Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—Tonight, I have a fairly unique Valentine's gift for my husband, Daryl: my resignation from parliament. I give notice that tomorrow I will present my resignation to you, Mr President. It's now time for Daryl and me to smell the roses. In the next chapter of our lives we are going to live the lifestyle we imagined when we were young. The last 24 years have been quite a wild ride for both of us. When I was first sworn into this place I was not only the sole woman in the Victorian federal parliamentary Labor Party but also the only woman in maternity attire. Our son, James, arrived a short time later. Look at the size of him now! I recall that on another occasion when I wore that maternity dress I was quietly asked by Kay Patterson if I was expecting again.

Political life is not conducive to building family life, for reasons that many of us have outlined, but we managed, which is perhaps not ideal. But I'm very proud of the family that we have formed, with the considerable support of my mother, Shirley. It took longer than usual for our Maddison, my youngest, to grace us. She is currently stuck in exams at the University of Sydney, so she is not joining us. She would actually rather be here, as we can all imagine. My eldest son, Ben, has added three beautiful grandchildren, Charlotte, Sophia and Oliver. Like all families, we've had our losses. I have discussed my father and the care he had at Villa Maria previously. Our beautiful Ruby was lost too soon and, indeed, Daryl's mother was lost to us as well.

Daryl has carried the brunt of the career compromises, the family duties and the isolation that this job involves. I am very fortunate and thankful that we as a family have remained intact. Perhaps my misfortune in leaving this place mid-parliamentary-career allowed us as a family to regroup. I'm very conscious that there but for the grace of God go I, as we all know the high number of family lives that dissolve under the pressure of parliamentary life.

It has been an extraordinary privilege to be here. I'll not revisit what has already been canvassed in the media since my announcement that I will no longer be contesting the next election, but I do want to take a brief moment to express my thanks to many people for the support and respect that has been granted to me, not only by my party colleagues and the broader Labor movement but also by my political opponents and other colleagues in this place and the other place. I also want to express my thanks to everyone who supports all of us here, from the clerks and our attendants to our cleaners. We can all be thankful for the support we get on a day-to-day basis in this house and beyond.

But I give special thanks to my long-suffering staff. I am fortunate that we have had among my staff over many years an elite club of return performers, many future leaders across several fields and long-serving, dedicated and loyal people. For example, Daniel Mulino, a Victorian member of parliament, will contest the next election in the new federal seat of Fraser; Raff Ciccone will replace me in the Senate; and Debbie Dalmau and Felicity Defombelle have served all of us well. Thank you also to Michael Donovan and the SDA for their longstanding support.

I say 'we' in discussing these contributions because the whole federal parliamentary Labor Party and, indeed, the federal parliament and the Australian community, have benefited from their contributions, most recently in their service whilst I've been Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate—although I understand the government doesn't necessarily like my help sometimes—