Page 4208 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 24 October 2017
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Whilst Steve made a very selfless move for the party in moving electorates, I think it is often underestimated by those in the community what impact that does have. As members of electorates we become intertwined with the day-to-day occurrences that happen in the community. We develop great connections, not just with the people but also with the place. To move not just from the area you represent work-wise but also to uproot your family and make that change in the service of your community is certainly a great contribution that is regularly underestimated.
As was touched on by Mr Coe, while Steve for most of last term was the member closest to the Assembly, he was always the last member to arrive at a party room meeting. As the whip, at the tail end of last term and in this term, it had been a point of great frustration. But I am almost at the bottom of why he is often so late. I now believe it has something to do with the time zone between Australia and Europe—a day behind and Saturday afternoon football. Perhaps with a little more time we will get to the bottom of it.
It is often said that the Leader of the Opposition has the toughest job in politics. But from the opposition benches I dare say that I have had at times one of the toughest jobs, and that is following Steve Doszpot in portfolios. I did it last term, with the disability portfolio, and this term I have taken on the mantle of education, following in Steve’s footsteps.
I say it is tough because every stakeholder you meet with, every community group you engage with, everyone you speak to says, “How is Steve? He did such a great job. What is he doing now?” The first half hour of any meeting is talking about Steve’s accomplishments, Steve’s achievements and Steve’s dedication to the work that he did.
Steve has touched on his ability always to fight for what would often be called the lost causes. In doing so Steve has always managed to find—I respect him for this—the human aspect in every issue that he takes on. In doing so, he often looks at things that many of us would think are not a politically opportune issues to take up. Steve not only takes up the issue but also manages to generate a significant amount of political mileage out of it, trying to get the outcome that is just and that is fair. Steve has also led the charge from the opposition benches on a myriad of issues. I will touch on some of the significant ones, such as bullying in CIT and fighting for the staff who were the victims of bullying to have their stories told and to have those that were the perpetrators of such a culture brought to justice.
The re-greening of the lawn at Green Square and improving the needs of special needs kids across schools in the ACT, regardless of which school they enrol in, are things that Steve has well and truly championed. I was happy to have worked with him for much of last term on making sure that there were nurses in our special schools, an issue that is a sensible one, something that you would expect to be commonplace and common practice. Nonetheless, it was an issue that arose. More recently, we saw Steve’s dogged determination to see justice for victims of dog attacks, so to speak.
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