Page 2840 - Week 08 - Thursday, 11 August 2016
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bit regretful that I get to keep Ginninderra because he is a sterling and standout member for the electorate of Ginninderra. He did a great deal of work and his work is much appreciated.
I thank my family, without whom I cannot do this job. They are my strength and also my sounding board and they give me my sense of sanity. I also thank the Liberal Party—the lay party, the people who volunteer; those who go out and letterbox and stand at shopping centres in rain and hail. Actually, I do not go out in rain and hail, but sometimes it is pretty cold. I pay tribute to all those people who have helped me over the past year or so, those who have put 150,000 items in letterboxes across my electorate and who will be continuing to help me in the next little while.
To my colleagues in the party room: you could not ask for a better party room. We have had an extraordinary run of good will, good spirit and unity. Even though there are things that we do not all agree on, and it is true that the Liberal Party is a broad church, under the successive leadership of Zed Seselja and Jeremy Hanson we have been a pretty schmick team, and it shows everywhere. It shows not just amongst the MLAs; it shows through the great strength of our staff.
I thank my personal staff that I have had over this term: George, Tio, the indomitable and irreplaceable Clinton, Chris, Maria and Keith—a stalwart of the Liberal Party—and the people who volunteer in my office as well. They are there to make me look good, and with such class people it is pretty easy to look good.
To my colleagues on the other side of the chamber, to paraphrase the words of the Chief Minister: I wish you well, but not too much success in the next little while. To Simon Corbell, thank you for your words this morning. They were very inspiring. I congratulate you on having the opportunity to go at a time of your own choosing. I think it is a besetting failure of politicians that we do not always go at a time of our own choosing. That is something that I aspire to do as well.
In the Assembly I have been the Speaker, and this was an unlooked for privilege. It has been a privilege to be Speaker of this place. As you know, I am a bit of a nerd. The role of the parliament is very important to me, and it always has been. I thank the Clerk and the staff of the Assembly for the work that they put into upholding the ethos of what a good parliament should be. We have much to be proud of. I recently reflected at the Presiding Officers and Clerks Conference about the implementation of Latimer House principles and how I think that we are now a standout parliament. We have achieved very much and we have a lot to be proud of.
I pay particular tribute to Neal Baudinette, who has retired. He was an exemplary education officer. It was nice to see him last night as a guest of the Assembly. And Rick Hart, who has been our maintenance man extraordinaire. You just have to say, “Rick, I have got this problem,” and it is fixed.
I pay particular tribute to Ian Duckworth and Celeste Italiano for their extraordinary and exemplary work on the building upgrade over the past couple of years, and to David Skinner, who I think is the intellectual powerhouse of this Assembly. He is a bigger nerd that I am when it comes to things like Latimer House. I thank him for the
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