I RISE to speak on a matter of grave importance – the need to get rid of the worst government in Australia in the past 40 years ...but, first, allow me to make some observations.

I want to thank John Howard and John Anderson. It is a privilege to have them here, and it was a pleasure to serve with them in what I believe was one of the very best governments ever in Australia’s history.

Thank-you everyone for coming along tonight. I know some of you have travelled a very long way to be here and I really appreciate it. I feel honoured by the presence of every one of you here tonight.

THE collapse of the European carbon price has laid bare the absurdity of the Gillard government's energy-based taxes on production.

The Australian carbon tax, at $23 a tonne and rising, and the almost-as-expensive renewable energy tax are killing the competitiveness of our businesses.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, and I thank Dr Bui for inviting me here today.

On April 30, 38 years ago, North Vietnamese tanks rolled through the gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon. The war was over, but the struggle for many Vietnamese had only begun. In the weeks before the fall of Saigon and after, millions of Vietnamese fled the country in fear of persecution by the communists, and to escape the poverty that grew rife under their rule.

Bob Katter's decision to recruit leftwing ex-union leader Dean Mighell to write his party’s industrial relations policy should worry all regional Australians, Queensland Senator Ron Boswell and Senate candidate Matthew Canavan said today.