Page 2302 - Week 07 - Thursday, 27 August 2020
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As Minister for Government Services and Procurement, I am incredibly proud of the continuity of government services and government activity achieved as part of the ACT government’s response to the public health emergency—in particular, the successful transition to having a significant portion of the ACT public service operate remotely. I would like to thank all of the ACT public service staff who have supported me and my office. I recognise their tireless work in supporting the government to serve the people of the ACT. I would also like to thank the members of the Disability Reference Group, the Secure Local Jobs Code Advisory Council, the Work, Health and Safety Council and the Government Procurement Board for their ongoing advice to me in my relevant portfolios and for representing their industries and members.
I would like to thank my staff for their ongoing hard work and support. I said at the beginning of the day that I was going to wing this speech, and an hour ago Patrick put a copy of a written speech in front of me and said, “Do not forget anything.” So I would like to take a moment to thank Patrick for always being there. He has been with me since the start. I also thank Natalie Duthie and Sariel, who we have a few names for—the public service still does not know quite what to call her—and Ryan, Dave, Ciara, Martin and everyone. I also send a shout-out to our other David and Grace, who were here at the start but have moved on to other jobs.
I also send a big thankyou to all of the Assembly support staff, particularly in those early days, when we were all a bit new and did not quite know what we were doing. We were told, “You now have an office budget to manage and this is how you do it.” It has been a long ride. I thank all the committee staff and the committee secretaries I have worked with. It is a long line, but they have all been fantastic and wonderful. I thank all of my colleagues in the Assembly too. Working on committees you get to know people. Caroline, I will miss you and I will miss talking about planning with you. It has been a joy.
I just thank everyone. It has been great. Being a newer member of the Assembly, it has been fantastic to learn with so many new people. Even though we come from different sides of politics, the support has been fantastic. I think it is fair to say that whatever the theatrics may or may not be in the Assembly—sorry, Mr Parton—outside of the Assembly chamber we actually all get along quite well.
MR WALL (Brindabella) (7.25): I begin by putting on the record again my heartfelt thanks to the people of Brindabella for giving me this privilege to represent them over the last four years. I was overwhelmed by the level of support that I received from the electorate at the last election, receiving the highest vote there. I know that no-one voted for me to be in opposition and that was something I did struggle to reconcile for quite some time, feeling that I had let thousands of people down by being on the opposition benches again. To those people who have supported me and the Liberal team in Brindabella in the past, I hope that we have not let you down over the past four years and that you will continue to support us into this next election and bring about the change that so many of you hope to see.
I also thank the members of the Liberal Party, particularly the Brindabella branch, who do a great deal of the thankless and unseen tasks that go into supporting us, as
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