Well thank you very much Mr Pederson. To my Ministerial colleague Nick Minchin, to Senator Stott-Despoja, Deputy Leader of the Australian Democrats, other Parliamentary colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.
Tonight is an opportunity to do a number of things.
It s an opportunity for me on behalf of the Government, and I m sure on behalf of the Australian people to record the immense respect and admiration I have for the on going contribution that engineers of all kinds and of all shapes and sizes make to the strength, not only the economic strength but also the social and physical infrastructure of the Australian community. There are many things that Australians do extremely well, and we were reminded of our proficiency on a sporting field of course today. I ve never been through a less focused Question Time than I was this afternoon, and I can assure you the lack of focus was totally bipartisan. That is a country which focuses on achieving outcomes which are to the benefit of the entire community. And amongst the many things that Australians do extremely well is that we are very good builders and very good engineers.