Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to contribute to this debate, which is a part of the tradition of the closure of an annual meeting of the House of Representatives. It is indeed a tremendous honour to be the Leader of the House in this parliament, the 43rd Parliament, as it was in the 42nd Parliament. It is a duty which I take very seriously and one in which I attempt to play a role for the good functioning of the House, as well as of course being a government representative in terms of negotiating the handling of this parliament. I thank the former Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and the current Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, for giving me this honour.

The new Prime Minster has made an extraordinary beginning. She has, in my view, a capacity as a parliamentarian greater than any other of the 150 members of this House of Representatives. I think we see that in question time and I certainly see it in other forums as well. Her capacity to get across the detail over the whole range of portfolios that is required of the Prime Minister is quite extraordinary. We have seen it on exhibition again this week where, after flying to Lisbon to represent Australia over the weekend, she came back into this House and conducted herself in exemplary fashion. She is a very strong advocate as the leader of our government.

To the Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer, Wayne Swan, I thank him very much for the close way in which we work together as infrastructure minister and Treasurer, and as Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the House. To he and my other good friend the deputy leader of the House, Stephen Smith, I would like to say that I think we have an extraordinarily good relationship, on both the political and a personal level, in terms of the way we sit down day to day in the early mornings discussing tactics and what will play out during the day. I am very pleased that the deputy leader of the House has moved to the defence portfolio because it means fewer overseas trips and therefore fewer absences from the House in comparison with what was the case in his former position of foreign minister.

To my other ministerial colleagues and caucus colleagues, I thank them very much for the cooperation that I have received as Leader of the House. The new paradigm is taking some getting used to but the faith shown by the collective caucus that is the Labor Party, in my judgment, in being able to make calls on behalf of the government is certainly appreciated, and it is not something that I take for granted. To the Chief Government Whip, and to his predecessor the former member for Chifley, Roger Price, I say thank you for the cooperation which we have received. The government whips, the member for Shortland and Fowler—and I also want to single out Anna George in the whips’ office—also make an extraordinary effort.

I have probably spent more time with the members for New England, Lyne, Melbourne, O’Connor, Kennedy and Denison than I would have anticipated. But to them I say: this has been a good thing. In my dealings with each and every one of them I have tried to be honest at all times in giving them advice in terms of the procedural functioning of the House and have tried to be someone able to facilitate their participation in the House. I think it is a good thing that the standing orders have been changed to facilitate the active engagement of all 150 members of the House of Representatives in a way which was not as easy before. Individual members of parliament can make a difference in this chamber through committees and through their participation in the political system, and I thank them for their participation.

For the opposition, I would like to single out the Manager of Opposition Business. He is not someone I always agree with but he is usually a person of good humour—and that matters in this place. Being in opposition is hard, and I certainly had an experience of it that was a lot longer in duration than I would have liked—hence I was very grateful that we were able to re-establish government in the aftermath of the 21st of August election. But to Christopher and the team in his office—James and others—I thank them for their, in the main, cooperation.

To Henry Thomson and the team in the parliamentary liaison office, I thank them for keeping the show ticking over. To the Clerk of the House, Bernard Wright, and his team, the Deputy Clerk, the Serjeant-at-Arms and those people who work in the Chamber Research Office and the Parliamentary Library—including Anna, Naomi, Penny and Chris—and to all the attendants who look after us so well in this chamber, I thank them very much as well. To the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, the presiding officers who now have a more difficult task than used to be the case in the parliament, I thank them for the important role that they play in this parliament.

I also have the privilege and honour of being a cabinet minister in the government, and I thank the secretary of my department, Mike Mrdak, and his team very much for their efforts over the past year.

I turn to my personal staff—my chief of staff Michael Choueifate, my personal assistant Karen Bissaker and my Leader of the House adviser Jo Haylen, who does an extraordinary job for the entire team. Her job was difficult before; it now is monumental. She does her job in an extraordinary fashion. To my electorate office staff, including Tanya Jackson-Vaughan and my electorate team, can I say I am only here as Leader of the House and as a minister if I am member for Grayndler. As the member for Grayndler I want to thank Daniel Barbar and all the team—and not only Labor Party members and Labor Party supporters but also the people who might not be natural Labor Party supporters but who support me personally in the role I play as the federal member for Grayndler. I thank them very much. I think some people got a bit of a reminder of the importance of electing a Labor member for Grayndler during those 17 days after 21 August. It is possible that the outcome in terms of who got to form government might have been different if Labor had not be successful in returning me as the member for Grayndler.

During those 17 days we had considerable negotiations over the functioning of the parliament. The fact is this parliament is functioning extremely well. We have so far carried some 51 pieces of legislation through this House. There is not a single bill that has been put up by the government that has not been carried. Indeed, there has not been a single amendment supported by the government that has not been carried as well. So we are on a 100 per cent success rate in terms of legislation. That has included important health and hospital reform legislation, legislation vital to the National Broadband Network and legislation fulfilling the commitments that we went to the election campaign with prior to 21 August. So the parliament is working well. There have been considerable improvements made and we can always look at further reform, but in general I think it is the case that our parliamentary reform has been a great success.

Members of parliament spend a lot of time away from their families. To my wife and life partner Carmel Tebbutt, I say thank you. She also has an extremely difficult job as the health minister in New South Wales. Our most important task is not our political task; it is that of being parents. To Nathan, I understand it is particularly hard on young ones when they miss out on seeing their parents. Just a few days ago he asked why his dad was not coming home that night, and he was told that parliament was sitting. His response was a reasonable one for a nine-year-old: why is he still working so hard; he won the election! It was a reasonable response for a nine-year-old to make. It is a great pleasure when we do get to spend time as a family, and I enjoyed seeing him bowl two wicket-maidens on Saturday for the Summer Hill under-10s playing against Marrickville. Those activities are of course the best part of every week.

As the transport minister, I join with the shadow minister, the member for Wide Bay, in asking people during this festive season to very much do whatever they can to drive safely on the roads. This is a time of year where there are always too many tragedies. Every tragedy is one too many. So, drive safely and be aware of the limitations of human performance and of the errors that can occur. I say to each and every member of the House, have a safe and festive Christmas season. I look forward to the fact that we will be back in the new year in the second week of February. I am proud of the fact that we are not sitting during the first week, which means parents can take their kids to school for the first week. Those of us who have young schoolchildren will be able to sit down with the teachers and help our children adjust to a new year in school. That was a very conscious decision made after some representations to me as Leader of the House.

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