Page 1559 - Week 05 - Thursday, 2 June 2022
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he will miss you—all of the colourful array of the relationship that you had together in the very long time that you have spent together in politics.
Giulia, thank you for your service to the people of, first, Molonglo and then Murrumbidgee. Thank you for what you have done for our party and for our movement. Best wishes with everything.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong) (11.00), by leave: This morning, on behalf of the ACT Greens, I rise to acknowledge Mrs Jones on the occasion of her resignation from the Assembly.
Let me start by acknowledging the difficulty of that decision. Mrs Jones was first elected in October 2012 for what was then the seat of Molonglo, later contesting the seat of Murrumbidgee, around her home area of Weston Creek, when the Assembly moved to five electorates in 2016.
She has now been elected to this place three times, which is, in and of itself, a significant accomplishment. In that context, the decision to resign partway through a term is undoubtedly a very difficult one. My impression has always been that Mrs Jones was deeply committed to her role in the Assembly, bringing a passion to her work that underlines that this is not a decision she will have made lightly.
Let me touch on a few examples of the things I have appreciated about Mrs Jones during her time in the Assembly. One matter that has always motivated me is something that Mrs Jones and I have in common. We both passionately believe in protecting, caring for and creating the best possible future for the upcoming generation. Mrs Jones has sought to bring issues to this place that reflect that conviction.
I appreciate the way that Mrs Jones spoke out about the right to breastfeed in public, about the challenges faced by women in the AMC and about the importance of celebrating our multicultural society and catering for everyone, no matter their cultural background. I appreciate Mrs Jones’s pride in her own heritage and the fact that she has shown photographic evidence of that pride in this chamber—her childhood self, dancing at a festival in Italian ethnic dress. I appreciate that she has channelled her pride into building relationships across so many of Canberra’s different multicultural communities, attending so many different events—possibly not as many as Mr Cain, but certainly a great number.
My colleagues also appreciated her advocacy as a member for Murrumbidgee, in particular being able to work together with her in the multiparty effort to save Coolo park.
To my best knowledge, Mrs Jones is the only member of this place to feature in a RiotACT calendar. No doubt members will recall that Mrs Jones has landed some pretty colourful descriptions of various members over the years. The thing I have always reflected on, as those barbs were delivered, is that in those moments I appreciate that Mrs Jones brings real passion to this place. It is hard to know whether to be insulted or amused when you are being referred to as “anti-family”, “anti-mum”,
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