Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I add my congratulations to you on your elevation to the chair. I move:

That the honourable member for Chisholm, Ms Anna Elizabeth Burke, be elected Deputy Speaker.

I am delighted to nominate Anna as Deputy Speaker of this House. Anna has served as the member for Chisholm since 1998. She is a south-eastern suburbs girl through and through, having been born in Ashwood, having studied at Monash and living in Box Hill. She even at one point in her life worked in Chadstone shopping centre or, as we Victorians know it, Chaddy. Anna is incredibly hardworking, and I know that her constituents, including my parents, will be absolutely delighted if she becomes Deputy Speaker. It is an enormous privilege and one of which I know the constituents of the electorate of Chisholm will be very proud.

Anna holds a Bachelor of Arts and a master’s in commerce and has brought to this place her breadth of experience in representing workers in the banking and insurance industries. Anna in her time in this place has taken on many challenges—and I want to acknowledge just a few—through the committees she has served on, including the Standing Committee of Privileges and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services. In particular, I want to acknowledge that in her prior role as Deputy Chair of the House Standing Committee on Economics, Finance and Public Administration she demonstrated her capacity for work. In particular, her work on the local government report on cost shifting led to a much stronger recognition in this place of the role of deputy chairs.

Anna has pursued many issues during her time in this place that have had a significant impact not only on her constituents but also on all of our constituents. She pursued the issue of telemarketing calls and eventually saw the introduction of the Do Not Call Register. She has been a champion for more funding and rights for people with eating disorders and she has brought the issue of anaphylaxis much broader attention.

It is a great privilege to work with Anna, and she is widely respected for her passion, dedication and hard work—all skills I know she will bring to bear in her role as Deputy Speaker. I know that John and Madeleine, her two children, are both in the gallery and they, alongside Steve and her mother, Joan, will be very proud of Anna today. I am again delighted to nominate Anna Burke, the member for Chisholm, as Deputy Speaker and I wish her every success in this position.

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