Prime Minister Tony Abbot spoke to Queenslanders and endorsed the candidacy of Mr Bill Glasson in the Griffit by-election to fill the parliamentary vacancy left by the resignation of former prime minister Kevin Rudd.
Abbot said Mr Glasson is “much more than simply a candidate for the Parliament of our country. Bill has 30 odd years as a doctor behind him, not just as a medical specialist in the city of Brisbane, but as someone who every year has trekked out to western Queensland to spend weeks of his time working pro bono for people who otherwise may well have been blind.
“He’s served in the Army Reserve, he’s represented his profession at the highest levels including as President of the Australian Medical Association. He’s not going into the Parliament to promote his career, or to build his ego, he’s going into the Parliament to serve our country.:
Mr Abbit said, ” I have never met a man with better or purer motives for going into the Parliament of this country. I’ve almost never met a man who is turning his back on so much to go into the Parliament of this country.
Abbot said,” An income, let’s face it, a reputation because Members of Parliament don’t always have great reputations unlike medical specialists and I tell you, if he comes into the Parliament he will lift the reputation of Members of Parliament.
“This is a man who is prepared to sacrifice to serve the people of Griffith and that’s one of the many reasons why I’m so pleased and proud to be here today.
Abbott said, “And so many others are here in this room who are led by the Premier of Queensland Campbell Newman, including the President of the Party Bruce McIver, including my old friend Dr Sue Page – formally of the Rural Doctors Association.
“So many people who know this man and love this man are here to support him, not just in the routine sense that if you are on the conservative side of politics you support our candidates, but we are here because we know this man, we love this man and we want to give this man an opportunity to serve our country, the people of Griffith in the Parliament of Australia,” Abbott said.
Mr Abott said, “I was so thrilled when Bill decided that he would put his hand up for Griffith and it wasn’t the kind of seat that a candidate of this calibre would normally run for because at that stage the margin was something like eight per cent. It was occupied by a former prime minister, then foreign minister.
” It was the safest Labor seat in Queensland no less, but Bill said, ‘if I’m going to run for Parliament, I want to represent where I live. I don’t want to be one of those political mercenaries; I don’t want to be one of those people who goes in search of a big handle. I just want to represent the place where I live’. And he agreed to go forward and he was indeed selected and I was incredibly thrilled when I heard the news that Bill Glasson had been selected by the LNP to go for the seat of Griffith in Queensland.
Mr Abbott said, “You want a decent Australian, a decent human being. A person who has served this country from his earliest years, to represent you in Griffith and I tell you, I hope, I hope that I have as one of my colleagues someone of that calibre. I love my colleagues and I am incredibly lucky. I am blessed to have such good friends and strong and supportive colleagues in Canberra, but I tell you what, we’re not so good that we wouldn’t be improved by having Bill Glasson amongst us.”