Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, it is the end of what has been an extraordinary parliamentary year. It has been the most challenging of years—certainly that I can recall in my time in this place, and we have seen many things occur over those 14½ years. It's a time where individuals working in this building and those who have worked here have been challenged, perhaps more than any other time, and have challenged us, and rightly so.

I want to begin my remarks tonight by acknowledging survivors of bullying, sexual harassment, sexual assault and abuse through this parliament, through parliamentary workplaces and right across the country. It's a year in which their heroic voices have been heard, in which changes and actions have been taken that are so necessary to occur and in which I trust and hope that all have learned to listen a little harder, think a little more and ultimately ensure their behaviour meets appropriate standards. Yesterday when I addressed coalition staff I said to them that they should all show respect and expect respect. That is something we should all take out of this year as we move forward in terms of the lessons from this year. We should ensure that all act in such a way.

It's a year where the country has continued to be challenged, not just by distressing stories but also by the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. We started this year, I think, with great optimism, prior to the delta variant striking, becoming the dominant strain and having impacts across nations all around the world. In this city it had an impact that had not yet been seen in relation to COVID-19 and caused a prolonged lockdown here in Canberra, as it did across Sydney and Melbourne. That had particular repercussions for many of the people upon whom we rely: the people who run and operate this parliament across parliamentary services, the people in COMCAR, the people in all the parliamentary departments and other departments of state across Canberra who had to keep the wheels of government and the wheels of parliament turning—notwithstanding the dramatically changed circumstances in which they worked and changed circumstances that become ever more challenging as they dealt with both the personal and the professional challenges of COVID, of lockdowns, of restrictions and of working from home whilst also, in the case of places like this, needing to facilitate at least a physical presence as well.

I do pay enormous tribute to all across the parliament, particularly those in this chamber and the Department of the Senate; the Clerk and his team; and all of those in DPS and the other services of the parliament who have had to respond—as they did last year, but perhaps with even greater challenges this year—and ensure that through the oddities of remote participation the safety and conduct of the Senate could continue and that we could deliver the type of certainty that Australians expect. They've done that, of course, alongside some changes in leadership as well—a new President and a new Speaker.

Mr President, again I congratulate you and thank you for the manner in which you have assumed this office, as I thank your predecessor, former Senator Ryan. It was such a delight to see him once more this morning. We continue to salute his service to this parliament, particularly his service to this chamber as its presiding officer.

This place works with cooperation, convention and the ability to put our differences aside when required. I thank my opposite number, Senator Wong, her leadership team and colleagues, as I do Senator Waters, Senator Hanson and all of those across the crossbench. We all have to find the means to be able to engage from time to time to get things done. We need to cooperate and put aside differences.

We've seen challenges in terms of conduct in this place. That is something that all senators need to reflect upon. If there is a pledge people can make for 2022, it is to enter this parliament, and this chamber in particular, with the fiercest and strongest of arguments for the battle of ideas, not with the personal derogations or sledges that undermine those arguments.

Mr President, as you well know, I am blessed with a fantastic team that support me: my deputy leader, Senator Cash; our manager of business, Senator Ruston; her deputy manager of business, Senator Duniam; the Leader of the Nationals in the Senate, Senator McKenzie; our Chief Government Whip, Senator Dean Smith; his longstanding deputy now, Senator McGrath; a newer deputy—who replaced you, Mr President—Senator Chandler; and the Nationals Whip, Senator Davey. You all help to make sure that in this place I can have confidence that the government's agenda is being pursued and interests upheld and that the team is working as it should without the need for me to be here breathing down everybody's neck every minute and every second of the day. I thank you all very much for that and for the confidence I can have in what you do. You should all be very proud of what we have managed to achieve.

We are each blessed with some wonderful staff who help us get the job done. I thank all of the staff of every senator, but I do single mine out a little more. I want to thank my chief of staff, Rachael Thompson, who has been with me from the moment I was appointed a minister back in 2015. She has been my chief of staff through a number of portfolios. She does an incredible job not just leading my team but providing incredible support to so many. I also single out Loretta Sist in my office, who has been with me from day one as a senator, which was 14½ years ago, particularly for her work while I held the Special Minister of State portfolio through some very challenging times and when supporting other staff across this building was so essential. I can see the two guys sitting in the advisors box—Mamms and Jono. They are well-known around this chamber. They are incredibly important for the operation of the chamber, as are all of my team and all of your teams. We owe our staff that support and respect.

Next year will be an election year. Of course, we will go into battle in our great democracy to see which side of this chamber we come back to sit on. We are fortunate to live in a country where that battle will be done and had peacefully. Australians will have their say at the ballot box in a manner in which ultimately we can, will and must all have confidence in the result. We saw in the last 12 months what happens when people undermine aspects of that democracy. We need to make sure that we speak as one as democratically elected officials with that confidence in our democratic processes as we head to that election.

As we all prepare for the election, I wish everybody across the chamber all the best—not so much for the election but in the rest of your preparations. I particularly encourage everybody outside of the coalition to take a very long and restful break over the Christmas and new year period.

Everyone has earnt and needs a break during this time. I do hope, Senator Wong—as I am watching you now—that next year when we come back, COVID-19 can enable us to take down the perspex, to have people back in their normal seats and to go back to having glasses of water, which I am sure are more environmentally friendly than these bottles. And I too have had many bottles where I keep twisting the lid and it just doesn't open, which can be very frustrating at times!

But, seriously, to all who celebrate the spirit of Christmas: a very, very merry Christmas. To all across the chamber: please take the time to be with your loved ones. We sacrifice an enormous amount in these jobs, as do many in our teams—being away from our loved ones. For those who had long periods of quarantine during the course of these sittings and so on, it's been an added strain on those loved ones. Take that time and have a very happy new year, and I look forward to seeing you all back for battle, in the most respectful of ways, in 2022.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am glad to have the chance to place some remarks on the record as we end this parliamentary year. It has been a hard year. It has been a hard year and a disruptive one for the country. Pandemic lockdowns, separation from family and insecurity of employment and in business are some of the jagged features of the year we've had. It's also been a hard year and a disruptive year for this chamber and everybody in it and everybody who supports all the people who are in it. With the isolation of lockdowns and extended periods of quarantine, it has certainly been a year that I'm quite happy to move on from, and I think everybody else would agree with that.

I will start by saying that leading this Senate Labor caucus is an enormous privilege and something for which I'm deeply grateful. I'm very proud of our team and the unity of purpose that we demonstrate. I am pleased to put on the record on behalf of my team greetings of the season and thanks. There are a few thankyous. Firstly, I acknowledge you, Mr President. Twelve months ago I didn't think I would address a new president at this time. I think you said that yourself—that you didn't expect to be in this role. I do wish you well in this important role and I look forward to our continued engagement through the perspex. My thanks particularly to the Deputy President and Chair of Committees, Senator Lines. She is onto her third president.

See, she's demonstrating. I'm just putting it out there; I'm not making a comment on it. She does a fantastic job. I said this to her privately and I'm happy to say it publicly: Sue hasn't missed a sitting, I don't think, notwithstanding being from WA, with all of the quarantine that we know that brings. That's a big effort, and I really thank her for it.

To Simon: I've always enjoyed a cooperative working relationship with you. I agree with you: sometimes people don't get this but, having a strong working relationship, if not always agreement, across parties is vital to the democracy. I sometimes think he has a hard job. He's got a lot of opposition in front of him and a little bit behind him at times. I don't know if he misses Mathias more than I do or less. I do want to say one thing, though. Senator Birmingham is part of a political power couple in our state, with his partner, his wife, serving as the chief of staff of the Premier. You can tell by the fact that we've spent so much time in quarantine that he has not managed to get any favours for either of us as a result! I wish sometimes he could have done so.

If people would allow me, I want to pay particular tribute to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Senator Keneally. This may or may not be the last time we will get to be together in this chamber, depending on whether or not Mr Morrison goes a bit early. I want to say in this place that Kristina has been an outstanding deputy. I've been able to count on her every single day. She is a rare talent. She's fearsome and courageous and she strengthened our team immeasurably. I am sad to lose her from the Senate, but I know she will be a formidable representative for the people of Fowler, and I wish her the very best. I haven't been able to guilt her into staying! As second best, I hope she makes a long and successful contribution in the House of Representatives. I thank her for her friendship.

I also thank, as always, my dear friend and colleague Senator Gallagher, our manager. This is the finest group of women I've worked with. This year has been a particular feat of endurance for Katy Gallagher, not only as chair of the COVID committee and with all the work she does here, but also, in the midst of all of this, because of the way in which the COVID-19 pandemic became real for her and her family. She demonstrated through that the character that she has. Put simply, Katy's just a great human being. It's great to work with you.

To the opposition whip and deputy whips—Senator Urquhart, Senator Ciccone and Senator McCarthy—whipping is the centre of chamber management, and I really want to thank you and your staff for all their work. This has been an even tougher year with all the travel and pairing and remote participation, and you've done a great job. Thank you all for your work. I know that opposition senators are really grateful for your work.

I thank all of my team for their commitment to advancing the Labor cause in the Senate this year. We don't win all of the time, but I always reckon we outperform our numerical position. It's going to be a tough few months, but we hope to be on the other side by the time I'm giving these remarks next year.

I have a few thanks to the people who support us to be here. First, thanks to the Clerk, Richard Pye; the Deputy Clerk; the whole Senate team; and the staff of the Department of the Senate. Thank you for all of your work for what is, I think, such an important institution of the democracy. Particular thanks go to the chamber attendants, who really keep this place ticking along. I particularly acknowledge the service of Adrienne Morrison, who, as the President of the chamber acknowledged this morning, is retiring after 15 years. Thanks to the secretary and staff of DPS. In particular, thanks to the cleaners, who are often not recognised sufficiently, and without whose service this place wouldn't run. Thanks to COMCAR and all of those services, the parliamentary security team and the AFP. Thank you for all the work you do to keep the parliament operating safely.

I do want to particularly express thanks for the efforts of all opposition staff. Staff have a unique role in the jobs we undertake, as contributors to and witnesses to some of the most consequential decision-making for the nation. They serve us professionally and they serve us tirelessly. As we have heard this week, this workplace has not always been the model that we would hope it to be or that the Australian people expect it to be, something which we must all collectively work to improve. Political staff make significant personal sacrifices to serve us. They make those sacrifices without complaint or resentment. Especially in a year like this year, when many of them have spent extended periods of many weeks in Canberra due to border restrictions, I say to all of them: we are grateful.

To all senators: it's been a year when, I think, a lot of passion and emotion has been expressed. As I've said many times in this place, this is where conflict is engaged in. I hope we can all work to contain that—sometimes successfully and sometimes not. Whatever differences we have, we all have people whom we love and cherish. So my hope for you is that, in this time ahead, everyone here can reconnect with those we love and replenish this most important part of our lives.

Finally, to Labor members and supporters throughout Australia, including the labour movement: on behalf of the Senate Labor team, I extend our gratitude and our hope that the holiday season is a happy and safe one. May Father Christmas deliver on 25 December and may we and the country deliver at the election in 2022. We know, with your support, we will. Merry Christmas, everybody.

Honourable senators: Hear, hear!

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Emergency Management and National Recovery and Resilience) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This has been our decade year, so it's great to still be in the chamber. I think the tone of today's contributions really reflects the year that our country and our chamber has been through. So, like Senator Wong, I'll be very glad to see the back of 2021. I think our country is with us in echoing those sentiments.

I want to say thank you to our staff, too, and the families of the senators who I'm very proud to lead. They work very hard, often in trying circumstances, and it has been a challenging year for our staff. I want to say a huge thankyou to them.

The National Party Senate team are very proud of what we've been able to achieve this year: fighting for forestry, competition law and labelling laws; saving two seats in the Northern Territory; ensuring Australia Post continues to carry firearms legally; having a serious and considered debate on water policy; ensuring that local content is protected in our film industry; and, from the AWI to the ABC, coming to this place and making sure that those government entities which service our nation—but particularly us in the regions, as we are never going to be able to access these services as a result of commercial operations—are held to account is very important.

I've been very privileged as Leader of the Nationals in the Senate to work with a new Senate leader, Simon Birmingham, and his team. Thanks to the respect and communication we've developed—not only between ourselves but between our staff—we've been able to manage some very challenging periods and issues over this year. I want to say a huge thankyou both to your staff and to you as individuals. We, as a coalition, serve a very broad group of people in the Australian public, and we've been sent here to serve them. Thanks to the way we handle our relationship as the two parties of government, we really can achieve the best for them.

I'm privileged to serve and lead very courageous, principled and passionate National Party senators, who often have different views from each other, let alone from many in this chamber. The way they can have those conversations respectfully in this chamber really reflects what is unique about where and how we serve. The five people I lead are also very proud of who they are and where they come from; I think their voice is unique in this parliament, and I'm so proud to be part of a democracy that allows that minority voice to be heard.

COVID wasn't the only challenge that APH has experienced this year. I'm proud, again, to be part of a generation of parliamentarians, across the divide, who are going to see change in our workplace because of the decisions we as individual senators and members will make as a result of what has occurred and been disclosed throughout this year. I'm not shirking that responsibility. We're going to get there; we're the generation of change that's going to make this happen. That's going to be a good story.

People have thanked the gardeners, the COMCAR drivers and the attendants. Thank you, particularly for carrying in all my folders of recent months. To the gardeners: I walk in every day, and it is such a blessing to walk through such magnificent gardens here in APH. I find, given we're inside all the time, that those moments where we can run between courtyards for votes et cetera and feel the natural environment are important. This is our home away from home, and all the staff at APH, whether they're at Aussie's, our security guys or the COMCAR boys—and I'm saying that because they are actually both men, Lindsay and Andrew—take care of us. People say it's a boarding school. I think it's actually more of a home.

I'd like to also thank my chief of staff, Liz Dowd, who leads an incredible team of professional, passionate people in my office. I'd like to thank my deputy leader, Matty Canavan, and Perin Davey. It's no easy task being the Whip of the National Party in the Senate, I can tell you. She does it with aplomb, class and strength, which is amazing.

I wish everyone in this chamber and more broadly across our country a very COVID-safe Christmas, and recognise that for many this is the first time for years that you may have seen loved ones—not because they're overseas but because they're here and they just happen to be in the wrong state. I hope you get to hold them, laugh with them and share with them. I wish you all a very peaceful, loving and joyful Christmas, and I look forward to punching on next year.

Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Reflecting on my remarks from last year, I thought 2020 was a bin fire, but 2021 has trumped it. We need a bigger bin for it to get in. It was another tumultuous year for our country and for the world. On behalf of the Australian Greens, I express love and support to all Australians who have suffered this year. I commend all the remarks that have been made and associate myself with them. I will start by thanking the staff in this building and those who work in electorate offices. For us they are the backbone of how we do our work, and it's absolutely critical we make sure that this is a safe workplace for them which they can be proud of and continue to want to work in.

It has been a year of reckoning, with the brave disclosures of women like Brittany Higgins and Rachelle Miller being the catalysts for so many other stories told. The Set the standard report released this week is a line in the sand that we cannot turn away from. We must seize the opportunity to make this place better, to set that standard that the community demands and to live up to it. I look forward to working with everyone in this place to implement the Jenkins recommendations in full.

To the formalities here in parliament, we farewelled former president Scott Ryan. I place on record our thanks for the work that he did keeping the chamber functioning during the pandemic. We also welcome the new President to the role, and I think he has well and truly been initiated in these last few weeks—let's hope, anyway. Let's hope that everything is different next year and that everybody is happy and well. I extend the Greens' thanks to the Clerk, Richard Pye, the Deputy Clerk, Jackie Morris, and to everyone at the Table Office and the Procedure Office. To those in the drafting office, I thank you for working so hard for us Greens and for us all. To the Senate staff, the wonderful attendants and to Adrienne, who is retiring after so many years in this place, thank you for all of the water. I, too, look forward to using normal glasses again in future.

I thank the Parliamentary Budget Office—in a re-election year, we've kept them very busy, as I'm sure you all have. I thank the Parliamentary Library staff, who do excellent research work and always answer our tricky questions. I thank the COMCAR drivers, the security guards, the baristas, the cleaners, the early childhood educators, the chefs at the trough and the gardeners. I thank the Department of Parliamentary Services staff for all the service that you give us, morning, noon and night. I thank the IT teams for keeping democracy functioning in a pandemic, particularly during the innumerable sittings, meetings, and estimates and committee hearings. I had to hold up a note only once to say that I couldn't hear, and that's not a bad record. Remote parliament has provided some important flexibility which I think we could all carry forward, and it has also helped to personalise the experience in some ways, as pets and kids and all sorts of things popped up in the backgrounds. No-one was a cat, so I guess we can call that a win! I hope that this parliament can use the success of the past 18 months to start looking at ways to encourage the greater participation and diverse representation that remote parliament could provide.

To all my colleagues in this place, I thank you for your commitment to try to make the world a better place, even though we disagree on how that should happen. I acknowledge your commitment in performing these roles. It is not easy on us or our families, so I thank you for doing it. Thank you to all the citizens in our electorate who contact with us stories. It's critical that we remain connected with the community and the people we represent. To my wonderful staff, I'm eternally grateful for your support. To all of my Greens Senate team, you are amazing, dedicated people—they are, clearly, not here because they're already on their way home after an enormous year they have all worked so hard on. I acknowledge that this year we farewelled the indefatigable Rachel Siewert, whom we dearly miss. We know she's very happy in her new role, but the place is different without her. In her stead we have the wonderful Dorinda Cox, who has already made such an impact, and it's a testimony to what she brings to this place that we already have an inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women.

Rach, of course, left the task of Greens Whip open, and I acknowledge Senator McKim, who has taken on that task—and I suspect he's regretting that decision; however, it's too late now!

I'm very much looking forward to getting home to my kids, as I'm sure we all are. Please look after yourselves over the holiday break. See you all next year.

Slade Brockman (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no other speakers, I wish to add a few personal reflections on the year that's been. It has been a strange year. Many weeks have been spent away from family and friends, and far too many weeks in lockdown. But during that time, when I've been in Canberra, I've been reading The Lord of the Rings to Jonathan, Eleanor and Felicity, chosen not just for its length—we commenced this long journey with Frodo in May, and we're only about halfway through. It has been one of my favourite books, carried through from my youth to adulthood. I tell you this to explain why, as we close this very strange parliamentary year, a quote from that most excellent of hobbits, Bilbo Baggins, came to mind:

I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.

Now, as you puzzle that out—as have Proudfoots, and as did I when I was a young boy reading the book—I will assure you it is praise, but it is praise with a dose of humility. Taking the time to connect with our colleagues is never time poorly spent. As we all know, connections across the chamber are valuable and productive. To display civility in the face of fundamental ideological difference is the exemplar of our democracy and, particularly, of this chamber, the Senate. It is the reason I honour this place, and it is the reason I believe the role I fill is such an important one. As I take time this summer to reflect, one of the things I'll be reflecting on is how I can, in this busiest of workplaces, assist the Senate to more strongly embrace this civility.

I have more people to thank than in previous years. Very quickly, to Richard and his team in the Clerk's Office and John and his team in the Black Rod's Office: thank you all so much. I'm sure the change of presiding officer is viewed with some trepidation, but I very much appreciate all the advice and support I've received. The chamber attendants have been thanked so much: you deserve it. Thank you. To the whole staff of the Department of the Senate, who looked after us through these difficult COVID times: we all thank you so much. To Rob, Cate and all the staff of the Department of Parliamentary Services—cleaning, IT, catering, security staff and gardeners: they do a remarkable job looking after us and looking after our democracy.

To all our staff: you all do a remarkable job, and I hope you all get to enjoy a break. To my staff: I cannot thank you enough. To my team in Perth, Grace, Sonya, Reilly, Neve, Catherine and Lewis: I assure you that I will actually be out of quarantine and back in the office at some point! To my new team of Vincent, Duncan, Fiona and Shirin: thank you for supporting me in my new role so well. To Sue Lines, Deputy President of the Senate: thank you for your assistance over the past weeks as I took up the role of President. You have been an enormous support to me. I also wish to acknowledge Scott Ryan and Tony Smith, who have both assisted me enormously in recent months. And I hope and I am sure that, no matter what the future holds, it will almost certainly be slightly calmer than the role of presiding officer.

Finally to you, my colleagues, Senator Birmingham, Senator Wong, everyone in the chamber and those who couldn't be here: there are those who I know in this place deeply, whose friendship, counsel and support I greatly cherish, and there are some who have recently arrived to this place. To one and all, I offer my thanks and my sincere hope for a safe, peaceful and blessed Christmas to you all. And I'm sure we all look forward to stepping into our own homes and saying: 'Well, I'm back.' And, yes, that is another The Lord of the Rings reference. Merry Christmas to you all.