Page 2264 - Week 07 - Thursday, 27 August 2020

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Visitor

MADAM SPEAKER: I acknowledge the presence in the gallery of Senator Zed Seselja. Welcome back to your old stomping ground, Senator Seselja.

Valedictory

MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (4.00), by leave: At the beginning of the Fifth Assembly, in December 2001, I concluded my maiden speech with the following words:

The best way I can thank these people—that is, the people who helped me get to the Legislative Assembly—and the thousands of electors whom I do not know personally yet but who put their faith in me, is by dedicating myself to their service with an unflinching determination that the small part I play in the history of this city and the lives of those who cherish it as their home will be to their ultimate and demonstrable benefit.

Now, almost 19 years on, it will be for others to judge whether I have lived up to those aspirations. Also in that speech I said:

I come into this place with an abiding belief in the primacy of the family in our society, and the pressing need to elevate the idea of family, to make it a prism through which policy can be viewed and evaluated … As long as I am here, I will work to ensure that the family is at the centre, not the periphery, of the political process.

It does complete the circle, in that the principal debate today went to the very heart of the thing that I spoke about that day—that the family should be at the centre of our deliberations, not marginalised, and especially that its members not be threatened with jail for doing their job. Also, one of the last committee reports that I participated in addressed improvements in the way we treat troubled families who confront our care and protection system.

Today, however, is a day for reflection and thanks. I thank the Clerk and all of the Assembly staff whose job it is to make us look good, especially if we follow the script. I also thank the people who pay us and collect our mail, the education office and the Art Advisory Committee. I give a special shout-out to Hansard. I apologise for rarely staying on script. I give a special thankyou to the troop of attendants who have opened doors to us cheerily and greeted me every morning for the best part of 25 years, in an evolving style, as Vicki the staffer became Mrs Dunne, the member, then Madam Speaker, and back to Mrs Dunne; soon they will be able to call me Vicki again.

I thank a whole cohort of committee staff. I want particularly to thank the two committee secretaries that I have worked with most in this Assembly—Dr Andréa Cullen and Dr Brian Lloyd. Their work is an adornment to this place.

I thank my stellar staff, starting with Norm, who helped me to find my feet; and Kate and Olivia, who, with young, fresh minds, reframed the way I communicated with constituents by ensuring that my letters did not sound like the public servant I had been. I thank Lyle, Anthony—one of the FOI legends—Amanda, Mark, Jeremy,


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