Page 3663 - Week 08 - Friday, 24 August 2012
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I would like to acknowledge my personal staff for their professionalism and commitment to the job that we do. Again they work incredibly long hours. They are a great team. A good sense of humour is an essential part of working in my office. The DLOs that work with me for a period of time over the course of the four years, again, really exemplify the professionalism of the ACT public service.
The staff of the Legislative Assembly are another very professional outfit that support all 17 of us in the jobs that we do, and do it so well. I would also like to acknowledge very much the ACT public service in general—the Head of Service, the directors-general and all the staff. It is an incredibly diverse public service. When you look at the range of jobs that are performed every day, some of them are 24 hours a day, seven days a week; others are more traditional policy work. So there is an incredible range of skills in our ACT public service. To a large extent, while there is always room for improvement, I have always been impressed by their commitment to the Canberra community—the people that they serve.
The last four years have been ones of achievement for this government, despite some very challenging conditions. As a government we have worked hard and we have worked hand in hand with the community and the business sector to ensure good government for the people of the ACT. We have not taken our eye off for one second the things that matter to Canberrans, whether it be health, education or local government services.
We have supported jobs when we have needed to and we have sought to respond to Canberrans who need a helping hand and provide that. The Labor team in the Assembly has always worked with one thing in mind—to make this place that we live in a better place, and a stronger place for all our citizens, every single one of them. This is very much in line with our Labor values and our platform.
Mr Speaker, we live in a wonderful city and we have much to be proud of as citizens. We are a young city and I am sure that our best years are ahead of us. In 57 days the people of Canberra will vote for the membership of the Eighth Assembly. To members who are candidates in that upcoming election, I wish you all the best. For my part, the campaign I run will be clean, fair and positive, and I look forward to putting forward our vision on our Labor record and our vision to the people of the ACT.
Finally, to the people of the ACT, thank you very much for the honour and privilege of representing you in this place and I look forward to continuing in that role following the October election.
Members, in conclusion, I would like to stay to listen to all of the valedictories. My apologies; I do not want to look disrespectful or rude but one of the lovely aspects of my life is that I have three children, two of whom are upstairs without adequate parental supervision—they are with probably adequate teenage supervision—but I will be listening to your speeches. Again I wish you all the best come October. Thank you.
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