Press Play for Audio

March 2007

Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you. Can I ask Grahame to come up too and Geoff Selig.

Ladies and Gentlemen. First off, can I just say thank-you to all those people across NSW who voted for us, the Liberal and National Party. Thank-you.

Everybody who voted for us across NSW, obviously both in the Lower House and the Upper House. A lot of people came home to the Liberal Party and to the National Party tonight.

We want to say very much from the bottom of our heart, thank-you to those people right across the state.

Ladies and gentlemen, the people of NSW have given Labor one last chance to fix the problems in this state.

That’s the clear message from the election today. One last chance to fix all those problems we’ve talked about for so many months, indeed for so many years.

I’ve congratulated Morris Iemma on his election win. But we need to publicly say to Morris Iemma and John Watkins that this is your last opportunity to fix all those problems across the state.

We have laid out a policy framework in every single area of interest in NSW to fix those problems. And I say to Morris Iemma and John Watkins adopt those policies. Take them on board, because if you take them on board and fix the problems we will applaud you.

So in the next few years we would really like to see the new Government do that. Adopt those polices that we’ve laid out so clearly and make a real fist of fixing those problems across the state.

Ladies and gentlemen, to win this election was always going to be like climbing Mount Everest. We’ve had that discussion a number of times over the last 18 months.

But what we’ve achieved today is a really healthy result. As I have indicated, a large number of people have come home to the Liberal Party and the National Party tonight right across the state. In fact we have got the first swing away from Labor since 1988.

Tonight’s result is really about consolidation for us. Not only have we laid out a framework of policy that will fix the problems in NSW, but we have also put the best candidates in every single one of the ninety-three seats across the state. Whether it was Liberal or National candidates we put out, they are all great candidates. And we have got some of them into Parliament and I’m going to mention a few of them in a minute.

We have also campaigned very hard not just for a few weeks, or for a few months, but indeed for 18 months running up to this election, and I’m very proud of the results we’ve achieved right across the board. The swings to us, as I’ve indicated, are just about in every single seat right across the state. And we owe a debt of gratitude to the tens of thousands of people across the state who helped our candidates in every electorate.

With the help of all those people, we have been successful in getting some of our candidates into Parliament as new MPs: Mike Baird in Manly, Greg Smith in Epping, Rob Stokes in Pittwater, Jonathan O’Dea in Davidson, Ray Williams in Hawkesbury, Geoff Provest in Tweed, John Williams in Murray-Darling, Kevin Humphries in Barwon, and I’m very hopeful of saying Pru Goward in Goulburn, and I’m also hopeful of saying Graham Annesley in Miranda, and Craig Baumann in Port Stephens, and Greg Matthews in Dubbo.

In addition to that there are now five Labor seats with margins of less than 5%. We have clawed back so much ground, so much ground, at this election that we had to claw back from previous elections, as I said the first swing since 1988.

And the reason we have done it is because we have great people, and as I’ve said throughout this campaign, I’m very proud of my team.

I’m very proud of the Shadow Ministers who have been out there fighting the fight, and fighting the fight for many years. We really have led the Labor Party on a number of policy areas, and we’ve forced them to change their policies in a number of areas.

And that’s why I say, and I thank them publicly again, to the Shadow Ministry team, they have done a fantastic job.

Can I specifically acknowledge my deputy Barry O’Farrell who has done a fantastic job on behalf of the Party. Jillian Skinner, Mike Gallacher, Brad Hazzard, Glady Berejiklian who did a great job in transport, Chris Hartcher, and all our other Shadows, you did a fantastic job.

Can I also say, I am very proud of our Coalition. And I’m very proud of Andrew Stoner and Cathy. As I said recently, here you have a thoroughly decent man and one of the hardest working people in Australia.

To all our MPs, thank-you for all your efforts, not just the MPs in the Lower House but also our MLCs, who have done a fantastic job over so many seats over such a long time.

Can I also say thank-you to the team from my office. Steve Galilee is here somewhere. Stephen, thank-you. Stephen thought he had got politics out of his blood, went back to the law firm, and we managed to coax him back. He has put together a fantastic team in my office, thank-you all. You’ve done a great job.

Grahame Jeschke and the William Street team, you have performed endlessly 26 hours a day. Thank-you from the bottom of my heart for everything you did. Not just for the last few weeks but over the last 18 months, from my point of view, you’ve been fantastic.

Geoff Selig is not only a great guy, but he’s also the head of our Party in NSW. On behalf of everyone in the Party, I want to say thanks to him because there are tens of thousands of people who helped us produce this result.

Where’s Brad Burden? Where’s Brad? I’m not going to mention individual names because I’m really going to get into trouble. But I am going to mention Brad, because Brad is often the person standing in the line of fire with me and I really appreciate everything he has done. He’s been a tremendous support to me. Thank-you Brad.

Can I also say that two of the happiest people in the room are my parents John and Betty, in the middle there. Thank-you for being with us tonight, thank-you for all the support. And they’re very excited about winning Tweed.

To my family, to my extended family, and Angela is somewhere over here put your hand up. Thank-you for all the support. To Ben in New York thank-you for those phone calls twice a day. Ben you’ve been a fantastic support, and we love you.

Ladies and gentlemen, can I thank one more person and that’s Deborah. This has been a tough campaign for Deborah and me, and it hasn’t been a campaign over a couple of weeks or a couple of months. This has been a 19-month campaign. We have campaigned tirelessly, but I got to tell you, Deborah has been the most fantastic support, and stalwart of the Party, and adviser, and energiser. I just want to publicly thank her for everything.