Page 5755 - Week 15 - Thursday, 10 December 2009

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I wish to very much say thanks to my fellow Green MLAs. I could not work with a better group of people, and I thank them for that. We have worked with both parties, as I said. I think that what has been passed this year and what has been debated has shown that three parties can coexist in a parliament and get on with the business of governing.

I also want to mention, obviously, my staff. Thank you very much to Louise O’Donnell, Brian Quade, Tom Burmester, Fiona Walls and Melanie Greenhalgh for their outstanding effort. We all know how hard our staff work. I would not be able to do the work I do without their support. Of course, the same goes for my family. I thank my three sons, my husband and my parents very much for their ongoing support. My eldest jumped in a raft this morning to raft down the Franklin River for the next 13 days or so. Obviously I will be thinking of him and hoping that he gets home for Christmas.

Mr Coe interjecting—

MS HUNTER: He does have a paddle. I also acknowledge Roland Manderson, who obviously had been in the Assembly for so many years. As many of you know, Roland left some months ago to take up a position with Anglicare Australia. We have missed his whistling. I have noticed that Tom Duncan has taken up that position within the Assembly and can regularly be heard walking the hallways whistling. Thank you, Tom, for filling in for Roland in that respect.

Mr Speaker, we did not hear what you were doing in 1989. I am assuming that you were at university studying hard—I am sure, Mr Speaker—and going to a few demos, starting to get a bit of that activism going.

Mr Barr interjecting—

MS HUNTER: Obviously you were crossing paths with Mr Barr in 1989, obviously not attending the same party meetings but maybe going to the same parties. Who knows?

I just wanted to revisit the comment about Mrs Dunne and Mr Hargreaves and that back in the public service they may well have sat on the same interdepartmental committee. That may have been the case. Here in 2009 I am sitting on a committee with Mrs Dunne and Mr Hargreaves and I have to say that, to date, it has been a pleasant experience. It was a little scary when they had an interchange recently. They really were like an old married couple. I thought, “Does that make me the child here? This is getting a little scary.” I look forward to continuing on that committee in 2010 and wish everybody a merry and safe Christmas.

MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (6.15): Christmas has come around again and it is time to distribute small tokens to members that reflect something of their achievements or otherwise this year. This year we have had the GFC so they will not be lavish. I thought that what I could do for members was download, legally, perhaps from iTunes, appropriate music that they may enjoy over the Christmas period and help them reflect on this place as we go our separate ways over Christmas.


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