My views on this issue have been well known since day one. Out of respect to my colleagues, I will limit my rhetoric on the Drug Summit Legislative Response (Trial Period Extension) Bill. I have said it all in the past and I will continue to say it: This is a bad idea and it was a bad idea on day one. I will talk about why this has come about. It is an exercise in raw politics by the Labor Party. It is extraordinary, and one must go back a little in history to understand that.

I support the Human Cloning and Other Prohibited Practices Amendment Bill 2007, a decision I made a year ago subject to seeing the bill, which I will explain later. This is not an easy decision for anyone to make. Members will agonise about their decision and I have no idea how many members will vote for it or how many will vote against it. However, I say to everyone listening to this debate that this is one of the few debates in this Parliament on which members have great difficulty in making their decision. I made my decision a year ago after working with an individual who perhaps would have benefited from this research had it been done years ago. I will explain that later also.

This is the first time the Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Water has had to come into this place and say something political, but his heart is not in it, which is why he had to read eight pages. This is the introduction of Minister Koperberg to the culture of the Labor Party: Labor members stand in this place and waste the time of the House by speaking about political matters that focus on anything but a State issue that is of concern to the people of New South Wales.

I am delighted to contribute to the debate on this topic. Obviously there are three parts to the motion. The first expresses concern about petrol prices. Everyone is concerned about petrol prices. The member for Burrinjuck said that during the last week the price of petrol was $1.43 at Young, and the honourable member for Bega made the point that it is now up to about $1.49. So right across the state people are concerned about petrol prices. But the situation has not changed in recent years: it is a concern we have all spoken about for some time.

Speech at Harrington Park Community Centre, Harrington Park

Thank you Andrew for your introduction.

As I’ve said throughout this campaign, .. unlike Morris Iemma, I’m proud of my team and I’m proud of my Party.

I am particularly pleased to lead a Coalition team in partnership with Andrew Stoner and the Nationals.

Andrew Stoner is a thoroughly decent man. And the Nationals are a true and effective voice for rural, regional and coastal NSW.

The Liberals and Nationals have a strong Coalition in Opposition. And we will have an even stronger Coalition in Government - where we will get on with the job of fixing NSW.