Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's an absolute pleasure to follow the Leader of the House to pay my respects to our friend Luch. As we all know, Luch passed unexpectedly on New Year's Eve 2025, the New Year's Eve just gone. He'll be dearly missed by his wife, Mary; his son, Joshua; and his daughters, Jessica and Rebecca, alongside their partners, Anthony and Robert. He was a proud member of the Macedonian community, a proud constituent of Eden-Monaro and a proud worker in our Parliament House. His career spanned 40 years, starting as a young man at Old Parliament House. He also worked on the construction of the new Parliament House and stayed on to help keep it running. He was the longest-serving staff member of the Department of the House of Representatives. He was our friend. He was my friend.

Coming to join this place in 2013 as someone who had never spent time in Parliament House and had never worked here as a staffer, the attendants in Parliament House quickly became people that I knew I could rely on for a warm smile, and Luch led that with that smile as you arrived, when he passed you in a corridor, when you walked into the chamber. As many have expressed, the kindness in the way that he worked with us was extraordinary. He embodied the spirit of the House of Representatives, the spirit of the people's house. That's who Luch became; a person who, when my eyes locked onto him in the chamber, reminded me about what my job is and that I am supported in that job by this great building and the people who work here. Luch became the embodiment of the constituents I represent—the everyman, the person who would give you a smile.

The other important thing for me about the relationship with Luch was that he became an ambassador for Parliament House and an ambassador for Canberra. Coming in to the airport and having Luch there as the welcoming party and assigning the COMCAR drivers to us was a tradition that we became accustomed to. I have to say, I've already sadly missed Luch in that role for some time as things changed around COMCAR and it wasn't Luch who greeted us at the airport anymore.

Every day in that chamber he will be remembered by those of us who shared that space with him. I'm happy that the new class of 2025 got to meet Luch and share that memory with us. I want to acknowledge and thank former prime minister Julia Gillard for her kind words in the statement that she put out on social media. As in the Leader of the House's reference to Simon Crean's relationship with Luch, everyone who served in this place considered him a friend. Everyone who served in this place mourns his loss.

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