Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on indulgence, I want to say how privileged I am to win the first Labor ballot in this place. After nine years straight—in my instance—of losing every one, it is a magnificent thing to be here on the winning side. I want to add my congratulations to the Speaker and the Second Deputy Speaker for the honour that this parliament has bestowed upon us.

To my colleagues, I want to say thank you for filling out the ballot papers correctly. In some instances you do not always get that right! It is a magnificent thing to be in the Labor Party and know that we are all pulling together.

I really want to say thank you to the member for Ballarat and the member for Melbourne Ports for the lovely words they said to me on my election to this place. I have been here for nearly 10 years and sometimes I think it seems like yesterday. In my maiden speech I talked about the light on the hill, the great Labor tradition of us striving to do better for this nation. I know that under this parliament we will be doing better for our nation. I am proud to be part of that journey.

I want to say a big thankyou to my mum, Joan, who is here today and who has done a great service in my life; to my husband, Steve, whom I literally would not be here without; and to Maddy and John, who have literally known no other place because I have done them the disservice of actually giving birth to both of them since I have been here. It has been a pretty tough journey for them, so I want to say thank you very much.

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