Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business (House)) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I join with the comments made by the Leader of the House in thanking you in your role and also thanking the clerks, the attendants—all the people who make this building work—our own staff, who work extraordinary hours, and the people who do all the different logistics around the building and make sure that we get to and from all the things that we have to be able to reach to do our jobs properly.

May I also, in acknowledging this, simply join in extending the best wishes for Christmas to each and every member. I thank the Leader of the House for the fact that we have a continuing agreement that we will never, never say anything untrue to each other—which also involves us often going for periods of time without talking to each other! Shortly before the week of parliament was cancelled, there was a message I'd been waiting to have returned for quite some time. But the agreement that we will always be honest and straight with each other has always been followed, and I respect that and I think that helps build the sort of trust that's allowed us to get through a week like this, where almost every member of parliament wanted to make speeches, many wanted to make multiple speeches, and yet we got through without gagging the debate. That wouldn't have been possible without that cooperation.

I know lots of people at different times of the year talk about different festivals and observe them, and, in my part of Sydney, I work on the basis that, in a multicultural country, everybody celebrates everything. So, when we're coming up to feasts like this that are important to me, I—in that exact same spirit as people who would wish me a happy Eid or a happy Hanukkah or a happy Deepavali—wish everybody all the peace and joy of Christmas.

It is, for many people, a joyous time of the year, but often it's a hard time of year for people as well. It's a time when it really comes home who might not be at the table for a lot of families as well. So, for each and every one, I wish them a peaceful and safe time, with all the joy of Christmas.

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