Adjournment Debate

Valedictories

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (17:05): As we wind down the day's sitting, it is my privilege to deliver a short speech to conclude the sitting of this chamber. In keeping with the distinguished tradition of such speeches, it will be slightly boring and a couple of minutes too long; I hope everyone enjoys it.

We have all contributed in some form to many bills, motions, questions, explanations and discussions this year and, whilst our debate can be robust, I think the varying perspectives have allowed us to consider legislation from many points of view and have, in turn, allowed us to arrive, in a lot of cases, at better outcomes for the people of South Australia, whom we are elected to represent. This has been particularly evident over the past few days, where we have debated a number of bills that many of us feel passionately about in what I think has been a remarkably respectful manner.

I would particularly like to pay tribute to the hard work of the Government Whip, the Hon. Tung Ngo, and the Opposition Whip, the Hon. John Dawkins. The job of being whip is often thankless but someone has to do it, so thank goodness for these two blokes because it is much better them than anyone else trying to herd the cats they often have to herd. I would also like to convey my significant admiration to those who have harder jobs still in this place: our excellent table staff Jan Davis, Chris Schwartz, Guy Dickson; our attendants Todd, Super Mario, Karen and Antoni—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: Yes, Super Mario—and our office staff, Margaret and, while she has been away on leave, Kate.

There are so many people who contribute their time and energy to making this place function, and often function very well: parliamentary counsel, our patient Hansard staff, our kitchen and dining staff, our library staff, our building staff, and everyone who goes cheerfully about their daily business of keeping this place in good order. Our sincere thanks are extended to them all, as well as to the staff in our own offices, who work long hours to help us do our jobs and ensure that this chamber runs somewhat smoothly. In my office, I would like to particularly thank Andrew, Jillby, Wendy and Areti.

On behalf of the chamber, there are a few other people to whom I would like to convey our best wishes, particularly the Hon. Gerry Kandelaars and his family during what is a difficult period for them. I know that the thoughts of every member of this chamber are with him and his family.

If our work can be judged on statistics, then the thousands of litres of coffee drunk during sittings, particularly late-night sittings, and the hundreds of kilograms of roast meat consumed during meal breaks are testament to the hard work of this chamber—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: I thank the Hon. David Ridgway for his interjection which I think was something along the lines of, 'That was just my lunch yesterday.' There are some other facts that help to summarise the year in review quite well. I believe the Hon. Robert Brokenshire has mentioned that he used to be the police minister only about 49 times, or about once every sitting day, which is fortunately a third of the number of times he reminded us of this fact last sitting year.

The Hon. Andrew McLachlan quoted nearly half of the combined complete works of Alfred Lord Tennyson, William Wordsworth, John Keats and Rodney Rude, and occasionally the prose quoted had some relevance to the debate at hand. The Hon. John Gazzola distinguished himself with his speed of speaking, taking an average of only seven seconds to ask each question and would probably win the Rocky Balboa award for elocution.

The Hon. Stephen Wade has again been able to channel the Incredible Hulk in this chamber, with random outbursts of sudden anger that have equally delighted and scared most of us. Not to be outdone, the Hon. Terry Stephens' vigorous interjections about where we should often go and how we should do it have earned him the title of 'tough cop on the beat' for the Legislative Council. Of course, to you, our glorious President, who has presided over us wisely once again, in a strange sort of karma way you seem to be growing even more hair as the Hon. David Ridgway continues to lose his.

We saw the welcome addition this year of the Hon. Peter Malinauskas, whose presence in this chamber has brought down the average age of the chamber by some considerable years, and we have seen the triumphant return of the Hon. Michelle Lensink, who continues to very unfairly compare some ministers in this government to cartoon characters.

On a serious note, I would like to pay tribute to the Hon. Gail Gago, who was the leader of this government in this chamber when we ended last year. Her contribution to all aspects of parliamentary life has been immense, and I am sure that those opposite, like me, miss the cries of 'Shame' during question time.

We are, of course, grateful for the sheer number of points of order raised by the Hon. John Dawkins during the course of the year, who, as he says, has been here for a very long time and that we should all, quite frankly, know better. There are various levels of gratefulness to the Hon. Jing Lee, who this year has moved a motion about nearly every organisation or international day that was on the calendar.

Members might not be surprised to hear that the Hon. Rob Lucas took the title for speaking more than any other member of this chamber this year, closely followed by the extraordinary verbosity of the Hon. Mark Parnell during the course of the year. I am advised that the Hon. Rob Lucas' speaking time exceeded the combined total of the Hon. Kelly Vincent, the Hon. John Darley and the Hon. Dennis Hood, who taught us all lessons in succinctness and how to sum up everything you need to say in an amount of time that is probably more appropriate.

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: He's got enough staff to work out how long it is.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: Yes, I did consider asking the staff to work out how long the Hon. Rob Lucas had spoken for, but it got too arduous to look beyond two sitting days.

The Hon. Tammy Franks has spent more time protesting on the steps than in the chamber, a fact that she ought to be proud of. The Hon. Tung Ngo has spent the most time of anyone singing in this chamber. I will be particularly interested to hear his cover of Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart next year, which I am reliably informed is often done at La Sing in the early hours of the morning.

Having said that, I would like to thank all members for the contributions they have made this year. I wish everyone a very merry Christmas break and particularly a fond farewell to Robert Brokenshire, as he has a keen interest in the workings of the federal parliament. I am keen to finish because apparently the ice-creams are on the Hon. Ian Hunter. If anyone would like a photo with the real Ian Hunter, rather than a cardboard cut-out, I am sure that the Hon. David Ridgway will have his selfie stick available at the back of the chamber once we have finished sitting.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (17:11): I stand on behalf of the opposition to endorse some, but not all, of the comments made by the Leader of the Government as we wind up this calendar year of sitting. Certainly, it is refreshing to have a bit of humour. Without reflecting too poorly on previous leaders, I think that is probably the most light-hearted summing up or end of the year speech we have had, so I congratulate the Leader of the Government on a bit of humour at the end of the year.

From a thankyou point of view, on behalf of the opposition I thank all the people in Parliament House and those the minister and Leader of the Government has mentioned: the staff in Parliament House, Hansard, parliamentary counsel, catering staff, kitchen staff, security people and everybody who makes this place function. It does function very well—even on the night the power went out it still functioned reasonably well. We were able to secure all the hot food in the Blue Room for a group in the Hon. Terry Stephens' office, which meant that nobody else could get any, so that worked well that particular night.

On a serious note, I think it is important that we respect all those who have worked hard and put up with our tempers and tantrums when things did not go as well as we thought. I do not think we have had as many late nights this year as we have had in other years. The Leader of the Government is very keen not to sit on any nights, other than when we have urgent business, and I think everybody has been quite happy not to sit late.

I know that the Hon. Michelle Lensink has had some discussions and will have further discussions perhaps over the break with our team about whether we can fine-tune and streamline private members' business and maybe come back to the government and the chamber with some options. I also would like to say that we are thinking of Gerry and his family and, of course, Kyam and his family, as his mother is very ill at the moment, too. Our thoughts are with both those families.

The Hon. Robert Brokenshire may be gone from this chamber when we resume on 14 February, on Valentine's Day, and of course speculation is rife that the Hon. Peter Malinauskas may make the move to the seat of Croydon over this summer period. He may not. The Hon. Frank Blevins is the only one who has ever actually been successful. A number have tried and failed; whatever may come, we may see him back or we may not. With those few words, I wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a safe and happy new year. We look forward to seeing you back here on Valentine's Day with a lot of love in 2017.

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL (17:14): Very briefly, I will also associate myself with most, but not all, of the comments of the Leader of the Government and the Leader of the Opposition. The Leader of the Government has thanked the long list of people who make our lives easier here in Parliament House and who help us do our work. I give a special shout out to the building staff who have the unenviable task of trying to fix the heritage-listed air conditioning (including in my office) over the summer, in the first three weeks of January. I hope that speed is on their side. I look forward to 2017 and hope it will be a better year than 2016. On behalf of the Greens, I wish everyone the compliments of the season and a good break, and we will see you all back here next year.

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (17:15): I will not detain the house for long, but I would like to associate myself with the remarks of the three previous speakers. It has been another big year for the Legislative Council. As the Hon. Mr Maher outlined, we have had some very intense debates at times, but most of the time people have managed to keep their tempers—not all of the time, but most of the time—which I think is in the best traditions of this place.

I would also like to thank all the various staff that make this place possible. It is extraordinary the number of things that happen that you are not even aware of. I have found out things just in the last month or so about Parliament House that I did not even know existed. It is extraordinary that these things happen without our personal involvement, so a sincere thank you to all the staff. I wish all the members a terrific Christmas. I hope you have a chance to have a break with your families and come back refreshed next year. It is an election year of sorts, that is, we are at least leading to an election, so I think those tempers may fray a bit more, particularly in the second half of the year.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: No, not at all. That is also probably, in one sense at least, in the finest traditions of this place. Thank you.

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (17:16): I associate myself with the remarks that other members have made in thanking everyone who has put a great effort into making this another successful year for the parliament. Because I have been noted by the Hon. Mr Maher for my succinctness in my speeches, I am keen to keep up that reputation, so I have composed, very briefly a limerick to limit myself in my words. It is very rough, so I hope you will forgive me. It goes simply thus:

It has been another year of dedication,

to jobs, health and education,

but we couldn't even do half,

if it weren't for the staff,

so thanks, see you next year, congratulations.

The PRESIDENT (17:17):I will make a couple of comments. I would like to reinforce all the comments made today. I would like to pay special tribute to all the messengers, assistants and clerks, in particular Jan and Chris, whose knowledge and understanding make my job so much easier in the chair. The last two days have shown that everyone here, regardless of our views, has respected the views of everyone else. I think that is very important in a democracy, and I think we have handled these debates with great maturity. Thank you very much for all the help. I look forward to seeing you all next year. Hopefully, we will all come back refreshed and ready to get into another productive year. Thank you.

At 17:18 the council adjourned until Tuesday 14 February 2017 at 14:15.