Page 4702 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 27 November 2019
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Minister for Urban Renewal) (6.30): At this time of year we take the time to reflect on the year and thank those who have supported us in our roles in this place. I want to start by acknowledging Josh, from Ms Lee’s office. Josh has accompanied and represented Ms Lee at so many Kurrajong events. Unfailingly polite, helpful and genuinely interested in the wellbeing of the Kurrajong community, Josh will indeed be missed by me and by many Kurrajong residents.
I thank my own staff and the officials who have supported me in my ministerial roles. With respect to those in my former portfolios of disability, employment and workplace safety and procurement and government services, I learned so much in these portfolios, and I thank the officials and stakeholders who continue to contribute so much to our community, particularly those who work behind the scenes in areas like government services. They do not get a lot of publicity but their work is absolutely critical to the ongoing work of the ACT government.
With respect to the office for disability, I particularly want to thank the officials who helped to deliver the disability justice strategy, which I consider to be one of my biggest achievements as a minister, and certainly the biggest achievement of this year for me.
To the Health officials who have helped me to get my head around this large and complex portfolio, I say thank you, and I look forward to continuing our work together, as I do with the officials and stakeholders in the portfolios of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs, children, youth and families, and urban renewal. I thank you all.
To the frontline staff in Health and children, youth and families who serve our community 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, I say thank you, particularly for the work you will do over the Christmas-New Year period, when so many of us are taking the opportunity to enjoy time with family and friends. To all the frontline workers across the ACT public sector, I say thank you for the work that you do every day.
In my office I want to thank the department liaison officers—currently, Ella, Alex and Chadia—all the acting DLOs who have provided assistance during periods of change, the former DLOs, and particularly Rowena, who provided a lot of support and put up with a lot of missed deadlines in her support of me in the employment and workplace safety and government services and procurement portfolios.
In my office I want to thank Jonny Goodwin, my office manager, who is the glue who keeps our office together. I have had compliments from other offices on Jonny’s fantastic work. I thank my advisers—Tim, Ash and Ben—and my media adviser, Caitlin.
I want to thank my chief of staff, Mel James, who will finish up in my office at the end of this week. I have been incredibly fortunate to have Mel work for me for the past two years. She has been a strength, both professionally and personally, in my office. We worked together during some difficult times and some challenging spaces from both a policy point of view and in this place and when we faced personal
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