NEW MP Adam Marshall delivered his maiden speech to parliament yesterday speaking for about 17 minutes and pledging his loyalty and commitment to his electorate and its residents.
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Mr Marshall, elected the new Nationals member for Northern Tablelands last month in the wake of former independent MP Richard Torbay’s resignation after holding it since 1999, paid tribute to plenty of people for his parliamentary rise.
“There is no greater honour in life than to be entrusted to represent your community, no nobler pursuit than to serve the community and no greater responsibility than to advocate for the needs, desires and aspirations of the people,” he said in his introduction.
He touched on his rise through the political ranks, since a teenager, and said that while plenty of others made much of his being the youngest to achieve so many milestones, age and gender background should not be a barrier to any role.
“I have never regarded myself as a young person, just a person taking on a very serious responsibility and doing the very best that I can,” he told the chamber of the Legislative Assembly just before lunch.
Mr Marshall made mention of many who’d helped him to get where he is today, including one of his predecessors, former National’s MP Ray Chappell, who was in the gallery, and the Armidale party branch chairman Rosemary Leitch, who was “one of those many people who have worked for 14 long years in warm but mostly incredibly cold conditions on polling days in the tablelands to try to have the seat returned.”
Among those he also mentioned and in the chamber were his parents, Geoff and Sue Marshall, his grandmother Ros Thompson, his aunt and uncle Jenny and John Marshall from Toowoomba, and his former Farrer high school principal Ian Downs and his wife Shirley.
“My father, who will be uncomfortable about me speaking about him like this, is also a former mayor of Gunnedah Shire Council,” Mr Marshall said.
“I remember at one stage when I was considering entering local government he actively discouraged me from entering politics. But, like many sons, I took no notice of his advice and instead chose to follow his example.”
He said Mr Downs had been a great mentor and imbued in him a sense of obligation to give something back and to contribute.
“My grandfather always has much to say about politics; needless to say, he does not think much of politicians, except for his grandson, which I think is magnificent.”
And the newest kid on the government block also paid tribute to the former late politician, and renowned cricketer and Gunnedah bloke, Roger Wotton.
“I vividly recall that he pulled me up on one of my first days as mayor of Gunnedah and told me to hop in his car as we were going for a drive and he was going to teach me about the world. One of the things he said – and it is a mantra I have lived by – was ‘Adam, if there is anything you do in public life, it is to put the concerns and the priorities of the people first. If you do that, the politics will eventually take care of itself’.
“They were very wise words and I have carried them with me.”
Mr Marshall spoke about major issues for his electorate including roads and the value of Gonski education reforms, and also the continuation of the Years 11 and 12 Higher School Certificate programs at Ashford, Bundarra and Emmaville which are under threat because they do not fit the current Department of Education staffing formula.
Mr Marshall said it would be much more effective for the department to be flexible with its formulas to ensure the outstanding results achieved at those schools would be continued.
Mr Marshall gave an assurance to his electorate that he would never take them for granted, he would never allow the government to take them for granted, and he would work to ensure their priorities were his priorities and, most importantly, they were also the government’s priorities