George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—Mr Andrew Meares, who's taking photographs of us as we speak, is retiring this year after 27 years as a press photographer with The Sydney Morning Herald. Those 27 years have included two stints as a member of the parliamentary press gallery, over a period of 12 years. There we are, Mr Meares: get out that other camera; that's good! Mr Meares is a very, very popular and well-liked figure around this building. He has the distinction of having been awarded the Walkley award in 2010—I wasn't responsible for that one, unlike David Speers's one! He also had the rare distinction of being the very first photographer to have been elected the president of the parliamentary press gallery, a position from which he retired only a short while ago.

Of course, we in the Senate are particularly conscious of Mr Meares, because he was the prime mover, with the collaboration of Senator Derryn Hinch and with the support of myself, other government senators and other senators in the chamber, for the relaxation of the rules concerning photography in the Senate. All of a sudden, a wonderful new world opened up to the parliamentary press gallery. After all of those years of taking photographs of those dreary and unattractive people in the House of Representatives, all of a sudden you had a whole new universe of much more attractive people to photograph, here in the Senate! Mr Andrew Meares—or Mearesy, as everyone knows you—we thank you for your service to Australian democracy, because, may I say, the photographers sometimes capture the moment in a way the journalists never can. We thank you for being such a friendly spirit around this building, and we wish you well into the future.