Saturday 7th July Senator Boswell Leader of The Nationals in the Senate Your Excellency, Cardinal Cassidy, Your Graces, Archbishop Ambrose de Paoli (Apostolic Nuncio to Australia), Archbishop Charles Chaput, Archbishop Phillip Wilson, Bishop Anthony Fisher, Bishop Jeffrey Jarrett, Bishop Max Davis, Fr. Gregory Jordan, Associate Professor Tracey Rowland, Senator Cory Bernardi and other parliamentarians; Mr Peter Bugden, Chairman of Catholic Super, and Aaron Russell, President of the Australian Catholic Students Association.   Ladies and gentlemen. Firstly, I would like to pass on to you the Prime Minister’s greetings and sincere regrets that other commitments prevented him from attending this evening. He has asked me to represent him. You have a major address coming from Bishop Anthony tonight so I will keep my remarks short. Everyone keeps reminding me that the Gettysburg Address is one of the most famous speeches in history yet it took only two minutes to say and has only 266 words. To the point then. “Your country needs you.” Your country needs your youth, your intelligence, your compassion, your vision. But most of all, your country needs your faith. You are a minority among your peers and in the great world beyond. Because of this, each of you has to shoulder a heavy load. And the heaviest lifting is done in our Parliaments. With one vote in a House of Parliament, you can change life for millions. With one vote, you can influence policy and the political agenda. Australia has legalised cloning for the wont of one vote changing sides. I urge you to complete your degrees, have good careers, get married, have a family and think seriously about entering parliament. Your single vote may make the difference to so many. Politics is not a popular vocation. It is not easy but an inch by inch slog. It is very tough on families. It is confronting, ugly, disillusioning, compromising, cruel and unforgiving. One of my favourite sayings  is, “if you want a friend in politics, bring a dog.” But politics is the frontier where compassion fights greed, nobility attacks mediocrity, vision assaults negativity, sincerity is at war with spin and where even life challenges death. Faith gives you the energy for the battle. You have to be committed. You have to be determined to not let the bad guys win. They will win if you are not there. Your generation must stand up to the plate and offer leadership for the future. Heaven forbid you should arrive at the pearly gates one day with tales of the rotten world on earth and God says:- “your vote could have prevented that. I gave you youth, compassion, vision, intelligence and I gave you faith to accomplish great things. Why did you not use these gifts to help my people?” So, my dear young friends in faith, get a good job, get married, have kids – and then come back to Canberra ready to shoulder some serious burdens. This is where you can make the greatest difference for Australia. This is where you are most needed. Don’t be the one vote missing on a crucial piece of legislation. Be the one vote that counts - by being there. END