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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-11-25 Daily Xml
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Adjournment Debate

VALEDICTORIES

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: While we are waiting on a message from the other place, it has been suggested to me that we have messages of good cheer. Should a person wish to give a Christmas message, he may do so. Member for MacKillop, do keep your remarks brief.

Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (16:19): I note that the house is, dare I say, in a state of suspended animation for a few minutes while we are waiting for a message from the other place. Since it is the last day of sitting before we go into the summer break and, of course, before we enter the festive season, I thought I would take the opportunity to wish my colleagues on both sides of the house the compliments of the season and hope that they have the advantage of a well-earned break and are able to spend some quality time with their families.

One of the down sides to being a parliamentarian is that we do become very time poor, and I know that occurs to members on all sides of the house. There has been talk over the years about work-life balance, and that is something fairly hard to achieve in our line of work. We are on call 24/7, almost—it seems that way. I sincerely hope that all members have the opportunity to have a break and some quality time with their families.

Also, I would like to take the opportunity to say that it is not just the members who make this place work and work so smoothly, a considerable number of staff are performing all sorts of functions in this building and outside of the building, and I would like to take the opportunity, too, to wish them the compliments of the season and to thank them for their efforts throughout the year.

If I may, I will just run through (and I hope that I do not leave anyone out) the staff within this parliament: the Clerk and the assistant clerks, the table staff and the attendants in the house. Then outside the house there are many other people, all the way from the switchboard operator downstairs to the staff who maintain the air conditioning, for instance, and those who continue to move throughout the building changing faulty light bulbs, etc.

Obviously, and very importantly, I thank the library staff and the function they perform, as well as parliamentary counsel. A plethora of people work behind the scenes to make this place operate and operate on a daily basis. As a country member, one of the most important groups of people, obviously, are the catering staff. Over the years I have been in this place I have relied very heavily on them, and I would hate to think how many meals and snacks I have had in this place, and certainly how many cups of coffee I have had in this place. The catering staff do an absolutely fantastic job.

Speaking of people who do a fantastic job—Hansard. I do not know how many times I have picked up the Hansard on the morning after having delivered the occasional speech in this place and read it and thought, 'What a wonderfully written piece of work that was.' I am quite delighted at the work they do to convert what I deliver here orally into what anyone reading it in the future would think was a very well-delivered speech. Hansard does a fantastic job, looking after all the members and converting our version of the English language into something which is readable.

Outside the house, obviously, again there is a huge range of staff in our electorate offices, and, obviously, in the various agencies which we interact with. Obviously, as a shadow minister, I do not work as closely as the ministers do with the agencies, but I do appreciate the work that staff in the agencies do in briefing me as a shadow minister from time to time when important pieces of legislation come through the place.

Also, I have been privileged enough this year to be in a position where I am entitled to have a driver. Again, as a country member who has spent the last 13 years travelling anywhere between 60,000 and 100,000 kilometres a year, that is something which is really appreciated by me. I thank all those who, over the period, have driven me. Some of them had driven me, before I had a driver assigned to myself, to the odd event. I think that just highlights, in a small way, the array of people who support us in the work that we do.

I do not want to take up too much of the time of the house, but I do generally wish all members, all of my parliamentary colleagues on both sides of the house, the compliments of season. I hope that we take the opportunity to use it well and come back here reinvigorated for the benefit of the people of this state in the new year.

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