency.”
“Schedule 3 amends the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 to permit limited access to stored communications to allow agencies to undertake development and testing activities in circumstances where they otherwise would have been authorised to intercept the same communication if it were still passing over the telecommunication system. These changes will ensure the framework remains fit for purpose in the modern operating environment where stored communications may pass over the telecommunication system alongside and become indistinguishable from live communications.”
“The decision to reconstitute the Home Affairs portfolio following the election and the Prime Minister's election acknowledgement that there were issues with information-sharing during the Dural caravan incident are an admission that the national security architecture he put in place failed at a critical time. The government should apologise for putting party politics over Australia's national security by changing the Home Affairs portfolio three times in three years in a pointless, factional tug-of-war.”
“Schedule 2 amends the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 to transfer the statutory functions of the Communications Access Coordinator from the Secretary of the Attorney-General's Department to the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs. This change is only necessary because the Albanese Labor government dismantled the Home Affairs portfolio after the 2022 election. Following the 2025 election the Albanese Labor government restored the Home Affairs portfolio to the original structure established under the coalition by returning the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre to the Home Affairs portfolio. This came after the coalition took this commitment to the election while Labor made no such commitment.”
“The Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 amends the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979, the Surveillance Devices Act 2004 and the Crimes Act 1914 to ensure key provisions operate as intended. It also makes technical amendments flowing from the government's decision to reconstitute the Home Affairs portfolio following the federal election. Schedule 1 to the bill permits protected network activity warrant and warrant intercept information to be used, communicated and recorded to meet disclosure obligations. It also allows the information to be admitted in evidence where necessary to ensure the defensible prosecution of criminal activity while retaining the intelligence-only purpose of network activity warrants.”
“It's a peace plan that this government has had no input into because this government chose to disrespect our longstanding bipartisan position in relation to Israel and alienated Washington. This government chose the path of unilateral recognition of the Palestinian state. This has been praised by Palestinian actors, and I say to the Prime Minister: with the new political capital you have with the Palestinian actors, it is important to pressure them to pressure Hamas. (Time expired)”
“For two and a half years, we have called for them to list the IRGC, which has been responsible for terrorist attacks on our streets. The former Attorney-General failed during his tenure to root out antisemitism at the Human Rights Commission. The Foreign minister's conduct abroad has left thousands of Jewish Australians appalled, breaking decades of bipartisan foreign policy. Labor took months to appoint the special envoy on antisemitism and then ignored her advice on crucial matters. The special envoy delivered a comprehensive report months ago. The government has had this report, yet there has been no response, no plan, no decisive action to keep law-abiding Australians of every background safe. Of course, there is hope. The hope is the peace plan that has been pursued by the United States.”
“All of these failures directly lie at the feet of the Prime Minister, who has refused to stand firm and stamp out antisemitism across Australia, in stark contrast to Labor leaders like Chris Minns. Under the leadership of this prime minister, this government has spent two years being reactive to issues impacting the Jewish community. It took months to legislate the hate symbols ban first proposed by the coalition. They failed to coordinate law enforcement and intelligence agencies across the federation when the crisis first reared its head. They failed to curb violent protest on our streets. They allowed Jew haters to run amok on campuses and refused a judicial inquiry. The Prime Minister had to be dragged kicking and screaming to convene National Cabinet, which delivered neither tougher penalties nor stronger laws.”
“People do it because they know they can get away with it, because they know there are no consequences. That's what Australia has become. Two years later, not enough has been done to curb these antisemitic excesses. The pro-Hamas rallies continue. This week, again protesters are trying to hijack the Sydney Opera House. Tonight, demonstrations are planned in Bankstown led by the same sheik who described October 7 as 'a day of glory'. Our university campuses continue to be unsafe for Jewish students. Artists continue to be pressured and punished for refusing to bend to the mob. Unfortunately, we have seen a federal government that has failed to act with urgency.”
“There are Jewish Australian Olympians, philanthropists, Anzacs, parliamentarians and even bushrangers. Australia has been one of the few nations on Earth that has never discriminated against Jews; however, for the past two years, Australians have seen things we never thought we would see in this country. The very day after October 7, there was a gathering in Western Sydney where a sheik described October 7 as 'a day we have been waiting for, a day of elation'. That same spirit spilled onto our streets. We saw protests at the opera house. We saw restaurants invaded. We saw cars firebombed. We saw multiple graffiti and arson attacks on synagogues. We saw shops burnt. The families of hostages visiting from overseas had paint thrown on them. Even today in Melbourne, there was a sign reading 'Glory to Hamas'.”
“He was at the Nova music festival when he was trying to escape and was taken hostage with his best friend. Many people know Evyatar as the man who appeared in the Hamas video two months ago, looking like an emaciated figure out of Bergen-Belsen, being forced to dig his own grave in a terror tunnel. These are just four of the 48 people who have been held in captivity for 731 days. They must be brought home. But, as disturbing as the October 7 attacks have been, they've led to a dreadful rise in antisemitism here in Australia. Australia has always been the exception to the rule about antisemitism. There have been Jews in this country since the First Fleet. Jewish Australians are responsible for building so many of Australia's institutions, from our Constitution to our football clubs and the retail, housing and entertainment industries.”
“'I'm coming home, slowly but surely.' Later, as the horror unfolded, he wrote simply to his mother, 'I love you.' There are the 28-year-old twins Ziv and Gali Berman from Kfar Aza. They are inseparable brothers who love travel and soccer. They are fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv and Liverpool FC and have played on the village football team, the Kfar Aza Foxes. On October 7, Ziv was in his room and Gali was visiting a friend two houses away. Ten days later the family received a message from the IDF that the brothers had likely been kidnapped. Their parents and their eldest brother, Liran, survived the terror attacks and are waiting for their return. I want to speak about Evyatar David, who is just 24. Evyatar has an older brother and a sister. He plays guitar and, like so many 24-year-olds around the world, he loves to party.”
“Their families have been living a nightmare for two years, not knowing if their loved one is dead or alive. Those being held by Hamas range in age from 19 to 85. We must never forget their stories. One of the remaining hostages is Maxim Herkin, 37. Maxim was born in the Donbass region of Ukraine. He has a daughter living in Russia, a partner and an 11-year-old brother, Peter. Although not a fan of parties, Max agreed to attend the Nova festival with two of his friends. Both of those friends were tragically killed on October 7, their bodies later found burnt inside a vehicle. Max was abducted from the Nova music festival. On the day of the attacks Maxim attempted to reassure his mother via text. 'Everything's okay,' he wrote early in the morning on that terrible Saturday.”
“Hamas aren't just terrorists; they are the government of Gaza. They run its health ministry. The infiltrated the UN agency UNRWA, whose employees took part in the October 7 attacks and whose headquarters were used as a Hamas communications base. Hamas has spent billions of dollars of foreign aid not developing its economy and giving its people a future. Instead, they stockpiled munitions under schools and hospitals. They created a network of terror tunnels which still hold 48 hostages in appalling and inhumane conditions. This is exactly why Australia listed Hamas as a terrorist organisation long before October 7. I come back to the remaining 48 hostages who Hamas are holding captive. They are not just statistics; they're innocent people whose lives have been destroyed.”
“It was the sadistic murder of 1,200 people, the largest number of Jews killed in a single day since the Holocaust. We even saw one of the terrorists calling his mother to celebrate the number of Jews he had killed. Australia born grandmother and librarian Galit Carbone, whose brother is here in the gallery at this moment, was murdered. When the Foreign minister went to Israel, she refused to meet with her family and she refused to go south to see the places where these dreadful attacks took place. Following this attack, Hamas took the corpses back into Gaza where they were spat on by ordinary Gazans. Hamas orchestrated the events of October 7 because they have one objective: to remove Israel and Jews from the face of the earth. Hamas is a death cult which uses its own people as human shields.”
“Those horrific images of October 7 have been seared in our minds. We saw the shocking scenes of Hamas terrorists invading Israel, gunning down young people at the Nova music festival, shooting at the same people we visited a year earlier. We saw pictures of Naama Levy, wearing blood stained jeans, being forcibly dragged into a truck by terrorists; the dismemberment of bodies; women being raped and having their breasts cut off; parents having to watch their children being tortured, raped and murdered before they themselves were murdered. Babies and Holocaust survivors were captured, caged and killed. Hamas committed unparalleled acts of depravity on that day. Not only did they commit them but they broadcast these crimes in real time so the world could see their atrocities.”
“Both are Western liberal democracies which believe in the rule of law to protect the rights of women and religious minorities. Israel is one of the few places in the Middle East where Christians, Jews and Muslims can worship freely. Israel is the only place in the Middle East where LGBTI people live freely and openly and are celebrated. Its multi-ethnic parliament, defence force and even supreme court are comprised of Jews, Arabs, Bedouins and Druze. Their security partnership with Australia has been highly important. Its intelligence has helped stop terrorist attacks in our country and saved lives. It's why it's been so upsetting to watch the Albanese government abandon bipartisan support for Israel, even before October 7. However, one year on from that visit from the Leader of the Opposition and me, everything changed.”
“We visited Ramallah and met with the Palestinian prime minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, who denounced the deals and promised that the Palestinians would not be forgotten. We visited on election day. We went to Kibbutz Nahal Oz. We went to Sderot. We met volunteers from the wide range of Israeli political parties contesting the elections. Israel's elections are peacefully but hotly contested. We met people who live close to the border, working for peace. We climbed abandoned watchtowers and looked out towards Gaza. The distance between those two places is so small. It's the distance from Castle Hill to Parramatta. In Israel three years ago it was a time of hope. It appeared that Middle East peace was in reach. Australia has long stood alongside the Israeli request for peace because Israel is a nation like our own.”
“Today is a day of memory, a day of disappointment, a day of defiance and a day of hope. Three years ago, exactly a year before the attacks of October 7, I was in southern Israel with the Leader of the Opposition. We went to see how the Abraham Accords were transforming Israel's relationship with its Arab neighbours. We heard how they were creating not just peace but friendships and opportunities for both sides. A deal with Saudi Arabia was on everyone's lips. First Egypt, then Jordan and now the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco were making peace. The more Arab nations Israel made peace with, the greater the chance for peace between Israelis and Palestinians became. Not everyone supported peace.”
“I want to support our young people, support our Indigenous people and preserve the beautiful areas not just of our country but of my electorate; and I am honoured to have been chosen yet again to serve the wonderful people of Berowra.”
“I want to give Australians a chance to elect a coalition government at the next election—one that represents them, one that represents the people of my electorate—with a clear plan to tackle cost of living, to stand with families and to support some of the most vulnerable people, who too often fall through the cracks. We need a strong plan to keep Australia safe from the hateful unrest in our streets. I cannot remember a time when we have seen the level of lawlessness in our country that there is today. We need our police officers to enforce the law, and we need a government that takes the security of our cities seriously and always puts it first. I want to restore security to our streets. I want to restore to young Australians the hope of homeownership.”
“We just cannot keep having a situation where one of the busiest areas of Sydney—a fundamental transport interchange, an area where people are coming to live because of its great lifestyle and its proximity to the centre of the Metro, the centre of travel to the north and south of Sydney—is inadequately served by parking. Epping is a wonderful area, and it could be so much more wonderful, but we've got to get the traffic and parking under control. As I said, going forward as a party, we need to look to the future with fresh perspectives. Australians rejected what we took to the last election. They've rejected the way we've conducted ourselves as a party, and they've rejected the politics of the past.”
“Parramatta Council has had some plans on exhibition for changes to the traffic movement and to the streetscape of the Epping town centre, and they are doing something with the car park there—but I think we desperately need to deliver more public car parking for Epping. Epping will continue to be a difficult and dysfunctional centre if the parking issues are not addressed, whether it means the council and the state government negotiating with the landholders such that, as they develop their new sites, they need to set aside some provision for public car parking, or whether something is done with the council-owned land to improve parking.”
“As we see more tower blocks proposed for Epping and North Epping, the state government has this bizarre idea—and I want to be bipartisan about it; it was the same bizarre idea that the state government had when we were in government—that somehow, if you live in an apartment building and you're close to a train station, you don't need parking or not every unit needs parking. I think that is a ridiculous idea. All that does is add to already parked-out streets. What is desperately needed in Epping and North Epping, particularly in the Epping town centre, is an increase in parking.”
“Everyone acknowledges the problem, but no-one agrees on the solution, and that's why we need to get a traffic study happening there. Secondly—and I've said it on a few occasions since the election—the parking situation in Epping is dire. People are not able to get to the doctor or to the shops, businesses are missing out on customers who need to use their services and facilities, and the quality of life for the people of Epping and North Epping just isn't what it should be for one of the most livable and beautiful areas of Sydney.”
“I want to say something about Epping because of two particular challenges that Epping and North Epping face. The first is traffic. For too long, the fact that there have been Hornsby Council in North Epping and Parramatta Council in Epping and that the two councils do not talk to each other has been to the disadvantage of the people of Epping and North Epping. Everyone in Epping and North Epping talks to me about how bad the traffic is. As the government—the state government particularly—rams more people in there as the new towers are built, we're not getting new parking spaces or roads. That's why I fought hard to create a traffic study—the first since 2018 and the first since those towers have started going up—to try and work out whether we have the best configuration of traffic flows across Epping and North Epping.”
“I've been very concerned about girls that are going to netball training, because of unsavoury people hanging around there, not being safe when they go to use the toilets. We need to ensure people can go to those facilities very safely. Funding for the Hillside RFS to improve their telecommunications continues to be a battle I'm fighting. People who've seen me in the parliament over the last nine years have seen how hard I've fought for and delivered better telecommunications for our electorate. The Wisemans Ferry Community Men's Shed has done a wonderful job attracting local people to come and see Wisemans Ferry, one of the original Macquarie towns—they want to create a more meaningful experience for people there. The Asquith Scout Hall needs new toilet facilities, and, again, from opposition we will continue to fight for these things.”
“Warrah Disability Services is an organisation that runs a Steiner school for people with disability and uses agricultural pursuits to improve and enhance the lives of people with disability. They were looking to get an upgrade for some of their livestock management to enable them to use livestock and agricultural education to assist students and to get them all the opportunities that they are looking for. The Hills District Netball Association, Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Basketball Association and Hornsby PCYC all need security upgrades. I would have loved to have seen them, and I will continue to fight for them to get better access to CCTV and better access to better lighting at their areas—particularly the Hornsby District Netball Association.”
“These are great clubs, and great clubs deserve great facilities, so I will continue to fight for them. They were the major projects. There are a number of smaller projects that I have encouraged my state and council colleagues to help back so we can try to deliver some of their facilities earlier than after the next election, should we win. The first one is the Hawkesbury River Dragons, who are looking for an upgrade to their storage facilities at Brooklyn. They are a wonderful dragon boat club, and I enjoyed so much spending time with them. They are the best of what a sporting club is all about. The Dangar Island Bowling Club, where there is a great hub for live music in my electorate, needs a place where they can have a permanent stage and facilities to keep them dry and keep them safe.”
“For two elections now, I have fought alongside the West Pennant Hills-Cherrybrook Football Club to improve facilities at Campbell Park, including a Campbell Park clubhouse upgrade. They need an oval upgrade; I can't remember a worse winter season in terms of the amount of rain than the two winters that we've had. The difficulty is in going back onto the 'Campbell Park swimming pool', as it sometimes looks, rather than the Campbell Park Oval. I want to acknowledge the wonderful work at Normanhurst of the Normanhurst Eagles and the Normanhurst and Warrawee cricket clubs. These are spectacular soccer and cricket clubs. Again, they have a clubhouse from the seventies. It's not DDA compliant. The doors to the change rooms are often missing. On one occasion, I went down there and one of the glass windows to the change rooms was smashed in.”
“I want to say to the sporting communities: when we make commitments, I will continue to fight for you to get upgrades—the upgrades you so strongly deserve—across the term. I was proud to stand with the North Epping Rangers and the North Epping Bulls to seek upgrades for the clubhouse at North Epping Oval. Those are wonderful clubs whose sports include cricket, netball and football, among others, and they are the absolute hub of that community. It was wonderful to be able do something with the North Epping community, and I'm going to continue to do so. Similarly, the Berowra Football Club is desperate for new facilities, particularly to accommodate the expansion for female players in both football and cricket. An upgrade of the changing facilities is 40 years overdue.”
“One of the things that I especially focused on for the election campaign was a number of commitments that I want to see made to different organisations in my community that are crying out for infrastructure upgrades. I'm probably the least sporting person in the parliament, but I've ended up— I hear my friend the member for Barker have a chuckle at that, because it's almost certainly true. But one of things I have prided myself on is supporting the sporting communities, because the sporting communities are the hub of our community more broadly. If we had been elected, it would have been such a good thing for our community because our sporting communities have some of the worst infrastructure in the entire state, if not the country.”
“Graham Bateman flawlessly ran our train station operation. Phil Hare, despite the personal challenges in his own family, continued to coordinate our street stalls. I want to thank everyone who came and was involved in the wonderful super Saturday and super Sunday of doorknocking that has become a feature of the Berowra campaigns and, in particular, the Young Liberals from the Hornsby-Berowra Young Liberals and also the Young Liberals from Mitchell conference who came to assist as well. We doorknocked hundreds and hundreds of homes in the more densely populated areas of the electorate on those days. I want to thank Vinay Mann, who led the phone canvassing operation. I'm only able to be the member for Berowra because of the wonderful work of my supporters in the Blue Crew.”
“I want to acknowledge Liat Granot and Graham Bannerman, who worked with me as shadow attorney and has come back again to work with me again. Also Anna Coote, Emma Rogers, the wonderful Annette McHugh, Ross Macdonald, Tracey Barrowcliff, Sarah Greenbaum—and mazel tov to Sarah on the birth of Ella—Rowena Bennett, Winnie Le, Jemima Collins, David Mitchell and Aaron Fawcett. In addition to my hardworking team, there were the wonderful members of the blue crew who helped to ensure I was elected, and I want thank all the people who participated in the various aspects of the campaign, and in particular the people who led the major efforts for the election: Stephen O'Doherty, Georgina Kelly, Peter Brook, Keith and Joanne Anderson, Neil Gleeson and Sreeni Pillamarri, who did a terrific job at the various prepoll locations.”
“I want to particularly acknowledge Lisa Forrest and Karolina Pulczynski. Karolina particularly has been with me for the entirety of the term and has helped serve our wonderful constituents. Clayton Hopper is my media adviser. Lisa has taken over as office manager. Ava Davidson has been my EA. Also Noah McCarthy, Natalie Yeoman, Eliza Brown, Zach Tang, Lach and Josh Dale, Charlie Stephenson. In the earlier part of the term, I was honoured to have Paul Ritchie work with me. Paul is one of the heroes of the Liberal Party. He has been an extraordinary storyteller, writer and speechwriter for four leaders of our party at the state and federal level, and I was hugely fortunate to have him work with me, with his great, good counsel and wise judgement and experience.”
“Tracey did a phenomenal job keeping our team focused, assisting me to best represent the people of Berowra. She dealt with a major office restructure and an office refit, me being in and out of the shadow cabinet, the big referendum and all of the events that have occurred since October 7 and the enormous projection that that put onto our office—people not only from our electorate but from around the country calling in to the office to offer support or seek succour. Tracey and the team did a wonderful job. I want to acknowledge the other people who worked in my office. I want to disabuse people; I haven't had a big staff turnover, and I don't have a huge army of people working for me, but I have a lot of part-time people that have worked for me, and I want to acknowledge everyone's contribution.”
“For the first time in a very long time, we have a mayor who understands the people who live and work on the other side of the Galston Gorge, and who has a traditional farming background. Warren is a fifth-generation farmer in our community. I want to also acknowledge the outstanding work of my conference secretary, Tom Green. Tom's political skills are second to none. I was very lucky to have Tom run my campaign alongside Tracey Shute. Tom has walked this journey with me for many, many years before I was a member of parliament, so a particular thanks to Tom. Tracey Shute also led my office across most of the last term. It was a unique term with many challenges. I think, in some respects, I lived more than three years of a political life in the three years of the last term.”
“Michael follows in the footsteps of Senator Maria Kovacic, who was my previous conference president before she went to the Senate, and Matt Cross, who is now the state member for Davidson. I just want to quash all rumours; I don't think Michael is going to seek election to public office. He is a wonderful friend and wise counsellor, and he is hugely respected across my community. I lean very heavily on Michael for advice and counsel, and he has been wonderful to me. I want to thank the other members of the conference executive, including Warren Waddell and Helen McNamee, who've served as vice-presidents of the conference. Warren, of course, has now become the mayor of Hornsby, and he is doing a wonderful job.”
“Putting forward sacrifice, offering to employ people, creating opportunities for people and aspiring to a better future for your family—that is fundamentally what our party has always been about. I particularly want to take this opportunity to thank some of the people without whom I would not be here. I want to note in particular my wonderful conference president, Michael McAuley. Michael is a tremendous person, a barrister, a former president of the Saint Thomas More Society, a bioethicist. As is said repeatedly in my community, he's either the actual godfather or the metaphorical godfather to about half of the electorate. He did a wonderful job running my conference. It is a very cohesive and diverse conference in terms of political opinion. Michael is warmly respected.”
“As a party, we are now in a period when we need to reflect on the reasons why we lost nationally and what we can do to bring ourselves back and prepare ourselves to be a government that, in the future, is based on basic Liberal principles and is in touch, particularly with the concerns of families in the suburbs. If we are constantly thinking about how we can make life better for young families in the suburbs, particularly around housing, education and the needs and challenges of raising families, I think that is a good foundation upon which to anchor ourselves. They and the many people who, springing from those communities, are engaged in small business are, in some respects, the forgotten people of the present era. We need to remind people not just of the economic benefit of being involved in small business but of the moral benefit.”