Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak to Senator Payne's valedictory. I know the date on which I met Marise. I can give you an exact date—I can actually give you an exact hour. It was on 20 October 2008. It was Senate estimates of that year. I had just started working for Mathias Cormann and I went along to the 8 am pre-estimates brief for the coalition senators and staff. It was my first estimates brief. I didn't really know what to expect. There was a young woman in the room, and I walked up to her and said: 'I'm Slade Brockman. I work for Mathias Cormann. Who do you work for?' And the answer I got—and I cannot do it justice—was 'Marise Payne—Senator'. Not only can I not do the voice; I cannot add the steel that was in the voice or the steel that was in the eye. But every single one of those opposite and all my colleagues know what I'm talking about.

The thing I want to reflect on briefly relates to my time as President of the Senate. Question time is obviously the time when the President is under a bit of pressure, has a few nerves, has to pay close attention to what's going on. As President, one thing that became clear to me very quickly was that Marise Payne, as a minister, gave a question the answer it deserved. If it was a genuine question, you got a genuine answer. If it was a political question or a trivial question, well, then you were lambasted very clearly, very quickly and very effectively by Senator Payne. If Senator Payne was answering a question—because of the way she answered questions—I knew that for at least a minute or two I could relax a little.

Senator Payne, you will be absolutely missed, and I wish you all the best for whatever the future holds.