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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 10 Hansard (Thursday, 26 August 2004) . . Page.. 4448 ..

Catherine, Kathy, Chiew Yee and Siew Chin very much for all the work they do in chasing down the press releases, with which we are always slow.

I come the chamber support staff. We all remember the late Celia Harsdorf with a great deal of affection and will never forget her. To Anne, Tammie, Celeste and Janice, thanks very much. I have a couple of special mentions—Mark McRae, who has moved on, another one of the notable turning points in the term of this Assembly, and the two new crewmen at the helm.

I think it is important to say that the arrival of “Midnight” Max seems to have changed everything. It is an eerie thought that “Midnight” Max is getting a mention as we approach midnight. “Midnight” Max has seen in his time here more late night sittings than any other person. Max holds the record. With Max at the table we have had motions of grave concern, censure, no confidence and contempt. We have had late nights. We had a storming of the Assembly, with the police arriving 15 minutes later. We have a man who will see his beloved St Kilda come to the fore for the first time since 1966. Max, for all your endeavours, well done.

I turn to Tom Duncan, the newly-elevated Clerk. For a Collingwood supporter to be sitting next to a St Kilda man at the height of their game must be tough. For those of you that do not know, Tom will be off overseas soon. Travel well. His birthday will be next week and nuptials are in the air. Congratulations, Tom.

I turn to the group we do not thank, the media. We only have one representative of the media with us, Mr Quinn. We do not always agree with the media as it does not always get it right, but we do respect what the media does. For the members of the media to understand us is probably as hard as it is for us to understand how they understand us. To the representatives of radio, TV and the print media—joining the Canberra Times and the Chronicle we now have City News and, in Tuggeranong, the Word—I say that getting the news out is really important and is a hard job. Well done to you.

Mr Speaker, as I sit here I sometimes seek inspiration on how to thwart you as Speaker. It is interesting to see the poacher turned gamekeeper smirk and to think about how much grief we all must have caused you over the last year, but I will say on my behalf and on behalf of my team that you have done a really good job, Wayne. Congratulations. As a Speaker, I think that you have been exemplary.

I will finish with a quick wrap-up. I thank my colleagues for all their support. Thanks very much to all the staff that look after this side of the house, wherever you are. I thank my personal staff—Tim Dillon, who was kind enough to stay on; Mal Baalman; Sandy Tanner, Anthony Williamson; Skye and Amy; Keith Old, who can find any information you want wherever; Ian Wearing, the gentlemen farmer who would much prefer swords to ploughshares, I suspect; Tim McGhie, who always comes through with the goods; Dinah, the miracle worker who has looked after all six of us; and the chief of staff, James, who has somehow managed to retain his sanity, although I am not so sure how much longer it will last.

Ladies and gentlemen, best of luck in your endeavours, best of luck in the Assembly. Who knows how many of us will be back, but it is worth the fight, it is worth the go,

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