Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

I will start with a few general, but hopefully truncated, comments about the parliament and the parliamentary departments. I start by congratulating everyone who works in this building for the way they have ensured the smooth functioning of the parliament over the course of this year. It has been a challenging year, characterised by significantly increased workloads and limited resources. Thanks to all the speakers in these valedictories, in two parts, for their contributions today. It has been a busy and successful year for all areas of the House of Representatives department. Until yesterday, 52 reports from House and joint committees supported by the department had been presented; 220 bills had been introduced and 200 were passed; the House sat for 67 days and the Main Committee for 55 days; there have been 145 petitions and 14,079 documents tabled, and there were 573 questions in writing; 15 incoming parliamentary delegations have been received; and there have been 13 outgoing delegations and 16 other parliamentary visits.

Over this year the House department, like the Department of Parliamentary Services, has continued to find budget savings while trying to maintain core services and high standards. In that regard it is very pleasing to see the good work being undertaken with other departments on wider issues and on common services. I am sure that members will appreciate the way the department is looking forward to further ways of modernising the house and increasing community access and engagement.

I could not undertake my duties of the House without the assistance of my esteemed colleagues who occupy the chair. I could not have wished for a more loyal assistant and a more capable person who is willing to learn than the Deputy Speaker, the member for Chisholm, Anna Burke. I think that her friendly demeanour is of great assistance to the way in which we carry out our duties. The Second Deputy Speaker, the member for Maranoa, Bruce Scott, could well and truly be identified as a true parliamentarian, and his assistance is appreciated. There are the members of the Speaker’s panel, who do a lot more than just preside over the sittings. I pay tribute to the guidance that the Clerk and his colleagues provide to the department and the support they provide to me and my office and occupants of the chair.

This year has seen quite a deal of change in the staffing of the department. I note the retirements of long-serving staff: Peter Mason, Judy Middlebrook and Robyn Webber; the pending retirement of Laraine Brennan and Paul Thomas; and, most importantly, the achievement of 40 years of fine service by Peter Buckley.

All members would be aware of the critical role played by the Department of Parliamentary Services. I thank the staff of DPS, led by Alan Thompson as secretary. Staff of the department have provided high-quality day-to-day services throughout the year, much of which goes unnoticed by building occupants and visitors. This is a reflection of the professionalism in the way these services are provided. DPS staff include: Broadcasting; Hansard; Security Operations; Facilities; Art Services; maintenance staff of all skills and trades; parks, gardens and landscaping staff; the Nurses Centre; the recreation centre; information technology and communications services; the Parliamentary Library; as well as project management and corporate services staff. DPS oversees a number of contractors around the building: cleaners, Aussies, the cafeteria, IHG, the hairdresser and the florist.

I am very pleased to note that the department has achieved some major outcomes this year, which include: the construction and opening of the Capital Hill childcare centre; refurbishment of the staff dining room; implementation of wireless connectivity for the computing network; security x-ray machine replacement; upgrade of broadcasting infrastructure to improve televised broadcasts; upgrade of internet security; the xerophytic grass trials to save water; and the publication of Women parliamentarians in Australia, 1921-2009. I look forward to next year. I am pleased to advise that work is being undertaken on the Parliament House website, the Hansard Production System and digitisation of many of our vital records, as well as environmental, safety and security initiatives.

I take this opportunity to thank the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the Leader of the House, the Manager of Opposition Business and the whips. To all of you: your leadership and professionalism is essential to the successful functioning of the House.

The robust debate and the passion that we see in the chamber every day quite often provide something of a spectacle, but it does demonstrate the desire by all members to contribute and try to make our nation a better place. I thank all members and staff of the parliament for the cooperation and courtesy you have extended to my office. I express great gratitude to my staff for their forbearance and guidance. In the Speaker’s office: Christopher, Debra, Cora, Yvonne and Penelope. And who could forget the Speaker’s attendant Lupco. To Lupco: ‘Nova godina.’ In my electorate office, I thank Berna, Sally and Jim. Sam had to resign earlier this year because of changes to the Victorian Local Government Act.

I thank the people of Scullin for their faith in me and support. Finally, I sincerely thank my family, especially my wife, Michele, who throughout my parliamentary career has many times had to be a single parent. Earlier this week, on Tuesday night, I took a little bit of truancy and returned to Melbourne for my daughter’s year 12 speech night. When I was feeling a little bit of guilt about taking time off, I realised that I had not attended any of her school activities for the whole of her year 12. It was a special night for her as she was the outgoing SRC president and was receiving an award. I was very proud to be able to witness how she has managed to get over the trials and tribulations of being the child of a member of parliament. To my oldest son, Ben, and his wife, Kerry, and their two lovely daughters, Zara and Asha, thank you for always being there. To Emlyn and his friend Clare, who will spend Christmas in Bogota, in Columbia, we will all be thinking of you.

As we are approaching Christmas, I wish everybody in this place—members, senators, all the staff and their families—a safe and happy Christmas. We all know the importance of family and I am sure that you are all looking forward to a well-deserved break. May you all come back in 2010 for inspiration.

Tonight I would especially like to pay tribute to Ian Harris. As we know, Ian Harris will shortly retire from the position of Clerk of the House of Representatives after a long and distinguished career in the parliamentary service. In the first part of today’s valedictory, when I was waiting to get the MPI for today, I was handed a letter and I recognised the signature. I thought: what is happening? Is somebody playing a joke on me about the MPI? I will now read this letter—and you will understand that, because I recognised the signature, I was a bit bemused by the fact of the signature:

Dear Mr Speaker

I understand that Ian Harris will retire today as Clerk. I imagine that there will be some tributes paid to him by, amongst others, your good self. Given that Mr Harris served as Clerk during most of the time that I was Prime Minister I wonder if you would be good enough, in your remarks, to publicly convey to Mr Harris my warm thanks and respect for the wonderful job that he did as Clerk. I always found him courteous, professional and thoroughly even-handed in the assistance and advice he tendered.

With all good wishes.

Yours sincerely

John Howard

That is a well-deserved comment by the Prime Minister about Ian’s role.

Ian was born in Kurri Kurri, where he attended high school before going to university at Newcastle. He did a bit of teaching, tutoring and broadcasting before he found his calling and joined the parliamentary service in 1972. Ian became Clerk of the House of Representatives on 27 July 1997, having served as Deputy Clerk since 1991. So he has had 18 years at or near the top. I think we can say that he is largely responsible for what we have today—a department that provides very effective and valued support to the House of Representatives and the parliamentary institution as a whole.

One of the features of Ian’s clerkship has been the outward focus of the department and the House. This has been achieved through a strategic engagement with the community in order to promote the parliamentary institution and knowledge of the parliament. This has involved an engagement at the international level with a view to promoting good governance support for parliamentary administrations in emerging democracies.

I am not going to list all of Ian’s contributions as that has been done elsewhere, but I do note that he has done a great deal to promote knowledge networks among parliaments around the world and has considerably enhanced Australia’s reputation and international credentials. Notably, in April 2003 he was elected as president of the international Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments, the ASGP, having previously served as vice-president and executive committee member. He remains an adviser to, and honorary member of, the executive committee. Ian’s work in the international environment has benefited many parliaments in our region and further afield. The benefits to our parliament, through contributing to democracy strengthening and the improved understanding of other parliaments and cultures, will last for many years.

Ian’s contribution has been acknowledged in the past. He was awarded the University of Newcastle Convocation Medal for Professional Excellence in 2000 and the Australian Centenary Medal in 2001. Most significantly, in 2007 he was made an Officer in the Order of Australia for service to the Parliament of Australia, particularly through the administration of the House of Representatives and its committees, to promotion of parliamentary practice and procedure and to assisting the understanding of the functions of the parliament internationally.

Ian has had a strong commitment to the community and to sport, having served as president of ACT Public Service Rugby League from 1993-95 and as secretary of the Tuggeranong Rugby Club in its early years. In an earlier draft of this speech it was noted in brackets that these years were not too successful—that has been deleted, but I thought I should add that for the record! Ian was also chair of Queanbeyan Skillshare from 1996 to 2005.

As noted earlier, Ian is married to Erika. Ian and Erika have four daughters and four grandchildren. I take this opportunity to thank Erika for her support and contribution over the years, and I am pleased to see that she is still in the gallery, having managed to listen to most of this valedictory discussion.

One of the things I have to bring to the attention of the House is that, whilst Ian is a Kurri Kurri boy, yesterday he was inducted into the Cessnock Hall of Fame—and I look forward to this event being featured in the local member’s newsletter!

On behalf of the House I wish both Ian and Erika all the best for their future endeavours—personal, family and professional. I doubt whether we could ever say enough to truly indicate Ian’s value to the institution of the House of Representatives and, through it, the Australian parliament. I wish you all the best.

One of the quirks of being the Speaker is that you often get notes passed up to you by, as I describe them, ‘the unwigged’. But I have said enough about the unwigged and the view I get of Ian from my position, and I will leave it at that. Ian knows that from time to time I ignore his advice. This has led to the great weight of ‘Harris 2’—other paragraphs had to be added because I created new precedents. But on this occasion I am quite happy to read verbatim a note that has just been given to me by the Clerk. It says:

Mr Speaker,

Would you mind accepting from me, and passing on to the House, my thanks for comments by you, by other members and by the former Prime Minister about the service I have been privileged to provide. In recognition of bursaries and scholarships that helped with my education, I always wanted to work in the public sector. To work for the House and the parliament is like winning the lottery of life.

I am also extremely grateful for the support I have received from the Speaker’s office, from parliamentary colleagues, especially Laraine Brennan—also retiring, as has been mentioned—and from my wife, Erika.

I have great pleasure in reading those comments into the record.

Monday, 30 November 2009

The SPEAKER (Mr Harry Jenkins) took the chair at 10.00 am

See this speech in context