Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to rise at the end of 2013 and declare that this parliamentary year is over. If you looked at the photographs of the now member for Grayndler and the now Leader of the House 3½ years ago, we would have looked much younger men. During the election campaign my staff were using a photograph of me at the dispatch box for a fundraising event, and I said to the staff: 'You can't use that photograph. That is ridiculously misrepresenting my age.' They said, 'What do you mean?' I said: 'There is no grey in that man's hair at all. You can't use that photograph. How old is that photograph?' They said, 'Three years old.'

At the beginning of the 2010 parliament I looked a much younger man, as did the member for Grayndler, and the last parliament, from 2010 to 2013, certainly drew us closer—and I think it almost killed both of us, but we got through it. We got through an election and, happily, the coalition won it and we are sitting on the right side of the House. I think most people will say that this last parliament and the year 2013 could not end soon enough—I am sure members of parliament would like this debate tonight to end as soon as possible as well, so I will not delay the House for long.

There are a couple of things I would like to say. I would like to start by acknowledging and recognising the service of Bernard Wright as the Clerk. I have been here for 21 years, and Bernard has been here twice as long as that. Every moment that I have served in the parliament, Bernard Wright has been serving alongside us. I must say, being Clerk of the House would be one of the hardest jobs in the parliament—David Elder is now taking over and we welcome him in doing so.

The Clerk of the House, like most good zookeepers, cannot get too close to the animals in the zoo. Only three months ago I was on the other side of the chamber as the Manager of Opposition Business in the House, trying to hold the government of the day to account, and the advice that Bernard Wright would give me was as impartial, dispassionate and non-political as the advice that I am sure he is now giving the current opposition. It is a hard job because it is hard to become close friends with a particular individual in the parliament as they might be serving in a different capacity at any particular point in time. You have to maintain that impartiality, and you cannot be a good Clerk or Deputy Clerk—or any of the Clerks or Assistant Clerks—unless you have maintained that impartiality over a very long time.

In spite of that, Bernard and I have become good friends. I do try to be friends with most people in this place. While I certainly am prepared to take up my party's cudgels in any fight, I still think one can have good personal relationships with people on both sides of the House. Bernard and I have managed to establish a very warm friendship over a long period, but he has never allowed that friendship to intrude upon his impartiality as the Clerk, Deputy Clerk or Assistant Clerk.

It is always a sad day when somebody retires after 42 years. People come and go in this place. The public are always shocked when I tell them the average length of service is about 7½ years, which means there are a lot of 'oncers' in this building—people who come and go, make a contribution and then leave the place. They either retire or get defeated. Most of them get defeated in preselections or at the hands of the electorate. Very few people get to choose their time of retirement from this place. So a long period of time in this House is very rare, and 42 years in this place—since 1972—is a remarkable, remarkable achievement. I salute Bernard and his family. I am so pleased they were here today to hear all the lovely things being said about Bernard, and he deserved every one of them.

I also, in ending this year, thank many of the new people who have taken up positions since the change of government: Annette Cronin, Suzannah Ward and Tim Moore, who are now the House parliamentary liaison officers; David Elder, who will become the Clerk from January, and I look forward to working with him; Robyn McClelland, the Serjeant-at-Arms; the government's whips team, Philip Ruddock, Nola Marino and the member for Wright, Scott Buchholz; and the opposition whips office. I thank the previous opposition whips and the previous government whips. It has been a tumultuous year. There were many different government whips over that time. We have had three prime ministers this year. The whips, of course, have quite a job keeping everybody here on the straight and narrow, and one would not underestimate how much pastoral care the whips provide in this place. I have been here over 20 years, as I said, and the whips have rarely had to provide pastoral care for me. But I do know that the whips provide a lot of support for members of parliament, especially because they are a long way from home and have familial issues. The whips find out about it all. They are very discreet and they keep a lot of people on the straight and narrow. Without the whips, the place could not work well. I would also like to thank the Table Office, including: James Rees and Sarah Fielder; Peter Quiggin from the Office of Parliamentary Counsel, who sits with me now on the Parliamentary Business Committee; and Anne Dowd, Anne O'Connor and David Belgrove, who are the legislative team in the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and who will have a very busy time over summer as we prepare for our sittings next year.

I thank the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker—particularly the new Speaker, who I think is fulfilling the role with charm and elegance and a firm hand on both sides of the House which I think we look forward to when we come back in February. She will turn out to be a great Speaker. I thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker Scott, for your length of service and for your good work in that chair, and the Second Deputy Speaker, Mr Mitchell from McEwen. I hope he will turn out to be a great Second Deputy Speaker. He is very feisty, so he might need to think over the summer about how he continues to be feisty and impartial at the same time, but I am sure he will manage it. He had quite a scare at the election campaign, so no doubt he will be looking forward to the end of the year as well. I thank the Speaker's panel: the members for McMillan, Moore, Solomon, Hughes, Pearce, Bonner and Braddon. I thank my Deputy Leader of the House, the member for Cowper.

In closing, I thank all the staff who make the parliament work as well as they do. I have often given this speech, so I will not single them out again for fear of reputation, but I thank all the people who make the parliament operate. As the Deputy Leader of the Opposition said, this building is like a very small town and it operates very efficiently and effectively. I am very grateful for all the good work that the staff do, from the drivers and the cleaners right through to all the parliamentary staff and our own political staff, who do a tremendous job.

In closing this year, 2013, I note that over the last three years there have been times when I think the former Leader of the House and I saved the parliament from potentially even worse outcomes than the public saw. I look forward to working with the Manager of Opposition Business in the House, who I have now known for some time and have much in common with, both of us being republicans and Catholics. I am sure that we will be able to successfully manage the parliament for the good of the Australian people. While we will not always agree, hopefully we will both be able to act with good faith in the way that I have previously enjoyed in my relationship with the member for Grayndler.

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