Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It has already been an unbelievable day here in the parliament. In addition to the start of the marriage equality bill debate in here, the parliament is abuzz with excitement today as, just this morning, we got to see the first honey from the parliamentary beehives. People swarmed to the Great Hall today to see and taste the wonderful honey produced by millions of bees in the gardens of this beautiful building. Each bee produces a single teaspoon of honey in its short yet productive six-week lifetime. To create the 20 kilos of parliamentary honey, millions of bees have buzzed around us diligently doing their job and pollinating and foraging. Unlike some in this place, they have not taken a week off to avoid some hard work. And those doing the work of the hives producing this honey are all female bees—flying, dancing and working for the common good of the colony—and their lives give us this honey.

Yesterday I joined fellow apiarists in helping to harvest this honey. My husband, Jamie, and I are both beekeepers and we have kept a single hive for years. We were delighted to join the head beekeeper, Cormac; Sarah, the 'bee whisperer'; Siobhan, an amateur apiarist like me, who is one of the many people who work in this amazing building; and Luke and Kali, who also serve the parliament here. It was 'unbeelievable' to be the first to turn the key on the parliamentary Flow Hive yesterday under the guidance of Don Anderson, an elder from the Anderson clan, who invented the Flow Hive, a very surprising Aussie invention. Congratulations to all.