Page 2838 - Week 08 - Thursday, 11 August 2016
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Next on my list, of course, is my family, especially my immediate family but my wider family as well, some of whom live interstate. I thank my husband Peter, our children and their partners and our 12 lovely grandchildren, three of whom I think were born during my time in this Assembly to take me up to the number 12. I love them very much and appreciate their support in what can be sometimes unreasonable hours as an MLA. Finally, I thank very much the people of Brindabella for their faith in me. I hope that I have served you well and faithfully in my time here.
I would like to finish with a little personal story. It is something that I found really heart warming. I think it was Tuesday of last week. It was a sitting day and I left the chamber to go upstairs to grab a cup of tea. I had a speech to make that afternoon and had a TV interview at lunchtime. I was trying to get a whole lot of things ready.
When I went into my office, one of my staff said to me, “You need to ring this lady.” I will call her Rosemary. She is one of my constituents. I said, “What is it about?” They said, “I do not know but she is really upset. She is an elderly lady. She really wants to talk to you.”
I rang Rosemary back and she told me a story. I had helped Rosemary once before with a street mowing issue. She is in her 80s, as is her husband. She lives in Gowrie. She was telling me how she and her husband had both been very sick with the flu. He had gone to hospital. She cried for days because they had been married for 60 years; they are never apart; she was so upset; and there was no food in the house. They were supposed to go to the doctor on Tuesday morning but because it was raining they did not want to leave the house. He was still a bit sick and she does not drive. They were a bit depressed. They did not know where to go; so she thought she would ring me.
My instant reaction was, “What?” but then almost immediately followed by, “How lovely that of all the people she could ring in Canberra she chose me to call.” And that is what I hope the people that I have had interaction with in the electorate of Brindabella feel about me. Thank you.
MR DOSZPOT (Molonglo) (8.49): I cannot believe how quickly this year has gone. As usual, there are many people to thank and acknowledge for their valued contributions during 2016 and, indeed, the past four years. Starting with my own staff: senior advisor Sue White, who has been a much appreciated and valuable contributor to me and my office over the past five years—however, she does need to brush up on her football tipping skills! My thanks also to Claire Medway and Bradley Clarke for their support and contribution. I would like to thank all three of them for their hard work and initiative, which has seen our office cope with a rapidly increasing workload from our constituents.
Like Nicole, I have also reflected on the past eight years that I have been in the Assembly. I came into this Assembly in 2008 as a member for Brindabella and was re-elected in 2012 in Molonglo. I hope to come back after this election as member for Kurrajong. And then maybe—who knows?—there are Ginninderra and Yerrabi still waiting for me. I look forward to doing the rounds of some of the other electorates, so just be very careful.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video