Page 2664 - Week 08 - Friday, 1 July 2005
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Mr Stefaniak and Mr Humphries in their periods as Attorney-General and minister for justice.
Mr Malouf was exemplary in the conduct of his duties. I am very aware and conscious—and I think everybody in this place is—of the sometimes difficult line a departmental liaison officer is required to tread. It is a position in which the occupant is required to observe the highest standards of public service but it must be done within the confines of a political office and a political environment. I am very aware that it is not always an easy task. I think it has to be said that John Malouf has exemplified the professionalism of ACT public servants and of those who serve in this place in the role of departmental liaison officer.
It has been a great privilege for me to work with John Malouf. He has been wonderful to work with. He was professional and energetic, and always willing to assist—a human being that it was a privilege and a pleasure to be associated with and to be around. I will miss John enormously. I wish him the best in his retirement. He tells me that some quite active plans have been made for him by his wife. He is looking forward very much to a very active and enjoyable retirement. I am sure I speak for everybody in this place when I wish John Malouf a happy and long retirement, and I hope we continue our relationship with him in the future. It has been absolutely fantastic working with John, and I appreciate everything he has done for me, for the Assembly and for the government.
I would also like to take the opportunity today to acknowledge that the chief executive officer of the Department of Justice and Community Safety, Mr Tim Keady, will be leaving the services of the ACT to take up a position as a magistrate in the New South Wales local court. Mr Keady has just one more week of his term of engagement left. I think I again speak for everybody in this place who has had the occasion to work with Tim Keady or be the recipient or beneficiary of his very steady, always excellent and professional advice over the past nine years.
It is noteworthy that Mr Keady is the longest serving chief executive within the ACT government, having been appointed to the position he now occupies nine years ago. During that time he has also served successive attorneys of both political persuasions over extended periods. I am sure Mr Stefaniak will join me in saying that there has never, on any occasion in that time, on either side of politics in this place, been any suggestion that Mr Keady has been anything other than the most thoroughly professional exponent of the art of public service and leadership. He is the classic exemplar of frankness and fearlessness, honesty and objectivity in providing advice to a government or a minister.
Mr Keady has a wonderful record of achievement as head of the department of justice. He has led major reform in a whole range of areas from corrections, through the courts, into every aspect of community safety and justice. If one were to do an accounting of the enormous reform, change, significant projects and issues that have been a feature of the role of the chief executive of the department of justice within the territory during his years in this position, one would have a full understanding of the enormous contribution that Tim Keady has made, through the ACT government, to the people of the ACT. I wish Tim Keady all the best in his future career as a magistrate. He will adorn that profession just as he has adorned the role he has carried and fulfilled for the past nine years.
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