Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is the last day of parliament for the year, hopefully, and I want to put on record my thanks to my family for this year. It has been a tough year for everyone. It has been a tough year for all our colleagues in the House and in the Senate. It's been a tough year for all our staff, the clerks, the Serjeant-at-Arms, the Comcar drivers, the chamber staff, security, the AFP and everyone who's involved in making this place tick and particularly for us as we were sitting at home for six months in lockdown going through a pandemic. I want to particularly thank Joy, the cleaner in my office. She is a wonderful lady and does a fantastic job. She goes above and beyond the call of duty. These cleaners don't get paid a lot by this government, but they do fantastic work.

To all the people in the seat of McEwen, I want to thank you for this year because it has been tough, as I've said—the Men's Shed, One Voice, the Lancefield operation for homeless people at Transition Village, the Mitchell Suicide Prevention Network, the Wandong History Group and the people at Japara aged care where 17 residents lost their lives during the pandemic. But there have been positives like the Upper Plenty Primary School Zoom meeting we had with grade 3 and grade 6 kids. And there's the Romsey and Lancefield Districts Historical Society and the people from Field and Game.

As we go home at the end of the year and we sit down and think about Christmas, I want us to think about this photo. The Prime Minister of this country, this is the face he's put on Christmas.

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