Page 5761 - Week 15 - Thursday, 10 December 2009
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Also, the staff at the Assembly do a fantastic job—all of them. I think it probably is a pretty crazy place to work if you are a non-political person watching the goings-on in this place, but the staff here are highly trained professionals and execute their duties admirably and have done for the period of time that I have been at this Assembly, so, my thanks very much to them.
To members in this place, this is a fantastic and privileged position that we hold, but it is also a very difficult job as well. It is a very public job, so much more than many others in our community. It is, at times, personally a very difficult job, but I think, at the end of the day, we are all here to represent our community from different viewpoints, and, for most of the time, we are able to respect those different viewpoints even if we do not agree with them. To members, I hope you do have the opportunity to have a break and recharge, because we will all be back playing the same games in 2010, no doubt, and achieving a number of things as well.
To Meredith, in that formal Greens liaison role that we share, I acknowledge and thank you for assisting in making that job as smooth as it can be. Again, we do not always agree, but I think the channels of communication are always open and we are largely able to work through our problems. I look forward to continuing that.
To my ALP colleagues as well, it is great to be part of such a strong team—the Chief Minister, my ministerial colleagues and also John and Mary who hold the team together. For a small government—and we do travel around the country and see what is happening a bit—we do achieve a lot. The demands on us are tough, but it is a very privileged job, and I think we all take it very seriously.
To the staff in the public service, again, I never cease to be impressed as I go around performing my duties and coming into contact with public servants. I meet them every day in different roles. I am always impressed by the work that they do for our community. Again, many of those people could go and get easier and higher paying jobs, I am sure, particularly in the commonwealth area, but many of them do their jobs because they love them and because they make a difference for people in the ACT. To all of the staff right across all of my portfolio areas, including the Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services, with which I had an eight-year relationship in one form or another and which has ended this year with Joy Burch taking over that department entirely, I commend the work that you do.
I am living testament to the saying that it takes a village to raise a family. Thankfully, I have a very good village, particularly my partner, Dave; my sister, Clare; and Dave’s parents, Tim and Trish. They help enormously with the three children and allow me to do the job I do with only that little tiny bit of mother guilt that I come to work with every day. So, to my family, thank you for not complaining about the 6 o’clock in the morning phone calls and also the 9 o’clock phone calls at night. This public life is an intrusion into the lives of our family and friends, but mine support me very well, and I look forward to spending some time with them over the Christmas break.
MS PORTER (Ginninderra) (6.38): I would like to take this opportunity to briefly thank a few people who have helped us all make this a rewarding year. Being strongly committed to the service of the people of the ACT, I think all members of this place
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