Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

First of all to Warren Truss and Lyn, who I stand in proxy for at this point in time, we will welcome you back early in the new year. We know that you have had a bit of a hard run but we know that you will be back bigger and stronger than ever. Warren is for us on this side, and I think for the parliament, Cato the Elder. He is a person of natural sagacity, he is a person of political experience, he is a person who has used his farming to temper his politics and he is a brilliant asset in this place. He is widely respected and an extremely decent person.

To my colleagues in the other place, Nigel and Fiona, we thank you very much for the work that you have done in that intemperate environment which I once resided in, and we look forward next year to you continuing that odyssey. We will watch with great interest, some amusement and sometimes fury what goes on. To Mark Coulton and to Barry O'Sullivan, the respective whips, I thank you very much for the work that you have done in making sure that we, as a party, are well represented and diligent and are part of the proper process of government.

I propose today to endorse and will try my very best not to repeat so many of the previous comments. I might start by saying that, as an in globo tribute, I thank all who bring the continual endorsements from the public about the professional and polite way that the staff of this building deliver their services. From the security guards to the gardener, from the drivers to the attendants, from those who work fixing the air conditioners to those who work mowing the lawns—everything about this building is a tribute to them because when people come here they say they cannot believe how polite and how professional those in this building are.

This has been the first full year in government for the coalition. The first full year for any government is a dogfight—a dogfight in a fog; a fog of noise and fury and fast moving shadows, where staff try to triangulate targets and departments desperately warn of imminent collateral damage. However, this has been a year of delivery—we have started the dams program, we have delivered on drought, we have turned around the live cattle trade and we have finalised three free trade agreements that have made a vast difference to the prospects of soft commodities in this nation and their capacity to help us bring in the money to balance the books. Most importantly, we have started on that hard task of turning around the finances of our nation, basically getting the locomotive back on the railroad. If we do not deliver on that part, if we do not manage to make sure that the finances of this nation are on an even keel, then the legacy will be left to our children and it will be a debt for them to repay. No person of honour would ever intend to do that.

Christmas is a birth celebration, not a birthday. Without living in some way the deeper meaning of it, it does not achieve anything much away from shopping. Kindness counts more than presents. For some, it is merely a matter of photos and memories, and not hugs and laughter. For many, it is the loneliest time of the year. To those, the Christmas task falls on us to lighten their load and brighten their day. For most across this great nation of ours, people will be making plans—plans to pick up a case of beer and go home, to gather around the weatherboard and iron out west, or to collect the towels and the swimmers and head to the beach, or if they are lucky enough they can find a boat and get out on the harbour. For others, it is the brick and tile of the suburbs. People will celebrate in the luckiest country on earth.

Last night, I met a long-term friend from a long time ago, an ex-shearer. I happened to be walking back from having dinner and he was walking along in thongs and a T-shirt and he picked me out of the crowd. We sat down and had a couple of beers and he asked me, 'What goes on in this spaceship?' I felt like saying that people arrive with dreams and visions, which are beaten and tempered by the anvil of parliamentary reality, but I did not think that was the answer he was looking for. But it is true, some of those dreams and visions fail and some are cast out for scrap, but the rest is what is a large section of our lives. For many in regional areas, though, we have to make sure that this spaceship turns back into a parliament. We have to make sure that they understand the duties and complexities of what goes on here. At Christmas, National Party and other members use this break to cover vast distances to explain the decisions deliberated over here.

As I said at the start, I accept and reiterate all the endorsements that have been given by the Prime Minister of Australia and the Leader of the Opposition, but one needs to be repeated and that is the endorsement of our families—our wives, husbands and partners who patiently deal with the peculiar hand of political fate, who bring up the kids, who manage the house and the finances, who grimace at the state of question time and who have to live by our decisions and defend them, not actually having been part of them. Our children, too, who have grown up with an absentee parent who is never at sports, who is rarely at special days, who comes home grumpy and who leaves early, are the people who pay the greatest wage for our service here in this place.

We started the year with a drought. In some parts of our nation, we are finishing the year with a drought. We hope that this drought comes to a conclusion. But the office that will deal with that is not in this building. The office that deals with that is the same office we celebrate at Christmas time. I hope that the good Lord gives us rain and I hope that those who are going home travel safely. I thank all those who have put their shoulders to the wheel for our parliament. We look forward to a new year. We look forward with excitement to the prospect of the great honour of serving our nation again. All the best and God bless.

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

I will start, Madam Speaker, by thanking you for all of your hard work this year. I know that question time is not always much fun for you. We certainly appreciate the dedication and strength of character that you bring to your position.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much.

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

I think the Minister for Agriculture might recognise this quote:

Self-reflection is the school of wisdom.

It is a quote that comes from Jesuit scholar and philosopher Baltasar Gracian. I think it is a time of year when self-reflection comes naturally to all of us. We look back on the year and our achievements and what we could have done better and what we still have to achieve for the year to come.

This year in particular for the opposition has been a year of some self-reflection because we saw the passing of three Labor giants this year—Gough Whitlam, Neville Wran and Wayne Goss. Amongst all of the sadness that we experienced at the loss of these three great men, we also had the opportunity to think about what Labor at its best can deliver for the Australian community and what, at our most optimistic, we can deliver for the people who we represent. So, amongst all of the sadness that we faced this year, we also faced this opportunity of reaching into our history and into our character and pulling out the threads of strength that have guided us in the past.

We also fought several state elections. We saw, for us, the sad loss of government in Tasmania. In South Australia we retained government despite all expectations. We won Victoria after just one term in opposition—a magnificent victory by Daniel Andrews. We saw the first ever Senate by-election in Western Australia. We also fought a by-election in the seat of Brisbane, and are now joined by the magnificent Terri Butler.

This is a time of reflection not just on the year's events. We also think about why it is that we are here. I believe that all of us here in this place are motivated by the sincerest desire to do good for the Australian community. I have very seldom felt any doubt about the motivation of the people who serve. I do not always agree with the way that they think the Australian community should progress or the way they think we should change our nation, but I do respect the fact that we have in this chamber and in the other place, too, members of parliament and senators who are motivated by sincere goodwill, who have a vision for our nation, who work very hard and who spend a lot of time away from their families and their communities, seeking to serve the people who they represent.

I also think about the people who serve our community not in the House of Representatives and the Senate but in many, many ways we see throughout our community. We see teachers, nurses, doctors, health professionals, emergency services workers, members of our defence forces, research scientists and medical research specialists—people who choose their line of work and their life's work not on the basis of the dollar that it will earn them or the public acclamation that they will receive but in the sincerest possible way to do good for their communities and to do good for people who, in many cases, they will never meet or see. They dedicate their lives to their community, to this Australian community. In considering our work here this year, I want to think also of those people, who most often go unremarked, who very seldom attract the notice of the Australian community, but without whom we could not function as a society.

While we are relaxing on Christmas Day, we will see many of those people continue about their work—staff in our hospitals, police on the beat, our defence forces overseas and emergency services workers available to be called out. I want to think about and give credit today to the work they will be doing on Christmas Day and during this holiday season, particularly, as summer comes, our bushfire firefighters, who are often called out in dangerous circumstances at this time of year.

I also want to mention not just the people who are in the course of their daily work called on to contribute even more at Christmas time but also those many, many thousands of volunteers who on Christmas Day will be seeking to make Christmas a gentler day, a day of companionship and a day of joy instead of a day of loneliness for the many Australians who do not have a family, who do not have the financial means to celebrate in the way that they would wish to, who do not have the ability to give Christmas presents to their children or who do not have the finances to join their families on the other side of the country or the other side of the world.

I hope that on Christmas Day, if we are not volunteering ourselves in this way, we are able to think about those many, many thousands of Australians who are doing so—people who will serve lunch at the Wayside Chapel, people who will serve lunch with Bill Crews at the Exodus Foundation or, in the community I grew up in, for the many hundreds of people now who go to St Patrick's at Sutherland for Christmas lunch to spend it together, the people who will serve lunch to make sure that people have a decent meal but, more importantly, some company on that very special day.

At these times of reflection, we consider our responsibility to the Australian community and we ask ourselves: what have we achieved? One of the things that comes most strongly to mind for me and tinges this reflection with sadness is the idea that all civilised communities are judged not by what we do for our strongest, by giving more to those who already have much, but by what we do for our poorest, our weakest and our most needy members of the community. I noted that the previous government speakers were reflecting on their year of achievement, and I just add a few things that I have been reflecting on in this year: the $400 million cut from public dental services; the $44 million cut from the new build in homelessness services, so no new homelessness services built; increasing costs of medicines; decreasing pensions; and cuts to family payments. In the year of reflection, perhaps we need to reflect also on what we have done for Australia's neediest people.

It is also a reflection that strikes me when I think of my own shadow portfolio of foreign affairs and international development. We have seen in this portfolio this year some real difficulties. I hear the Leader of the House saying that this is not the purpose of this discussion, and I would remind him that the Prime Minister covered all of these issues in his valedictory speech.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just concentrate on your speech and don't lecture me.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We do not need banter across the table.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was not interjecting. The Deputy Leader decided to overhear my conversation.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Leader has the call.

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

I think about the disappearance of MH370, the continued search for that plane and for the bodies lost and never recovered, for MH17 and the Australian lives lost in that terrible tragedy, the 300 souls who went down in that flight, and the crash site investigation that continues in the most difficult circumstances, where separatists continue to make it difficult for international investigation crews to have access to site. I think about the conflict in Syria with more than three million refugees now living in neighbouring countries and more than six million internally displaced facing winter with no food and no shelter. The World Food Program has had to stop giving vouchers for the month of December. That tiny amount of money that refugees were getting from the world food program was not able to be distributed this month. I think, of course, about the 200,000 people who have died in this conflict so far. I think about the rise of Islamic State and what it means for the Middle East and what it means for our world.

When I speak of these conflicts in the Middle East, I want to think, particularly at this time of year, of our defence personnel who will be serving at this difficult time away from their families, missing their partners and children, but are there for the very good reason of protecting the lives of civilians in the most brutal circumstances. Of course, I refer not just the defence personnel who are serving in the Middle East but those who are serving around the world.

I think of the rebuilding of Gaza, which continues now after the difficulties experienced there this year, and the terrible tragedy that you see in many African nations, the kidnapping of schoolgirls by Boko Haram in Nigeria, which really sparked something in the international community and yet is just one example of the terribly brutality that many people in Nigeria and neighbouring countries are facing, and the Ebola crisis, which has already claimed 5,500 lives.

On the other hand, we have had some terrific successes internationally. I am proud, as the Prime Minister said, of the way that Australia showed itself during the G20 meeting to countries around the world as a developed, sophisticated nation with a developed, sophisticated Brisbane on show for all. I want to congratulate Prime Minister Gillard, Prime Minister Rudd, and Treasurer Wayne Swan for bringing the G20 meeting to Brisbane when they did and for elevating the G20 to the body that it is.

At this time of year, I also want to say a few words about our press gallery friends—those who cover us so enthusiastically in good times and in bad, those at the ABC who have lost their jobs this year, and in particular spare a thought for Peter Greste and his family, a man jailed simply for doing his job, the job that so many in our press gallery do every day, so unjustly detained in Egypt.

Previous speakers have gone through a very comprehensive list of those we should thank in the parliament. So I will do this very quickly: our Clerk, David Elder, and his staff; all of our parliamentary staff; the cleaners Anna, Joy, Maria, Lutzia; the gardeners; the library staff; the Serjeant-at-Arms, Bronwyn Notzon, and her staff; all of our attendants led so ably by Luch; our Hansard staff; parliamentary security staff; the AFP; our wonderful friends at Aussies, who know all our names—incredible; the staff cafeteria; Comcar drivers and travel booking staff—I think I probably spend more time talking to Comcar drivers than I do my own family some weeks, and I always enjoy their company very much. To my colleagues on this side, I want to say that it has been a year of remarkable discipline, cohesion, goodwill and friendship. I want to thank all of you for the support that you have shown Bill Shorten and me. I want to thank Bill for being such a wonderful leader to work with, and his family, Chloe, Georgette, Rupert and Clementine. I wish them a wonderful Christmas, and I am sure that they will be happy to have Bill home a little bit more often than usual. Tony Burke, Penny Wong, Stephen Conroy and the other members of the leadership team, it has been wonderful to work with them, and I wish them and their families a very merry Christmas. I also want to say that all of us rely phenomenally on our staff. This year I am losing a longstanding staff member in Jill Lay, but I have been served exceptionally well by my staff, all of them in the shadow ministerial office and the electorate office. I know that all members of parliament join me in wishing a happy Christmas to their staff and thanking them for their work this year.

All of us are here because we get permission from two groups of people. We get permission from our electorate and they vote for us every three years. They put their faith in us to come and represent their best interests in this parliament. I want to thank all of the community organisations and individual constituents of my electorate who care so passionately about their nation and who contact me a lot to tell me about how they believe we should change our nation for the better. I thank them for their ongoing faith and trust in me—my Labor Party branch members, community groups, schools and others who make that work possible. I want also to thank my family and our families. We choose public life, and we are very lucky if we have partners who support that choice. It is often harder on families than it is on us. They bear the criticisms much more acutely than we do and, for those of us who have kids, I hope our kids miss us as much as we miss them—it is not an easy life for a family to choose. Again, on behalf of all of us, I want to thank our families and wish all on this side and on that side a happy Christmas and New Year.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a great pleasure to follow the Deputy Leader of the Opposition on the valedictory, which is my favourite time of the year in the chamber. It is a great opportunity to thank the people who make this place run—you chief amongst them, Madam Speaker, in the chair, with your staff and all the people associated with the parliament. The valedictory is an opportunity to thank people, to talk briefly about the end of the year and to wish everybody a very safe and happy Christmas holiday period. I will not use it as an opportunity to make a ministerial statement.

I would like to start by thanking my colleagues particularly for being so forbearing of the long sitting hours and the changing schedule that is sometimes forced upon us by arrangements in the Senate which come back to us at all hours of the day and in all manner of ways. I think both the government and the opposition understand that sometimes the House of Representatives is the handmaiden of the Senate, as we are today. The forbearance that all of our colleagues show with a changing schedule is something that is not new to the parliament—this is my 22nd year in the parliament—and it has been this way every year, and this year is no different. I would like to thank my colleagues. I would like to thank them for being enthusiastic about coming to parliament every day and about question time—submitting questions and being part of the process.

I would like to thank my counterpart, the Manager of Opposition Business, the member for Watson, for his enthusiasm in holding the government to account in the nicest possible way. In fact, the other member at the table today, the member for Chifley, is very enthusiastic in question time, when he is here and has not been thrown out or taking extended holidays. It is important for the good working of the parliament for the government to have a vibrant opposition. When we were in opposition, both of us were at the spear tip of the opposition in holding the government to account. It is a very important part of the democratic process. Those countries that have a robust opposition have generally got good government because of it; and in those countries that do not often the government gets sloppy; and in some countries, even worse, it gets corrupt. I would like to thank the Manager of Opposition Business and the opposition for the role that they play in making our parliament the exciting, very productive and constructive place that it often is.

Without the clerks, led by David Elder, we would not be able to look as good as we sometimes do. There are times when we get things wrong and that is because we do not take the Clerk's advice. When we stop to take the Clerk's advice, we usually get things right. I would like to thank David Elder and his team. Claressa—whom I have known for a very long time; she was the secretary of one of the committee's when I was chairman many years ago—Claressa Surtees is the new Deputy Clerk. What a great job they, and all the people associated with them, do. I would like to thank the Serjeant-at-Arms for the work that Bronwyn Notzon and all her attendants do. In spite of the fact that Luch is probably the most well-known attendant in the building, he is not actually the leader of the Serjeant-at-Arms Office. The Serjeant-at-Arms might need to put him on a tighter leash sometimes. We do very much enjoy our relationship with the attendants.

In making those comments, I should say we enjoy our relationship with all the people who work in the building. They are essentially completely bipartisan. I am sure they have their own private views about who they want to be in government, but in serving us I have never had an experience that has not been a good experience—whether it is the cleaners or the Comcar drivers. Many of the drivers become like family after you have been in this place for a long time; they know where you want to go; they know how to get you home; they take care of you; they rush you to the airport if you are running late; sometimes they are part of the family; they are absolutely marvellous. Then there are the people who organise our travel, the attendants in the chamber, the security guards within the building, the Australian Federal Police who are now both within and without the building. This place is quite a hive of activity when parliament is sitting; I think up to 10,000 people are in this building at that time and they are all working to make our great democracy—and it is a great democracy—work as well as it possibly can.

Sometimes we forget that we are the 12th largest economy in the world. We have had the same system of government since 1901; and there are very few countries—I think about four—that are in the position of having had a democratic government since 1901. We sometimes undersell our greatness as a nation, but we are the envy of the world. I do like to thank all those people in this building who make us look as good as we do and make the democracy work. The librarians—I still like to ring the library myself when I want something and I am not absolutely sure that my staff will necessarily be able to put it in the words I want it. It does sometimes surprise the librarians to hear my voice on the end of the phone, but my view is that we need to stay in touch with the people who make this place work. Whether it is the Table Office, the Parliamentary Liaison Office, the Office of Parliamentary Counsel, led by Peter Quiggin—they are all vitally important to our success.

I would also like to thank my team, the team on this side of the House, the Leader of the House's office—my marvellous staff, led by Meredith Jackson, who is my chief of staff. There is also John Bathgate, who is not in the chamber but who is the adviser who organises the parliament. There is his counterpart, Ewan Kelly, from the Manager of Opposition Business's office, about whom I am told, 'We always know where the opposition stands; they are very straightforward.' I think that is a great way to be in this business. We often disagree. We have robust debate. But the Manager of Opposition Business's office and my office have an understanding that this place can only work if people are straightforward about their intentions. So I would also like to thank Ewan Kelly and John Bathgate.

I would like to thank Luke Hartsuyker, the Deputy Leader of the House, for the good work that he does on behalf of the National Party and on behalf of the coalition. I would like to thank the whips and the whips office—the member for Berowra, the member for Forrest and the member for Wright, Scotty Buchholz, on the government side and, indeed, the chief whip on opposition side, the member for Fowler. They all work closely together, too, to make this place work. I think the public do not realise, Madam Speaker, how much goes on within the building that is of a bipartisan nature to make sure that the place works well. So I would like to thank them as well.

I would also like to thank the Speaker's panel, the Deputy Speaker and the Second Deputy Speaker. Madam Speaker, I even thank the Second Deputy Speaker! Hopefully, in future, he will leave his phone in his office when he is sitting in the chair in this chamber. I would like to thank Talethia andDamien from the member for Watson's office. They have a close relationship with my office and, I am sure, with the opposition members as well in making this place work.

I would like to thank a couple of particular people. I would like to thank the Prime Minister, because it is a great privilege to be a cabinet minister in a government, in a country like Australia. It is a great privilege. The member for Watson has had that privilege and maybe the member for Chifley, if he behaves himself, might have that privilege one day in about 20 years—perhaps when the Wyatt Roy-led opposition will have to face off against the member for Chifley. It is a great privilege. You only get that privilege on this side of the House if the Prime Minister chooses you to have it, and so I would like to thank him.

It is a great privilege to be the Leader of the House. I do love the parliament, Madam Speaker, as I know you do as well. I think it is an important part of our democracy. I like knowing about it, I like studying it, I like being in it and I like speaking in it. And I do thank my electors of Sturt—my long-suffering electors—who have for 22 years continued to re-elect me in this place eight times—and sometimes it has been closer than others; I hope that does not happen again. Nevertheless, I have survived all this time because of their forbearance and because they believe in the philosophy of the party that we represent and also, hopefully, that I can do the job for them here in Canberra that they want me to do. I would like to thank the Prime Minister's office—people like Andrew Hirst, David Whitrow, Peta Credlin and Dave Hughes. They are all part of the team that is this government, that makes the parliament operate and that makes question time and the legislative agenda work smoothly. Without them, it would not be possible.

In closing, I would like to thank my family. My family are part of the Pyne team. I chose to go into politics when I was 24, but then I was married and all my children were born after that time. So the relationship they have with politics is one of being organically part of it. They are part of 'Team Pyne'. They shared my disappointment this week when my bill was defeated in the Senate. They are a marvellous group of people. There are four of them: Barnaby, Eleanor, Felix and Aurelia. My wife Carolyn keeps the whole show on the road. I am very much looking forward to spending time with them over Christmas and summer.

It has been a busy year, but I would say that the first full year of the 44th Parliament has been a hell of a lot better than any of the years of the 43rd Parliament—not just because we are in government, although that is part of it. They were gruelling years, and I am glad they are over. I think the member for Grayndler and I are both glad that they are over.

At the end of the first full year of the coalition government, I would like to wish all of my colleagues, even the ones whom I sometimes disagree with, a very happy Christmas and a safe Christmas. I hope they have a terrific holiday over summer, because we will be back at it in February, with the same gusto, hopefully, that we have enjoyed this year.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is often from commentators a fair bit of cynicism about these speeches at the end of the year, where people misread them and think the fact that we say nice things about each other and then go back into debate with a fair bit of passion is somehow a contradiction; it is not. As you have said yourself, Madam Speaker, on many occasions: it is right and proper in this place that when we argue, we argue hard. We have pretty much as many different views as exist in our nation within this building. They all seem to find their way in here, one way or the other. And it is right and proper that there is a debate where people passionately bring that to a head. It does not change the fact that we genuinely wish each other well at a personal level and it does not change the fact that the speeches which are given today are given in good faith—notwithstanding what might happen and is probably very likely to happen in this room only a couple of hours from now.

Madam Speaker, 2014 is your first year as Speaker and my first full calendar year as Manager of Opposition Business. I think we have both worked very hard on each other's profile this year, and with a good deal of success. What people will not be aware of, though, for all the battles we have had on procedure at different times is that when it comes to a personal level—and in various ways many people would know this has been a particularly difficult year for me in some ways—that none of that has ever translated to the arguments here, within the chamber. The genuine good will you have shown outside of the chamber has been appreciated, not only by me but by all members in various ways. I have said that privately; it is important to say that publicly as well. The member for Chifley, I know, does recommend the introduction of a video referee in parliament. As the patron of the Canterbury Bulldogs, having had to put up with everyone cheering for South Sydney during the year, I found it does not really make that much difference whether we have a video referee or not. I would love to back in the member for Chifley but find myself unable to do so.

I acknowledge the work of all the presiding officers—the Deputy Speaker, the Second Deputy Speaker and the other members of the Speaker's panel. With the Leader of the House, I appreciate the recognition that he has given to my office and, in particular, to Ewan Kelly. I return the acknowledgement to John Bathgate for the work that comes from the Leader of the House's office. There are many times when we do not let each other know what we are doing; but, when we do, it is always straight and it has always been honoured. If there has been a moment when someone from either side has started to broach the breaking of one of those agreements, it has been fixed relatively quickly, which I think is important.

I should add that the Leader of the House is alone among the members of this House who I have thought of in terms of what I should buy him for Christmas. There is a reason for this. Many who watch the talking pictures segment of Insiders would be aware of the work of Mike Bowers. He is not allowed to take the photographs in the Senate during divisions that he is able to take here. To our credit, under the new parliament, we got rid of the satire rules and freed things up a lot. The parliament has been the better for it. The Senate has not made all of those same changes. Mike Bowers has had to resort to building a Lego model of the Senate.

He is currently building a Lego model of the House. In order to be of assistance, I understand that members are allowed, if they provide their own Lego piece, to choose who they will be in the new House of Representatives. For myself, I decided Han Solo was about as flattering as a Lego figure could be. I have found for the Leader of the House a police officer character where you can choose a happy face or a grumpy face. I have chosen the grumpy face at the moment. Madam Speaker thankfully has not noted that they are both sitting on the front bench over there at the moment, side-by-side. They will be finding their way across to Mike Bowers to be part of the chamber that he is building.

The work that is done by the whips and their teams on both sides in keeping parliament working is impressive and has a similar relationship of honesty and trust to the way the parliament works with the Leader of the House and myself. I want to acknowledge the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. When the Leader of the House refers to the challenges that people would feel over the previous parliament, certainly there has been an extraordinary level of unity that we have found on my side of politics that we were not blessed with the same way for much of our period on the government benches. I want to acknowledge the work of Bill Shorten and Tanya Plibersek in building that unity. I should probably also acknowledge those opposite. At times, they have helped with the unity of our side as well, in a fairly direct way! I would also acknowledge my deputy in this role, the member for Isaacs.

Of course, it is impossible to give one of these speeches without acknowledging the role of the clerks. It is interesting that the people who are listening in probably have no understanding at all of why the praise is so strong. But the work of David Elder, Claressa Surtees and the Serjeant-at-Arms, Bronwyn Notzon, is extraordinary, honest and trusted. I think the clerks are probably the only section of the Commonwealth government and any of its institutions that has never leaked and they probably have the best stories to tell. It is a real tribute to their professionalism. I thank the attendants, the Hansard staff, the Parliamentary Library, everyone at Aussies, the COMCAR staff and the wonderful cleaners.

I will simply add to the words that have been said on a number of occasions already about our personal staff. My personal staff, to my surprise, have turned up in the House for this. I am grateful to see them all there. There are many times away from home when your personal staff are your only point of trusted reference at different moments. They are right there on the best and worst days when we are here. I want to acknowledge the role my personal staff have played. I also want to acknowledge a thought that was given last night by the Leader of the Opposition at another function. He also acknowledged that we always talk about our family life and the pressure on them. Many of our staff have very, very similar pressures and extended times away from home. It is important that we be mindful of that as well.

There is a new group that has found its way into participating in the work of the parliament that we never used to have to acknowledge, because they did not exist. I do think it is worth acknowledging the change that we have had with social media. It has now been an extraordinary way for members of the public to participate, to comment, to cheer, to scream and to have every sort of reaction in a way that reaches quite personally to each and every one of us. The power of that, if it was ever seen, was seen by the simple action not long ago of Paul Taylor with a cricket bat. We now have a world where we do not only go via the media in order to get messages out. The acts of an individual citizen can inspire a nation and can find their way all the way around the world. In that, I acknowledge that it is a difficult year for many in the media. The job losses have continued to be a challenge for many people there and it is always felt when people are seeing the job at risk, even though no-one is arguing that they have done anything but the best professional work.

In conclusion, in acknowledging my electorate, I am obviously grateful for the opportunity to be here. But there is also an interesting thing that I have always seen in my part of Sydney, being not just a multicultural but a multi-religious community. Australia, thankfully, has never gone down the path of the United States when it comes to trying to make sure that we do not offend any religion by pretending to celebrate nothing. I have never understood why the United States ended up with the key phrase only being 'happy holidays', even though for each different faith there are celebrations that are happening at different times that have a much deeper meaning. But if what someone is celebrating is a holiday, then by all means it is the appropriate term.

But just as my friends and people in my electorate will wish me a happy Eid and just as colleagues within the parliament will wish me a happy Hanukkah, I hope we never stop short of being willing to offer a sincere wish when it is something that we believe passionately in and something that we hold dear. I will extend quite directly and honestly, in that same spirit, all the best for a merry Christmas.