Page 5494 - Week 14 - Thursday, 30 November 2017
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I wish all colleagues in the Assembly a wonderful Christmas. Enjoy the festive season, and we will see you in 2018.
Valedictory
MS LEE (Kurrajong) (7.02): Whilst I may not quite have a tendency for poems like Ms Lawder’s or have a Christmassy wardrobe like Ms Cheyne’s, it does give me enormous pleasure to deliver my first end of year adjournment speech.
Disability and the environment were not sectors that I had any expertise or experience in but I threw myself into these portfolios with all the gusto of a newly elected member. In marking my one year in the Assembly, I spoke about some of my adventures so far. I take the opportunity today to highlight some others. I am sure that not many members will be able to lay claim to having led a SH’BAM warm-up for the Alzheimer’s ACT Memory Walk and Jog or gone on a spin class crawl to raise funds for Hartley Lifecare.
I have had constituents approach me with issues ranging from potholes and broken streetlights to complex issues with the NDIS plan, variations to the Territory Plan and noise and light pollution; and from light rail to unfair rates hikes, disability transport and mobility parking and cancellation of a much-loved bus route. I have had the great pleasure of hosting work experience students, interns and volunteers. Siobhan, Georgia, Ashleigh, Dollie and Jasmine are all amazing young women who I know will go far.
I put my hand up to be a member for Kurrajong because I want to be able to advocate for and represent people who may not be in a position to do it for themselves. Whilst doing this in opposition has its challenges, I know that there are people who look to me to make a difference, and it is what I strive to do every day.
The small part that I was able to play in assisting SHOUT earlier this year, the small role I played on the select committee on establishing the ACT anti-corruption and integrity commission, the small experience from my legal background that I bring to the scrutiny and the JACS committees, the small contribution I make to Canberrans living with a disability, the small smidge of difference I make to our natural environment and our ongoing commitment to the future of sustainable energy supply, and the small community full of heart that is Kurrajong that I am proud to represent are all the small things I can do to help make Canberra just a little better.
Even though it is my job to help others, to inspire others and to lead others, being a member has given me the opportunity to work with and meet some of the most inspiring people in Canberra. There are so many amazing Canberrans. I cannot mention them all but I will highlight one: a faceless, nameless Canberran who goes about her day without fanfare or recognition who I have come to develop a great respect for.
K is a bilingual social worker who works at one of our hospitals. When Canberrans from the same ethnic background with little English come to the hospital after a major trauma, lost as to where to go next, having no idea how to even start navigating the NDIS, she goes above and beyond her role of social worker to translate, to be their
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