Wednesday, 5 June 2019

 Mr EREN (Lara) (09:45): While the federal election results were disappointing for those on this side of the house, I would like to congratulate my local federal colleagues on their success. Congratulations to Libby Coker, who was voted in by the good people of Corangamite to represent them in Canberra.

Congratulations also to my good friend and long-time colleague Richard Marles on his re-election to the seat of Corio. The wonderful residents of the Corio electorate, many of whom we share in my seat of Lara, have placed their faith in a man who has proven over the last 12 years that he works tirelessly to represent them at a federal level, and he certainly does a fantastic job of that. I would also like to congratulate Richard on his elevation to the important role of deputy leader of the federal Labor Party. Richard is well regarded in the community and the Labor Party, and he has great communication skills, a unifying ability and a knack for reading the play. He is a marvellous lateral thinker who comes up with a solution to whatever problem is before him. That is a skill that not many have, and that is why I know he will be such a great deputy leader complementing the new leader of the Labor Party, Anthony Albanese.

I would also like to congratulate of course Anthony on this elevation along with the Senate leadership team, Penny Wong and Kristina Keneally. This is such a strong Labor team. It is the first all-female Senate leadership team in history, and it is a team that I am sure will be elected at the next federal election and do amazing things representing our country and our state.