Page 3995 - Week 10 - Thursday, 28 August 2008
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I absolutely adore the job I do. I love what I do. Often I do not like the politics of politics. I think most of us in this place would agree that we tend to say things that we feel later we should not have said, but they cannot be taken back because they are down in perpetuity. They are there in black and white. To anybody that I may have offended verbally in this place, please accept my apology.
At times things get heated, but I think we all know that we are all under the same pressure. People outside of this place do not fully understand that, and we cannot try and justify that. To those on the opposite side of the house, I respect what you do.
I thank all my colleagues, too, for their support. I really look forward to being a part of a Zed-led government. I have to have a belief in that, as you guys opposite do. I truly believe that we can do this. There are ebbs and flows in politics. It is like the seasons. I think this is our season, our time.
I would like to thank Mrs Dunne, Mr Smyth and Mr Pratt. Thank you to the two boys for giving me your cold, I so appreciate that. It was like a pincer attack.
Mr Pratt: We share and scare.
MRS BURKE: We do. It has been an honour to serve my community. Somebody called me Mrs Community once, like Ms Porter. I do not mind that; that is okay. As Dr Foskey said, there have to be people that work at that community level. I am happy to wear that label. That is fine; I love it.
I love what I do and I am honoured to serve people. If they think I have done a good enough job, come 18 October I will be back here. I am positive that I will be, but that will be up to the electorate. None of us can take anything for granted. I look forward to serving Canberra in the Seventh Assembly with the same passion, compassion, energy and enthusiasm that I believe I have shown. As I said, I look forward to being part of a Zed-led Liberal government.
Finally, last but not least, to those people that will be moving on to some new climes, it is good to see that this place does turn over and churn. We need fresh blood. We need new injections of people from time to time.
To Ms MacDonald, I so look forward to your coming back in here with your hubby with that baby in arms. I know that you are going to make a great mum. You really will. Thank you for the work that you have done on the committees.
I thank Ms Porter too. We have had some interesting times, but we have got through a lot of stuff this last term. That has been good.
To Dr Foskey, I know that you, too, have had your own challenges. I admire you greatly. I admire your commitment to what you do and the way you have gone about it and your dedication to the job in this term.
To Mr Berry—what can I say? I think Mr Seselja put it very, very succinctly. We honour your service. We honour what you have done, sir. We honour the fact that you
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