Page 6155 - Week 14 - Thursday, 9 December 2010
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wishes to all members of this place most particularly for the holiday season and for Christmas.
It is a combative adversarial role that we have as politicians. It is, at some levels, an essential part of the business of politics. It is an essential part of a strong operating democracy. I am sure that from time to time as each of us stops to reflect on the extent to which we perform or the quality of our performance, we understand that, at its heart, it is at times a difficult and testing arena and profession. But we all know that and accept it.
I believe that in this season, as we reflect on the past year and reflect on the future, it is appropriate to acknowledge that and acknowledge the role that each of us plays as a member of this Assembly and as a vital part of a functioning democracy. It is appropriate to acknowledge, to the extent that we see things, that we have the same essential interests at heart—namely, a determination to work for this community and to improve this community as we see appropriate.
In that vein I quite genuinely wish to take the opportunity to wish everybody in this place all the best for the season and all the best for the new year. It is a tough job. It is a job that is hard, most particularly, on our families and it is appropriate that we acknowledge that that is the case—not just for our personal individual families but friends and circles. We acknowledge that, whilst we find it hard, we are very aware of the enormous impact that our role and focus has on us from time to time and the difficulties which our families sometimes face as a result of that. I extend my best wishes to the families of all members and acknowledge their important part in our capacity to do the jobs that we do.
So best wishes to everybody in this place and to your families. I hope you enjoy a peaceful and happy Christmas and Christmas season. I take the opportunity, as I am sure each of us does—on my own behalf and on behalf of government members—to acknowledge the enormous contribution of all of the staff in this place and all of our public service in terms of the service they deliver, their devotion to their duties and the energy, time and effort that they put into serving the government and, through the government in this place, the community. So happy Christmas everybody. Garner your strength. I look forward to seeing you all next year and working with you in future.
Valedictory
MR SESELJA (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (5.34): I would like to join with the Chief Minister in wishing everyone in the Assembly a happy and holy Christmas, and particularly my Liberal Party colleagues—Brendan, Jeremy, Vicki, Alistair and Steve—for their hard work this year. I would like to acknowledge that.
I would like to wish Mr Stanhope, Ms Gallagher, Mr Corbell, Mr Barr, Ms Burch, Mr Hargreaves and you, Madam Deputy Speaker Porter, from the Labor team a very merry Christmas. To our Greens colleagues—Ms Hunter, Mr Rattenbury, Ms Bresnan and Ms Le Couteur—a very merry Christmas to each one of you and your families.
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