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

I join with the Prime Minister in farewelling the parliamentary year in the usual fashion with a valedictory. It has indeed been a very eventful year. It's been a very eventful year in my life, and certainly not one I saw coming as I was here last year, in a number of ways. I thank the Prime Minister for his speech, and I wish him and his family all the best for Christmas and, similarly to the Deputy Prime Minister and the Leader of the National Party and, indeed, to everyone on the other side of this chamber.

I thank you, Mr Speaker, for your guidance, your wisdom and, it must be said, your patience throughout the year. I understand that that last quality is especially important for Carlton supporters! I also thank you for the times when you have communicated your thoughts to us with nothing more than a raised eyebrow. In this building, this is a superpower possessed only by yourself and Senator Penny Wong. I thank also your able supporting cast. This includes one of my tennis opponents, the member for Page—and I visited the fire-affected area in his electorate with him just in the last month—and he certainly is someone who's very passionate about representing his community, as is the second Deputy Speaker, the member for McEwen, who represents our side on the Speaker's panel. Thank you very much to all the whips and their teams, to Chris Hayes, Jo Ryan and Anne Stanley. As long as Christopher stays off the motorbike, he'll continue to be able to do a fantastic job on behalf of the party, and the work with the whips on the other side is also important in keeping things going.

To my fantastic deputy and friend, Richard Marles: it has been a great privilege to work with you so closely and to really get to know each other on a much deeper level, and to have your loyal support and commitment has been quite extraordinary. I thank Penny Wong, the Senate leader, a formidable force of nature. It's always easier, in shadow cabinet or in other processes that we're not allowed to talk about, just to agree with Penny—because you will eventually, so you may as well. I thank Kristina Keneally, who has entered the leadership team and has brought her experience, her passion and her commitment—and every leadership team should have at least two South Sydney supporters on it, which is an important component! I thank my shadow minister assisting me as Leader of the Opposition, Don Farrell. Don plays one of those pastoral roles in our party. He is someone who has been incredibly supportive and a real source of advice. As the leader of the party, I'm very blessed to be able to have them.

I do want to single out the member for Maribyrnong, Bill Shorten. It is, as I'm finding out, an onerous task to be Leader of the Opposition. You don't have that much staff and support—there's no department to give you advice. It's a tough job. Bill Shorten worked each and every day for six years with the commitment that he has to our party and, indeed, to our movement to make things different—not just to change the government but because he wanted to change things in favour of working people. He has our party's respect. We respect our former leaders, and I thank him for his ongoing contribution.

I now go to his former deputy and my long-term friend Tanya Plibersek. We were talking the other evening about when we met. She was still at school. I was at uni, I think, by then. Tanya is a formidable representative. She's my neighbour, as the member for Sydney. It was fantastic that she celebrated her 50th birthday on Monday.

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