Page 4486 - Week 14 - Thursday, 28 November 2013
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To my staff, thank you. You regularly work beyond the call, and I appreciate your efforts very much and, indeed, the laughs we have which keep me sane. To the ALP staffers, you are an excellent team—a mix of experience and new members who get on and do their job very professionally—and I thank you.
To the other members in this place, to Minister Rattenbury, who is not in the chamber, I extend my thanks to him. It is a new way of operating, and as another year goes by where we have had our challenges, we seem to always find a way to make the agreement that we reached some 15 months ago work.
To the members of the opposition, whilst we do not often agree—it might surprise you that I actually enjoy it more when we do agree—I wish you all the best for the festive season. I hope you all manage to have a break and enjoy the time with your families. Feel free to take as many holidays as you would like for as long as you like, because I find when you are having a break that, somehow or other, it makes my workload that little bit easier as well. I extend that to all of you, except to Minister Rattenbury who is due back on deck in two weeks’ time and will be expected to be here.
Politics is at times a bruising business, and it can certainly take its toll on our energies and ideas. So it is important that we use this time to refresh ourselves and spend time with our families.
To my family, thank you for another year of putting up with my crazy life—to Dave and to the children, who graciously, and sometimes not so graciously, put up with endless phone calls, disruptions and a mother that seems to race in and out more than most.
In conclusion, and on a lighter note, I have particularly enjoyed some of the attention being paid to food safety by the Canberra Times. I would like to say that I think everyone understands how seriously this government takes all matters of food safety. This is never more true than at Christmas time when there is a sharp increase in risky behaviour in food being consumed across the community. Members are aware that our current resources include the sausage sizzle sergeants, the quiche police, the frittata squad and the chicken and egg cops. In light of the community’s determination to continue to consume risky foodstuffs, the government has decided we will need to increase our effort in this area and, as such, additional supplementation with some temporary recruits to bolster existing resources will be added to our team.
I can advise that they will be known as the turkey force, the pork corps, the pudding detectives and the seafood scouts. I am sure all members would agree that in order to manage the risks associated with Christmas lunch, these reinforcements are needed. And, if nothing else, at a minimum it will ensure that the Sunday paper is guaranteed a front page scandal for the next few weeks. Merry Christmas to all, and please eat safely.
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