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

Don’t give them that idea! They will double the personnel. Can I convey my thanks to my personal staff, particularly to Ben Hubbard, my Chief of Staff, who has been absolutely indispensable as we have made the transition from opposition to government. He worked with me in opposition; he works with me now in government. He had formerly worked for the Bracks government and, as a result, brought his formidable skills to bear not only in our election campaign but in the transition to government. I think we have made a successful transition—I guess that is for others to judge—but we could not have made the transition as well as we have done without his very hard work and formidable skills.

My thanks also go to Amanda Lampe, my Deputy Chief of Staff, for all of the work that she has done during the course of the year, as schooled as she is in the New South Wales school of politics, having worked for Bob Carr in the past. I thank Kimberley Gardiner, who possibly has the worst job in federal politics—being my media adviser across so many portfolios—for her many early morning starts, which are considerable, and her many hours of hard work. I would also like to thank Alexandra Williamson, Natalie Cooper and Leanne Budd, who work assisting her and assisting my office more generally. My thanks also go to Natalie for her considerable policy expertise in the area of education.

Can I say to my policy advisers generally—to Rondah Rietveld, Tom Bentley, Andrea Lester, Craig Carmody, John Spierings, Gerry Kitchener, Jim Round and Barbara Wise—thank you very much for everything you have done. It has been a big year for those in the workplace relations team, delivering the Fair Work Bill. Thank you very much particularly, Andrea Lester, for those endeavours. It has been a huge year in the education team as well, particularly as we have delivered our election commitments and prosecuted our agenda at COAG, which I believe will transform education in this country as we know it. I would like to thank all of my advisers for their very strong work in getting that done.

To the staff from the department, the departmental liaison officers who work so well with us—to Sarah, Sue and Lauren—thank you very much for everything that you have done. Can I say particularly to Lauren, your cakes have been a highlight of 2008. One skill I most certainly do not possess, and it has been remarked upon on the public record, is the ability to cook anything. Occasionally I try toast—it does sometimes lead to calling the fire brigade! But Lauren keeps us very well supplied with cakes at morning tea time for special occasions, and my thanks go to her.

My thanks also go to my electorate office staff. Some of them have been with me for the whole journey. They do a remarkable job. I am there in the electorate as often as I can be—I spend as much time there as possible—but given my other responsibilities I cannot be there every day and they represent me when I am not there. To Vicki Fitzgerald, Carlos Baldovino, John Ballestrino, Amy Tobin and Helen Landolina: thank you very much for everything you have done. To the support staff in the office, who do so much work supporting me and supporting the team generally, my thanks go to you—to Michelle Fitzgerald, Rachael Purcell, Erin Dale and Janine Robb. If Robb is sounding like a familiar surname, it should. Thank you very much for your tireless work and all of your monkey business. They do a tremendous job.

I thank the Comcar drivers, who, as the Prime Minister remarked earlier today, move us around and make every endeavour to keep us on time—not something that is necessarily easily done. Can I particularly thank Dianne, who works with me in Melbourne. She is a woman who helps keep me sane. She also keeps me supplied with an endless supply of novels. I thank her very much for that. I also thank the many hardworking AFP officers who from time to time join us as we go about our work. My thanks go to them and, in particular, to Officer Andrew Stark.

My gratitude and appreciation goes to all of the staff in my department. There are, as you would anticipate, a considerable number given the breadth of my portfolios, but I would like to particularly thank Lisa Paul, the secretary of our department. It has been a long year and a hard year for her. She has not only had to work delivering the government’s agenda; she has had to work in circumstances where we were amalgamating parts of three apartments, with all of the dislocation and set-up time that that takes. She is a fantastic manager of people, and because she is such a fantastic manager of people that process has worked smoothly and well. It is a credit to her work and her effort and I would like to thank her for that.

I would also like to thank departmental staff who have worked so strongly with us. I have mentioned the workplace relations team who delivered the Fair Work Bill. It has been a big year for them. Regarding everybody who has worked with us through the Productivity Agenda Working Group of COAG, we would not have not delivered either the Fair Work Bill or the next major strides in the education revolution through COAG without all of their help.

My thanks go to the people who support us in this parliament. I possibly trouble the clerks less than I used to in my days as Manager of Opposition Business. I can see Ian laughing at that because he knows that I used to trouble them a great deal to come up with new procedural tricks. Now I suspect it falls to the Manager of Opposition Business, Joe Hockey, to do that job, and he is probably troubling the clerks. To Ian and all of his staff, thank you very much. To the Serjeant-at-Arms office; the House attendants, especially Lupco, who is such an institution; Hansard; the Table Office; the Chamber Research Office; the Parliamentary Relations Office; the Liaison and Projects office; the finance and people strategy area; as well as Tony Levy and the Parliamentary Liaison Office—I thank you for you endless commitment and your seeming never-ending ability to be polite, no matter the circumstances. It is a remarkable skill.

To all the rest who keep Parliament House running—the Parliamentary Library; those who assist us with travel; security; the protective services officers; the cleaners, who I enjoy having a chat with as they are often the sanest and most level-headed people I meet during the course of a parliamentary day; contractors; and catering staff—I thank them for what they do. I continue to be a disproportionate contributor to Aussies’ profits in my coffee consumption. I thank them for their help and support. I think Dom at Aussies literally keeps this parliament running. I do not think I am alone in relying on Aussies on hard days and easy days. Sometimes they are hard days and you need quite a few cups of coffee to get you through them.

I take this opportunity to honour Andrea Griffiths. Andrea Griffiths is finishing with the Senate today after 26 years of service. Twenty-six years in the House of Representatives would be a long time; in the Senate it would be an eternity. I am sure they have all felt far wearier than they would have here with us in the more civilised chamber! But 26 years in the Senate must seem like a very long time. That is a tremendous track record of service. I just trust that her last sitting day does not turn into an epic. I hope she gets home at a civilised time tonight. It is her last sitting day as Usher of the Black Rod in the Senate and I wish her all the best with her retirement.

Obviously over this Christmas period our thoughts are with those who will be thinking about someone who is absent. In my own community, I would like to acknowledge the family of Frank Purcell. Frank Purcell died this year. He was actually a local Liberal. Because he was a local Liberal, I always referred to him as Comrade Frank, even when I struck him on election day handing out how-to-votes against me, which I did at every election. He was a remarkable figure in our local community. He is actually a hero of the early days of the land rights movement, having been the lawyer on a case that made the space for Mabo and Wik, which followed it. He is a Liberal in the true tradition of the Victorian Liberal Party—a Liberal in the small ‘l’ tradition. He was very important to our local community. He died recently and of course this will be the first Christmas his family has without him. My thoughts go to them.

My thoughts go to those in the Labor family who will this Christmas be mourning the loss of Kim Beazley Sr, Clyde Cameron, John Button and of course Frank Crean. They are Labor giants that we lost this year. They are going to be missed by the Labor family generally but they are going to be missed particularly by their own families at this time. That of course is also true of the family of the member for Calare, who we lost in such difficult circumstances. I also echo the words of the Malcolm Turnbull: whatever persuasion you have in politics, Sir Charles Court was a giant of a figure in Australian politics and will obviously be missed by those who were near and dear to him.

I conclude by thanking my own family and friends for their support. I very much thank my partner, Tim, who has had a big year too. To my father, John, my mother, Moira, my sister, Alison, and my niece and nephew, Jenna and Tom, I am looking forward to joining you for Christmas. Finally, to my good friends Maccas, Jules, Jac and Jeff, thank you very much. I look forward to seeing everybody in the new year.

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