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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 1 Hansard (28 April) . . Page.. 24 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

It is great in some of those low moments when somebody comes around and cracks a joke with you or when you do actually have family members that are willing to stand on a roadside and wave a placard at passing traffic. It is great to get a laugh. Particularly, to the voters of Brindabella, to all those people of Tuggeranong, Chifley, Pearce and Torrens, I say thank you, because you had faith in me and were willing to vote for me. I will work very hard to deliver all that we have promised.

One of the reasons that I ended up here was my family. I am a father of two. To my wife, Glenda, I would say: You are my greatest inspiration. The things that drive me here to serve, to look out and work for the community, I think, are encapsulated in my love for you. I thank you for your love in return. I hope that what I do here, the things that I help create, the things that I help build, will make it a better world for you, my family.

Comment has been made in the press about what they call my transition "from the Big House to the Little House". Perhaps it should be called "from one place to a better place". But the bottom line is that people were asking, "Why would you do it?". For me, the answer is very simple. It is the opportunity to serve the same people. Whether you serve them federally and meet their needs in the Federal Parliament or whether you serve them here and meet their needs in the Territory parliament, they are still the same people. The number of constituents that I have seen in the short time that I have been a member still have the same problems and are still raising the same issues. They still deserve the same care and attention that all of us here, I am sure, will deliver to them. So, I think it is perhaps not "from the Big House to the Little House"; in the future I am going to refer to it as "from one place to a better place". I am sure I will enjoy my time here.

I will finish by saying that what prompts me to be here today is the opportunity to give something back to Canberra. I have lived here for almost 30 years now and quite enjoy and love my life here. I have seen Canberra grow from a small community to a wonderful city of 300,000 people. In the time that I am here, whether it be short or long - and I hope it is very long - I will always endeavour to build something better and to ensure that the way we live is not affected and that the purpose we serve as the nation's capital is served the best way we can. The Chief Minister, in her acceptance speech after she was endorsed by this Assembly as Chief Minister, spoke about our not just being the clever city and called on industry and the people to be clever. She said, "It is time for the Government to be clever". I am in full accord with that. This Government and this Assembly should use the assets and the resources available to us, firstly, to lead by example and, secondly, to create a better city.

I will finish where I began. For me, it is all about service. If we lose sight of the reason why we are here - and I am here to serve the people of Brindabella - then we simply become self-servers. That leads to the distrust that the people of Australia have about some of their politicians. I am about service. I hope to serve the people of Brindabella well and I will do that in my time here.

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