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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3366 ..

MR OSBORNE (continuing):

The second woman was old, and the years had etched themselves deeply in her face. Her beauty was internal - proving the quote from the Little Prince: "That which is most important is invisible to the eye". Her celebrity did not come by anyone else's hand, nor could you really say that she sought it. It came because her work had the power to move people. In her, people saw that real power comes from absolute faith and from absolute commitment to a cause. It comes when someone is prepared to give up everything to follow a belief. When we meet those people, we can understand the meaning of the phrase that faith has the power to move mountains, or to move people by their thousands.

In a life of complete devotion to her God and the poor, she became known to the rich. She owned nothing but a single change of clothes, but was courted by the beautiful and the powerful. She had little formal education, but was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. She was a Christian living in a Hindu country, but was loved by Christians, Hindus and Muslims alike. Such was the power of her faith that it resonated around the world and crossed the barriers of faith that so often divide us. Mother Teresa's death came a week after Princess Diana's, and it was noted but did not stop the world. Perhaps it is fitting. Mother Teresa's death was not so much mourned as celebrated. Her death, like that of the God she followed, reminded us of the value of life. I can think of no more fitting tribute.

I would like to finish with a quote from Mother Teresa's book which I think all of us here could take in:

If we were humble, nothing would change us - neither praise nor discouragement. If someone were to criticise us, we would not feel discouraged. If someone were to praise us, we also would not feel proud.

MR WHITECROSS (6.33): Mr Speaker, I want to take this opportunity in the adjournment debate to respond to some remarks that the Chief Minister made in the course of her answers in question time, to the effect that, while I was attending the launch of the Novell Canberra Cosmos season last night, I was so inundated with abuse about my concerns about her management of the finances of the Territory that I was forced to leave. Mr Speaker, I did attend that function and I spoke to a number of people, including the president of the Canberra Cosmos, Mr Ian Knop. My colleague Roberta McRae also attended that function and spoke to a number of people. Mr Speaker, nobody who spoke to me or Ms McRae berated us, abused us or expressed any real anxiety that, if the Labor Party were elected after February, there would not be Olympic soccer played in Canberra - presumably, because none of them believe this myth that the Chief Minister is trying to get out into the community.

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