Adjournment Debate

Valedictories

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Child Protection Reform, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for Consumer and Business Services, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (18:04): I just want to say a few words, as is traditionally the case at this point in our parliamentary calendar. Obviously, this time of the year is a time for goodwill to all people and a time for thanks and acknowledgements, so I will go through a few of those thanks and acknowledgments on behalf of the government. First of all, I think it is important we acknowledge and thank those people who make this place function.

First amongst those people, I think it is important we place on record our thanks to the Speaker, who has managed this place with a degree of charm and restraint in many instances, which does him great credit. I think of the number of times when he has a parliamentary version of what I think is often referred to as 'domestic deafness'. He tolerates the most provocative moments in the spirit of attempting to make sure that all the parliament receive a fair go, although I do note that the member for Newland is frequently pulled up, but he has the good grace to thank the Speaker for his remarks, which is always good. I think the Speaker has done an excellent job and he is an ornament to the parliament.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hear, hear! And its greatest jewel.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: And its greatest jewel, indeed. Whilst we are on this very important topic, you, Madam Deputy Speaker, as we know, shoulder the overwhelming burden of occupation of the chair. You sit here with a look of erudition and interest on your face, even during the most trying of moments, which sometimes extend to hours. That look of interest, that composure, and that degree of ennui, which I think is a word that is sometimes used by some from other countries—

The Hon. T.R. Kenyon: With whom we now work closely.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: With whom we are now much closer. The way in which you have conducted yourself, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to say, as a person like the member for Bragg who spends more than their fair share of time in this place when parliament is sitting, has been exemplary. All of us here appreciate your tolerance, your wisdom and your almost boundless good cheer in what must be at times an extremely trying position. So, thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker.

When I first met the Clerk, Mr Crump, he was but a humble officer assisting a parliamentary committee, and look at him now—he strides the parliament, or at least this half of it, like a colossus. It is his wisdom and knowledge of the arcane rules of this place that enables things to happen. I will not attempt to speak for the member for Bragg, but I know that she would have had the same experience I have had: whenever you need to know how to get something to occur in this place and you need to know how to do something, Rick and his staff are always there and of great assistance. Mr Clerk, thank you very much for your work.

Now to the Deputy Clerk, David. Again, when Rick is not here and attending to other duties—once upon a time, I think the other duties used to include hobnobbing with other clerks in places like the Cook Islands; I do not think he has ever done that, but there are times when he is not here for other reasons—David very ably discharges the responsibility and, again, always with good cheer. To the chamber staff, the people who quietly go about the business of making this place work in a very practical way, we say thank you very much to all of them.

The parliamentary library is a place that was my friend, my best friend almost, for a long time. I spent almost a decade in the parliamentary library and it was a joy. The staff are invariably helpful, particularly to backbenchers who want some research done on different topics. They are very, very helpful staff who do a fantastic job. For those people who have not actually taken advantage of the great resource that the library is, and the great help that those staff can be, I would encourage them to do so. Thank you very much to the library staff.

Hansard staff, what can I say? The most encouraging thing I can say to Hansard staff, particularly those who happen to be in here today, is that it could be worse: you could be a few hundred metres east of here. Hansard staff, I say you do a fantastic job. You listen to everything that happens in here. I do not know whether the parliament provides some form of therapy or assistance for people who have to endure that sort of ongoing cruel and unusual punishment, but I say to the Hansard staff: thank you for listening. Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for being so timely with the rushes of the contributions that are made here. Thank you for sometimes disentangling what we are saying and converting it into English.

The Hon. T.R. Kenyon: Wait until they read this in the morning.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Indeed—wait until we read this. Again, thank you, Hansard, very much for all the great work you do.

The catering staff—in a place like this, if you have a group of people who are locked in a relatively small building, sometimes for many hours at a time, the difference between frayed nerves and good cheer is fantastic catering, and we have great catering staff.

The Hon. T.R. Kenyon: Parliament argues on its stomach; is that what you're saying?

The Hon. J.R. RAU: The member for Newland says, perhaps correctly, that parliament argues on its stomach. Whether or not that is true, the catering staff do look after us, and I would like to thank each and every one of them. They are very cheerful and very courteous people. I spend probably more time in the Blue Room than elsewhere. The staff down there deal with a high volume of work and they do it very well, so to all the catering staff, wherever they might be, thank you very much for your work.

There are other staff at Parliament House who do things. There are people who make sure the lights do not go off. There are people who repair things. There are people who magically make things happen. To all those people who do that fantastic work in the administration of the parliament, thank you very much.

Obviously, I would like to thank the Premier for the leadership he has shown to the government during the course of this year and for the steady and calm way in which he goes about his job. It is a very demanding job. It is a thankless job in some respects because, whatever goes on, ultimately you wind up being the person who is called upon to account for it. I do not think anybody should underestimate the challenges of occupying that position. He does it with great calm and he does it in a way that shows great humility towards other members of the parliament and other people he deals with generally, so I thank the Premier for his efforts this year, as in other years.

The Government Whip, the member for Newland—it is well known that the whip is one of the most demanding positions in the parliament. A good whip is the difference between the parliament working and the parliament not working—I say thank you also to the Opposition Whip because the two of them have to work together. I would like to acknowledge the member for Flinders in these remarks as well because the member for Flinders has been a terrific Opposition Whip. The whip has to make some difficult calls. They have to be able to say no and saying no sometimes is difficult and produces—

The Hon. T.R. Kenyon: It depends on who it is.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: It may depend on who it is, that is true—but it can produce reactions which are not altogether positive, but the whip nevertheless gets on with his job. He does an excellent job. The breadth of experience that the member for Newland brings to the role of the whip makes what he does so much more valuable. He understands the dynamics for people on the front bench, he understands the dynamics for people on the backbench, and he understands the importance of making the parliament work. I say to the member for Newland: thank you very much. Your staff, Carol and Ellie, obviously do a fantastic job. As good as you are, without them you may not be as good as you are.

I also thank my parliamentary colleagues—all of my parliamentary colleagues, not just on this side of the house but on both sides of the house. All of us experience things as members of parliament which are difficult to explain to other people, and if we did explain to them they would either ignore us or say, 'So what?' or whatever the case might be. Everybody in this place knows that this job is anything but a nine to five proposition, and it has its own very unique set of demands and requirements. I thank all members for their participation.

I would like to say thank you to all the electorate staff who stand behind all of us. Each one of us has very dedicated, special people who work very hard, without much acknowledgement most of the time. Particularly for those of us on the front bench who do not have the time that perhaps we would like to spend in our electorate offices, they shoulder an enormous burden of making our electorate offices tick over and making things work, so I say thank you very much to all of them. In my case I particularly thank Raff and Eddie who have been with me for a long time.

I would also like to acknowledge and thank all of my ministerial staff. Working in a ministerial office is a very peculiar environment. The challenges of a ministerial office are considerable, the demands are considerable and the routine is almost non-existent. By that I mean that you can be hit by literally anything at any time, and a matter that you had not anticipated can suddenly become an issue that needs urgent work done on it. It can be the tedium of preparing and assisting in the preparation of stuff to go through cabinet and it can be being available to brief the opposition and crossbenchers about bills that are in the parliament, which is particularly an issue for people in my office. All of those things require people to be on top of their game, to be courteous and to be respectful.

I say to all of my ministerial staff, whether they be advisers or administrative staff, that their work is very much appreciated. I would also like to particularly acknowledge Libby Eatts, who is the person who makes everything happen for the Attorney-General's significant parliamentary load. She manages to know where everything is at any point in time. She manages to keep all the balls in the air. She is the best person at this, and she drives us forward. She coaxes us on. She says, 'You haven't got enough bills in yet this year. Keep going, keep going, you can do it.' I was almost reminded of the Speaker's contribution on jumps racing: she pushes us forward. Without her inspiration and her efforts I do not think we would get anywhere near as much done.

I also thank the Leader of the Opposition. He is obviously an integral part of the way in which the parliament works and, except for the fact that he is little bit noisy during question time, I have always found him to be a very approachable individual and easy to work with. I have already mentioned the opposition—in my note here it says it is the opposition 'hip' but I do not think it would be discourteous for me to say that I do not think the member for Flinders considers himself to be 'hip' but he is the whip and, as I have mentioned, he does an exceptional job at that and he is highly respected across the parliament. The opposition leader of business, the member for Morialta, again, is somewhat noisy during question time but we thank him for his work, again without which the parliament would not work, and, of course, all opposition and crossbench members.

I would also like to acknowledge the people who work in the various government departments for which I am responsible. I do not wish to go through them all because that would be a rather lengthy process, but I need to mention particularly the Department of Planning and Andrew McKeegan and his staff, who have done an excellent job; the Attorney-General's Department and Rick Persse, who has now moved on to education—he has discovered an interest in that and he has moved on; the Acting Chief Executive, Caroline Mealor and Acting Deputy Dini Soulio. All of them have done an excellent job and by naming them I do not mean not to acknowledge others, but there would be many if I kept going.

That is probably enough acknowledgements. I am sure that my other ministerial colleagues would like to express the same thanks to their respective departmental officers who have done tremendous things. Can I mention again—I have only mentioned it three times so far—that the Opposition Whip, the member for Flinders, has done an extraordinarily good job, so congratulations to him.

I know I went on perhaps a bit longer than I might have, but the good news is that we are still waiting on a message from somewhere else so we will have time to listen to the member for Bragg. I wish all members a very safe and merry Christmas. I hope everyone has a restful and happy festive season and that we all see each other again in February, all being fit and well and ready to do it all again next year.

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (18:23): May I, on indulgence, indicate from the opposition that on these occasions we wish to pay respect to and record our appreciation for those who serve South Australia by working very hard in this parliament. I think there are some 300 people who work directly to support the operation of the parliament and so on these occasions we want to particularly recognise them, and also those who, like us, come and go—we are able to recognise our colleagues and those who work with us.

I will commence by acknowledging the Speaker of the house, the member for Croydon. We do not often see eye to eye, but we recognise the work that he does as our Speaker, not just in parliament but obviously in receiving visiting personnel from other jurisdictions. It is quite an extensive role as Speaker and we appreciate his work in that regard. In the chamber, of course, I am usually the butt of his disciplinary approach on a number of matters, but we take that on the chin and appreciate that the Speaker is always right.

May I say that the Deputy Speaker, with her cheerful disposition in carrying out what is a very long and arduous task while the Speaker is off doing all those important duties, is frequently called upon not only to supervise the house but to guide us through committee work which, in recent times, took us into the early hours of the morning.

I could say that was aided and abetted by the repeated questioning of the Speaker when he was back in his place but, nevertheless, until 3.30am plus was a long stint and it is indicative of your commitment to the job that you would continue to keep us all calm and allow us to have consideration in that circumstance when the bill was obviously fraught with emotion. Congratulations on doing that. Thank you for lasting the distance with such good grace.

The members here in the chamber include, of course, our own Clerk, Mr Crump, and Deputy Clerk, Mr Pegram, who provide wise counsel to all of us, not just the Speaker, and we appreciate that. To the many chamber attendants and those who work here, who are certainly busy in their duties to provide for us promptly and with courtesy the reports and papers we call upon. Thank you so much for that work.

I also recognise, from the Legislative Council, the team who work there under the supervision of their longstanding Clerk, Jan Davis. We do, of course, have to work in a coordinated fashion on days such as this when we are waiting for legislation and trying to work cooperatively so that legislation is advanced in a timely manner. To all those who are working in that chamber, we thank them.

The Hansard team is led by Mr Phil Spencer. We thank you for converting what is often illegible and incoherent drivel into legitimate, concise and clear communication, and we do appreciate the work you do in that regard. Some do not understand that our Hansard reporters are some of the highest skilled in the state. Next to court reporters, they have an extraordinary job to do in deciphering interactive discussion in our parliament, and that is to be commended. Thank you for your high skill and attention.

I thank those who are in our library under the stewardship of Dr John Weste. I have the pleasure of being a member of our Friends of the Library, and I know the Deputy Speaker has worked hard this year to encourage the support of the parliament to enable us to sequester the leftover carpet from the renovations and to try to convert that into some funding for the restoration of our historic books. I thank her in that role as well.

I also thank Dr John Weste for working very hard to ensure that our extraordinary collection of antique and historical books, records and maps, some of which have only been discovered in the time we have been here. The restoration program has been immense. That is just a tiny part of what they do, of course, which is otherwise to service us as a research library. To all his team, I thank them for their work.

The catering manager, Creon Grantham, has again fed us and sustained us through long stints here. Sometimes that is called upon to be an expensive dish and other times it is to be sustenance. In the spectrum of provision of service, I wish to thank him and his team for the same.

The security personnel know that I am not happy that they still wear guns in the chamber, but I want to thank them for their cheerful greeting smiles when we arrive here early in the morning, and I usually come through an entrance they service. I appreciate their work, as I am sure all members do, providing security for us, our staff and personnel here in the parliament while we are in the chambers and also ensuring that they protect each other from those who might come into the premises with ill will. So they do have an important role to play. The cleaning staff are also here early in the morning, sometimes just packing up as we are arriving. The cheerful goodwill with which they undertake their work is terrific.

I would like to give special mention this year to our parliamentary counsel. They have to draft all our legislation and convert our sometimes esoteric ideas into sensible legislation to be promoted. They do a terrific job. PNSG is an external agent from government, or Treasury. It is associated with us here at the parliament, and they keep our electronic and IT equipment up to speed and help me, whenever an app disappears, to reinstate it. Lorraine Tonglee and her team provide an excellent service. So there are many people who make up the parliament, to ensure that the people of South Australia are served.

I am very proud that the South Australian parliament is a registered Supportive Employer of the Defence Reservists in South Australia. I see many of the personnel who work here in the parliament in a different life, as I am sure other members do also, and they contribute to public and civic responsibility up there with most. That is commendable, but some of the employees here are reservists, and they serve our state and country in different ways. I think it is terrific that the parliament itself, as a very significant employer, is registered as a supportive employer. It is indicative of its support for our personnel but also indicative to the world that we are interested in supporting those who serve us, sometimes in very dangerous circumstances.

In addition to those who work in the parliament directly, I wish to place on the record my appreciation to our colleagues, in particular the member for Dunstan, the Leader of the Opposition, who has led us as a team in the principal opposition. He has a very impressive group of staff, led by James Stevens, who irritates me from time to time but who does a great job. I think it is very important that those who are in leadership positions amongst our staff have to make hard decisions on behalf of the leader and, in our case, of course, in many ways to service our shadow cabinet, but who with me shares a considerable role in ensuring that our broader colleagues and their staff are supported and properly looked after.

I would like to give Paul Armanas, who heads our media unit, a special tick this year. He has the unenviable job of making us all look good and keeping up communication with the media, and we appreciate that. We welcome back Richard Yeeles, who has been a long serving employee in political life, having supported prior premiers. He has had significant years of experience in the private sector and has resumed work with our team this year. We welcome him back.

To our whips, thank you very much. That is a completely thankless task, so I recognise both government and opposition whips and the work they provide. Finally, I would like to say that everyone of us here in the parliament who is an elected member—and, as I said, we come and go—has our own staff who help to keep us calm and focused, and who support us to deliver what we are here for, and that is to serve the people of South Australia. Thank you to all those who do that.

I wish you all a merry Christmas and trust you have a safe and happy time with your families. I look forward to seeing you next year.