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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 10 Hansard (30 August) . . Page.. 3884 ..

MR KAINE (continuing):

work and to know that you are working with a team of 16 other dedicated professional people, all working together in the public interest. There is something about that that makes you feel warm and fuzzy.

In many ways we are like a big family. There have been black days when people like Ted, Brendan, Gary or Michael have dashed off to Beijing, Johannesburg or Shangri-la, or wherever they go. You know that while they are away something is going to be missing from the zest of the cut and thrust in this place. But everything returns to normal. They all come home, and we are back having that wonderful time again.

Of course, as in any family, there are one or two who want you to feel they know you are there and they care. Gary and Michael occasionally rattle my chain just to let me they are aware that I am here and that they care. That makes me feel very warm and fuzzy inside. But after a little while you settle down and you revert back to normal. It has been for me a wonderful feeling of family and achievement working with this wonderful team.

There are a few people I would like to acknowledge. Sandy has been a wonderful support to me in more ways than one. I thank Rod and Dougal. I do not think this place would be quite the same if Rod were not here. He has provided loyal service to me, and I hope he continues to do so into the future.

The staff of this place serve us beyond the call of duty constantly. No matter what hour of the night or day you walk in or out of this building, there is the cheerful face of an attendant to greet you or to say goodnight or whatever. We as members of this place would be absolutely lost without the secretariat staff and the committee staff.

There are, however, one or two other people who work in this place who are very much unsung. There are the ladies who beaver away like lilies of the field in the library. Most of us do not even know they are there. Yet they work long and hard for us. I would like to record my thanks to them for the support they have given to me and the rest of us over the last 31/2 years.

Having acknowledged all those people, I wish everyone every success at the next election, which is not far away now. Michael, I wish you well in whatever it is you are going to be doing on 21 October. Who knows, we may be sharing adjoining offices.

I am looking forward to yet another election. This is the fifth one for me. Those of us who go back to 1974-you, Mr Speaker, and you, Mr Hird-have been through three or four extra elections that for most people are lost in the mists of time. We have been through a few elections, but I am looking forward to another one. I do not know what the outcome will be. Maybe I will be sitting here again with this big happy family after October; maybe I will not. If I am not here, then I wish those of you who are every success in the future.

Valedictory

MR STEFANIAK (Minister for Education and Attorney-General) (11.06): As someone who, like Mr Wood and Mr Humphries, came into this Assembly in May 1989, so long ago now, I am sad to see my colleague Michael Moore leave. I remember when he came in as part of an interesting collection of people called the Residents Rally.

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