Good morning, everyone and thank you for taking time out this morning. For the past 10 and a half years, as the member for Monaro and for the past almost five years as deputy premier, it has been a real honour to serve the people of the Monaro electorate and the people of New South Wales.
Most importantly the people of regional and rural New South Wales, to be their voice and hope you can see that I have fought along the way.
Jeez, over that time, we’ve enjoyed some tough days – throughout the worst drought in regional New South Wales in recorded history, then the bushfires, floods, the mice plague, and then the global pandemic of Covid hitting not only the regions but our state, the nation and the globe.
It has been a tough run and being tasked by the premier of the day that I take on the role in areas of look, disaster recovery, the minister responsible, I’ve spent days in people’s kitchens, with people that have lost their homes, with people who are enduring the drought.
And I hope in that time you could see that not only did I shed tears with you, but I actually tried hard to make sure that we together were able to find hope and light for this state.