Media Release

“There is no doubt that the people have made a statement in North Queensland – an unequivocal statement delivering a massive majority to the concept of a democratic principle, rather than Woolworths-Coles style politics.

“I deeply thank the people whose commitment had them standing in the hot sun – and in some places pouring rain – to hand out ‘how to vote’ cards, may of them for 10 hours straight.

“Their exhausted and sunburnt faces on Saturday night told the story of a group of people who believe in something.

“To the people who voted for us, no one could avoid being humbled by such a vote and we are determined to represent those people, and the ones who didn’t vote for us as well.

“The Parliament will be very close. We will have significantly greater power than before.

“With that in mind, I thank (former Prime Minister) John Howard for the many times he came to help us in North Queensland as part of the previous government.

“A lot of people don’t like Wayne Swan, but he and the Kevin Rudd government had committed themselves to water development in northern Australia, to the refusal to regulate run-off to the reef and a real determination to develop the Northern Australia Clean Energy Corridor which would bring renewable energy, cheaper fuel through ethanol and cheap fodder for our cattle.

“We also thank Tony Abbott, who has proved himself to be a tenacious and effective fighter and whether you agree with his convictions or not, the important thing is he has convictions.

“We also have confidence in Julia Gillard, if she remains in the saddle.

“We shall be locking down with our other independent colleagues this week. Our numbers have grown and we will be discussing a procedure to move ahead.

“We don’t want to presume that the balance of power situation will arise, but in a Parliament with very close numbers, our influence will be greater than it has been, although we are grateful for the influence we have wielded to date.

“Some people are saying it’s the return of the Country Party. We don’t deny that we are aggressively representing the non-metropolitan areas.