O’Brien delivers 30 speeches in 33 days
Palmer delivered 30 speeches in 33 months
It’s taken Ted O’Brien just 33 days in Parliament to equal what his predecessor Clive Palmer achieved in 33 months as the Member for Fairfax.
This evening Ted O’Brien will rise to deliver his thirtieth speech to the Australian Parliament. His record of speaking nearly once a day is in stark contrast to Mr Palmer’s lack-lustre effort of speaking barely once a month.
Mr O’Brien has also been present for all 160 divisions within the 45th Parliament, already that’s nearly five times the number of his predecessor.
Clive Palmer attended only 33 divisions or a dismal 7.6 per cent of the 431 contested votes held in the Parliament during his one and only term in office.
Mr O’Brien continues to achieve a 100 per cent attendance rate, while Mr Palmer was absent for 83 of the 190 days the House sat. At 56.4 per cent Mr Palmer’s attendance ranked lowest among his parliamentary colleagues.
Beyond all that, it took Ted O’Brien to secure delivery on Clive Palmer’s campaign promise to provide finance for the Sunshine Coast Airport expansion project.
The Coalition Government announced last year it would provide a $181 million concessional loan for the Sunshine Coast Council.
Ted O’Brien was beaten by Clive Palmer in the 2013 election by just 53 votes. Mr O’Brien reclaimed the seat for the LNP on 2 July last year on a two party preferred vote of 60.89 per cent.
*Speech counts of the two MPs as per Hansard via their APH websites (plus three speeches for Mr O’Brien delivered today 15/02/17)