Arch Bevis (Brisbane, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

And I survived. The miraculous one I survived was the 1996 election. After seven elections, it is a humbling experience every time, I have to say. It does not matter how often you confront the people, it is a humbling experience to know that they place their trust in you to do the right thing and to represent them, and it is an enormous honour that we all have the privilege of shouldering here. I am sure none of us in this room at the moment forgets that. Sometimes you wonder when you see some of the goings-on in parliament, but the truth is that, for all of us, it is a great honour.

I want to thank my campaign team. For those of us who are incumbents, sitting members, I think first and foremost you should acknowledge your staff. For those of us who are incumbents, this is not an election campaign you conduct in the last three or four weeks; it is a three-year activity. The people are judging you on what you do every day. As federal members, we spend half of our lives in Canberra and another four or five weeks roaming the country with committees or as ministers or as shadow ministers, and we rely very heavily on our staff. I have been blessed with high-quality staff. Rod Kendall has been the glue that has held things together in my campaigns and in my office and is a good friend. Shirley Fallows has worked with me now for 17 years of the 18 years I have been a member of parliament. I also thank Lynda Fraser and Alison Donohue. I pay special thanks to my campaign director, Terry Evans, an old mate of mine from teaching days, who continues to give many, many hours of his free time to a cause that he believes in fervently, which is the Labor Party and the trade union movement. Whatever our politics, we are all blessed with individuals like Terry, without whom we would find it extraordinarily difficult to get elected in the first place. Above all, though, I want to thank my family. They end up suffering more than anybody else. It is always hard on the family, and if you have a partner and you have children then the partner has that added burden of trying to do all of the things that both parents would normally be doing in a conventional setting.

I do not know about anyone else, but when I am 1,000 kilometres away trying over the phone to discipline kids or get them to do homework I have found it a fairly daunting task. I owe my wife, Cathy, more than I can ever say or repay. She has put up with far more than I would have in her shoes. My three kids who are now adults and our young teenage son have had to deal with a lot of ups and downs in having a politician for a father. There are the good days when they think their dad is a good bloke and the other days when they want to have a go at him. It is not all jam and biscuits for them. We owe a great debt to our families, and I want to take this opportunity to thank my family in that context.

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