Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

and that it is a bit prickly; I did give her a little smooch before, at the end of her valedictory address, and she said she did not like my beard. She said it makes me look old, and I said, ‘Is that old and wise?’ and she said, ‘No; just old,’ so that is the type of person she is! She has been here since 1987. She has made a huge effort and a huge and substantial contribution to the affairs of our country as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, between 1998 and 2001, and, of course, as Minister for Health and Ageing and Minister for Family and Community Services between 2001 and 2006—huge portfolios; a huge contribution. Whatever you say, as Senator Bernardi indicated, we have been like two bookends at either end on issues like cloning and stem cell research—