Page 2730 - Week 08 - Thursday, 11 August 2016
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In the justice portfolio, I am pleased that we have been able to continually poach the very best of the commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department. Renee Leon, Kathy Leigh and Alison Playford—who, regretfully, cannot be here today—as heads of the Justice and Community Safety Directorate, have been outstanding. These three women have significantly reformed and shaped the JACS portfolio into the powerhouse of the government’s legislative program, driver of wide-ranging law reform from human rights to restorative justice to the sexual assault reform program to whole-of-government emergency management to court listing reform. They have been remarkable, frank, considered, diligent and innovative. I thank them very much.
In the environment, planning and capital metro agencies, Neil Savery, David Papps, Dorte Eklund and Emma Thomas have brought determination, drive, passion and insight to the directorates they have led in my time as minister. They have each been passionate about the purposes of their directorates and have greatly supported the policy agenda I have sought to implement—strategic city planning, sustainable urban development, light rail, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and, of course, 100 per cent renewables.
In more recent times, my D-Gs have been joined by the indomitable Nicole Feely in Health. Her determination and seemingly endless capacity for hard work has been key in leading the reform agenda in ACT Health, which I am confident will continue to yield better access and timeliness for healthcare consumers and greater efficiency of our fantastic health system.
There any many others. It is simply impossible to name them all over a period of 16 years, but there are a number that I wish to mention explicitly. There is the incredible energy, policy and climate change team in the Environment and Planning Directorate, including Alan Traves, Jon Sibley, Richard Bourne, Greg Buckman, Megan Ward and Antonio Mozquiera, who have implemented the renewable energy and climate change agenda on behalf of the government. I have been blessed to have them.
The legal police branch in JACS, including Julie Field and Victor Martin, have been a constant source of advice and adaptability to an ever-changing legislative program. The Solicitor-General, Peter Garrisson, and his deputies, including Nathan Hancock and others, have been trusted, capable and professional legal advisers to me and the government.
In the Capital Metro Agency, Duncan Edghill and Nikki Pulford—thank you for your relentless efforts to deliver stage 1. A special mention to Duncan, who I think has given the best ever estimates committee answer when, in reply to Mr Coe, who asked him how a certain figure was calculated, simply answered, “Mathematics.”
A minister is only as good as their office. Ministerial staff do the legwork every day that makes their boss look good: media events, directorate meetings, constituent representations, strategy and tactics on sitting days, ministerial council meetings and much, much more. Without my office team, I simply would not have survived in this place. They have been the indispensible rock on which my work as a minister has
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