Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Appropriately, he is not in the advisers box! He is off doing something much more important. I thank him and all members of my personal staff in the Prime Minister’s office. This is a very tight-knit unit. There are a lot of challenges and a lot of pressures, and there is a lot of hard work. Can I say how much I appreciate what they have done to support the government’s program this year and to support me personally as Prime Minister. I really do appreciate it. That goes to you, Alister, as well, for having put up with me for so many years. A special thanks also to the close personal protection team, the AFP officers, who have put their own security on the line in their work protecting officeholders and dignitaries. Could I also thank personally my own electorate staff, the dedicated team in Brisbane, who deal with an extraordinarily large range of challenges. These come not just from within the electorate but, as you would expect when an individual member of parliament becomes a national political leader, from well beyond those areas a local electorate office would normally have to deal with. Also, I thank party members and volunteers in my own area in Brisbane’s Southside who dedicate many hours each week, week after week and month after month, to assist in the services of my electorate office.

To my own family: to my life partner, Therese, and our kids, Jessica, Nicholas and Marcus, I would place again on the record my appreciation for all that they do for me. I look forward very much to spending Christmas with them, along with Therese’s mum.

We look forward to the year 2010. It will be a big year. It is an election year. The great thing about elections in Australia is that we, unlike most countries in the world, conduct our national political life in a fair and proper manner, supervised by an independent institution otherwise called the Australian Electoral Commission and anchored in the laws of this great institution of the Parliament of Australia. With those remarks, I wish all members the very best for the Christmas season. May we all return to this place refreshed and rejuvenated from having spent time with our families and our loved ones.

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