Adjournment Debate

Valedictories

The SPEAKER: The member for MacKillop on indulgence.

Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop) (00:17): I began my valedictory speech this afternoon, before dinner, saying that I did not—

Members interjecting:

Mr WILLIAMS: Indeed, it was yesterday. I remarked at the opening that 20 years ago I did not expect to be here at this time 20 years later. When I made those remarks I did not expect to be here this time tomorrow—at that point it was tomorrow.

I earlier commented on the work that I had done seeking a fair boundary redistribution here in South Australia. I was rather proud of that. In fact, I think it gave me one of the outcomes that I was most proud of in my 20 years in this place. I was unaware that at the time the government was undoing all of that work; albeit that the very next election next March will be held on what I believe will be a relatively fair set of boundaries.

I am looking forward to the people of South Australia taking a great big bat to the Labor Party in this state because, as I remarked earlier in the evening, I believe the actions taken by this government tonight will go a long way to making their defeat even worse than it otherwise would have been. I believe that the actions that this government has taken create an imperative for the Liberal Party to take the next step in electoral reform in this state and move probably, I would argue, to a top-up system to ensure that the people of South Australia in the future get the government that they want.

It pains me to make these remarks, but from time to time members of parliament do things that undermine the integrity of all of us, and that happened again today when members of this house who were elected—particularly one member who was elected under a banner where what has just occurred would be a total anathema—voted for this, and I am talking about the member for Waite. The people of Waite would be horrified at what has just happened. They would be horrified. I will take a few moments to urge the member for Waite to do the right thing, to nominate for the election next March, to make sure that the people of Waite can tell him what they think of him.

I can tell you a little story, Mr Speaker: on the day the member for Waite decided that his future was much more important than the future of the people of South Australia, and particularly the people who put him into this place at the most recent election—on the day he decided that he would be much better benefited by becoming a member of the government and a member of the cabinet—I was in the country and I received a telephone call from my office breaking the news to me, and I immediately rang our leader. I said, 'How are you going, Steven?', and he said, 'Well, I'm not having one of my better days'. I said to Steven, 'Mark my words, Steven, this will be one of the best days you have ever had in politics.' You know what, I lived for a long time in the Liberal Party that leaked like a colander. Was it coincidence that the Liberal Party from that day has not leaked?

All I can say is that, when people are elected to parliament and behave very badly, they demean all of us, and that hurts me and it sorrows me. I have lived my life under the credo that I have only one conscience to satisfy. I put my head on the pillow each night and close my eyes with a clear conscience. Many people in this place are unable to do that.

Let me get back to where I was before the dinner break, all those hours ago. Yesterday, I was beginning to thank some of the people who had helped and supported me. I particularly started to talk about my staff in my electorate office. I mentioned that over the years we have had many trainees come through the electorate office. All of them attended to their work diligently, and I was delighted to be able to help them in their careers.

Most importantly, Di Casimaty came to my electorate office not long after I was elected all those years ago. Di has been with me, I suspect, for 19 of the 20 years I have been in here. Unfortunately, Di's health has not been the best in the last couple of years, but she is working through that. I say publicly in this place and put on the record that Di Casimaty has been a wonderful help to me and to the people of MacKillop. I would hate to think how many inquiries she has handled, and she handled them in such a way that many did not even have to be brought to my attention.

She built up a great rapport with people in the agencies, particularly agencies like Centrelink and the Housing Trust in Mount Gambier where we had to field many inquiries. I do not believe I ever had one complaint, but I could not count the number of people who have said to me over the years how wonderful Di was in handling their inquiry to my office. I thank her from the bottom of my heart. She protected me at every turn, she did a huge amount of work, and I will be forever indebted to Di Casimaty.

Kristie McTernan has not been with me quite as long as Di, but Kristie came to me as a trainee. One of my other office workers going on maternity leave coincided with the end of Kristie's traineeship. She became part of my permanent staff and has been with me ever since. Most of the time, Kristie has worked within this building. She has been my chief researcher. I mentioned earlier the policy areas I was involved in, particularly as a shadow minister. There was hardly a paper that was written that was not researched by Kristie. She actually did the typing because that is something I am not very good at. She has been fantastic.

Like the member for Heysen, I am probably from the wrong era to be up to date and up to speed with the electronic age. Notwithstanding that, many years ago when I was at the University of Adelaide, I was probably one of the more computer-literate people in South Australia because I was studying applied mathematics and surveying. In fact, my surveying lecturer recommended that we get an electronic calculator. I think I was probably amongst the first few hundred people in South Australia to have an electronic calculator, simply because my parents had been to Hong Kong and brought one back for me.

Kristie has an uncanny ability to find anything I need found. I remember saying to Kristie things like, 'Kevin Foley made a speech in April. I think it was five years ago or eight years ago,' and within a minute or two, she would have it. I do not know how she did it, but she did it, and she did it year on year on year.

Mr Duluk: It's called Hansard.

Mr WILLIAMS: Well, maybe for some people, it is simple but she was a fantastic help to me and had been for a long time. I will be forever indebted to Kristie. More recently, Bec Elsworthy has done relief work in my electorate office. She is a great person and I wish her all the best in the future. Even more recently, Narelle Olsen has done quite a bit of relief work, particularly because of Di's health issues.

Gary Burford drove me for a considerable time. Mr Speaker, I believe he drives you now. Gary was a fantastic person and looked after both Leonie and me as we travelled around the state on parliamentary business. I developed a very good relationship with Gary and I enjoy catching up with him from time to time as we bump into each other around the house. I followed his children through their schooling, etc. His daughter, Ally, is now at university.

Liberal Party members in my electorate—again, as I came in as an Independent, there could have been some friction between myself and the membership of MacKillop. The membership of MacKillop have been fantastic and have supported me tirelessly over most of my 20 years here, and I thank them sincerely. Leonie and I have struck up many firm friendships with the members of the party and that is something we will miss, but I have assured them that I will not be traipsing around the electorate in the future going to AGMs. There are something like 10 or 11 branches in my electorate.

Most particularly, I wish to thank my family and my children. My children were at university and the latter years of high school when I came into this place. Since then, three of my children have been married. One has been divorced and has repartnered. I recall that one evening in here I was lamenting that we needed a change of government because now I had a grandson. I now have a grandson, Tom, and his sisters, Eva and Mischa. I have a granddaughter, Grace, her brother, Michael, and Jonathan, who was born only a fortnight ago. I have another grandson, Lachlan, and his sister, Georgia. That is eight, and my son Matthew's new partner has brought Noah into our family too.

Ms Redmond: Great name!

Mr WILLIAMS: That is a great name. Our family has grown. They have supported me. I have not always been there due to my workload, but they have supported me fully, most particularly my wife, Leonie. It has been a fantastic relationship. It has been a great pleasure that, as I go around the electorate from time to time, in fact quite regularly, I am introduced as the member for MacKillop, Mitch and Leonie.

I do not know how many times Leonie has sat there in the gallery. Certainly, when I was the deputy leader, Leonie was in the gallery for every question time. Indeed, she was getting frustrated and sending me text messages from time to time. I was sitting here one day and a journalist texted me and asked me the question, 'Mitch, is Leonie paid as part of your paid staff, or is she paid by the Liberal Party?' I texted back and said, 'She's just a loyal, loyal constituent.' Leonie, thank you very much.

An honourable member: She's a groupie.

Mr WILLIAMS: She is a political groupie—no, that is not quite right, but she has taken a great interest in my political career. She has taken a great interest in the politics of this state. It has been a fantastic team effort on our behalf, and I am very thankful for that.

Can I just say in conclusion it has been an honour, a privilege and a pleasure to have represented the people of MacKillop for 20 years. They have supported me in a way most fantastic. I am very proud that they have supported me at every subsequent election in greater numbers than they did at the previous one, something that is of unending surprise to me. I am genuinely somewhat gobsmacked by the fact that they have supported me for so long. I have had a ball. I am not going to miss it. I have plenty of other things that I want to go on and do, and I hope and pray that the good Lord gives me at least a few years to do that. I thank the house for its indulgence.

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (12:32): On indulgence, I would just like to make some concluding remarks for this year. I will keep them brief, given the hour, and I will have a more fulsome thanks to the people who work in this house at our end of year drinks we will be holding later this month.

Can I just acknowledge that there are five members of the government who will be retiring voluntarily at this election. I have heard the speeches that have been made by those retiring members and the comments by the Premier. I would just like to endorse the comments of the Premier and acknowledge the service of all those who are choosing to retire, in particular yourself, Speaker. I have always enjoyed a very good working relationship and I am sure that that friendship will continue into the future.

Because of the hour, I will not go into detail on any of the other retiring members, not because I do not wish to but just because I am very keen to hear what the member for Colton has to say in a few moments. I think it is important just to place on the record a comment on our retiring members. There are five of them on this side of the house. In no particular order, I would just like to make some concluding remarks.

First of all, the member for Kavel is often referred to on our side of the house as the gold member, the gold standard. He is an outstanding, reliable team man. In 2016, he came to me and said that he was contemplating retiring from this house. He said that he would go through some thinking about this. There was never any suggestion from anybody in the leadership team that he should go. In fact, I have always found him to be extraordinarily reliable and dedicated. He is a friend to all, an enemy of none.

He made a decision earlier this year that he would not be continuing. That is after, I think, he worked very hard to find a worthy replacement. He has endorsed the current candidate and I know that he is working tirelessly to do everything he can to make sure that Kavel is held by the Liberal Party at the next election. I thank him for his service to the house, which began on 9 February 2002. I know that he will remain dedicated and loyal to the Liberal Party for the rest of his time on this earth.

I would now like to make some brief comments on the member for Finniss, who I think is one of the true remaining characters of this parliament, in fact of any parliament going. I am not saying he is the most incredible character that exists in any parliament in the world, but he would certainly be in the grand final.

He is a straight talker where many people now are using lots of weasel words to skirt around issues. I always enjoy his Saturday morning calls, which come every Saturday morning, when he wants to give me an appraisal of the week that was. He gives me a little rating and some unsolicited but nevertheless worthwhile advice. Of course, he was and remains very much a good friend of Dean Brown. He is a passionate man; he is a man of no compromise. Every time I see a tweet going up from his phone, I get worried, and I am sure that is going to continue a long way into the future.

I want to make some comments about the member for MacKillop, who spoke both yesterday and today to put on the record some of his concluding remarks. As he said, he came in as the member in this house in 1997. He is an approachable guy. He is a guy who likes to tackle the difficult questions. If we are having a debate in the party room, he is the one who will often choose the hardest topic to research, discuss and debate. He is often successful, but when he is not successful in that debate, he does not hold a grudge. He just gets up and gets on with the next debate.

I have always enjoyed my time with him. When visiting his electorate, sometimes we have had the opportunity to go for a bit of a drive around. I have always enjoyed those times, because when you are sitting in a car and you are driving with somebody for a day or two, you get to learn a lot about them. He has a great family and a great support base. I thank him for his time in this place, especially the work that he has done over the last four years in electoral reform.

I now would like to make some remarks regarding the member for Goyder. He is another outstanding person of high integrity, a man I think most people describe as a true gentleman. He has run a straight race the entire time that he has been in here; he has run a true race. To be quite honest, unlike everybody who might be leaving this place at the moment, he has not switched off. He has read every document right the way through, probably to today's debate. He has used his staff to support all of our efforts.

As a leader, you are often called upon to make difficult decisions. The member for Goyder has served in my shadow cabinet for four of my nearly five years, and I really appreciate the contributions that he made. He was a good shadow minister, but from time to time a leader has to make tough decisions, and it certainly was one of the toughest decisions that I had to make early this year with the reshuffle.

The member for Goyder subsequently made a decision that he would leave this house. He does not leave it any way other than with his head held high for the contribution that he has made to this parliament since he came in 2006. He will always remain a great friend to all of us in the Liberal Party, both the parliamentary Liberal Party and the team more broadly. I wish him all the very best. I know that he is really looking forward to spending more time with his wife, his family and, of course, his new grandson, Nate, who I think is about 18 months old now. Good luck to the retiring member for Goyder, the final member for Goyder in this house. I have left the member for Heysen to last.

Ms Redmond: 'Out,' I thought you were going to say.

Mr MARSHALL: I have not left her out. Her contribution to the house today was extraordinary. I think every member coming into this house would do well to watch and reflect and consider some of the ideas she offered to the house today. Every new member would do well to—

The SPEAKER: They would.

Mr MARSHALL: —read it or watch it, because we now have a recording. I think she is the very best Premier that we never had. I think she is—I tried to write down some words, sir—genuine, capable, courageous. We heard about that tasering incident earlier; there is just no way anybody else would have put themselves through that. I do not know whether that was inspired courageous leadership—

Ms Redmond: Foolhardiness.

Mr MARSHALL: —or just crazy. I think often in political parties leaders get carried out in a box. There are not that many leaders ever that can leave without being battered and bruised, and although the member for Heysen today said it has taken her a little bit of time to get back on her feet after that battering and bruising time as being the leader, she walks out of this place with her head held high.

Very few members of the opposition ever, I think, get to make a significant contribution to a state. It is hard to achieve things from opposition; yes, you can amend things here and there, but I think in the case of the member for Heysen, for the work she has done improving legislation in this place, and in particular her absolutely fantastic advocacy for an independent commission against corruption in South Australia, she can walk out not only with her head held high, not only with friends on this side of the house and on the other side of the house, not only with the enduring respect of all of the people in this state but knowing that she has with her contribution made an extraordinary change for the people of South Australia.

She also, like other members, has some fun things to look forward to. In recent days, of course, she has become a grandmother for the second time. She was already a grandmother to her grandson Austin, and now she has another grandchild, Emmett. We wish the member for Heysen all the very best for whatever lies ahead.

It is the end of a long four-year cycle. It will be an interesting election. I do not think anybody can really with any degree of accuracy predict what is going to happen. I think we live in the most tumultuous of times. I think there is a frustrated and anxious electorate, and I really, for one, am very much looking forward to coming back to this place in April next year just to see who is here, who is not and what sort of parliament we can be, going forward.

Finally I just wish everybody all the best. Christmas is my favourite time of the year. It is one time that I can pretty much definitely guarantee I will get my children off to church, which I think is always a bit of an achievement in my family. It is a good time. I hope people get some rest over the break, and I look forward to seeing them next year.

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton) (00:42): I want to begin or at least finish off my last contribution by firstly saying that we meet on the lands of the Kaurna people, and we respect their spiritual relationship with the land. I also want to pay my respects to the First Peoples and all the First Peoples nations across the length and breadth of this nation.

Well, Mr Speaker: my last contribution. I tell you what: it's been a pretty weird night, I think. I think it has been a weird night, and from here it might—

The Hon. A. Piccolo: Morning, morning.

The Hon. P. CAICA: Well, it has been a weird night, and it has been a weirder morning, and maybe it is about to get more weird, alright? As you would know, sir, I was elected in 2002. At that time my mother and father were alive. Annabel's parents were alive; our sons: James was going on 14, Simon had just turned 11; Annabel looked beautiful; I looked short, fat and bald. Sixteen years on, our parents have all passed away, our children are going on 30 and 27, Annabel still looks beautiful, and I am still short, portly and bald.

These 16 years have just gone so quickly. It is quite unbelievable. In 2002, essentially, I came straight into this place from the fire service and as the national secretary of the firefighters union, my union, the UFU. I am very proud to be still a card-carrying member of my union.

I remember the Friday before the election in early February. I had delivered my resignation letter to the then acting chief officer, John Gray, and he said, 'What am I going to do with this?' I said, 'You can do two things: firstly, if I am elected, process it. If I am not elected, tear it up on Monday morning.' So, I was fortunate that he actually processed that.

When I first stood for the Labor Party, I was absolutely thrilled to be considered for preselection, but I also put some conditions on that preselection (which was very unusual) for the people within the party. Those conditions were: I want to be preselected for the seat in which I grew up and in which I have been a resident all my life, and where my wife and I have been residents, and I will work my arse off. If I work my arse off, I do not expect to be left like a shag on a rock. I remember today that Vickie had never heard of that, but everyone here knows what it means, and I do not expect to be left like a shag on a rock. If I work my arse off, I expect to get that level of support.

Prior to the preselection convention, the then party secretary rang me, wanting to meet with me and have a coffee. I said, 'I don't drink coffee,' but the reality is that if the party secretary requests a meeting, you deny that at your own peril. That secretary is now a very good Minister for the Environment. So, I did not decline that request. We met at Billy Baxter's on Burbridge—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: That's right, he was paying. Billy Baxter's was on the then Burbridge Road, which is now called Sir Donald Bradman Drive. The suggestion from the party secretary was that perhaps I would consider nominating for another seat. I was not really going to talk about this, but why not? It is my last bloody night. I said, 'What seat might that be?'

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: The seat of Torrens.

The Hon. P. CAICA: No, the seat of Enfield, which, of course, our outstanding Deputy Premier has held, and will hold for as long as he wants. So, I contemplated this for about a nanosecond, and then I asked the secretary a series of questions. Firstly, I said, 'Do we want to win the election and form government?' The answer was yes. My second question was: 'Am I the person best placed to win the seat of Colton?' Yes. The third question was: 'Do we need to win Colton to form government?' Yes. That was essentially the end of the conversation. We won Colton and we won Adelaide. It put us in a position to form government, and the rest, as they say, is history.

When I first came into this place, I thought to myself, 'How the hell did I get here?' It was a bit like 'What the hell am I doing here?' At the time, it felt pretty weird—almost as weird as tonight and probably even a bit more weird. But how could it be that the son of a Romanian refugee and a lovely woman from Broken Hill—my mum, who, incidentally, met my dad when they were working at the Ramsgate Hotel—becomes a member of parliament? How could that be? I want to pay a tribute to my parents. What they provided for me, amongst the many things they provided, was a set of values that I have carried with me all my life: treat people how you would like to be treated, treat people with respect, treat people as equals and call out those who do not do that.

The point I am making is that when I first got here, I was actually better prepared than I thought I was at the time. I was properly prepared, I think, in hindsight, to be a member of parliament. I did not think that at the time, but in hindsight I think that is the case because of the values my parents had instilled in me, my time in the fire service, the value of serving, my time as a trade union official serving my fellow members of the UFU and even my time in the hospitality industry. The young kids say to me, 'What course do I have to do to be a member of parliament?' I say, 'It's really a bit like the course of life. Go out and experience things. Go out and get to know people. Get out and get to know how to deal with people.'

I learnt how to deal with people from a variety of different backgrounds when I looked after the Grange Hotel and when I worked in the Ramsgate Hotel. One day you would have the chief justice at the front bar of the Grange Hotel and the next day you would have people from less auspicious backgrounds than the chief justice.

My first four years in parliament were a very exciting time. I came in every day and thought—and I continue to think—'How the bloody hell am I here? What has caused this?' I worked very hard during those four years as the Chair of the Public Works Committee, and it was a good committee. I remember my first meeting with my good friend the member for West Torrens. We had a very good committee. We had the member for Torrens, the member for Schubert, the member for Norwood and the member for Unley. It was a very interesting mix, an eclectic mix some people might say. At our first meeting, the member for West Torrens and the member for Unley had a big blue.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: No, it wasn't unusual.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: Yes, that's right. I said, 'I am the Chair of this committee. Let's stop for a minute, Tom.' Tom was still a smoker then, so I said, 'Let's go outside.' I said, 'Tom, we are in government. We don't have to have a fight. We have the numbers on the committee,' and for the next four years the committee worked perfectly well. I think we only had two dissenting reports and that was in the lead-up to the 2006 election. That was one of the pleasures of my life.

What the Public Works Committee helped me understand—and I am sorry for those people who are yawning; I will not be too much longer, just another two hours—was how government works, how the bureaucracy works and what the objectives of the government were. For those people who might be listening—I am sure there are thousands at home listening tonight at 12.50am—it is a very good stepping stone to learning about how government operates. The irony is that in my first week here I chaired a Public Works Committee and I did it again this morning. Go figure. No wonder I am leaving.

I learnt a lot through that and the people I worked with have been great. I understand that even Ivan has invited us around for another barbecue at his place this year where I will again cook for the former members of the Public Works Committee and those from the Natural Resources Committee. There were other good things that happened during that time as well. I did not know what was going on. I remember the dinners with Peter Lewis—he was a very interesting character—and Randall Ashbourne. Randall was a very important player during those first four years, and it is unfortunate the circumstances that occurred, but that is the way life is.

I was meant to become friends with people, and naturally I am friends with people, although I was very hurt by the member for MacKillop tonight with those awful words you said about me.

Ms Redmond: You will get over it.

The Hon. P. CAICA: I am over it. You must recall, member for MacKillop, that I think I was the only person in this chamber who on your 50^th birthday actually congratulated you on turning 50, which was reported in that right wing paper you have in Mount Gambier. Anyway, I will get over how hurt I was tonight about your comments and I will move on. Then there was the Constitutional Convention, which was agreed with Speaker Lewis, and I was instructed to become friends with Meg Lees. It was over here, I think, that I had to sit with her, and I quite liked her. She was good and we did become quite—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Close.

The Hon. P. CAICA: —friendly. Friendly more than close. It was Julie Bishop I became close with. What is it called? We got the high-value SABRENet. She was very good. She gave us the money for it and that is what it was all about, trying to get what we could from the commonwealth government. Those first four years also allowed me to continue to work in my electorate, to work with my constituents, my schools and my sporting and community groups, and that paved the way for the future.

In the 2006 election, as we all know, the Rann-slide, Colton had a margin of 16.5 per cent. I mean, that was unbelievable—a 16.5 per cent margin. Primary around 57 per cent. Can you figure that?

An honourable member: Well deserved.

The Hon. P. CAICA: Yes, that's right. It was an incredible result. We all had good results at that time. I do want to pay tribute to Mike Rann as well. He was an excellent premier. I think that a big part of the reason, amongst others, that we are still on this side of the house is that election result in 2006. I could go into that in more detail, but essentially 2006 allowed us to win, despite what the opposition say, the 2010 election. We were never in doubt in 2010, and it was a good campaign. We were able to send resources north and south to those areas where they were required, knowing full well that we were not, I do not think, going to lose that election.

Had we had the same margin perhaps as Jane Lomax-Smith—10 per cent—if Pat Conlon had that same margin, if I had had that same margin, we would not be here today. What the 2006 election enabled us to do was to win 2010 and then, leading into 2014, have pretty hard marginal seat campaigners. Despite all the crap we went through tonight, elections are won on the seats that a party wins. We were able to win in 2010, I think, without any problem, but it also allowed us to be in a position to win in 2014. I will talk about 2014 a little bit later tonight—this morning.

As I said, I thought Mike was a very good premier and he showed confidence in his ministers and despite the views of those opposite, as I said, I always believed we would win in 2010. We had a fair bit of bark stripped off us at that election and we were always going to. A margin of 16.5 per cent is not a realistic margin for Colton. We came back to about 4.5 per cent after the 2010 election.

I was very proud that during the 2006 to early 2013 period I was honoured and privileged to be a minister across a variety of portfolios. I will just touch on my first radio interview as a minister. Wendy Glamocak rang me up. Wendy is a good person. She said, 'Hey Paul, have you been hearing some of these interviews we have been doing?' I said, 'Yes.' It was like 'meet the new member': Grace Portolesi and a few others were there. She said, 'What we want to do is an interview "Meet the New Minister".' I asked, 'Is this a set-up, Wendy?' She said, 'No, it will be fine.' Matt and David. Don't worry, I was a quick learner after this.

Anyway, I said, 'Yes, I will do that.' I sat there. You might not remember it. She said, 'We are going to undertake this interview today "Meet the New Minister". We are going to ask some probing questions.' I thought, 'That wasn't the deal.' The first question was, 'You are now the gambling minister. Have you ever taken a donation from the hospitality industry, the AHA?' My little sphincter was going like that. I was really worried. I thought that this was going to be the shortest-lived ministry that anyone has ever had.

I thought, 'Well, I can't bullshit, can I? You have to tell the truth.' I said, 'Yes. I think there's probably only one member of parliament who hasn't taken a contribution from the AHA and that would be Nick Xenophon. Of course I have.' She then asked, 'Will you take any from them in the future?' I said, 'Of course I won't. I have a responsibility now and as the minister for gambling I won't do that.' I tell you what, I nearly pooped myself on that interview because I thought, 'This is the end.' That type of thing. Even my then chief of staff said, 'Perhaps you should talk to me before you go on the radio.' I said, 'That's good advice as well.'

I loved being a minister and I enjoyed my time as a minister and my mum always reminded me that self-praise is no recommendation. But, at the very least, I would like to think that as a minister I could be considered as solid. I was disappointed when it all ended, but I am over it. It is what it is and I treasure the time that I was a minister. I will speak later about some of the things that I think, at least from my perspective, constitute highlights and others that are clearly lowlights.

I will move on to the 2014 election, if I can. That election was always going to be a tough election. I love elections, and by the way I am working very hard to make sure that we get returned in a few months' time. I never believed that we were going to win that election, but I always believed that we could. That in fact is the difference between this side and that side, without being disrespectful, and if you think it is, well, it does not matter. You over there think you will win and work accordingly. We on this side think we can win and work accordingly. What that means is a differentiation between the work ethic that we undertake given the views that we each hold.

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: No, I don't think they would learn. It is also true, I think, that there are still people on this side who believed we would lose Colton at the 2014 election. I can hear people saying, 'No, that's not true,' but I know it is. I remember a discussion I had with a person—and I will not name this person because I am trying not to name anyone tonight—when I was attempting to scrounge some resources.

This person said to me, 'Have you seen the polling in Colton?' I said, 'No, because no-one shows me, but I can tell you this: it's not 54-46, as has been reported in the paper on a two-party preferred across the state, and it's not a 52-48, as a statewide poll might show. I'll tell you what it is: it's closer to 50-50.' Well, lo and behold, three weeks out from the election or thereabouts—maybe it was three and a bit, I do not know what it was—all of a sudden a Dan Wills' article said, 'Colton on a knife edge: 50-50 polling.'

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Money flowed in.

The Hon. P. CAICA: Not only that but, whoosh, everything came in.

Ms Redmond: Hansard didn't quite get that.

The Hon. P. CAICA: That means everything was coming in.

Ms Redmond: Hansard was struggling with that.

The Hon. P. CAICA: Sorry. It meant it created a black hole where everything came into that particular area, but it was really a very bright hole. So that poll I think energised our campaign, I really believe that. People were saying, 'If Caica is on 50-50, why aren't the other seats?' It was a very good moment for our 2014 campaign because we realised that we were in with a chance to win, and we worked accordingly.

I also have to pay tribute to our Premier during that period of our 2014 campaign. His work ethic, I referred to him as 'the cork'—he was bobbing up everywhere and working 24 hours around the clock. Of course, I would joke with him when he came down to my electorate along with others and said, 'You're only coming down here to rub off my popularity.' The fact is that I appreciated that he and others were there. I remember being in thongs and shorts at a press conference in the square talking about boats I think.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: You said your wife wouldn't let you have one.

The Hon. P. CAICA: Yes. I think I was asked the question, 'Have you got a boat?' I said, 'No, I used to have one.' They said,' Well, are you going to get one in the future?' I said, 'If my wife allows me to.' It cracked you up, didn't it? Anyway, that was a galvanising moment of the campaign and, without taking any credit for what happened, I think that it was a moment that actually allowed people to think we could win. The Premier ran a fantastic campaign, and the results are evidence of that campaign: we are still here on this side.

The 2018 election will be more than just interesting I think. The opposition will campaign like it knows it is going to win. We will campaign on the basis that we think we can win—and I believe we can, actually. It will be a three-way contest, something that we have never had before. I am not sure, honestly, whether either party will win a majority in its own right, but I can say that we on this side are in with a real chance to be able to win the next election, and we will be working exactly towards that objective.

I hope I am able to sit home on election night with a couple of beers, or maybe a wee dram, and watch the telecast, but most likely I will do what I do—not so much in state elections, and this will be the first one I have done; I have done federal elections—I expect I will probably be scrutineering somewhere in Colton and having to pack up some bloody booth somewhere and make sure that all the A-frames are returned back to Steve Georganas in an orderly fashion. That will be my objective.

Now to the highlights of my political career. I think probably the number one is being elected the member for Colton and having the honour and privilege of representing my area, the area in which I and my wife grew up and my children grew up. Before talking about other highlights that others probably might not think are highlights, but that does not matter, I briefly want to speak about my electorate.

My father used to say, and he certainly believed, that he fell on his feet when he came to Australia. The Speaker has heard this before. My father would say that he lived in the best suburb in the best city in the best state in the best country in the world, and I concur with his view. Like much of Adelaide, the seat of Colton has transformed. When I was growing up, the seat of Colton and Henley High School were multicultural before that term was even coined. We had the Bulgarians, the Italians, the Greeks and the Macedonians, both sides of the mountains. We had a multitude of people who came from different backgrounds.

The Hon. A. Piccolo: Did you play 'spot the skip'?

The Hon. P. CAICA: No, we did not. We used to have certain games at school, but that was not one of them. As I said, we were multicultural before the term was even coined. Interestingly, the poorest people lived on absolute beach frontage—it is amazing, isn't it?—because of the maintenance costs that were involved. The poorest people lived along the absolute beach frontage. I know that the member for Wright lived just behind where I grew up—Mr Pooch's place, wasn't it? I will tell you what: it was a working class area.

I think that Annabel tells it as well as I. How do you say how things have changed? I will pre-empt this by saying that this is a little bit of a joke, so if I upset people, just relax. She can tell you how it changed. She said, 'Paul, when we were growing up, those with some criminal intent used to go out of Henley Beach to rob houses in other areas. It's changed so much that today those people from outside of Henley Beach come down to rob the houses in the western suburbs.'

An honourable member: That's progress.

The Hon. P. CAICA: Of a sort; that is right. As I said before, if anyone takes offence, just relax. The point is that our area, my electorate, has changed dramatically. It looks nothing like it did when Annabel and I were growing up. It looks nothing like it did when the Premier grew up in the same suburb I did. However, in many ways, it remains the same, if not somewhat more gentrified than it was when we were growing up. It remains an area predominantly populated by decent, caring human beings with outstanding schools and sporting community clubs. It remains a community-spirited electorate. For that, I am very proud to be their representative, and, after 17 March, I will remain proud to have been their representative.

Now the highlights. I will try to be brief because there are probably not too many. I was part of the government that rebuilt Henley High School. When my kids went there, they sat in the same rooms that I did when I was at school many years before. For those who remember, we had the old spine that went down with those wooden classrooms out the front. When we came here in 2002, there were only two schools in South Australia that had a spine: one was a historical site that was not going to be touched and the other was Henley High School, which was operating as a functioning school.

I am very proud that we were able to rebuild Henley High School essentially from the ground up. It was the school that my sons went to and that I went to, that the Premier went to, that the Deputy Premier went to and that others in this chamber, and previously sitting in this chamber, went to. We batted above our weight. There must have been something in the water or something going wrong there. I am very proud that, as a school, it is now outstanding and is back at about 1,200 students or thereabouts. It is a shining light within the western suburbs.

Other things during my time as a minister included the employment programs when I was the employment minister, the Goal 100s, saying where were going to get our apprentices from. We worked to encourage employers to take on apprentices. I was involved in the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, of course, and the water allocation plans. With the water allocation plans, I remember being at some meetings, at Strathalbyn amongst others, where there were about a thousand people baying for my blood and saying to me, 'Why are you trying to steal our water?' Then I would try to explain to them, 'Well, do you support the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and all this?' They would say, 'Yes, we do.' I said, 'Well, this is the same. It is making sure that there is a proper redistribution of that water.'

I remember that night at Strathalbyn. There were about a thousand people there. I said to Nick Xenophon afterwards, 'Nick, you shouldn't tie your caboose to these people here,' particularly the ones who were organising that particular show because they were not people who really cared about anything else but themselves. Anyway, I said, 'Look, this has been a hard night, a tough night. I have been screamed at all night and asked these questions. Let's go over the road and have a beer at the pub, the Strathalbyn Hotel.' He said, 'No, minister, you can't do that. You are going to get beaten up.' I said, 'Cut it out!' He convinced me that I should not go in there, and I said, 'At least go and get a six-pack so I can drink it on the way home,' which is what happened. So I set the water allocation.

History will show that we made the right decision with respect to the desalination plant and also the north-south interconnector so those two areas could make sure the water could transfer through. I am very proud of that. In terms of marine parks, there is another series of meetings where I got slaughtered, but it was the right thing to do and it will remain the right thing to do.

There was the First Peoples' recognition in our state constitution, and I was very proud of my involvement in that. In terms of natural resource management reform, I think we did very well in that. I must admit that I am a little bit disturbed about the opposition's plans, even though they are a little bit hard to fathom at the moment, should they come into government, about future natural resource management reform. I think they should talk to people before they make announcements about policy. There are others that I could speak about, but I think that will do.

The lowlights? I guess the most disappointing one for me was not being able to close the negotiations in the teachers' dispute in 2009. That was tough as well. Michael Wright was then the industrial relations minister. That was taken away from him for no other reason, I think, than the fact that the instructions given to him by cabinet were not enough to be able to close the deal. He was not given enough negotiating power to be able to close it. Premier Rann put me in there with an instruction, 'Fix this up, will you? Fix it up.' I thought, 'Oh, jeez, I'll do my best,' but I also said, 'You've got to give me the leeway. You've got to be able to offer something that is realistic.' In reality, we were not offering them anything realistic to fix it up.

So I spoke to the treasurer and got some instructions, and the terms then were I think reasonable enough to be able to close out the deal. I got those appropriate instructions to make some realistic offers. I remember the Speaker—we should not break cabinet confidentiality, but, what are you going to do, sack me?—saying, 'The teachers, put them to the sword.' I said, 'Hang on, Michael. At best, we are most likely not going to get many teachers handing out how-to-vote cards for us, but what we want to do is make sure that we don't have teachers handing out how not-to-vote cards for us,' which of course is what we did for the federal member for Port Adelaide on the Peninsula. We did not tell them not to vote for him; we just said, 'Maybe you might want to consider this.'

In the end, Michael and everyone agreed. It was quite an interesting discussion because what we wanted to do was resolve it. I have been a negotiator all my life, and I failed and I failed miserably in regard to this one. I still believe that what I offered to them on the table was more than reasonable, it was better than what they actually got through arbitration. It would have given them a better deal, but it also would have saved them a couple of million dollars for whoever their lawyer was from the eastern seaboard, who was able to buy an extra beachfront property as a result of the costs that were incurred by that.

That was probably my biggest disappointment. As a negotiator, you do not go to arbitration; you try to resolve it. The other disappointment was voluntary euthanasia. I am not going to dwell on that. I was disappointed; in fact, I was devastated that we could not get it up. There are other regrets with things that, if I had the opportunity again, I might do differently, but I am not going to dwell on those.

I think it is time now to say a few thankyous. These people are going to get overtime now because we have gone beyond 1 o'clock, which is good for the workers, and that was part of my deal. As a said, I deliberately decided not to name individuals. It would take too long and also it would be really rude if I forgot to name people.

The people of Colton, I thank you for supporting me at four elections, and that also includes the sporting and community groups. I want to read a text to you from one of my constituents today. There will be a few beeps through it. This is a constituent who has voted for me each year, over four years. He is not necessarily a Labor person, but you will understand that when you hear this. He says:

Good luck for your final speech today. You have served your community well. You can be proud of your achievements. As for your red ragging, union, commie [beep beep] mates, tell them to go and [beep beep] themselves.

My point here is that I have been fortunate enough to have a lot of people vote for me who would not necessarily have normally been regarded as Labor voters. I guess that comes through with this particular bloke. I could say a couple of other things about him.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: No, it is someone else. I also want to thank my union, the UFU. I thank my union for the support that it has shown me over the years. It has been a good union and it will remain a good union. On that issue, I want to express some concern. An article appeared in the paper recently about 14.5 per cent union membership across Australian workers. I find that to be very concerning. Something has to be done about that. I would be very interested to know what percentage within that 14.5 per cent were actually public sector workers as opposed to private sector workers.

I think the trade union movement has to have a look at what it is doing and how we can galvanise all workers to make sure that their best interests are protected because, quite frankly, a lot of people benefit from the work that the unions do, but a lot of them are not members as well. That is something that I am not going to resolve, but it is something that I am concerned about.

To all those people with whom I have worked, you do not win four elections in a marginal seat unless you have brilliant staff, and that is exactly what I have had in my electorate office since 2002. They have been absolutely brilliant. I thank them for all the work that they have done for me and the loyalty that they have shown not only to me but to our party and our electorate. This also includes my staff during my time as a minister.

I would not have done a thing at a ministerial level without the people who work with me, and they were terrific. I have had 14 trainees over this period, many of whom have gone on to do very good things and achieve some amazing things. I thank them for the opportunity to have them as a trainee. My sub-branch: I think it was said by someone today that you do not achieve what you can achieve without a sub-branch and the multitude of volunteers who have supported my campaigns and not just the campaigns at election time but the period in between those elections.

To the workers in this place—Hansard, the library, catering, maintenance, committee staff, parliamentary counsel, officers and staff of this chamber, our procedure office, PNSG and corporate services—I want to thank you for all the work you have done over an extended period of time. Hansard always makes you sound a lot better when you are being read than what you actually were when you were being heard, if that makes sense. I want to thank all the people here.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: I am about to talk about that. When I first arrived here, I made the effort to meet as many of them as I could. I wanted to meet the workers of this place because I was not only a worker myself but a workers' representative, so I wanted to meet them, get to know them and to understand what they did. Why? Because, as I said, I am a worker and was a representative of workers. There was a little bit of self-interest there. I worked in the fire brigade a long time ago. Do not make enemies. If you make an enemy with the control room operators, all of a sudden it will be, 'Attention, attention 202, you are required to go to a call wherever it might be.' You scratch and say, 'That wasn't our call: that was 201.' Do not upset them. You might actually help me as well if I am friendly and proper to you.

The Hon. A. Piccolo: Off track.

The Hon. P. CAICA: No, I am not off track. There is a little bit of self-interest there, that is what I am saying, Tony, alright? It is after midnight; you do not need to have that moustache anymore. Can you go and shave it off? My office is open and there is a razor blade in the bottom drawer.

On my first day here, I did not realise you could book things up in the Blue Room; I had no idea. I come from a background where cash is king. I thought, 'What's this booking up stuff?' Anyway, I ordered a meal and I was asked whether I wanted to book it up. I said, 'Oh, okay,' and when they asked, 'What's your name?' I said, 'Tom Koutsantonis.' They saw straight through me. They said, 'No, you're not.'

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: I used to say 'Nick Xenophon'.

The Hon. P. CAICA: Well, you might have got away with that. Anyway, to all of you—each and every one of you—the staff members who make parliament work, I say thank you and I hope that you feel I have treated you with respect. To those who know me—and I know you do, Mr Speaker—I am a man of little faith, as you know, but those who know me also know that I am a person who believes in people's right to believe. There are some provisos on that: do not think that your faith is superior to anyone else's and do not ram your faith down my throat, or anyone else's. Resultantly, the world will be a better place if that is the case.

The Hon. T.R. Kenyon interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: No, I am happy to go to church on occasion. I actually like the Orthodox Church; I think it is very cool. I also like it because you can go out and have a cigarette and then you can come back in again. It is a very cultured church from my perspective. The reason I raise this point about faith, and it might be a long bow to draw, is that people on the other side on this chamber who claim to be Liberals do so when it suits them, and on other occasions they feel the need to tell people how they should feel and act, and I do not like that.

I leave this place in the belief that I have always supported every person being who they are. I have great pride in the equality measures this parliament introduced and supported earlier this year. I have already mentioned voluntary euthanasia, and as I said, I do not want to dwell on that issue. The issue of sex work reform is now a matter for a future parliament, and I wish the future parliament all the best in its deliberations on these matters.

I also want to recognise, acknowledge and thank those other workers: my parliamentary colleagues. It has been a privilege working with you guys, it really has, and that includes people on the other side as well.

The Hon. A. Piccolo: Are you sure about that?

The Hon. P. CAICA: No, it does. I can say this to you right now: there are some people over there I like as much as some of the people on this side. I am not going to name them, and I am not specifically looking at you, Tony. I am just saying that there are people here who I like and whom it has been a great privilege and pleasure to work with. As I said, that includes MPs on both sides of the house.

I have worked with people who, in my view, have been political giants. They are political giants who will be remembered in history for what they have achieved. We might not have realised it at the time, but I certainly feel that I have worked with people in this chamber who are and will be recognised as political giants when history is reflected upon. As I said, I am not going to mention any names; those people know who they are and, if they do not, they can think I am talking about them. You know who you are: some are here and some have retired. I thank my parliamentary colleagues for their guidance, their support, their friendship and their advice over the years. I very much appreciate it.

Finally, and I will name them because I will get killed if I do not, but I want to anyway. To Annabel, James and Simon, I thank you for your support, which has been unconditional. It has been your love for me and mine for you that has kept me going in this place. I just want to read another text, if I may. This is from Simon. He is a funny bloke.

The Hon. A. Piccolo: Any beeps in this one?

The Hon. P. CAICA: No beeps. He is pretty funny, and this is probably not as relevant as the other one might have been, but here is what he says in relation to my final speech today:

Congrats. You dodged the citizen scandal—

Now, he can say this, because at Henley High School I was called 'the white wog', so I can say that.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: The white wog?

The Hon. P. CAICA: The white wog—Romanian; that is what I was called. The text continues:

(you dirty wog) and you've dodged the Chinese donor scandal. Well done.

I have had to put up with this crap all day, stuff like that. I thought that was funny anyway, even if others did not. I do not want to offend people by using the term that I used there, but I am allowed to say that and you are not allowed to say it to me, but Simon can and I can.

To get back—and I apologise, when Annabel reads this, that I had a diversion there because I did not mean to do that—their love for me and my love for them has been unconditional. They have been of great support to me. People generally do not realise how hard you work as a member of parliament. It is often thought, 'You've got your snout in the trough,' all this, that and the other, and 'What do you do?' If you are to be successful and if you do your job properly, you work your backside off and you have to, particularly if you want to stay in this position. There is no doubt in my mind that the general public has no comprehension of how hard you work as a minister. It is just a ridiculous workload. I make this point on the basis of the impact these responsibilities—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: Are you laughing at me?

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: I was just telling a story about you and Brokenshire.

The Hon. P. CAICA: Do I know this story?

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Yes, you do.

The Hon. P. CAICA: Alright, we will talk about it later then—the impact these responsibilities can have on you and your family. If the family unit is to survive it takes commitment because you really have to work hard because it is a tough occupation. I love Annabel, I love Simon and I love James more than anything else in the world and I thank them for the support they have shown me and the love they have for me.

Annabel is a bit tougher than me. For those who know her, she is a pretty tough woman. I can see Tyson up there nodding his head; he knows it. I think she probably would have made a better politician than me, in a roundabout sort of way. She certainly could not have been in a marginal seat. It is a bit like I used to say to Pat Conlon, 'You're not suited to a marginal seat, Pat. You should be somewhere in the upper house—you don't like people.' It is not that she does not like people, it is just that she does not have that level of tolerance that you need to have when you are in a marginal seat.

I will probably get into trouble for what I have said there, but who cares? It does not matter. So, if she was ever to be a member of parliament, she should have been in a safe seat. It is safe to say that she is not as tolerant as I am. I guess it is also safe to say that she has generally not really liked my job much. She does not like my job. I am just thankful that she still likes me.

I am looking forward to my retirement from this place. People say, 'How are you feeling? How are you feeling?' and I say, 'I am quite comfortable with what is going on.' I am looking forward to my retirement. I am looking forward to spending more time with the woman I love and the person that I have been with almost my entire life.

The other thing that is certain is that she will probably get sick of me pretty quickly. She has already said, 'What are you going to do when you retire? You can't sit out here and read the papers all day,' so I already know what I am not allowed to do and now we will work out what I am allowed to do, which is the basis of a good relationship really, is it not?

Finally—and I know you will be thankful that this is the case—I did want to keep you until 3 o'clock because I thought it is a pretty weird night and bugger you people over the other side. I thought I might as well keep you until the sun comes up. I want to finish off where I started. If anyone had ever said to me that I would be an MP, I would have replied, 'You are joking.' I am going to write a book one day and it is going to be called Who Would Have Thought? It will be a good book. Without being disrespectful to John Hill, I think it would be better than his. It would be a lot funnier. John, if you are listening out there, if you are not already asleep, perhaps you can read about this. By the way, I love John Hill. He was a very good minister and all that type of stuff. I am not doing a mea culpa or anything, I am just saying it could have been better.

I have always believed that politics and political life is about a matter of timing. I came in at the right time and I believe—in fact, know—the timing of my departure is right for me and that is why I am not filled with sadness. I am not overly filled with happiness, but I am not filled with sadness. If the devil had come to me on the eve of the 2002 election—who knows if it was a he or she, whatever gender it might be—and said, 'I've got a deal for you,' and I had said, 'What is it?' 'You're going to get four terms in a marginal seat. You're going to be an MP for four terms in a marginal seat. You are going to have almost seven years as a minister, and you're only going to have one hour and 55 minutes in opposition,' I would have grabbed it straightaway. In fact, truth be known, I probably would have grabbed two terms if that was the offer. Anyway, I got the four and there was no deal with the devil; it was just damn hard work for us to be able to achieve this. As I said, I would have grabbed that deal with both hands; in reality, I would have grabbed the two-term deal.

It seems a bit ironic, if that is the right word. When I was first elected, I was nominated to do the first Address in Reply when we formed government and I tell you what, I was shitting myself, I really was, because all of a sudden I was sitting on this side of the house over there—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: Yes, we became a government, didn't we? It was an incredible thing, and I was swept up in the euphoria of the occasion. Then, all of sudden, I heard my name being called out and I was like a rabbit in the spotlight. I thought, 'What's going on here?' and I had to apparently stand up and say that I accept to give the Address in Reply. The irony is that after we formed government in 2002, I gave the first speech outside of question time as the Address in Reply. I could feel my voice wavering and, as I said, I was pooping myself.

I got up here and spoke, mum and dad were up here, others were in the chamber and people I worked with in the union. There was a big crowd here and I was thinking, 'Good God, what is going on here?' I felt nervous and I felt my voice was wavering. Is Frances asleep? No, she is listening.

Ms Bedford interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: I have that effect on people, Frances, I apologise. After about 10 minutes or thereabouts, I looked around and thought—and this gets me back to what my parents taught me—'There's no-one better than me in this chamber. I've got nothing to be worried about.' Despite the fact I was very nervous and I felt my voice was wavering, although people said afterwards that it was not, I looked around—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: Well, I was wearing a tie then, too, and I did not have a new policy.

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell: You used to have to tie them before and hang them on a hook.

The Hon. P. CAICA: That's right. Now I have a policy: if it is over 14°, I will not wear a tie. Anyway, I looked around and thought, 'Well, there is no-one better than me. We're all equal in here and I am as good as anyone else in here,' and I relaxed a little bit. The irony of course is that here I am at 1.32am after a weird day. Believe it or not I got here at 6 o'clock this morning, so I have been here now for nearly 19½ hours. Can you believe that?

I came in at 6 o'clock because I had not done any work on this, I had not done any work on the Public Works Committee stuff and I had not done my grievance that I had to do today. I thought, 'Oh, God, Annabel is asleep. I'm going to have a shower and nick off and come to work.' So I have been here and I would not have expected that I would be doing this at this time of the night, but it is what it is.

People say that I have hardly changed since I have been here, and I say that is bullshit— have a look at this. This is how I looked. Mr Speaker, I know props are inappropriate, but if you want to sack me you can. That is how I looked after the 2006 election, and you can see that I looked a lot better then than I do now. This was done by some art students and I found it at a bus stop, and I have kept that since the 2006 election. It is very good. I think I look as good as I ever have and that is it.

It has been a privilege. I leave this place without regret. I have had a good time and a long time, never expecting to achieve both. To everyone, thank you and thanks for having me. To all my colleagues who are retiring—the class of 2002, those from the class of 1997, those from the class of 1989—I thank you for your magnificent contribution to this parliament and this state. It has been a privilege working with you and I wish you all the very best for the future.

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland) (01:34): As the whip I would like to quickly say some things on behalf of the Labor Party. I would like to thank our retiring members, especially all of those we have heard from. I wish them the very best and a very happy Christmas and all the best for their retirement. I thank my colleagues for their work this year and their patience, especially with me. Insofar as I have been able to do the job as whip, it has been entirely with the help of Carol and Ellie who are actually organised people as opposed to me, and I thank them for that.

I thank my electorate office staff who also assist in the smooth running of my duties in the parliament: Michael, Lucas, Matt and Michael Iammarrone and Matthew Marozzi as well. I would like to especially thank Hansard who, as so many people have said tonight, make us sound better than we actually are. I would like to thank the table staff, the attendants, catering, education officers, and all the administrative staff who make this place tick over, all in the service of the people of South Australia embodied in those of us who are elected.

I would like to wish everybody in the chamber, those opposite and on this side, a very happy Christmas, a holy Christmas, and a safe Christmas—take care when you are driving around the state. I would like to wish everyone good luck in the coming election and, as Pat Conlon used to say, I wish ours a little more than theirs. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for a wonderful four years and I look forward to being here in another three months.