Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, by way of valedictory can I start by wishing you a very good festive season. I do want to refer to you for the purposes of this address as Mr Speaker, Henry Alfred Jenkins, the member for Scullin. I think it is important that your full name is recorded in Hansard on this occasion. Thank you very much for the patience you demonstrate each and every sitting day and the patience you are demonstrating even as I speak now. I wish you well for the Christmas season. I congratulate you on the year you have had as the Speaker. Your father would have been very proud, and we certainly are.

Can I say to the Prime Minister, though he is not here in the chamber with us, today actually marks the second anniversary of when he was elected Labor leader and I was elected Deputy Leader. It has been a big two years. It is one year and one day on from our swearing in as Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. It has been a big year and a day. Obviously during that period the Prime Minister has shown tremendous leadership of the country and before that tremendous leadership of the Labor Party. It has been my great pleasure and privilege to work alongside him during that process. He is an amazing person. Whatever the gene is for leadership, he well and truly has it. Certainly this year he has demonstrated that each and every day. I trust that he gets a well-deserved break over the Christmas period and I look forward to working together in 2009.

Can I also say to my caucus colleagues, those who are here and more generally: thank you very much for your help and support during the year. Can I thank my cabinet and my ministerial colleagues for their help and support. I particularly acknowledge the Chief Government Whip, known to me as ‘Rogie’—something I am trying to popularise, and any assistance that can be given by caucus members, or indeed members of the opposition, would be gratefully received.

I also thank the government whips, Jill Hall and Chris Hayes, for that work. To the Deputy Speaker, Anna Burke, and all on the Speaker’s panel: I thank you very much for the same kind of patience that the Speaker has shown in the last few minutes. I would sincerely like to thank the personnel that we have supporting us at the ALP national secretariat—Tim Gartrell, who led the team for our election campaign last year, and Karl Bitar, who has succeeded him. My thanks go to them for all of their work, and I know that they will be looking forward to a Christmas break.

Can I wish members of the opposition, the Liberal Party, the Independents in this place and all our friends in the Senate of various persuasions a merry Christmas. Can I particularly wish the Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm, and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Julie Bishop, a very happy Christmas and festive season. I wish my counterparts on the other side the best of the season as well. For some reason, I seem to keep a stable of shadow ministers who are opposed to me, so my best wishes go to Christopher Pyne, Michael Keenan, Sophie Mirabella and Andrew Southcott. It may not seem fair—

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