Page 6023 - Week 14 - Thursday, 8 December 2011
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comes to the presentation of some things, but I am grateful, particularly to you, Kate, for putting up with all that.
As has been said, I wish everyone a very merry Christmas. As it has also been said, I ask you to pause and consider the reason for the season. We all look forward to the hustle and bustle of 2012.
Valedictory
MS BURCH (Brindabella—Minister for Community Services, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Women and Minister for Gaming and Racing) (6.11): I want to briefly make some comments and wish people well as we come to the end of the year.
To the Assembly staff, the committees, attendants and the clerks, for wise wisdom over the year, thank you for the work that you do. You keep us all honest, on board and functioning day to day. I imagine that sitting weeks are as exciting for you as they are for us at times.
I want to extend an acknowledgement to Kas Paul, who has certainly served us well over his time here. I do not know if it was deliberate or not, but we have moved from a Kas to a Jas, so that will be very easy in many ways for next year.
Ms Porter: We could go through the alphabet.
MS BURCH: We could. I want to also thank the staff in my office—Phil, Joel, Chris, Erin, Victor and Emma—who have provided some very solid background and a stabilising influence in the hurly-burly of this office. Their advice and support to me have been extraordinary, and I want to thank them for that. Two staff have left my office in the year—Neil Finch and Amy, who have gone on to other things. I want to thank them for their work as well.
To the Community Services Directorate staff, executive and front-line workers, I want to thank them for the work they do for our community, whether it is in the electorate of Brindabella, Molonglo or Ginninderra. These are the people that get out front each and every day and look after families that are doing it tough. They deserve the respect and goodwill of all members in this place.
I want to thank the Labor team here: the Chief Minister, Katy; Andrew; Simon; and Chris. I am going to give you that red question mark badge for February, Chris, so that you get a good serve of questions in the new year. I want to thank Mary and Johnno for their work and support over the last 12 months. Johnno has been a source of guidance and despair, all in the same moment more often than not, but we have an incredibly supportive team that is far from tired and is very forward thinking. It is a pleasure to be part of that.
I want to thank my family—Cam, Kain, Tom and Lloyd. Cam, my husband, and my three sons have learned to be tolerant and compliant of all my whims as we come to
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