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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 13 Hansard (27 November) . . Page.. 4911 ..

MRS BURKE (continuing):

I would like to give a huge "Well done"to Mr David Malloch, chair of Business Canberra, who did an extraordinary amount of work for and on behalf of the government and the minister, Mr Quinlan, in terms of paving the way and making the connections for the minister to the have the positive outcome that the minister did in signing the MOU in Washington DC. Mr Quinlan must be very pleased that he has such an energetic and enthusiastic chair of Business Canberra.

I would like to congratulate the following businesses, at the risk of boring members. It will not bore those people I mention, who will like the recognition. From Microforte, Steve Harris and John De Margheriti were there. From WetPC Pty Ltd, Peter Moran and Bruce MacDonald were there. It should be noted too that WetPC has been awarded a firm contract in the States, and I know that Mr Quinlan commented on that today. They are providing some pretty high-tech stuff, so we are flying high. We also had Dr Neil Miller and Bob Quodling from TASKey; Jed Johnson and Greg Slaven from Random Computing; Tony Firth and Dr John Ainge from Hatrix; Tim Oxley and Walt Heuer from Alacrity Technologies; Adrian Faccioni and Keith Lee from GP Sports; and Bill Barker and Scott Cargill from Traxsoftware.

I would also extend my grateful thanks to Geoff Keogh, of Business ACT, and give very special thanks to two wonderful women, Michelle Fulton and Annette Wrightson, who worked tirelessly to organise the whole trip, including me. I know just how much effort went into the amazing trip, so well done, ladies, and I thank you for that.

Israeli ambassador

MS MacDONALD (10.21): I will be brief. On Tuesday night I was fortunate enough to attend a dinner to farewell Israel's ambassador to Australia, Mr Garbi Levi, who has been the ambassador to Australia for four years. It was a very interesting dinner. There were people from all sides of the federal parliament, from the Australia-Israel friendship group. There were also a number of people from Jewish communities from around the country, particularly the Melbourne Jewish community, because one of the organisers of that group is Michael Danby, who of course has strong connections with the Melbourne Jewish community.

I understand that last night there was a farewell dinner in Melbourne for Mr Levi and his wife, Irit. I want to say that I wish him and his wife well in Israel. It was an interesting dinner. Although I do not necessarily always agree with the policies that come from the state of Israel in terms of achieving peace in the Middle East, I did agree with Mr Levi's comments about Israel wanting to achieve a two-state solution. I hope that the next ambassador has the same aims and aspirations and that the Israeli government works towards that.

On behalf of the people of the Jewish community of Canberra, of which I am a part, I would like to thank the ambassador.

Minister for Urban Services

MR CORNWELL (10.23): I would like to end this fortnight on a complimentary note actually, in regard to the Minister for Urban Services, Mr Wood. Mr Wood may recall that a constituent wrote to me with the suggestion that signs be put up in public and

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