Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I am coming to that! Can I say to the staff who work in the childcare centre that it is a very important part of the institutional and family life of this building. And to those honourable members who have little ones, whether they are members or senators, or are members of the media or other members of staff in this place, I believe the fact that we have now been able to provide for some time child care within the building makes this a much more family-friendly environment. Frankly, the pitter-patter of little feet around this place is a wonderful thing. There should be more of it. It actually humanises a lot of us.

Our travel agents, HRG, have done a great job as well. Also, the Broadcasting staff for making sure the broadcaster works effectively and to those Australians who choose to tune in each day, by either radio or television, to observe the deliberations of this place, my commiserations to you. Despite objections on the part of one of my predecessors to having this place televised, it is actually a good exercise in transparency of our parliamentary and political life. For those Australians who cheerfully endure the proceedings of this chamber each day on radio and television, we thank you for your virtual participation in our democratic processes.

To the IT support; to our security guards, whom I have mentioned before; to the maintenance staff; the gardeners; the switchboard; the catering staff; and the Comcare drivers, my thanks. Where would we be without our Comcare drivers? They perform a very important function. For those of us who are less familiar with Canberra than others, negotiating our way around this city in the absence of a Comcare driver would cause us all to be more than half an hour late for any occasion. We thank them.

To our friend in the press gallery at the moment—and to other members of the press gallery—thank you for keeping those on both sides of the House on our toes this year. The pace of a journalist’s life has accelerated dramatically in recent years, as media organisations embrace a range of new technologies. At the same time, many of the bureaus are coping with fewer staff and tighter financial constraints than in previous years and all have to now compete against Joe Hockey’s role in twittering against them. Therefore, as they confront the challenges of new technology and the vast changes that are occurring in the media around the world at present, this is creating stresses and strains within that profession which we should also acknowledge. We recognise that our journalistic colleagues are now working longer hours and are under greater pressure. It is not an easy career now and never has been, but their work is an integral part of our Australian democracy. I believe that it is important that the parliament recognises that fact, however vexatious we may find it from time to time. With an election year next year I am sure that everyone is looking forward to 2010, but may we all be properly repaired through a proper break over this Christmas.

I turn now to members of the government. Where is Julia? Is she here?

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