Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Prime Minister for his very warm remarks of thanks, not simply to the members of the opposition or indeed the Manager of Opposition Business, who I think is still getting over the embarrassment of being singled out for such praise, but also to me and Lucy. I thank you, Prime Minister, for your kind remarks and on behalf of Lucy and my family convey to you, Therese and your children and family all the very best for Christmas.

This is, of course, the season of Christmas and we are celebrating the birth of Jesus, the birth of the man—the son of God—who established a faith that is as inspiring as it is mysterious, a faith that is based on love. This is truly, then, the season of love, and that is why families come together. It is why we come together to eat, for Christmas feasts, for lunches and dinners. We remember, too, that there is nothing more human than families coming together to share a meal. Indeed, the Eucharist is at the centre of our own faith, of our own liturgy—that sacred meal.

We should also remember that not all of the members of this House are members of the Christian faith. Indeed, I think it is important today to remember that a number of our colleagues around this time of year—around the Christmas season, if you like—will be celebrating the feast of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival. That is a festival of lights and it celebrates the indomitable nature of the Jewish people. It is important to note that at this time, because in the terrible events at Mumbai—that terrible terrorist attack in which two Australians were killed, one of whom was a leading citizen of my own community in Wentworth—the terrorists targeted a Jewish yeshiva and murdered a number of Jewish people there, including a rabbi. I know that when Jews around the world, including those who are our colleagues here, are celebrating the festival of lights and the indomitability of the Jewish people, they will have that terrible event in Mumbai in their minds and be reminded of their resilience and their resistance to terrorism wherever it may occur. So we wish them all the very best for this time as well.

The Prime Minister thanked all of the people who make life possible here: the Comcar drivers, the clerks—thank you. I thank you, Mr Speaker; your deputies, Anna Burke and Bruce Scott; and of course the members of the Speaker’s panel, who stand in for you—not quite ever achieving your level of sophistication, Mr Speaker, but they strive. You set such a high benchmark for them to aspire to. The Prime Minister did well to thank all of those people. He thanked the Comcar drivers and the staff of the parliament. He thanked the staff of the Library. I will not go through the whole list again—I will adopt the Prime Minister’s thanks—but I recall, for the House, my first interaction with the Parliamentary Library as a member of parliament in 2004. I was summoned in with all of the other new members, and the Librarian, austere and authoritative—Tony Burke is nodding; he remembers it—surveyed us as though we were a room of the dullest 11-year-olds imaginable. She said, ‘Our job is to make you look intelligent.’ She said it in a tone of voice that suggested she just might not be able to achieve it.

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