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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-11-12 Daily Xml
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KERIN, HON. R.G.

The Hon. R.G. KERIN (Frome) (15:40): I seek the indulgence of the house to make a personal statement. I would like to take this final opportunity to put on the record my thanks to many people who have helped me over the past 15 years in this place. I will start with my family. I would not be here if it were not for my father. As the member for Bragg knows well, I was asked to stand and over about 12 months kept saying no. I did not know that my father had been spoken to—the correct term is that he had been 'done over'. He prevailed. I thank my father for making me do it. He and my mother have been great supporters; they have been terrific.

Cathy, the girls and the grandchildren have been amazing. As everyone knows, once you are a minister and live well away from home, the wife bears the brunt of nearly everything. Cathy has done a great job of raising the kids. Incidentally, Hannah is just finishing year 12 and she was actually in preschool when I started here. She has missed out on a lot, but I think I have missed out on a lot more. They have been terrific.

To the extended family—I have seven brothers and sisters—everyone of them has been totally supportive all the way through, and my many friends in Crystal Brook, as the member for Schubert knows, are like an extended family in a small community like that. The broader electorate has been incredibly supportive and kept sending me back here. It has also been incredibly understanding of the fact that, as a minister and in other positions, you are were not always in the electorate as much as they would have liked; but they totally understood that. The Liberal Party support that I have had within the electorate, doing a lot of the tasks that are necessary, is greatly appreciated. If I start naming names, I will leave someone out; so, too all of you, thank you very much.

In general, to the public of South Australia, as some on this side and, certainly, on the other side know, as a public figure you go around to a lot of areas, and it can be a pretty full-on existence. To have people come up and show respect, friendship, and make you feel at home, and whatever, is very important when you are on the road and out there a lot. I have certainly been very well treated in that respect, particularly by the people of the regional areas in South Australia, where, because of my portfolios, I spent a lot of the six years as minister. I had some absolutely fantastic times and met many people, probably more so than you would in most portfolios. For example, you go to a field day, a country show, or something like that, and you go home having met hundreds of people in a day, which is something that I have always greatly appreciated.

To the many industry and community people who worked with me in the portfolio areas, my way of operating was very much to try to work with industry. The guys in the food industry and in the fishing industry—most of the time—and the other industries with which I was involved gave terrific support, and to this day a lot of them are my very good friends.

To my many staff—here, I will make an exception. Vicki Manners has worked with me since the day I came into this place. She has basically been the local member. Vicki is an exceptional individual, who has done a magnificent job, and really does treat the job with incredible seriousness and conscientiousness. To her I owe so much, because she really has been absolutely sensational, and she has done so much for so many people in the electorate, more than most local members could hope to do. She really does chase down issues. Many ministers would have received many letters from her. She has been absolutely sensational.

To all the other staff in various roles, I have been incredibly lucky, and there are dozens of them. Many of them are still good friends. I have been to many of their weddings, and whatever, but they have been sensational. Ministers know about the amount of time that you spend with staff and how reliant you are on them, because you are only as good as your staff a lot of the time, and I have been incredibly lucky like that.

To the departmental staff I had, again, many of them are still friends. The respect and response I always had from them was always terrific, and I really enjoyed working in the portfolios that I had. I think I can say that, in the leadership roles, that extended further into the Public Service. Really, I have been incredibly fortunate to have worked with so many like-minded people who have the goodness of the state at heart.

Earlier this afternoon I spoke for a few minutes with former governor Marjorie Jackson-Nelson. What a fantastic lady. I had the honour of swearing her in. We were absolutely honoured to have her in that role. I also worked very closely with Sir Eric Neal, another fantastic person. When I was sworn in by Dame Roma, Hannah was still at the toddler age. I well remember that I was worried that she was going to knock over a vase, or whatever. Dame Roma came over and started talking to Hannah, and Hannah asked her, 'Oh, are you the Emperor?' which set Dame Roma back a little bit. She was absolute quality.

The dealings that I have had with the present governor, Kevin Scarce, have been exceptional. I think he will prove to be a great Governor. Having had him in my electorate, I have seen the way he works with people and understands them. He automatically commands respect but, at the same time, he has the 'Call me Kev' type of attitude, and I think that will wear very well. In my time, I have seen four magnificent governors, and it has been an absolute honour to work with each and every one of them.

Much of my time over the past 15 years has been spent in this particular building. I have always found the staff incredibly helpful, friendly and efficient. They get the job done without getting in your face. I will not mention all the areas because there are so many staff in this place who play a whole range of roles. I really do appreciate them, although I probably look as though I appreciate the catering more than anything else! I must admit that I have not taxed the library staff all that heavily over the years. I appreciate everyone here for the role they play and the way Hansard tidies us up. I appreciate the friendly nature within the house, although there can be pretty high stress levels here sometimes.

To my colleagues opposite in both chambers, to the Independent members and to those I have served with, thank you for your friendship and respect over the years. The public see question time on the television and very little else, and I think they would be surprised at some of the camaraderie and the dealing for the benefit of the state that has gone on over the years. Certainly, I have been involved with many of those from the other side and from the cross benches during a lot of that. At the end of the day, wherever you sit in this place, if you just keep at the front of your mind why you are here and who you are here for, then the institution is a better place and South Australia is a better place. I think that is very important. To those members, many of whom I have spoken to over the past couple of days, thank you for the sentiments you have expressed.

To the Liberal Party, its membership and party headquarters staff, thank you for the support and the opportunities you have given me. To my Liberal colleagues over the last 15 years, thank you for your friendship, support and camaraderie. To Dean Brown, John Olsen, Iain Evans and Martin Hamilton-Smith, thank you for your leadership and your efforts on behalf of the party and the state. It was Dean Brown and John Olsen who gave me the opportunity to be a minister and to do what I have probably valued most during my time in parliament. To the members who entrusted me with the roles of deputy premier, premier and leader of the opposition, thank you for your trust and support and the hard work you put in behind me during those times.

It has been an interesting journey over the past 15 years, and I thank each and every person who has helped me along the way. To all those I leave behind, good luck and good health and please look after the wonderful institution that we jointly own very well. As I said, it has been an interesting journey, and certainly the people you get to meet and work with are probably the highlight of any person's career in this place. I look forward to watching with interest what happens not only over the next 12 or 18 months but also over future years. I do not want one of those obituaries too soon—although I am sure you would all speak well of me! Thank you for everyone's friendship, and all the best for the future.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

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