Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I take this opportunity, as is traditional at this time of year, to spend just a few minutes reflecting on the last 12 months.

The Leader of the Opposition talked a lot about the challenges that we have faced in Australia and around the world—the natural disasters and some of the acts of violence—and I will not cover those again. He also spoke about some of the notable Australians and notable leaders, such as Nelson Mandela, whom we have lost this year. Again, I will not speak of those.

What I do want to reflect on briefly is this time of year, which gives us the opportunity for gratitude, for empathy and for solidarity. Of course, we have heard in this last week about the tragic loss of the jobs of the Holden workers—2,900 people who will, I expect, be spending a very sad Christmas indeed sitting around the dining table, wondering what the future holds for them and other workers who have lost their jobs. The Holden workers have been the most prominent. We have heard about the jobs lost in Gove, the jobs lost at Qantas and a number of other companies—and, of course, there are the unspoken job losses that we hear of as well.

Mr Deputy Speaker Scott, you will know, representing as you do an electorate that was affected by flood not so long ago, that we have had the tragedies of the most recent fires in the Blue Mountains and in the Hunter area. But it is not just those who are affected by these recent natural disasters who suffer at this time of year; there are many people from January last year who still have not rebuilt their homes and whose lives are still not back to normal. There are people who have experienced all manner of difficulties and suffering and who have lost people who they love this year. I say to them that at this time of year we think of them. We feel empathy for their experiences. We stand with them in solidarity and we think with gratitude on what we still have even when we have suffered loss. We think with gratitude on what we still have.

It has been a curious year—a hung parliament and an election year—and people have seen conflict from us this year almost entirely. If you watch the television at night, you would think that that is all that politics is about—that it was all about conflict. But we do achieve things here and we achieve them, thinking about what we owe to the people who send us here—looking after their jobs during the global financial crisis, for example. As health minister, there are many things that I look back on with pride. So I do say to our constituents that we endeavour every day to deserve the faith that you have placed in us and we thank you for the faith that you have placed in us. We will try to deserve it.

Of course none of the good work that we do could be done without the people who make this place tick. We have heard so much just now about Bernard Wright and what a wonderful job he has done over so many years with his encyclopedic knowledge of parliamentary procedure. I do want to join with others in especially thanking Bernard Wright for his dedication to this place and for his dedication to the true meaning and spirit of the Westminster parliamentary system. I want to say how proud I am to have worked with him. So thank you, Bernard; I know that every single one of us wishes you and your family the very, very best for your retirement. We will miss you.

Of course you have the good sense in your workplace to be very careful about the people who will follow you, and it is wonderful to have David Elder here with us today. We know we can be absolutely confident that the same incredible level of dedication we have seen from you, Bernard, we will see also from David. I am sure that he is already training his successor for 15 or 20 years from now.

I want to start by acknowledging the dedication and professionalism of the cleaning staff. Our time in the ministerial wing was actually made so much nicer because Anna, Lucia and all of the cleaning staff were so happy to greet us as we walked in in the morning. Sometimes it actually felt like coming home. Every now and again I would also get a little cuddle and that really would make my day. We now see Olga every day in the Reps wing. I wish her and her family a merry Christmas too.

I thank everyone who manages the good operations of this House: the Serjeant-at-Arms, Robyn McClelland; everyone in the Serjeant's office and the Table Office; all of the attendants in the chamber, especially Luch—and I do not know whether he is still here—who looks after us so well and keeps us hydrated; the Hansard reporters; and the wonderful security team that we have here in Parliament House. I used to really like it as a new member when occasionally they would stop me as I was coming in and ask for my ID tag. It made me feel very young. But they do not do that any more, Mr Deputy Speaker. It is always great to get a cheery hello when it is minus six outside and it is 6 am and still dark. At least there is a cheery hello when we walk in here.

To the staff at Aussie's and the staff cafeteria, thank you. I want to particularly single out Agnes at Aussie's. I do not know how she remembers everybody's names and faces, but she does. As for the COMCAR drivers, I have made many a friend over the years with the COMCAR drivers and I want to say that I really value the friendship that they have given me.

The staff of the Parliamentary Library, the smartest people in the place, are always the best ones to get on your table if you are at a trivia night. I thank them for the work they do. And I thank everyone who physically maintains this building. As someone said earlier, it is like a small city—the tradespeople, the gardeners, the curators, and all of the people on the maintenance team; I thank them.

People have spoken about the pressures on our families of the work that we have chosen and I want to acknowledge not just my colleagues today, and not just my leader, Bill Shorten, and his wonderful wife, Chloe, but also the families of all of those on this side and on that side, and of course our staff who have really put up with a lot. I want to thank my staff in particular—my shadow ministerial staff, my ministerial staff and my electorate staff—for their support over so many months and years. We have lost a lot of colleagues this year, some of them at the election and some of them through retirement, and my thoughts at this time of year are with them also. I hope that life outside of this place is treating you well.

Finally, I want to say to all Australians that we hope that, despite the very intense year that they have had to put up with, the media that they have experienced in a hung parliament and an election campaign, we will continue to endeavour to deserve your trust. Thank you to all of those in my electorate, in particular, those who put their faith in me; thank you to Labor Party members and unionists, who have worked so hard on our campaigns; and again, to those people who experienced hardship and difficulty this year, our thoughts are especially with you.

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