Page 5 - Week 01 - Thursday, 4 November 2004
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the members who constituted the government. In that regard, I would like to pay particular tribute to my cabinet colleagues, Ted Quinlan, Simon Corbell, Bill Wood and Katy Gallagher, and to the other members of my government—you, Mr Speaker, Karin MacDonald and John Hargreaves.
I especially want to give a warm welcome to those members who are new to the Assembly—Mary Porter and Mick Gentleman from my party, the Australian Labor Party; Deb Foskey from the Greens; and Richard Mulcahy and Zed Seselja from the Liberal Party. I look forward to working with each of you.
It is only fitting that I mention our colleagues from the last Assembly who either retired or were not re-elected. Bill Wood, Kerry Tucker and Greg Cornwell, who each retired at this election, have served the Canberra community long and with distinction. I will miss each of them. I regard each of them as a friend. I will, of course, miss particularly my good friend and colleague Bill Wood. I wish each of them the best for the future.
I extend my commiserations to those who missed out. Too often in political life we neglect the fact that at each election we, as individuals, put ourselves on the line to face judgment by the electorate—the community in which we live, our neighbours—and the outcome we seek is not guaranteed. I acknowledge the efforts of the members of the previous Assembly who were not successful in this election and wish each of them success in the future.
I wish to place on record my thanks to my colleagues and friends and all members of my staff and other staff in the Labor Party who worked so hard to achieve our victory. An effective campaign does not just happen. It takes commitment, inspiration, hard work and dedication to the task. I could not have asked for more from the team that developed Labor’s election strategy and saw it through. I wish in particular to acknowledge my chief of staff, Greg Friedewald, and my senior media adviser, Penny Farnsworth, for their support and the particular role, largely unsung, each played in my government’s success.
Mr Speaker, I speak without hubris when I say that today is an historic occasion. My colleagues and I form the territory’s first majority government and we do so at the commencement of the Assembly’s first ever four-year term. My government is, I believe rightly, proud of its achievement in attaining majority government, but it also recognises and acknowledges the fact that majority government is at once both a privilege and a responsibility, and we do not regard these lightly. My government accepts the responsibility and we will, collectively and individually, endeavour at all times to reward the trust the community has placed in us.
Mr Speaker, in placing on the record my thanks to all those involved in the last election, I send my strongest vote of thanks to the people of Canberra. As a community, you have signalled your faith in the government and your support for both our record and our platform for the future. I said at the outset of this election that, in many ways, it would be tougher than the last, as we would be judged not just on our policies and our vision, strong as they were, but also on our record. I am proud to stand by that record.
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