Page 1551 - Week 05 - Thursday, 2 June 2022
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There are so many advocates, activists and passionate people across the city who have assisted me in this place over the last decade—some in the not-for-profit sector, some in unions and some worked for government. Advice, information and insights, at times activism on issues, were often only ever a phone call away. I will not name you, mostly because you do your best work without being targeted, but to those who have helped me, taught me, advocated positions for me, shared private and tragic experiences with me and got things done with me: thank you. You were often the grease that kept my parliamentary wheels turning.
Now to all of you, my esteemed colleagues, first to the other side of the chamber—Mr Barr. It is not easy to get behind the hard exterior, and no-one could accuse Mr Barr of being too soft, but there is a heart in there. I think that the most shocking thing I ever did to Mr Barr was to get him a glass of water when he was choking. Maybe we are harsh in debate at times, but I do not think I have ever seen him so grateful or shocked. Thank you for your service to this city, Chief Minister, especially on the hard days. We do have some very different views, but, for the service you have rendered, thank you.
Ms Berry, the long-term cabinet mum: no other long-term member of cabinet knows what it is really like for us who blend hard work and family and all that entails. As Yvette herself commented once, it surprises you sometimes in life, the people that you become friends with, and I count Yvette as a friend. She first said g’day after being elected in 2012, at the ABC studios on Northbourne Avenue—and hasn’t it been a ride since?
Ms Stephen-Smith, I have got to give it to you; the pandemic was harsh on you, and you kept turning up and doing your job day after day. Hindsight is a strange thing, and I am sure there are things we would all do differently, but the sheer volume of work that you and your staff did very few will ever know. Thanks also for staying on the phone when we were having one of my chats about a new restriction or something and a very disturbed individual was screaming at me on the footpath late one night outside my home about how Mr Barr and I had ruined his life. That was a hard night, and I was grateful that you did not hang up. I will never forget thinking, as he took off down the street, shouting, “You and Mr Barr can go and eff each other,” that this man was clearly not well researched, or he would have known I am not really Mr Barr’s type!
The most surprising moment of my tenure here was Mr Gentleman answering my emails during the bushfires. As shadow emergency services, during the 2020 summer fires, I had a lot of work to do with you, and I am still amazed that the minister with whom no-one can ever get an appointment actually replied to my emails directly. Well done, Mick; keep it up.
Mr Steel, unflatteringly referred to as the “mini Barr”: you can be heartless in debate. But I have to give it to you: after many failing to act before you—and possibly out of pure self-interest—you have done more for playgrounds than anyone else in the city services portfolio has done in decades.
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