House of Representatives
Date: 22 July 2025
Speaker: Is there any further proposal? I give the call to the Member for Fisher.
Andrew Wallace MP: Thank you, Mr Speaker.
I move that the Member for Longman be elected Deputy Speaker of this House.
Mr Speaker, the makeup of the Australian Parliament should be a microcosm of the broader Australian community. Only 1,276 people have ever served in this place. Since 1901, they have come from different colours, ethnicities, and backgrounds.
There’s a common misconception that the vast bulk of people who have served and continue to serve here are former professionals: doctors, lawyers, bankers and the like. The Member for Longman does not fit that mould. He doesn’t have a string of letters after his name. Like many people in this place, he never went to university. In fact, he left Dakabin State High School at age 15 with the intention of starting a motor mechanics apprenticeship.
But, Mr Speaker, the Member for Longman has much more than a degree or two to his name. He is a man of the utmost integrity. A man of principle and honour. A man with deep roots in the community he serves.
Mr Speaker, the Member for Longman would make a fine Deputy Speaker because you cannot learn the concepts of integrity, honour and loyalty. These are qualities you either possess, strive to possess, or you don’t.
From humble beginnings, he worked as a petrol station attendant. He then moved into retail, selling power tools and equipment, before transitioning into household appliances. He later owned his own Good Guys franchise in Morayfield, and eventually combined his love for business and his passion for golf by owning and operating Drum and Golf shop franchises.
I dare say, Mr Speaker, the Member for Longman has employed more people than many of us in this chamber put together. He deeply understands the trials and tribulations of trying to run a profitable business in this country, with its ever-increasing and crushing industrial relations complexities and government red tape.
Mr Speaker, when the Member for Longman speaks, his Coalition colleagues listen. He is a wealth of knowledge on small business and industrial relations.
At the church service this morning, the Vicar General of the Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, the Very Reverend Richard Thompson, preached on the importance of listening as leaders. As you yourself would know, the Deputy Speaker does a lot of listening.
It is somewhat curious, therefore, that tradition calls this role the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, when in fact it involves much more listening than speaking.
And this is where the Member for Longman’s qualities would shine.
Since being elected in 2019, he has served with integrity on key parliamentary committees and is already a valued member of the Speaker’s Panel. He has proven himself a fair, respectful and impartial member, able to work across the aisle.
I have no doubt he will keep the chamber in good order in your absence, Mr Speaker.
As a family man with strong ties to faith and community, he brings a real sense of compassion to his work, always focused on doing what’s right for the people he serves. His values and sense of personal responsibility inform everything he does, including his deep respect for this institution as the bulwark of our democracy.
The Member for Longman is humble, hardworking, passionate, consistent, and deeply respected across this chamber. He brings a real-world perspective to this role, someone who speaks plainly, listens carefully, and treats others with deep decency.
He will approach the Deputy Speaker’s chair with the same calm, measured approach that has defined his service to date and would complement the fine work that you yourself have done in a chamber that needs more common sense and civility.
The Member for Longman is the right man at the right time and if you’ll pardon the pun, Mr Speaker, he is a good man.
It is with great confidence and deep respect that I nominate the Member for Longman to serve as the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.
END
