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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 14 Hansard (12 December) . . Page.. 4494 ..

MR HARGREAVES (continuing):

Other people have expressed their appreciation to corporate services. The corporate services people put our pay in the bank so we can pay our bills. They also take care of our travel arrangement. Ian Duckworth and his team do a great job. I really appreciate the work they do.

I come to the committee office. The thing we do not understand about the committee office is that they do the hard work and we look good. Without Judith Henderson, Jane Carmody, Derek Abbott and all of the guys in the committee office we would look pretty mediocre. I appreciate you very much.

The Clerk's office are fantastic, from Stephanie to my second greatest Collingwood mate, Mr Duncan, to the greatest Collingwood supporter of all time, Mr McRae, whom I owe nothing at the moment in the way of Mars bars. I appreciate the Clerk's support.

I wish you and your families a very peaceful and a very safe Christmas. I hope Santa brings you lots of lollies. If it had not been for my wife Jan's family and my family, I would have had a bit of trouble struggling through the last year. I owe my wife a great debt.

In my office Maria and Andrew have been my saviours. They are the people who say, "No, you are not on a pillar. Your ego is not up there; it is down here, thank you very much."They bring me back to earth, and I am grateful for that.

I am grateful for the support and the humour from across the chamber. I love the crossbench to death. They are always good fodder if I want to crack a joke. Thank you very much, Kerrie, Ros and Helen.

I thank Bill Stefaniak for being the opposition whip. We have had a great time. I thank the opposition. If you want to take the mickey out of someone, they are always there in a moment of crisis. I appreciate that very much. I wish all of the senators-to-be the very best of luck in their bid for glory. I wish whoever is elected Deputy Leader of the Opposition all the best of luck. It is a tough job, a tough ask. Only one of you can get the job, but I wish the lot of you the best of luck over Christmas. I hope Santa brings you a Senate job in your Christmas bag.

Mr Speaker, I said in a previous speech that you terrified the life out of me when I first came into this place. I was worried about that rampant lefty. Mr Speaker, you have lived up to all of my expectations, and I still regard you as one of my heroes.

I wish you all the very best for the Christmas and the New Year. I hope we have a barrel of laughs next year as we have had this year, and let us do the best we can for the people of Canberra next year.

Valedictory

MR STEFANIAK (9.54): I was going to put you all in positions in a rugby team, but I have not had time to do that, so I will leave it for another occasion.

Mr Quinlan: It is called a scrum, Bill.

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