Page 1567 - Week 05 - Thursday, 2 June 2022
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sleeves—if we were all as emotionally open and passionate as Mrs Jones is—we could probably arrive at our conclusions a hell of a lot sooner than we do normally.
I can safely say there will never be another Giulia Jones. She is absolutely one of a kind, and I have learnt so much from her. I have learnt much more from her than she thinks I have learnt. She has inspired so many people. She genuinely mentored me in so many ways, and I will miss her. I will miss her greatly.
I have had a message from someone who is watching online. This valedictory has become the new Depp-Heard. Now that that event has finished, this is the most watched event online; there is no question about it! And I had a message from Ms Castley. “I am watching online. It has been quite the valedictory,” she says, with attached emojis. She continues, “If you do pop up to speak, can you please pass on my thanks to Giulia for her relentless encouragement to me during both of my campaigns, and also during my time as an MLA.” Giulia Jones, thanks for everything.
MS DAVIDSON (Murrumbidgee) (11.32), by leave: I would just like to say a few words of thanks to a fellow Murrumbidgee MLA, Mrs Jones. Ten years is such a commitment and such a long time. And, given that the last couple of years have been during the pandemic, where one year feels like 10 years, it probably actually feels like 30 years in total!
Mrs Jones: Yes, sometimes.
MS DAVIDSON: Yes. I want to thank her for her support and ability to work across party lines to do the right thing for her local community. To work with her on saving Coolo Park really meant a lot. I could see the influence she had on her own party and on making good policy decisions, when I went to a Western Creek Community Council meeting some months back. Mr Hanson stood up and said that if there were to be some effort to rezone that block he would support it so that it could be protected. That was definitely Mrs Jones’s influence at work, so I thank her.
One of my most enjoyable moments, Mrs Jones, was one night at the Woden Community Council when we were talking about how we—you, Marisa and I—could work across party lines to do better things for Woden. You turned to me and said, “So, Emma, do you use WhatsApp?” This was in April last year. It was in that moment that I realised that you do not read the Saturday paper. We had some great conversations in that WhatsApp group about how we could work together to do good things locally for the Woden area. So I thank you for that.
There are so many things that we were working on that we will not be able to complete together, but I hope that your colleagues will have taken on some of those issues and that whoever replaces you will be someone who is equally committed. If ever I have to chain myself to a bulldozer to continue protecting Coolo Park, I will be very glad that you gave your phone number to me for WhatsApp, because you might be the person that I call to bail me out. So, thank you.
MR CAIN (Ginninderra) (11.34), by leave: To Giulia, I want to say that as one of the baby MLAs in the house—I do not know if other newbies considered themselves in
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