Members

President, Election

The PRESIDENT (14:52): Honourable members, firstly, it is with great humility that I speak to you from this chair. I thank all of those for their support today, but I also thank very much every member of this chamber. I thank the Hon. Jing Lee for the way she has conducted her campaign, if you wish, for this position, and I recognise always the very narrow way in which it has been decided. I look forward to working with you all and will make a further statement later this week about some of the ways in which I would like to assist everybody in this chamber.

I am aware that His Excellency the Governor will be very pleased to have our presence at 4 o'clock, so we will proceed shortly with the business of the day, but I advise members that we will be received over there at 4pm.

Can I also say that, having been elected President of the Legislative Council, I have been made aware of matters and correspondence between the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption and officers of the Legislative Council and staff of certain members of parliament. The correspondence and matters raised are of some complexity. When I have had an opportunity to consider the matter more comprehensively, I will report back to the chamber. I call on the Treasurer.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:54): Mr President, I rise on behalf of government members to offer my congratulations to you on your election to the office, but before addressing some remarks to that, can I thank the outgoing President, the Hon. Terry Stephens, a person who I count upon as a friend, as well as a colleague within my party. He has been, will be and will forever remain a friend and a colleague—only a colleague, from my viewpoint, for another couple of years, because I will be sailing off into the political sunset at that particular time. But I do want to acknowledge the Hon. Mr Stephens' service, and in particular his term as President of the Legislative Council.

I also thank the other contestant for the position, the Hon. Jing Lee, again a friend and colleague. Now is not the time to address some of the issues that have transpired over recent days, there will be other opportunities for that, but I thank the Hon. Jing Lee for making herself available as a nomination for this position.

Mr President, in congratulating you as the President of the Legislative Council on behalf of government members, I am sure you understand and you know that my view has always been that whomsoever holds the position of President deserves the respect of all members of the chamber. The office is an important office. In all my time, and I know from the viewpoint of my colleagues in all their time, whoever holds the position of President, whatever differences there might have been—and there have been some with previous Presidents—whatever those differences might be, the office of President nevertheless is a most important one. All of us in this chamber—government, opposition and crossbench—in my view should treat the office with respect, and whoever holds the position of President deserves that respect.

Mr President, on behalf of government members, in congratulating you on your election today, I indicate that I as the Leader of the Government will continue to work cooperatively with you and your officers in all that you seek to achieve in your term as President. We wish you well in the challenges that you have ahead.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:56): I, too, join with the Leader of the Government, the Treasurer, in congratulating you on your election and noting the good work that your predecessor had done. I think he presided over this chamber very fairly. I note that you are in an unusual position where there are a number of ex-Presidents in this chamber who no doubt will be watching very closely. They will be there to provide you with any views about your performance that are needed, I suspect.

Congratulations on your ascension to President. I know that, in your own words, you have been here a very long time and have impeccable training for this job in terms of time spent in the chair over the last almost couple of decades. The opposition, along with the government, stands ready to support you in your presidency and looks forward to your always fair rulings over this chamber.