Page 5079 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 28 November 2017
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I know that it is not just the three that I have given as examples but many others that are so grateful for his assistance and advocacy. I hope that, at this very, very sad time for Maureen, Adam, Amy and the rest of the family, the fact that he had a fortunate life and spent much of it helping others will be of some small comfort.
MR WALL (Brindabella) (10.16): In the words of our good mate Dozzie, as he started many of his speeches in this place, let me say that this is a speech I wish I did not have to give. On Saturday Canberra lost a true champion and a genuinely good man. My personal best wishes, love and thoughts are with the entire Doszpot family. To Maureen, Adam, Amy, their partners, their children: we can only imagine the enormity of your loss.
All the things that have been said about Steve in the past few days, and indeed this morning, are completely accurate. Steve Doszpot was a great gentleman, a bloke who loved his sport, a man of faith, a determined man. He had a wicked, dry sense of humour. And, not least of all, Steve was a true example of a family man. For those of us who had the privilege to work alongside him, we got to see the depth of those qualities at close quarters. We saw the man at his best, sometimes at his worst, but with all the quirky bits in between.
Steve had a great eye for picking his staff, and I must say that I have been fortunate enough to pick up a couple of Doszpot legacy staff members in my office over time. There are a good number of people who have worked closer than most with Steve who I would like to give a voice to in this condolence motion today: the staff that have served Steve over his nine-year term in the Assembly. I know Steve valued his Assembly staff very much, and he maintained a very good relationship with each of them over the years. Everyone is now part of a special club of former Doszpot employees, and I am certain he would be very pleased to have some of them quoted in this place today.
When Steve first took office in 2008 as a member for Brindabella, he took on Kate Davis, the senior adviser to his predecessor, Steve Pratt. Kate remembers quite distinctly how Steve came into this place determined to be a champion for the people and causes that needed a voice. Steve’s decision to continue his fundraising for charity through his trivia nights is one such example. This decision was made in the wake of advice from others who suggested that running trivia nights may not necessarily fit into his role as a politician and that he might be better off politically if he left others to do the charity work. Kate is very happy that Steve chose to ignore that advice and remains very proud of her involvement in assisting to organise the first couple of trivia nights that Steve supported, two very worthy recipients being Scarlett and Joshua.
Next in line as senior advisers to Steve were Merlin Kong, followed by Sue White and, most recently, Neil Hermes. Sue White has been described by those in the exclusive club of former Doszpot office staffers as “Goldilocks”—not too hard, not too soft, but just right. Sue has shared a few thoughts with me here today. She says:
I feel blessed to have been his longest serving staffer—
colloquially nicknamed “Goldilocks”—
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