Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the wonderful occasion of a local constituent's 60th wedding anniversary. I was very pleased last week to have the pleasure of meeting Paul Fisher. He popped into my office to talk about the joy of the 60th wedding anniversary of him and his wife, Jann, a great achievement. It was wonderful to be able to spend time with him and hear about their wonderful, happy marriage.

They were married in Sydney on 28 January 1955. Paul told me how thrilled they were to receive numerous congratulatory messages from many politicians and, of course, also from the Queen, which he was particularly pleased about. He told me how he and Jann had met on Greenmount Beach near Coolangatta in 1954 whilst they were holidaying there separately from Sydney. Of course, those were the days of the hokey-pokey, and they had a great time dancing on the beach among hundreds of others. After they were married they lived in Sydney, where they raised their three children, Warren, Christine and Laura, and they retired to the Tweed, where they have been living for the past 28 years. They are proud grandparents of six, and they have two great-grandchildren. Both my husband, Craig, and I asked him what the secret was to such a long, happy marriage, and he said it has to be love and looking after each other, which I think is just wonderful. Also, he told me they had a wonderful family celebration on the Gold Coast for their wedding anniversary and now they are off for a trip to Hawaii—sounds like a great occasion. Congratulations to Paul and Jann for 60 wonderful years of marriage, and I thank Paul for taking the time to come into the office and share his history and the history of their life together.