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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 14 Hansard (12 December) . . Page.. 4944 ..

Mr Moore: Especially.

MS McRAE: Especially satirical writing, but very much on the radio as well. I would like to pay credit to Rosemary for the way she would bounce back every time, the way she would take on board all our whinges and all the reactions of anguish that one has.

No matter what anybody says about the level of a tough skin that you should have before you enter public life, there is no escaping the fact that each of those attacks on you certainly has an effect. I cannot imagine it being very pleasant for you, Mrs Carnell, to wake up to some of the cartoons that are so elegantly displayed in the Canberra Times. Whilst that is all part of public life, I grant, I would like to put on record how well Rosemary dealt with that and how much of her strength we took from her capacity to keep going despite the constant level of criticism, reflection, sometimes fair comment and sometimes unfair comment. The constancy of the surveillance would have flattened me well and truly well before it ever did Rosemary. I think that is a strength that we all drew from, that we all learnt from and that set a standard that we at least know one person achieved. At various times when we think things are perhaps a little unfair or unnecessary, it enables us to say, "Other people have been through it and they have survived and have perhaps got a bit tougher for it".

I am very pleased that Rosemary has the opportunity to take up such a satisfying job, something that will test her capabilities and keep her involved in work that has significance both for herself and for the Territory. It is a very healthy sign that those sorts of opportunities are available for politicians. Most of all, I want to put on record my immense admiration of her skill in dealing with the political and public life that she has been involved in and my gratitude for the things I learnt whilst watching her at work.

MR MOORE (1.01 am): Mr Speaker, I am going to take the debate in a different direction at the moment. I shall come back to Rosemary Follett. The other day a member of the staff of the Assembly, whom I work with very closely, brought me a desk calendar. This followed some very friendly debates that we had had at various times. He pulled off the page from 9 December. The proverb from Robert Frost was, "Don't be agnostic - be something", which I thought was entirely appropriate. It gave me the idea that what I should do this Christmas is apply a desk calendar proverb to each member. I will take that as having been applied unto myself.

Ms Tucker is the first one that I thought I would apply a proverb to. Ms Tucker, from 7 March the proverb is, "There is luck in odd numbers". I thought it might be worth Ms Tucker concentrating more on the numbers, particularly odd numbers. Ms McRae, I chose for you, from 22 October, from Lily Tomlin: "We're all in this together - by ourselves". For Mr Osborne, from 21 February: "He's half absolv'd who has confess'd". I think, considering the number of times he confesses, he is probably fully absolved. Mr Wood, who, I know, is very keen on this sort of thing, will be pleased that his came from Edmund Burke, from 25 January: "Ambition can creep as well as soar".

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