Page 4120 - Week 13 - Thursday, 6 December 2007
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bunch of fun here and I thank them for that collective entertainment. I love watching them give these blokes a serve; I find that very, very entertaining. Well done, colleagues.
Conversely, I must also extend a merry Christmas and thanks for the entertainment to my government MLA colleagues and the backbenchers. I would like to particularly thank the Clerk, Tom; Max; Janice; all of your staff; and all of the attendants who work so hard to keep us in order here.
I would also like to thank the staff of our parliamentary party. We have got a very, very good bunch of people upstairs and it is a joy to work with them. I thank my supporters in the broader Liberal Party organisation and wish them a merry Christmas.
And, very importantly, I wish merry Christmas to my constituents—those whom I am here to serve. I particularly highlight one group within that broader span: members of our emergency services. I wish them a merry Christmas; I wish them a safe and an uneventful Christmas.
Finally, I thank my family—my wife, my daughter and my son—who put up with my absences and my presence in this particular place.
Mrs Dunne interjecting—
MR PRATT: Yes, I know; they celebrate while I am stuck in here giving the opposition a little bit of stick.
I would like to finish by saying merry Christmas to everybody and a happy new year. I look forward to seeing you all back here in 2008.
MR HARGREAVES (Brindabella—Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Minister for Housing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (6.07): I would like to join with my opposite number, Mr Pratt, in thanking the people in Canberra who put up with his presence over the last 12 months. That has got to take the cake for the best Prattie-ism of the year. That was superlative.
Mr Pratt: I didn’t say that.
MR HARGREAVES: You did. Seriously, Mr Speaker, I would like to join my colleagues and also I rise in this place to add Mary Porter’s voice to mine. I know that I extend the best wishes of everybody in this place to Mary for a speedy recovery from her operation. On my own behalf and on behalf of Mary, I would like to thank our staff.
I thank my chief of staff, Geoff Gosling; senior adviser, Jim Mallett; Caitlin Bessell; Kim Fischer; Stacey Pegg; and all of the DLOs who have been so fantastic in my office. They are truly professionals.
I would also like to say thankyou to Annika, Emma and Ian from Mary’s office for the support that they have given to not only Mary but also the wider Labor caucus. It has been really professional and I appreciate it very much.
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