Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services) Share this | Hansard source

I would very much like to associate myself with the comments of so many across the chamber, not necessarily in respect of all the philosophy but to pay tribute to you, Senator Siewert—Rach—for the work that you've done. Like so many others, I crossed paths with you on and around community affairs, on the same side of the table at times but also on opposite sides. Some of the scarier moments for me, I have to say, were the number of times we were asking almost the identical question. I'm not sure whether it was from the same perspective or not, but it usually was. What we were both trying to achieve—and I think this is a hallmark of your service to the parliament and to the Australian people—was to make things better for people. We might not have always had the same solution, but we were certainly looking to achieve that.

That's something that I very much appreciate from you, in the context of our dealings through the portfolio work that I'm doing now and the things that I know that you are passionate about: the fact that I could sit down with you, and we could work through something and come to a solution. The fact that you have been able to get so many things done—which is something that's been reflected on during so many speeches tonight—is because of the way that you have gone about your business here in this place. I know that that's very much appreciated by people across the chamber, very much in the context of respect, trust and integrity. Those are really, I think, important values that you bring here. I know that I could sit down and work through a process with you and that could be seen to fruition.

Colleagues have always listened to you—perhaps not so much when you were shouting at us, but the reality is that you actually didn't need to, because you had built that respect, that trust and that integrity. You didn't have to shout at us, because, as has been said so many times, we knew you were across your stuff and we knew that you were looking for a genuine solution. I wasn't aware of the fact that, in the context of the operation of the parliament, one of 30 pieces of legislation that are private senators' bills have been passed through both houses of parliament in the history of this place. It is one of those things that, as a person who has served in this place, you can take with you as a point of moment. Because there are obviously so very few of them, it's a demonstration of the respect that you've earned and that has been expressed by so many here.

You now go on to play an important role in the family sense. That's part of your decision-making, as I understand from our private conversations, and I wish you all the very best for that. Thank you for the collegiate nature under which you've interacted with all of us in the chamber. I wish you all the very best for the family things and whatever else. Congratulations on the service that you provided not only to this place but also to Australia as part of what you came here to do, which is to make things better for people. You're certainly one of the people who has actually achieved a lot of that. Congratulations.