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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 14 Hansard (11 December) . . Page.. 5034 ..

MR BERRY (Leader of the Opposition) (10.21): Unlike the Chief Minister, I have not enjoyed this period in this Assembly. I have not enjoyed the damage that has been done to the ACT by the Liberals opposite. Neither have I enjoyed the damage done by their Federal colleagues.

Mr Speaker, as this Third Assembly draws to a close, I would like to place on the record my appreciation of the many people who assist us in our work in this place and those who support us personally and professionally. Firstly, I would like to thank my colleagues in the Labor caucus who, over the last three years, have been hardworking and loyal - my deputy, Andrew Whitecross, Simon Corbell, Roberta McRae, Bill Wood, Marion Reilly, and my former colleagues Rosemary Follett and Terry Connolly. I have always appreciated their support, their hard work and commitment. It has been a good, solid team all the way along.

Behind these members are those that keep them going, their families and their staff. For most of us the two intermingle so greatly that our staff are more part of our families than simply employees. I thank all the present and former Labor staff who have worked with us over the past three years. I appreciate their commitment to the Labor Party's ideals and principles, their commitment to our party members and our party's supporters. Politicians expect a lot from their staff. They often apply themselves beyond the call of duty. Labor's work in the Assembly and in the community over the past three years has been a partnership with common goals and aspirations. For their sakes, I hope our goals are realised on 21 February. I thank the families and friends of my colleagues. It is a thankless task to be the family of a politician. They deserve thanks for allowing their spouse or parent or partner to be part of the Labor caucus, as we could not function quite as effectively without their contribution as well.

On behalf of the Labor caucus, I would like to thank Clerk McRae and the Secretariat staff. They have at all times been professional, discreet and helpful. They often need to respond to some of the most simple and sometimes the most complex requests, and they have always tried to fulfil them as efficiently and effectively as possible. This is an apolitical mob, but now and then you can just catch a little glimpse, if you search it out when there is a debate in the chamber which is amusing or unusual, and the professional stony face sometimes changes just a wee bit. It is good to see that we have a bunch of strong, professional human beings working for us here in this Assembly.

I wish to thank the committee staff. The committee office performs the most difficult political juggling act in this building. They need to draw together the divergent political views in a way that will attract cross-partisan support, and I believe they do this very successfully. I would also like to thank the attendants and those corporate staff around the place who make up all the wages and work out the holidays and all those sorts of things for staff around the place. They do it in a very professional way. Of course, I also thank Barry, who makes the whistles and bells around the place continue to whistle and jingle. My appreciation is also extended to our Assembly library staff. They all make us feel that we have a personal librarian.

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