Last night I finally got to give my speech ahead of tonight’s crunch vote on the deal.
The ten minute speech I’d prepared had to be halved to five because the front bench spokespeople took an hour each for their speeches, and then just before I was called the Speaker announced he was reducing the time to four minutes.
But regardless of all that, I got to stand up and shout out the essence of what I have been thinking and feeling throughout this period. It was also the third time I had spoken in parliament yesterday and the debate went on well after midnight so I didn’t get home until after 3am. But I really don’t care about any of that, I just want to take every opportunity I can to make your voice heard at this crucial time.
The vote is tonight at about 7pm. It won’t be a surprise to you that I will be voting against the deal because of the damage it will cause our country and economy.
I hope you get the chance to look at what I said, you can watch my speech here. I’m very keen to hear your thoughts as we move into this desperately important period for our community and country. I’ll try to keep you updates as often as I can in the coming days. Yours, Peter