Thank you. It’s not a great week when you’re on the front page of practically every newspaper in the nation.

Even my parents were gobsmacked at the realisation I had apparently been a dual citizen, by descent, of New Zealand.

I have always been an Australian citizen. I was born in Tamworth in 1967 to an Australian mother, just as my grandmother was one hundred years earlier. My father came to Australia in 1947. Back then, the concept of New Zealand citizenship didn’t exist. He migrated to Australia not as a New Zealander, but as a British subject.

Literally hundreds of people from across the north-west have contacted me, at my office and over the phone to wish me well.

It’s an incredible honour to represent the people of New England. It’s where I was born, I went to primary school in Tamworth and went on to study at the University of New England in Armidale.  While this issue is before the Courts, I know Labor and their friends will keep publicly asking me why I am staying on to fight for you.

First, there’s the legal matter. I’m guided by the advice of the independent statutory solicitor, the Solicitor General. And that advice is very strong, in that I am more than likely to be found eligible to stand under the Constitution, and am therefore in the clear to continue my work until my case is heard in the High Court.

But what really drives me is the second reason - there is so much more to do to make the New England a better place. Already, we have committed to installing or upgrading 37 mobile phone towers across our region, to improve the lives of those who live and travel through our rural communities.

I have batted hard for projects like the $17.2 million Northern Inland Centre of Sporting Excellence in Tamworth, a joint venture with the New South Wales Government and Tamworth Regional Council, so our region’s sporting talent doesn’t have to travel to Sydney to train and compete.

I’m enthusiastically driving projects like the $60 million Bolivia Hill realignment near Tenterfield, getting a $75 million commitment for the upgrade of the Dungowan Dam, and replacing the Jewry Street Bridge in Tamworth.

And of course, there’s the decentralisation of the APVMA to Armidale, integrated with the University of New England, creating a Centre of Agricultural Excellence in our own backyard.

This week, we have pushed ahead with legislation to establish the Regional Investment Corporation, a four billion dollar bank that will be based in regional Australia, to service regional Australia. 

And we are moving full speed ahead to build the Inland Rail, a corridor of commerce linking Brisbane to Melbourne through inland New South Wales. This will particularly benefit the New England, creating a national base for freight operations right on our doorstep.

The Nationals are driving an agenda to reinvigorate our regional economies, by growing our cities and towns off the back of the upswing in commodity prices, and through strategic investments in infrastructure like roads, bridges and dams.

I’ve worked hard to put myself in a position to do all these things, and now I want to see them through. I’m deeply humbled by the support I’ve received, and will continue working for you as hard as I can.