Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are here on the last parliamentary day so it is appropriate to take this opportunity to offer some remarks as we move towards the summer and Christmas season. I know it always seems a little bit strange for us to be making Christmas remarks when Australians are still very hard at work. For those listening to the broadcast I want to assure them that when the House rises at the end of today we too will all continue to be hard at work. The government will be hard at work governing and every member of the parliament will be hard at work in their constituencies. We know this is a very busy time of year with end-of-year functions, most particularly those very special end-of-year events that members of parliament attend and rejoice in. But it is our last parliamentary day, so it is the right time to reflect on what has happened in 2010 and to record some hopes for the year ahead. And we should note that as the parliament ends the Ashes series starts, so the summer season is upon us.

At the end of what has been a tough election year it is easy to dwell on the differences between us, and of course those differences are very real. But at this time I do want to say to the parliament: we are all Australians, we are all people of this place and as a people, as a nation, we have got so much to be grateful for. Even as Australians go about what can be the day-to-day struggle of their lives, there is much to be proud of and much to be grateful for. I want to genuinely wish everyone well in this building and beyond, and across the political divide, as the year comes to an end.

There have been some very happy days during this year. It was a good year for the fans of Sydney FC, it was a good year for the fans of St George and—whilst it really, really pains me to say it!—it was a good year for Collingwood fans as well. A drought has come to an end in the eastern states of Australia, and that is good news. Our Jessica Watson sailed her way into the history books and into many Australians’ hearts with her brave venture of sailing solo around the world. Our Mary MacKillop has been recognised by the world and, on a different note, the victims of Dr Patel in Bundaberg found some justice. It has been a year of a tough election but it has also been a year of parliamentary reform, including an independent Speaker, improvements to question time and an acknowledgement of country on sitting days. These are good things.

It was a year with sad days as well. We lost some great Australians this year: Peter Porter and Joan Sutherland, Jim Kennan and Ken Wriedt, Peter Bowers, Bobbi Sykes and Frank Fenner. And we lost some great young Australians too: from the 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment, Sapper Jacob Moerland and Sapper Darren Smith; from the 2nd Commando Regiment, Private Timothy Aplin, Private Scott Palmer and Private Benjamin Chuck; from the 6 RAR, Private Nathan Bewes, Private Tomas Dale, Private Grant Kirby and Lance Corporal Jared MacKinney; and from the Special Air Service Regiment, Trooper Jason Brown. We remember them. We are proud that our country has produced such Australians in the past and I am very confident that our country will continue to produce Australians of their quality in the future.

I know I speak for all in this House and all in this country when I say we are especially thinking at this time, and will over the Christmas season, of our troops, the mates of the men that I have just named, who are serving overseas. We are so proud of them. We trust that they get some relief and some respite over the Christmas season and that they have the opportunity, even from afar, to speak to and touch base with their families back home. We wish for all of them a safe return.

At this time of the year we of course celebrate the values of peace and goodwill that bring us all together as Australians. Christmas is a time of great significance for those of religious faith, but it is a time of great significance for all of us. It is a time when, whatever your background, you can come together and acknowledge the role and meaning of Christmas in our nation’s heritage of belief. As a season of giving, it is also a time when we redouble our efforts for those less fortunate in our society and strive to include them much more in our circle of generosity. Our congratulations go to so many Australians who, each and every year, make the Christmas season their time of good works and extend a helping hand to those less fortunate in our society. Of course, while many in the nation take a holiday, there are always those people who keep everything that we need running. Our doctors, our nurses, our police, our firefighters and our transport workers will all work through this Christmas season so we are kept safe and sound and secure and have the services we need.

There are many people to acknowledge and thank. I will briefly list those who deserve our thanks. My brevity does not reflect the depth of emotion in our thanks; the depth of emotion is very strong indeed. First, to the Leader of the Opposition and his wife and family: I trust he takes a long, long holiday—12 months would be perfect! But, whatever he takes, I trust he enjoys it and enjoys time with family and friends. Mr Speaker, we know that you cannot take a long, long holiday, because parliament will be back, but I suspect during your days of holiday you are not going to miss us very much. To those who assist you in the Speaker’s chair, also, I send our goodwill—and I suspect they are not going to miss us very much. To the Parliamentary Liaison Office, our thanks for the work that you do. To the Clerk and Deputy Clerk, who always have the good grace to pretend that they miss us even if they do not, thank you for the work that you do to keep the parliament functioning. We wish you the best at this time of year. To the Serjeant-at-Arms and to the attendants who look after us so well—particularly me during question time; I am a ferocious consumer of water—thank you very much for your assistance. To the Parliamentary Library, which we rely on so much for advice and assistance, thanks for all of your efforts on behalf of members of parliament. To the Hansard staff, for making us sound better than we did in real life, thank you. To the staff of the Table Office and to the Parliamentary Relations Office, thank you for your work.

Of course, this parliament has within it people who do a lot of work but whose occupations are not necessarily recognised all that often. There are the gardeners, the cooks, the switchboard operators, the computer experts, security and people who do myriad other jobs. We see the cleaners who assist us in our offices day to day and thank them when we see them, but their work is often not done within our line of sight, so we do not get the opportunity to say thanks to them. I take that opportunity now. Thanks to Aussies for the great coffee, which is so required. Thanks to those who are providing child care in this parliament, finally. Thanks to the travel agents, who assist us as we move around the country, and to the broadcasting staff, who make sure people in Australia know what is happening in this place. Thanks to the Comcar drivers, who are not just a source of transport but a source of good cheer and good humour as we come in early in the morning and go back very late at night. Thanks to the press gallery. We do not have them in grand attendance right now, and it is not every day that we think they deserve our thanks—but they do, and I am sure that is a spirit shared across the parliament. I see the shadow Treasurer nodding to that. They do an important job broadcasting our words and taking the events of this place to the nation.

To my Labor team, my great thanks to the Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer. It has been a tough period and he has been a remarkable source of strength and support. To my cabinet, ministerial and parliamentary secretary colleagues, my thanks go to each of them for their hard work and diligence and personal support for me. To the Leader of the House, Anthony Albanese, who has literally, in our view, worked a miracle in this parliament, my very sincere thanks. To our Senate team, we now share a bit more understanding of what it is like to be in a chamber where the executive does not necessarily have the numbers—

Stephen Smith (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Stephen Smith interjecting

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know this bonding with the Senate can go only so far, and the Minister for Defence is reminding me not to take it too far. But I do think we understand more about their world than we used to. My thanks go to our Senate leadership team, Senator Evans and Senator Conroy. To the Chief Government Whip and his team, thank you very much for the work you do.

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Fitzgibbon interjecting

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He is out of place. You never know where he is going to bob up next as he goes about his duty. To all members of the Labor team, thank you very much. To the crossbenchers, in a remarkable parliament in a remarkable year, thank you for your good humour and good spirit. Thank you for the support you have provided us whilst noting the fierce independence—which means we cannot take that support for granted. I hope each and every one of you gets a break. It is well deserved.

To each member of the opposition, sometimes we are not so charitable towards you—I know that; but, at this time of year, I hope everyone on the opposition benches gets a good break, and my best goes to them as they spend some time with family and friends over the Christmas season.

To all of the staff who support us, I want to say thanks. To the staff who particularly support me, I would like to say thanks. I convey my thanks to my chief-of-staff, Amanda Lampe and, through her, I convey my thanks to all of my personal staff in this building. I would also like to convey my thanks to my electorate office staff who continue to make me look good in the electorate of Lalor. Whilst I cannot be there as much as I would like, they very much go about their work of supporting me and making sure our people of Lalor get to talk to them and work problems through—so my thanks do go to them.

To the great Australian Public Service and particularly to my department, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, my thanks go to each of them and to the secretary of my department, Terry Moran.

I also say thanks to the Australian Federal Police, who are now an ever-present part of my life but do a great deal to make sure that we are all kept safe and secure.

To the Australian Labor Party membership overall—to those who work so hard in our national organisation, to Karl Bitar through to every volunteer who handed out a Labor how-to-vote card—my very sincere thanks. Every how-to-vote card mattered this year. To the supporters of the wider labour movement, my thanks and my wishes to them for a happy Christmas.

Also at this time, my thanks go to my own family for their support during what has been a pretty tough year. My thanks to Tim, my mother and father, my sister and niece and nephew. I look forward to spending time with them over the Christmas season.

As we move from this year into the next, I think we can reflect on what a fortunate nation we are, but we can also renew our determination to make sure that we always live in a land of a fair go and that we always work together to build our nation. Thank you.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to, at least in part, support the sentiments of the Prime Minister. Could I, in particular, support her remarks about our military personnel in Afghanistan. I should note that, as well as the tragic loss of 10 service personnel this year, we lost a service dog, Sapper Herbie. Also, we had 60 soldiers who were wounded in Afghanistan this year.

I should acknowledge that the Prime Minister has been a ferocious competitor this year, and I should congratulate her on her success. She may not have won the election handsomely but she certainly won the negotiation, and that takes a considerable skill. As a party politician, it is my job to hold the light up to, or to let the sunlight in on, the faults and flaws of the Prime Minister and the government. But as an Australian I want the best possible government for our country and as an Australian I am always willing the government to succeed and to flourish, even as I doubt its capacity to do so, because it is important for our people and their prosperity that we have the best possible government in our country.

Mr Speaker, I should support and adopt the compendious thankyous that were provided by the Prime Minister to you and your team. It is a difficult job to maintain order and decorum in this parliament. I think you maintain your own dignity well, and I think you help us to maintain some shreds of dignity ourselves. So thank you for that. To Bernard Wright and his team, the true custodians of the traditions of this House, thank you. And to all of the people here in the parliament—the Parliamentary Research Office, the Parliamentary Library, the serjeants, the attendants and the Comcar drivers—I thank you.

To do our jobs, we all depend on so many people. As senior politicians we are in the spotlight. Our egos are well and truly massaged by the applause we get. Many others make it possible. They do not get the applause that they deserve and it is appropriate that we should thank them at this time of the year because, if we do much, it is because many people are sustaining us in that task.

I should particularly thank my deputy, the member for Curtin. I could not ask for a better deputy. I also thank the Leader of the National Party; I could not ask for a better coalition colleague. I thank my staff, led by Peta Credlin. What a tremendous office they have been. I thank the whips, the Manager of Opposition Business—thank you for everything you have done.

For a few minutes I would like to dwell on some of my colleagues who are no longer with us. There was not the chance, pre-election, to talk about retiring colleagues and I would like to briefly mention them. Fran Bailey, the former member for McEwen—I doubt that the House has heard a more eloquent speech than her heartfelt address to us in the wake of the Black Saturday bushfires. Pat Farmer, my friend and the former member for Macarthur, was the fittest member of this House. I may lay claim to that in his absence, although I think I have some rivals in the member for Blair, perhaps the member for Flinders and perhaps some of my younger colleagues on this side. Pat is one of those people who are always looking for a new challenge and I am sure all of his former colleagues wish him well in his attempt to organise and complete a pole-to-pole run, an almost incomprehensible feat of physical endurance. If anyone can do it, it is Pat. I hope the attempt is blessed with success. David Hawker, the former member for Wannon, was an exemplary Speaker and a model of decency. Chris Pearce, the former member for Aston, is one of the quiet achievers of our country, first in local government and then in the parliament and in business. Petro Georgiou, the former member for Kooyong, was, in many respects, the conscience of the Liberal Party. I am not suggesting that the rest of us lack conscience but, certainly, Petro was always eloquent in defence of what he saw as the best instincts of liberalism, and he will be missed. Danna Vale, the former member for Hughes, turned a safe Labor seat into what was for much of the term of the Howard government a pretty safe coalition seat, because of her decency and hard work. Peter Lindsay, the former member for Herbert—I commend every retiring member to observe the conduct of Peter Lindsay in organising a succession plan and working with his successor. Margaret May, the former member for McPherson, is, I think, as responsible as any member of this House for the pension increase that pensioners have enjoyed in the last three years. It was her urging that persuaded Brendan Nelson, the former Leader of the Opposition, to adopt this cause. I think that his adoption of the cause did have some impact on the government, and I congratulate the government on the actions it ultimately took. Finally, I should mention Michael Johnson, the former member, who may have lost his way at the end, but certainly he took a seat off the ALP and helped to boost Australia’s links with Asians and to make Asian Australians feel at home in the coalition parties.

I should also mention two of my former colleagues who were defeated at the recent election—first, that remarkable political character, the former member for O’Connor, Wilson Tuckey. Wilson was always colourful, sometimes irascible—

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I make it very clear that I said irascible—and I have to say he was far more thoughtful than he was often given credit for. Wilson was a veritable catherine-wheel of ideas and many of Wilson’s ideas have considerable merit and will, I think, be vindicated in the years ahead.

I also mention Jason Wood, the former member for La Trobe. I first met Jason campaigning during the 2004 election. I thought he had a remarkable common touch, perhaps helped by his years in the police force. He was an extremely diligent local member. He was in the end defeated by a difficult redistribution, but nevertheless will be much missed by his electorate and by his friends and colleagues here in the parliament.

As the Prime Minister has said, this is a time for families. Over this Christmas season I believe we all should give them more of the attention they deserve. They are the conscripts in public life. They feel our pain without necessarily enjoying our rewards and our exhilarations. I particularly thank my own long-suffering, darling angel wife, Margaret, and my own children. And I of course wish Tim all the best in the Christmas period.

The Prime Minister rightly pointed out the great strengths of our country and it is appropriate that we should count our blessings, particularly at this Christmas period. But while we count our blessings we should always be striving to be even better. We are a great people in part because we are never satisfied that we have done enough, and we certainly should do more in 2011 than we have in 2010.

Finally, may God bless us all in this Christmas season. May God help us in the year ahead. I suspect that in 2011, as in every other year, we will certainly need His help.

11:14:34

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

By any measure this has been quite a remarkable year. The past year has delivered very significant change: an election, a hung parliament, a new parliament, a new Prime Minister. So change has been constant over the past year, but one thing that has not changed has been the strength of our economy. A year ago we were proud of the fact that we had not experienced a recession, but back then we dared not dream that we would create, as a nation, something like 375,000 jobs in the years that followed. Australian businesses have kept employing people, they have kept investing, they have kept training and they have kept hiring. As a consequence of that, Australia has avoided the high and mass unemployment that has been experienced by so many other developed economies. I would particularly like to pay tribute today to small business in our economy for the role that they have played in training and keeping our workforce in place.

As we go towards Christmas we also celebrate the fact that in the new year Australia will see its first Paid Parental Leave scheme, a very, very important achievement for the future of the country. I think all Australians can be immensely proud of what we have achieved together. We have rolled up our sleeves, we have pulled together and we have gotten on with the job.

Of course, in the past year the parliament have gone through its challenges. Who could forget those 17 days—and, I think, 17 minutes—where we did not quite know what the outcome was going to be. I think we should all be proud of what has transpired since then. We have achieved a lot together. The Australian people gave us a very clear message. They wanted our politics to work in a new way; they wanted us to work together; they wanted us to work in a better way, better than we had in the past; and they wanted us to put the national interest first. I think what has transpired since then has been a credit to the parliament. We get a lot of scrappy reporting of it but what has actually been occurring in here has been constructive, and I think it has made our nation a better place. The government have been able to get on with the business of government. Legislation is passing through the House and through the Senate and the government are providing the certainty that the country requires.

I pay credit to those who sit on the crossbenches. It is hard for many here to imagine the enormous pressure that has been placed on them. It has been an enormous responsibility and they have responded, and I believe they are stronger for the experience just as the parliament is stronger for the experience. They did not come to an arrangement because they were acting just in the interests of any particular electorate or area, like Port Macquarie, Tamworth, Hobart or Mount Isa; what they did was for Australia, particularly for regional Australia, and that is important to acknowledge. So too is it important to acknowledge the hard fought parliamentary reforms. I think all parliamentarians can be proud of those. While there will be disagreements from time to time about how they are implemented, we have kept the wheels of government going. We have enhanced accountability and we have set up a parliament where members matter. I would certainly like to acknowledge the role of the Speaker and of course the clerks of the parliament, and all of their staff—because this has put them under immense strain and pressure as well, and they have performed admirably in that endeavour. I would also like to acknowledge particularly my old friend the member for Kennedy. We do not agree on every issue but he is a proud Queenslander at heart and he has played a particularly constructive role.

I would also like to acknowledge the role of the opposition in this place. At the end of the day politics is a battle of ideas and we must debate those ideas in this House. I believe we have done that. There are matters on which we have profound disagreements, and we will continue to have profound disagreements, but we have debated those ideas. That has been good for the country. I acknowledge the shadow Treasurer. He has been a worthy opponent, always coming up with the odd new idea out of the blue. I congratulate him for that and I look forward to the contest in the year ahead.

I pay tribute to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is an extraordinary person, the toughest, most focused and most capable person that I have ever worked with. It is an honour and a privilege to work with her and it is an honour and a privilege to count her as a mate. In addition to honouring the Prime Minister today I want to honour her predecessor. Whatever happened this year, nobody doubts Kevin’s commitment to the country or his contribution to the cabinet. It is important to acknowledge that today.

I acknowledge all of my cabinet colleagues, who have worked very hard over the past year, particularly our Treasury team of Chris Bowen, Craig Emerson and Nick Sherry, prior to the election, and our new Treasury colleagues Bill Shorten and David Bradbury. All I can offer them is more hard work and challenges ahead. I also acknowledge the new Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Penny Wong. She is a great fighter and a great worker, and I look forward to working with her in the years to come. I would also like to acknowledge the very significant contribution of the former finance minister, Lindsay Tanner, who did a terrific job during one of the toughest periods in Australian politics and in the Australian economy.

I acknowledge the contribution from the Leader of the House, Anthony Albanese. His performance here has been simply magnificent. In a difficult situation one of the highlights has been the clashes, if you like, between Anthony Albanese and Christopher Pyne. I think they have given us all great delight and great enjoyment.

I would like to pay tribute to all my caucus colleagues and say to them that the privilege of serving in the parliament and working for the great ideas that we stand for in this parliament has always been one of the greatest experience of my life and it will be for them in the years ahead.

Could I also acknowledge all of the staff of the parliament, from the security guards through to the cleaners and all the people who do those very special jobs. Today I give a very special mention to the gardeners. I have seen them for many years out there gardening and blowing the leaves in the early hours of the day. I am not sure why it has taken Joe 15 years to work out that they were early starters; nevertheless I am sure that the campaign he has been mounting will pay dividends.

I also would like to acknowledge my staff in the ministerial office in Canberra. They work hard, they certainly do not get a lot of sleep and they buy a lot of coffee from Aussies. They do a magnificent job. At the moment, a number of them are vigorous fundraisers for Movember. If you have seen a few men wandering around the parliament with vigorous moustaches—some are not so vigorous—they may be that trusty team from my office who, at this stage, have raised $16,000. I urge all donors who have not yet made their commitment to Movember to kick in to the team from the Treasury. There is still a week or so to go and I think they could do a lot better. I pay tribute to my former chief of staff, Chris Barrett, who has served the Labor Party in a variety of ways over many years. Now the father of a young son, he has moved on to greener pastures. He made a very significant contribution to the public policy debate in this parliament. He has been replaced by Jim Chalmers, another hard worker who has a terrific mo and much more to contribute to the fundraising effort.

My Brisbane based staff should not go unmentioned. They have done a remarkable job in what has been a very difficult year and they have all worked very hard. I would also like to pay tribute to the Treasury. They have had another massive year, working long hours, not just preparing the budget but doing the MYEFOs and Intergenerational reports and all the detailed documents which require so much hard work. I would particularly like to extend my special thanks to Secretary to the Treasury, Ken Henry, who epitomises the sacrifices made by so many dedicated public servants. He has worked very hard for this country over a long period. I pay particular tribute to him for the hard work he has done for our country, particularly during the last couple of years.

Lastly, I would like to thank my family. We are all very privileged to serve in this place but we cannot do it without their permission. They are always the greatest supporters and they make very big sacrifices to allow us the opportunity to work long hours in these jobs. I acknowledge the support of my wife Kim, my children Erinn, Libby and Matt. The amount of support I get is remarkable and far more than I deserve.

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to join others in extending good wishes and appreciation to those who work in this place and to extend good wishes to the people of Australia as we approach another Christmas season. As others have mentioned, it has been an eventful year. We have a new Prime Minister, a new paradigm and, if you look back over the past 12 months, we have a new Leader of the Opposition and a new clerk. All of these people have made a contribution to the year. It has also been a year when the seasonal cycles seem to have changed. The dams are full and the Murray-Darling Basin is almost full. That has demonstrated to us once again that nature is able to achieve what government policies, Basin Plans and Copenhagen conferences can never achieve. It certainly has lifted the spirits of all Australians to know that perhaps we are entering a better run of seasonal conditions. We should not forget that in Western Australia the season has been unfavourable. Indeed, there is evidence of growing drought in that state and isolated pockets in other parts of Australia as well have not enjoyed the more abundant season.

During the year, the Afghanistan war has become more intense. The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition both mentioned the loss of life. Let us acknowledge on this occasion the service and sacrifice of our soldiers in peacekeeping operations around the world and in places like Afghanistan. The task is dangerous but they undertake their work with bravery and commitment to our country.

This has obviously been a tumultuous year in politics. Our parliament is different from the way it was. It will undoubtedly take some time for us all to get used to it. We have had a close election, delivering a government which now has the responsibility of ensuring our country is able to progress in an efficient and competent way. The role of the parliament is critical to the proper functioning of our democracy. I take this opportunity to thank once again the staff who serve the democratic processes of our country so well through the way in which they assist members of parliament and the parliamentary process to achieve its objectives. On a day-to-day basis we perhaps do not say thank you to them as often as we should. We appreciate the glass of water, the opening of the door, the little things that happen. With the flurry of day-to-day activity, perhaps with other things on our minds, we do not always recognise as promptly and as warmly as we should the tremendous contributions these people make to ensure the parliament works well.

Among others, I mention the Serjeant-at-Arms and his staff, the attendants, the security people, the Comcar drivers, Tim and the dining room staff, the nurses, the cleaners, the people in the library and those who record in Hansard what we say—and sometimes translate it into the language which we intended to use but did not. We appreciate those who look after our travel arrangements, the childcare workers and those who provide all the other services of the parliament.

The press gallery can be a challenge but we know that they also play an important role in a robust democracy. The advent of 24-hour news cycles—the 24-hour ABC program, the work of Sky and now A-PAC television—have certainly increased the coverage of the parliament. I particularly welcome A-PAC television, which, sadly, not many people have access to. It shows more of the parliament than just the traditional conflict of question time. It shows the real workings of the parliament and raises the esteem of the public about the work of the parliament and, in particular, allows many backbenchers, who make very good contributions to parliamentary debates, to be heard. Their words are often not reported in the media but, in reality, their contributions are important. This greater television coverage gives many other people an opportunity to be seen for the work they do in this place.

I thank the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, and his deputy, Julie Bishop. We work well together as a team and it is a privilege to work with them. Indeed, I pay a special tribute to Tony Abbott, who in any fair-minded assessment would have to be regarded as the man of the year in Australian politics. This time last year, the opposition was at a pretty low ebb, almost in a state of despair. No-one thought we were even remotely competitive in the political contest, but that has turned around and turned around so quickly that we had an election that was the closest in at least 70 years. A lot of the tribute and credit for that certainly belongs to Tony Abbott. I have watched closely the dedication and commitment that he has given to the task. He has certainly shown, through his leadership, a willingness to look at the issues and to address them in a comprehensive and, in many ways, a bold and innovative way. So I pay tribute to the leadership that he has provided. It has been a real privilege to work with him.

I acknowledge my Nationals colleagues: my deputy, Nigel Scullion, and Senators Joyce and Nash—the leaders in the Senate—who have worked very effectively as a team. I appreciate also the work of the whips: Alex Somlyay in the old parliament and now Warren Entsch. I also acknowledge the terrific role that Kay Hull played over the years as whip. She is an extraordinary individual. It was remarkable to go to her tribute function in her electorate. There are probably more things named after Kay Hull in Wagga than I have seen of any other serving member of parliament in their lifetime. She made an extraordinary contribution and will never be forgotten. Mark Coulton is doing an excellent job as the new Nationals whip. They battle on without any staff. I might say to the Leader of the House, who has moved into the place: it is high time that the Nationals’ whip staffing was restored. For the first time really since whips had clerks, this government has taken away the clerical assistance to the Nationals and, frankly, it ought to be restored in the interests of a fair and proper functioning of parliament.

I also acknowledge Brad Henderson and the team in the Nationals secretariat and also acknowledge the cooperative relationship we have had with Brian Loughnane and the Liberal Party secretariat. They worked very hard during the election campaign—in the case of the Nationals, always with very limited budgets—but they were able to achieve the best result that our party has received since World War II. We acknowledge their contribution.

I also thank my Canberra staff, David Whitrow and the team. Most of them have been with me since the days of government and sometimes a long time before that. That dedication is greatly appreciated. I also thank my electorate staff, again all of whom have been with me a very long time—some since the beginning of my time in the parliament, some having served my predecessor. Those people are really special and the contribution that they make is much appreciated. So thank you to all of those who have served the parliament, who have made the contribution, who have helped our country to address some of the key issues over the recent period and who are also committed to doing that again in the future.

Christmas is a very special time of the year. It is an occasion when families can get together and enjoy one another’s company. We love to have the people we know and who are special to us around us at Christmas time. But Christmas is more than just decorations and gifts and parties. The celebrations and symbols of Christmas highlight the joyous reason for our festivities: the birth of Jesus Christ. Those who seek to take Christmas out of the holidays, or Christ out of Christmas, just lose the central reason for the celebrations and their meaning and purpose. The true spirit of Christmas, though, also means that we should think of those less fortunate—the homeless, the jobless, those who are sick or those who are spending Christmas alone this year. In the context of earlier remarks today, we think over Christmas especially of those who have lost loved ones in tragedies like the New Zealand coalmine disaster, those who have a loved one lost during the Afghanistan war and in other tragedies.

Finally, I appeal to Australians travelling this Christmas to be safe on the road. We committed our nation some years ago to reducing the road toll by 40 per cent by 2010. Very good progress was made, particularly in the early period of that target, towards reducing the road toll, but for some reason or other the last year or so has not been so good. Now we are setting new targets, and they should be ambitious as well. The road toll is about having good roads and good infrastructure, but it is also about careful driving. We all think that we are good drivers, but there are other people on the road who perhaps are not that good. At Christmas time in particular we need to make sure that we are observant and careful. There are a lot of temptations at Christmas time, but we should be patient during this festive season so that we can enjoy them and not have a family celebration in any way tinged by the tragedy of a heavy Christmas road toll. Please drive safely on our crowded roads.

Finally, I acknowledge those who will work over the Christmas period when others are taking leave—those who will be on hand to deal with the disasters that so often seem to happen over the Christmas period: the bushfires and the floods that seem to predominate around the Christmas holiday period. We appreciate the commitment of our emergency services personnel, the armed forces, police, ambulance and hospital staff, the people who work in nursing homes and childcare facilities. We need them whether it is holiday time or not and we appreciate their sacrifice.

We have had an exciting year in the parliament. I acknowledge those who have contributed to the past year and extend my very best wishes to them and their families for a wonderful Christmas season. I hope they will come back refreshed from the holiday, ready again to confront the issues that are important to our nation and make sure that as a parliament we can continue the vital work of building a better country so that all people can enjoy and appreciate the great privilege we have to live in Australia.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to contribute to this debate, which is a part of the tradition of the closure of an annual meeting of the House of Representatives. It is indeed a tremendous honour to be the Leader of the House in this parliament, the 43rd Parliament, as it was in the 42nd Parliament. It is a duty which I take very seriously and one in which I attempt to play a role for the good functioning of the House, as well as of course being a government representative in terms of negotiating the handling of this parliament. I thank the former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and the current Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, for giving me this honour.

The new Prime Minster has made an extraordinary beginning. She has, in my view, a capacity as a parliamentarian greater than any other of the 150 members of this House of Representatives. I think we see that in question time and I certainly see it in other forums as well. Her capacity to get across the detail over the whole range of portfolios that is required of the Prime Minister is quite extraordinary. We have seen it on exhibition again this week where, after flying to Lisbon to represent Australia over the weekend, she came back into this House and conducted herself in exemplary fashion. She is a very strong advocate as the leader of our government.

To the Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer, Wayne Swan, I thank him very much for the close way in which we work together as infrastructure minister and Treasurer, and as Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the House. To he and my other good friend the deputy leader of the House, Stephen Smith, I would like to say that I think we have an extraordinarily good relationship, on both the political and a personal level, in terms of the way we sit down day to day in the early mornings discussing tactics and what will play out during the day. I am very pleased that the deputy leader of the House has moved to the defence portfolio because it means fewer overseas trips and therefore fewer absences from the House in comparison with what was the case in his former position of foreign minister.

To my other ministerial colleagues and caucus colleagues, I thank them very much for the cooperation that I have received as Leader of the House. The new paradigm is taking some getting used to but the faith shown by the collective caucus that is the Labor Party, in my judgment, in being able to make calls on behalf of the government is certainly appreciated, and it is not something that I take for granted. To the Chief Government Whip, and to his predecessor the former member for Chifley, Roger Price, I say thank you for the cooperation which we have received. The government whips, the member for Shortland and Fowler—and I also want to single out Anna George in the whips’ office—also make an extraordinary effort.

I have probably spent more time with the members for New England, Lyne, Melbourne, O’Connor, Kennedy and Denison than I would have anticipated. But to them I say: this has been a good thing. In my dealings with each and every one of them I have tried to be honest at all times in giving them advice in terms of the procedural functioning of the House and have tried to be someone able to facilitate their participation in the House. I think it is a good thing that the standing orders have been changed to facilitate the active engagement of all 150 members of the House of Representatives in a way which was not as easy before. Individual members of parliament can make a difference in this chamber through committees and through their participation in the political system, and I thank them for their participation.

For the opposition, I would like to single out the Manager of Opposition Business. He is not someone I always agree with but he is usually a person of good humour—and that matters in this place. Being in opposition is hard, and I certainly had an experience of it that was a lot longer in duration than I would have liked—hence I was very grateful that we were able to re-establish government in the aftermath of the 21st of August election. But to Christopher and the team in his office—James and others—I thank them for their, in the main, cooperation.

To Henry Thomson and the team in the parliamentary liaison office, I thank them for keeping the show ticking over. To the Clerk of the House, Bernard Wright, and his team, the Deputy Clerk, the Serjeant-at-Arms and those people who work in the Chamber Research Office and the Parliamentary Library—including Anna, Naomi, Penny and Chris—and to all the attendants who look after us so well in this chamber, I thank them very much as well. To the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, the presiding officers who now have a more difficult task than used to be the case in the parliament, I thank them for the important role that they play in this parliament.

I also have the privilege and honour of being a cabinet minister in the government, and I thank the secretary of my department, Mike Mrdak, and his team very much for their efforts over the past year.

I turn to my personal staff—my chief of staff Michael Choueifate, my personal assistant Karen Bissaker and my Leader of the House adviser Jo Haylen, who does an extraordinary job for the entire team. Her job was difficult before; it now is monumental. She does her job in an extraordinary fashion. To my electorate office staff, including Tanya Jackson-Vaughan and my electorate team, can I say I am only here as Leader of the House and as a minister if I am member for Grayndler. As the member for Grayndler I want to thank Daniel Barbar and all the team—and not only Labor Party members and Labor Party supporters but also the people who might not be natural Labor Party supporters but who support me personally in the role I play as the federal member for Grayndler. I thank them very much. I think some people got a bit of a reminder of the importance of electing a Labor member for Grayndler during those 17 days after 21 August. It is possible that the outcome in terms of who got to form government might have been different if Labor had not be successful in returning me as the member for Grayndler.

During those 17 days we had considerable negotiations over the functioning of the parliament. The fact is this parliament is functioning extremely well. We have so far carried some 51 pieces of legislation through this House. There is not a single bill that has been put up by the government that has not been carried. Indeed, there has not been a single amendment supported by the government that has not been carried as well. So we are on a 100 per cent success rate in terms of legislation. That has included important health and hospital reform legislation, legislation vital to the National Broadband Network and legislation fulfilling the commitments that we went to the election campaign with prior to 21 August. So the parliament is working well. There have been considerable improvements made and we can always look at further reform, but in general I think it is the case that our parliamentary reform has been a great success.

Members of parliament spend a lot of time away from their families. To my wife and life partner Carmel Tebbutt, I say thank you. She also has an extremely difficult job as the health minister in New South Wales. Our most important task is not our political task; it is that of being parents. To Nathan, I understand it is particularly hard on young ones when they miss out on seeing their parents. Just a few days ago he asked why his dad was not coming home that night, and he was told that parliament was sitting. His response was a reasonable one for a nine-year-old: why is he still working so hard; he won the election! It was a reasonable response for a nine-year-old to make. It is a great pleasure when we do get to spend time as a family, and I enjoyed seeing him bowl two wicket-maidens on Saturday for the Summer Hill under-10s playing against Marrickville. Those activities are of course the best part of every week.

As the transport minister, I join with the shadow minister, the member for Wide Bay, in asking people during this festive season to very much do whatever they can to drive safely on the roads. This is a time of year where there are always too many tragedies. Every tragedy is one too many. So, drive safely and be aware of the limitations of human performance and of the errors that can occur. I say to each and every member of the House, have a safe and festive Christmas season. I look forward to the fact that we will be back in the new year in the second week of February. I am proud of the fact that we are not sitting during the first week, which means parents can take their kids to school for the first week. Those of us who have young schoolchildren will be able to sit down with the teachers and help our children adjust to a new year in school. That was a very conscious decision made after some representations to me as Leader of the House.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As we come to the end of a tumultuous year in federal politics we should all pause to think about the relative comfort and security in which most of us live our lives in this great country of Australia. At a time when we can consider our good fortune as a nation, we are reminded that more than 925 million people will suffer chronic hunger this year, according to the United Nations. It is no coincidence that a similar number of people worldwide will struggle to survive on less than $1.25 a day, given the strong link between poverty and hunger. Almost nine million children will die this year before their fifth birthday. More than 350,000 women will die this year from complications involving pregnancy and childbirth, with 99 per cent of those deaths occurring in developing countries. It is estimated that almost 70 million school-age children are not attending school, with about half that number in sub-Saharan Africa and about a quarter in southern Asia.

There is bipartisan commitment in this place to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and to increasing our foreign aid budget to 0.5 per cent of our gross national income by 2015. I am particularly pleased that the Minister for Foreign Affairs has adopted my proposal for an independent inquiry into the effectiveness and efficient delivery of our foreign aid budget. Australians are generous people, as evidenced by the level of their personal donations to charities that support both domestic and international causes and by the high level of support throughout our nation for our foreign aid program. They do want to be reassured, however, that the money is being spent effectively and that there is value for the donated dollar. I welcome the broad-ranging inquiry into our aid program.

There is also great need in Australia, particularly in many of our Indigenous communities, and I applaud the work of our charities and government agencies to alleviate poverty and hardship in Australia. We do live in a land of plenty, with one of the highest standards of living on earth, but there are Australians who need our ongoing support.

Australia is one of the oldest continuous democracies in the world. It is a source of our strength and our stability. Here in Canberra, our parliament best represents our democratic process. It is the epicentre of the battle of ideas, the competing policy positions and the robust political debate that differentiates each side of politics. And long may members and senators bring to this place their diverse views, backgrounds and life experiences, and engage in passionate debate. Debates are undertaken with passion, for sure, but also with civility, respect, humility and good humour when needed.

We respect the election results in this country—however frustrating and painful. Australians accept the outcome and are comforted in the knowledge that our elections are free and fair, with the result determined at the ballot box. That is not the case in a number of countries around the world. While our system is not perfect nor necessarily the ideal for other nations, we continue to be disturbed by elections in countries such as Burma—where this year the first election since 1990 was held. The world was dismayed by the ongoing detention of Aung San Suu Kyi—that courageous voice for freedom and democracy in Burma. As perhaps the only member in this place who has had the privilege of meeting Aung San Suu Kyi, I am confident that her inspiration and courage will never be dimmed by the regime’s treatment of her.

I pay tribute to our armed forces representing our country overseas. They are defending freedom and fighting for the universal ideals of freedom and choice. I particularly want to mention our troops in Afghanistan and the troops and families of the Special Air Service regiment based in Swanbourne in my electorate of Curtin. People aspire to live a life free from the threat of violence wherever they are in the world. They aspire to live in a peaceful environment for the benefit of their families and communities. I pay tribute to the Australian Defence Force in its efforts to support those aspirations.

Turning to home, I place on record my admiration for the efforts this year of the Leader of the Liberal Party and the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott. His marathon campaigning effort, which was highlighted by his final non-stop 36-hour sprint to the finish, epitomised his strength, courage and commitment. He has forever changed the political landscape in this country and achieved what no other leader of the opposition has achieved—he saw off a first-term Prime Minister, although it seems that a number on the Labor side had a hand in that. A first-term government lost its majority for the first time in 80 years. Tony Abbott has made political history. In paying credit to Tony, I also pay credit to the whole coalition team: the members and senators, candidates, supporters, and federal and state executives who worked so tirelessly to achieve such an extraordinary result.

I enjoy the professional relationship that I have with Tony Abbott and the Leader of the Nationals, Warren Truss. We are great friends. I enjoy the working relationship that I have with my colleagues who make up the leadership team in the Senate—Senators Eric Abetz, George Brandis, Barnaby Joyce and Nigel Scullion—as well as Joe Hockey in this House, who has been such a stalwart in putting forward alternative policy positions this year.

I also take the opportunity to thank the Manager of Opposition Business, Christopher Pyne, for keeping us all in line. I admit that I do enjoy his company in question time just a little too much, but his ability to have adopted into parliamentary lexicon phrases such as ‘slag and bag’ keeps me endlessly amused. One cannot mention the member for Sturt without mentioning the Speaker. What extraordinary scenes we witness everyday during question time. That spark and sizzle keeps us all on edge. The battle of wills and sophisticated word play make question time the visual spectacle it is today with the great chemistry that all onscreen relationships are made of—although it is not quite Hepburn and Tracy or Bogie and Bacall, but more like Oscar and Felix. But it is tantalising: will Christopher take yet another point of order? Will Harry throw him out yet again? Stay tuned for tomorrow’s episode.

I want to pay tribute to the class of 2010—that is, the members of the coalition who were elected at the 2010 election. I appreciate that my colleague at the table, the member for Fadden, is of the class of 2007—and what a fine class that was—but I am sure I have paid tribute to him in previous years, and this year it is the turn of the class of 2010. What a talented, diverse group of individuals we have seen elected to this place as members of the coalition. I have no doubt that this bright, intelligent group of people will make a wonderful contribution to public debate in this place for years to come.

I thank our whips, those who serve on the Speaker’s panel and all those who take part in the everyday, ongoing parliamentary process in this place. I particularly pay tribute to our former Chief Opposition Whip, Alex Somlyay, and to our current Chief Opposition Whip, Warren Entsch. I think the legendary ‘Crocodile Hunter’ makes an ideal person to take on the role of whip.

I place on record my thanks to my Western Australian parliamentary colleagues. I thank them for their support and for their company on those long trips across the Nullarbor. The member for Perth, the Minister for Defence, is also at the table. He will join with me, I am sure, in recognising that it is quite an effort for Western Australian members and senators to make that journey every week, and I do appreciate the good spirit and humour with which they make that journey. We are a pretty close mob—the western force should never be trifled with. I also place on record my thanks to Wilson Tuckey, the former member for O’Connor, who gave such long and dedicated service to this parliament and to the Liberal Party.

To the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Leader of the House and the cabinet ministers, I congratulate them on achieving another stint on the Treasury benches. I wish them the very best for the Christmas break and I hope that they are able to spend some special time with family and friends. I thank all my colleagues who have played such an important role in the coalition team this year and I trust that they, too, will spend precious time with family and friends over the Christmas break.

I want to thank my staff, who have been the most competent, loyal and dedicated group that I could have wished for: in the Canberra office, Murray, my chief of staff; Peter and Sam and, before them, Justin and Rochelle; and in my electorate office, the amazing Kirsten, Suzanne, Georgina, Rachael, Judy and Isabel.

Finally, I want to acknowledge and thank all of the staff who work here at Parliament House, all who work in this great public institution, including the clerks, Sergeant-at-Arms and attendants, those who work at HRG doing the bookings, working for the committees—everyone who gets up every morning and comes into this place hoping to make a difference, hoping to ensure that this place functions as the Australian people would expect. I acknowledge their dedication and their service. Finally, I acknowledge the members of the press gallery and thank them for their fair and balanced reporting throughout the year. I wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas and may we return refreshed and reinvigorated as we strive to provide better public policy and better outcomes for all Australians. I wish all Australians a safe and happy Christmas.

Stephen Smith (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will make some brief remarks, firstly in my capacity as Deputy Leader of the House. Mr Deputy Speaker Georganas, I thank you and other members of the Speaker’s panel. If you could relay to the Speaker himself my thanks for that very good cooperation in the course of what has been a long parliamentary year. Can I again congratulate the clerk on his appointment this year and thank him and his officers and all of the members of the House of Representatives staff for the fine work that they do not just keeping the chamber running but keeping the parliament running in the course of the year. As Deputy Leader of the House I am of course the deputy to ‘Albo’ as he is known on our side—

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Affectionately.

Stephen Smith (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

with affection on our side and with affection on the other side. I cannot think of a better person, frankly, to be Leader of the House at a time when, for the first time since the 1940s, the government is in minority. He has fashioned a very admirable and functioning parliament, not just that which the public see—question time—but also in its general working, private members’ business and the enactment of legislation. Indeed, as he has said, some 50 bills have already been passed by the House this year. You could actually make the observation that, if you were looking at the parliament itself from outside in its day-to-day functioning, its smoothness, its effectiveness, it is not all that dissimilar from the parliaments that we have traditionally seen. It has of course, both in his case and in my case, required much more attention to that direction of the House where I see the member for Denison is now sitting. As the Leader of the House said, this is not a bad thing. In my own case as deputy leader, both in the previous parliament and in this one, my primary to-date responsibility or function has been to assist in question time tactics and the running of the House in question time. Of course, in this parliament, as the Leader of the House’s role has been effectively extended, so has mine. Like the Leader of the House, I have enjoyed my additional contact with those members from the crossbench.

One thing may come of this parliament. We all arrive in this place as politicians. Some of us leave as parliamentarians. This parliament may actually see more of us leave as parliamentarians because more attention has had to be paid to the functioning of the parliament, the standing orders and the like. Indeed, I have been known to say to my ministerial colleagues that when the parliament sits we are members of parliament and when the parliament does not sit we are members of the executive. So this exercise will see, hopefully, a greater appreciation of the traditional role of the parliamentarian per se.

As I say, both in the previous parliament and in this one, much of my role as Deputy Leader of the House is engaged in the day-to-day tactics and question time. Of course, it is not just the Leader of the House, me, the Deputy Prime Minister and other parliamentary colleagues who sit around the table; we are also supported by loyal, long-suffering staff members. In that context, can I pay tribute and thanks to Courtney Hoogen, who has been on my staff both in government and in opposition. Indeed, she has travelled the road from Immigration, when I was shadow minister, to Defence, with me as minister. As I have said to her, that has been a tough road—Immigration to Defence—over a number of years.

Between now and when the parliament sits in February of next year, Courtney will leave my office and return to her home town of Brisbane. I place on record my appreciation for all of her efforts in the parliamentary and media space, and also my affection for her. I will miss her. I am not quite sure how I will start each day without the very strong plunger coffee—deep, dark and black—provided with media clips and what is occurring in the course of the day. She is typical of a very large number of loyal and devoted Labor staffers who not just are here for ‘the good time of government’ but have done the hard slog of opposition. I am very appreciative of her efforts and we wish her well back in Brisbane.

I started my remarks as Deputy Leader of the House. I will now make some remarks as Minister for Defence and, firstly, say how privileged I am and how proud I am to be able to occupy that position. I was very pleased when the Prime Minister indicated to me after the election that she wanted me to serve in this role. The Minister for Defence is more than just being minister for the war in Afghanistan—but that, of course, is our most difficult operation. We always worry when our troops are serving overseas, whether it is in a conflict like Afghanistan or in a stabilisation or peacekeeping mission such as the Sudan, East Timor or the Solomons. But Afghanistan is where we focus most of our operational attention because of the nature of our mission there. As we get close to Christmas, this will of course be a very difficult time for 21 families who will be reminded that their loved one—a son, father or husband—is not with them. For 10 families this will be a terrible time because it will be the first Christmas where their loved one will be missing. Out eternal gratitude continues and our thoughts will be with the families at this difficult time.

I pay my tribute to the Defence diarchy: the Chief of the Defence Force, Angus Houston, and the secretary of the department, Ian Watt. They have both been of invaluable assistance to me in my early days and weeks as minister. Both are fine Australians and fine public servants. They work very well with me and they work very well together. My thanks go to them.

I make the point that generally when people observe the parliament they see the conflict of ideas at question time. What is underappreciated is that very much of what we do is done by agreement, where commonsense decisions in the nation’s interest are made. This is particularly the case in what we describe as the national security space. Whether it is as Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Defence or Attorney-General, very often in that national security space, as a matter of course, government ministers will consult and brief their counterparts. I thank the shadow minister for defence personnel, the member for Fadden, in his capacity as representing the shadow minister for defence, for the professional way in which he engages with me, with Mr Clare, the Minister for Defence Materiel, and with Mr Snowdon, the Minister for Defence Science and Personnel. In that context, I also thank the previous speaker, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and shadow minister for foreign affairs, for that same approach when I was, earlier in the year, Minister for Foreign Affairs.

I take this opportunity, as I did not have the opportunity in the last parliament, to thank the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Dennis Richardson—our former Ambassador to the United States, who commenced as secretary of the department in February of this year. He is a very fine diplomat, a very fine public servant and I enjoyed very much my time with him as secretary of the department. I thank him and all DFAT officers for the invaluable work that they do advancing our national interests in the international sphere.

We always acknowledge, understand and know of our troops serving overseas at a time such as this. Often, we forget that our Foreign Affairs officers are also operating overseas. From time to time, we very publicly see part of the fine work that they do, particularly in the consular space. I again place on record my thanks to the department for its very fine efforts in the Sundance Resources case when tragically all of the board of Sundance Resources was lost in a plane crash in the Congo. The efforts made by the department in Africa, Canberra and Perth are very much appreciated by the company and by the families of the board members lost in that terrible plane crash.

I take this opportunity, having thanked some of the senior officers in the department, to also thank my ministerial staff, both those people from DFAT and AusAID who served with me in Foreign Affairs and those people who came with me or joined with me as Minister for Defence. It is a tough, hard slog in a ministerial office—I have done it myself in the office of former Prime Minister Keating: long hours, long suffering and generally underappreciated but invaluable and very important work. The efforts of those in both of my ministerial offices are much and greatly appreciated.

I make special mention of my chief of staff for the last two years, Frances Adamson. Frances is a first assistant secretary in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, has previously been a Deputy High Commissioner in London and agreed to be my chief of staff for two years. Having refused all entreaties to extend her term, which is not normally the response of DFAT officers when an extension is offered, particularly if they are serving overseas, she will finish up by the end of the year. She is a consummate diplomat and a consummate professional, and we look forward to her return to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for what will continue to be a stellar career in the foreign affairs area for our nation. My thanks and my friendship go to her.

This was an election year, so I thank my electorate staff not just for all their efforts assisting me as the local member for Perth but in the special year of an election for all the additional workload that that creates. I thank Fran, Laurence and David and make particular mention of Anne Keane, my senior electorate officer, who has been with me for all of my time as the member for Perth. She also served for the vast bulk of my predecessor’s, Ric Charlesworth, time as member for Perth. When you add those two terms together, Anne is far and away, from the Labor Party’s point of view, the person who has made the longest continuous contribution to the cause of federal Labor in Perth since Federation. Her efforts continue to be greatly appreciated by me and also greatly appreciated by my constituents.

I finish by making, as the member for Curtin did, special mention of my WA parliamentary colleagues on all sides of the House. We make a long and arduous journey here and on occasions when we have flown back we have been accompanied on a Thursday or Friday at the end of a parliamentary week or fortnight by a colleague—maybe a minister, shadow minister or a colleague on a parliamentary committee—making the flight from Canberra to Perth or from Canberra to Melbourne to Perth. At the end of the flight, invariably the person from the eastern states will stand up, shake his or her head and try to regain some dignity after a six- or seven-hour flight or a three- or four-hour direct flight, look around and say, ‘I don’t know how you do it,’ to which my answer is always, ‘Every week. That’s how we do it—every week.’ That does create camaraderie for those who ply a particular craft and fly a particular journey. People would be surprised at the friendships that are forged in the course of those plane flights. So I wish all my WA parliamentary colleagues the best for the parliamentary break and for the Christmas and New Year season.

I make particular mention of Sharryn Jackson, the former member for Hasluck, who was defeated at the last election. She is a very fine individual and is a loss to this parliament. She is a person of great integrity. She worked very hard in her two terms as the member for Hasluck. She is a person who was very much in tune with the way in which Western Australians and Australians in her electorate were reacting to events and was very much attuned to their needs. She made a very fine contribution in Hasluck and I wish her well for the rest of her career. She is making currently a very important contribution in the office of the Leader of the Government in the Senate. I wish all my colleagues well for the Christmas-New Year season. I am joined at the table by the Manager of Opposition Business and the Deputy Manager of Opposition Business; I wish them all the best and thank both of them for their cooperation in the course of this parliamentary term.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will not take up the time of the House at great length today for these valedictories, as they are called. I know that we have business to conclude at 12.30 and I see that the Speaker has entered the chamber to do that. I might just make it to that particular time or we might do that business a bit earlier. I begin my valedictory by thanking the parliamentary staff. They sometimes succeed in making members of parliament look like we know what we are doing. They certainly know what they are doing. We would be quite incapable of managing this House, this quite peculiar place, without the parliamentary staff. Members of parliament get elected and then come to Canberra, and the parliamentary staff do their level best to ensure that we do not humiliate ourselves too much. They are led by Bernard Wright and David Elder, the Clerk of the House and the Deputy Clerk of the House. I have known both gentlemen for 18 years and have been very well served by them in government and in opposition, as a backbencher and as a frontbencher, and now, in particular, as the Manager of Opposition Business in the House.

It is said that Leader of Opposition is the worst job in politics. I do not want to take that title from the current Leader of the Opposition, but I think that in a hung parliament the Manager of Opposition Business and the Leader of the House are giving it a good run. We have certainly managed in this extraordinary year to do our level best to continue to hold the government to account from our side, and from the government’s side to try to ensure the opposition does not get in front of the government, with the best humour that we can manage, while not letting the Australian people down in our respective roles. So I thank the parliamentary staff: the clerks; the house attendants, who are led by Cheryl Lane; the Secretary of the Department of Parliamentary Services, Alan Thompson, and his team; all the Comcar drivers; the security staff; the cleaners; the staff of the Parliamentary Library and so on—everybody in this place. All of them ensure the smooth running of the parliament, which is a very important institution in the 14th largest economy in the world. We sometimes underestimate the role that we as members of parliament have in one of the longest-running democracies in the world—since 1901. For almost 110 years Australia has had the same kind of government, and it is testament to the Australian people and to the parliament that that has never been in question, unlike in so many other countries around the world.

I would like to thank, too, all the colleagues of mine, both government and opposition, who make this place so very interesting. I will start with the Speaker, Mr Jenkins, who has been Speaker for three years. Coming up for his second term as Speaker, he was supported by the opposition in a near run thing, but of course the opposition was with the Speaker from the beginning. I am not absolutely certain that the credit to the opposition is being granted by the Speaker where it is due in giving us the leeway that we need in opposition, but he does manage the role of Speaker very well. There is a misunderstanding in the Australian public that the Speaker and I somehow do not get along. I can assure the House that is not true. The Speaker and I have a very good relationship. It is somewhat symbiotic: I make him look good every day and he works to make me look bad every day. But I know it is not personal. My wife sometimes says I miss social signals because my skin has become so thick after 18 years in politics, but I am sure it is not meant personally. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition described it as the Oscar and Felix relationship of the parliament. I think the speaker is more like the ringmaster of a circus, with the performing monkeys being on the government’s side of the House, of course. I do take my hat off to the Speaker. It is a very difficult job; in a hung parliament it is even more difficult. I am sure that when we come back in February I will find that particular affection that I have been looking for from the Speaker. After we have all had a lovely break over Christmas and the new year, and maybe a couple of weeks at the beach, he will return with just a little bit more affection for me as the Manager of Opposition Business.

I would also like to thank the Deputy Speakers, Peter Slipper and Bruce Scott, who do a great job supporting the Speaker. I will not rush to thank the Speaker’s panel, as the opposition has not added any members to the Speaker’s panel for very obvious reasons, for the first time since the early 1960s. But there are good reasons for that, which I will not go into.

I would also like to thank the chief whips on both sides of the House—Joel Fitzgibbon, the member for Hunter, and Warren Entsch, the member for Leichhardt—who head their respective teams. It is a thankless task to be the whip in any kind of parliament, let alone a hung parliament. It is particularly thankless when pairs are so much harder to come by and, unfortunately, children’s birthdays get missed, graduations get missed and important conferences get missed simply because without the pairing arrangements being quite so generous as they have been in the past the whips often have to say no. I thank the member for Leichhardt and his staff: Nathan, Suzanne, Danae, Kylie and Josh. Patrick Secker, the member for Barker, Nola Marino, Mark Coulton and Paul Neville—the National Party whips—all do a sterling job of supporting me as Manager of Opposition Business and the entire House.

I would also like to thank some of the very senior members of the opposition. The Leader of the Opposition has done the most remarkable job in the almost 12 months now that he has been Leader of the Opposition. It is a very difficult job, and who would have predicted last December, a year ago, that one year later we would be in a hung parliament where the opposition had more seats than the government and where there are more Liberal and National party members in the House of Representatives and the Senate together than there are members of the Labor Party? The member for Warringah has taken the coalition to great heights this year. Of course, while we did not win the negotiations, there is an argument that we won the election. He has given great confidence and heart to all the supporters of the coalition around Australia who voted for us, who help us as a political party and who donate to and support the Liberal and National parties.

I give my absolute assurance to the House that on this side there is no sense of anything other than absolute support for the Leader of the Opposition and our leadership team. Julie Bishop, the member for Curtin, has been Deputy Leader of the Opposition for three leaders, which is quite a feat in itself, and that is because she brings an amazing, erudite contribution to the opposition and a great sense of humour. She is my question time buddy. We sit next to each other in the chamber. She and I and Warren Truss, who we sometimes describe as one of the few adults in the chamber, form a team down the front with the Deputy Manager of Opposition Business, the member for Cowper. The four of us try and keep question time rollicking along, holding the government to account, and I think on most tests you would have to say that the opposition have had a good year. Certainly we did not get across the line in the negotiations, but the 17 new faces that have joined our ranks have been a tonic to the opposition. They bring an enthusiastic attitude to all aspects of the parliament. On our side of the House we genuinely could not be more pleased with the contributions that the new members of parliament have made and will make. When I look at some of the long faces on the government side of the House, I have to pinch myself with the realisation that in fact the election really had a terrific outcome for the coalition.

This has been a very difficult year for South Australian voters. We have had three elections. As a South Australian, Mr Deputy Speaker Georganas, I am sure you also feel the weariness of the South Australian voters. There was a state election, a federal election and local government elections. So I hope that we will not have any elections in South Australia for some time, but I do thank all of my South Australian colleagues, certainly on the opposition side and not quite begrudgingly but a little less so on the Labor side. We would like fewer South Australian Labor members of parliament. But I thank all of my South Australian colleagues for the support that they have given me as the senior South Australian Liberal.

I would also like to thank my opposite number, the Leader of the House, Mr Albanese, the member for Grayndler. I believe that his bark is much worse than his bite. It is not easy to be Leader of the House or Manager of the Opposition Business.

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You can feel the affection.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do not want or feel any need for affection from the Leader of the House, Chief Government Whip, but I certainly think that his bark is much worse than his bite. He has a difficult job and he does it as well as he possibly can—I will put it that way, Chief Government Whip. His staff give him great support. I see Jo in the adviser’s box. She really is the Leader of the House. Without her, the Leader of the House would be utterly bereft, without moorings and simply floating on the ocean. I thank his staff for making sure that he does not make too many mistakes in his attempts to manage the House.

I should also think my own staff, my long-suffering staff, led by my chief of staff, Adam Howard, who has been with for about six or seven years. He leads a great team in my office here in Canberra but also in my electorate. I will not name them all. They all do a marvellous job. I will name, however, my personal assistant, Kaye Gaskin, who has had to put up with a lot over the years, as all our PAs do. She does a fantastic job.

This is a different kind of parliament. It is obviously a hung parliament. The crossbenchers have injected a whole new paradigm—if I dare use that word—into our deliberations. It must be very difficult for them. They have come to this place with very little parliamentary experience—in fact, some of the new members have no parliamentary experience. Yet they have been expected to get on top of the sometimes arcane operations of this place in a very short space of time. I have been here for almost 18 years and I am still learning all the time.

I have been given the signal to wrap up by the Chief Government Whip—but I have much more to say, Chief Government Whip! I do not intend to keep the House for much longer. I want to thank Kevin Rudd, the member for Griffith. On a quite serious note, I believe that the bloodless coup in June was one of the most extraordinary things that have happened in Australian politics. For a Prime Minister to be removed from office in his first term by his own party and through forces outside the parliament was a very black day for Australian democracy. The opposition feels for the member for Griffith. I know that members of the Labor Party feel for the member for Griffith. I am sure that the pain of that experience will resonate for years in the Labor Party. Even though I wanted the member for Griffith to be defeated, I wanted him to be defeated by the Australian people not by the factional bosses of the Labor Party or the now less-than-faceless bosses of the union movement. Since Mr Howes has exposed himself as one of the faceless men, I do not think that we can any longer describe him as anything other than a very major force in the running of the Labor Party in this place.

In closing, there are three other people who I would like to acknowledge. Jason Wood, the former member for La Trobe in Victoria, who was sadly defeated, had much more of a contribution to make in this place. Wilson Tuckey, the former member for O’Connor, had already made a very large and very good contribution to this place. I miss Wilson Tuckey and his advice and demands—his advice was more like demands—about what we should do in this place. He had a very insightful understanding of the standing orders and the parliament and a very good political feel. I regarded him as a close personal friend. He taught me a lot about the standing orders. He taught me about the standing orders using the same set of standing orders with the yellow post-it notes that he used to display in question time. I do not think that he really read the post-it notes; he knew it already. He is a loss to the parliament.

Finally, I thank my wife, Carolyn, and all my children—Eleanor, Barnaby, Felix and Aurelia. We are quite a crowd when we all get together, which is not as often as we would like. They have to put up with a great deal, as do the families of all members of parliament.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They are probably Labor voters.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It would not surprise me if they wanted to get their father and husband out of politics, because the worst of our job is without doubt having to leave our families and come to Canberra. Anybody who says otherwise is not telling the truth. We can manage and cope with all other aspects of politics, which can sometimes be unpleasant. But the one thing that we are all united by is that deep sense of longing or grief at having to constantly leave our families, especially small children, of which I have four who are under 10. I thank the House. I wish every one of my colleagues a very happy Christmas and I wish those on this side of the House a very successful New Year and those on the other side a much less successful New Year.

Debate (on motion by Ms Collins) adjourned.