Page 6275 - Week 19 - Tuesday, 17 December 1991
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during its entire three-year life, still be confronting this question of arriving at the new levels of finances and delivery of services that are needed within the constraints of that budget.
But I believe that legislation such as the planning legislation, which by anybody's standard is landmark legislation, is an achievement that the members of this Assembly can be justly proud of. When we look back at our record of legislation passed, we see that it is not only the planning legislation; there has been a lot of good legislation - the Weapons Bill and the Discrimination Bill, which others would have liked to call something else. They are pieces of legislation that any community can be proud of. So, I do not come to the end of the life of this First Assembly with any feeling of failure or any feeling of a lack of achievement. I think that we have done well, and I look forward to doing even more in the next three years.
I think it is regrettable that we all have not, perhaps, got along together as well as we might; but that is, I suppose, a part of the give and take of politics. We came with different political viewpoints, and sometimes that leads to heated debate on the floor of the house when others have a view different from one's own and one does not appreciate the manner in which that view is expressed. I think that probably none of us is free from some guilt in terms of being provocative at times. It leaves, if you like, a bit of a bitter aftertaste in one's mouth afterwards when one thinks that it could have been done much more pleasantly.
I would like to echo the remarks of the Speaker in terms of the thanks that I believe are due to the secretariat that supports this body, the committee secretariat, and our personal staff, who have not had it easy in many ways - and that, again, is perhaps a penalty that people pay for taking on the task of working for a politician. It is not easy. For my own part, I thank my own staff who have been loyal supporters for nearly three years. I think I should pay tribute to the senior officers at least of the ACT Government Service. I have always found them to be professional; I have always found that they have given me good advice when I have asked for it. It is not always the advice that I look for; but I believe, in retrospect, that it has always been good advice, and I look forward to working with those senior officers again.
So, at the end of the life of this first parliament of the ACT, I can say that I personally will look back on it with great satisfaction. To those that I have offended along the way, I apologise. I know that there are some who do not always like my manner; they see me perhaps as being a bit abrasive, and indeed I often am, because I think that in politics you have to, once in a while, be hard-nosed. You cannot always be as soft as marshmallow. In a way, I do not apologise for it. On the other hand, to those that I have offended, I do apologise.
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