The SPEAKER (6:11 PM) —Let me join all other members of the parliament in extending the wishes of the season to each and every one of you. I thank the members for New England and Wentworth and all of the previous speakers, including the Manager of Opposition Business—those are the people who are presently in the chamber—for the sentiments expressed to me and to other colleagues.

In these few words, I want, in common with all other members of the House, to express my appreciation to the Clerk and the Deputy Clerk, Mr Harris and Mr Wright. All members have indicated just what impartial and professional advice they give, but let me say I know better than anybody how impartial and professional that advice is. We meet regularly every morning, and we meet from time to time through the day if necessary. Members can be assured that whatever confidences are shared with the clerks are not then automatically shared even with the Speaker, and the management of this place is largely the result of the way in which every member can rely on the clerks for impartial and professional advice. I join all members in thanking them and wishing them a very restful holiday period, a joyous and blessed Christmas and a happy new year. Of course, part of the clerks' team are the clerk assistants and the clerk at the table, and those sentiments are expressed to them as well.

I do not want to go through individually naming people—that would be a very dangerous thing to do—but I do want to express the appreciation I and all members of the House feel to all of the staff of the Department of the House of Representatives. I had the opportunity at a function earlier this week to express my appreciation to them for their support of the House and the committees of the House; it is really quite extraordinary. It is marked this year by the successful way in which the Department of the House of Representatives managed to achieve the Prime Minister's award for excellence in public administration in the face of competition from all other departments and, as I am sure you are all aware—because it was announced earlier—a silver award as the best federal agency for the work done by the department in its investment in people.

While not singling people out, I think it would be unwise of me, particularly given the events of this year, not to also express my appreciation to the Serjeant-at-Arms, David Elder, and his staff. This has been one of those years when the Serjeant-at-Arms may have had just one or two occasions when he wished the Speaker had been a shade more generous in determining whom he should eject from the parliament and whom he should leave in the parliament. But, for the professional exercise of his duty, one must thank David and his staff and wish them every opportunity for a joyous Christmas, a restful holiday period and, I hope, a very happy new year. Thank you for what you have done to ensure that the dignity of the parliament was maintained.

People have been generous in their comments about the occupants of the chair and I too must express my great appreciation for the role played by the member for Page, Mr Causley, as my Deputy Speaker, and the member for Scullin, Mr Harry Jenkins, as the Second Deputy Speaker. I could not ask for a more supportive team. As members on both sides would be aware, both gentlemen go out of their way to ensure that the chair is professionally occupied, and Mr Jenkins as a member of the opposition is particularly careful to ensure that he is as discreet as one would characteristically expect Harry to be. In addition to that, he is always cheerful and always friendly in the advice that he offers, and I am grateful for that. I thank him and Ian most sincerely. Of course, with them I thank the members of the Speaker's panel, who are so often in the chair in the absence of the three of us and who keep the parliament running as smoothly as they do.

On behalf of all members of the Speaker's panel, the Deputy Speakers and me, can I remind members that while from time to time they may find the strictures of the chair somewhat frustrating, the simple truth is that all members who occupy this chair sit here—or stand here, but normally sit here—in silence, hearing things they do not necessarily want to hear, unable to reciprocate. And the same stricture that applies to members of the chair—that is, to ensure that everyone has the right to an opinion—is of course the very stricture that the standing orders impose on all of us to ensure that this is a place of truly free speech.

Can I express our appreciation to the Parliamentary Relations Office, the Parliamentary Education Office, the Parliamentary Library and the Department of the Parliamentary Reporting Staff. Once again, I had the opportunity earlier this week to single people out, but it is fair to say—and such comments have been made earlier—that these are world-class facilities. We have visitors from all over the globe who come here and marvel at the way in which each of these departments operates and the services offered to members. That world-class facility has only been possible because of the leadership that has been exercised by Mr John Templeton and Mr Mike Bolton—Mr Templeton of course in managing DPRS and as Acting Parliamentary Librarian, and Mr Bolton as Secretary of the Joint House Department. Both of these gentlemen will be leaving us because of the decision to collapse five departments into three, and Ms Hilary Penfold will be coming to head up the new Department of Parliamentary Services. But I cannot sufficiently express the appreciation of all members of parliament to those gentlemen for all that they have offered the parliament in the over 10 years that they have been part of the Parliamentary Service.

This has been a year when the demands on the staff of the parliament have been particularly acute because of two presidential visits. I am conscious of the strain and stress that was placed on every member of staff as a result of those visits. I am conscious as well of the honour that was conferred on each of us as members of parliament in the opportunity to meet both the President of the United States and the President of the People's Republic of China. But I should, I think, make particular mention of the fact that all people, as has been commented by other members, who make up the staff of this place made possible the success of those visits. That includes the guides, the gardeners who keep the gardens so well, the people in technical and engineering areas, in maintenance, in health and recreation and, as others have commented, the drivers, and the cleaners, who in fact keep this building in the way in which we expect it to be kept. It is a building of which we are all proud, it is a building that attracts world attention and it is a building that simply has to be at its best all the time.

As Speaker and through the clerks and heads of departments, of course we have a number of agencies that service the House: the florist, Aussie's—which has been mentioned—Synergi, Lizzie the hairdresser, Westpac and of course the Hyatt, which provide much of the catering service that we take for granted, as well as Aussie's, which as I said has been previously mentioned, particularly by the member for Lalor. There are also external agencies that serve the House. The Parliamentary Service Commissioner has been of particular importance to the President of the Senate and me in the advice that he has offered. And we have all enjoyed the services of Auspic; of the Australian Protective Service and the Federal Police as the important area of security has become so prominent; and of course of DFAT.

Let me, in common with all other members of the chamber, express the appreciation I particularly feel to my electorate staff, who keep a profile for me in my electorate, as they do for every other member of parliament in the electorate. In my case, my appreciation goes to Kerry, Helen, Gaynor, Dennis and David for the roles that they have played. As you will all immediately recognise, I remain equally if not even more indebted to the staff that I am happy to say I have here in the parliament, people known to you all—Pauline, Yvonne, Barb and Marie. I know you would want me to express my particular thanks and your thanks to them, because I know they have helped maintain an open door policy in the Speaker's office. Let me just single out one person—which will be understood, I hope, by all of you and each of my staff when I take out just one of my staff members—to express my appreciation to Peter Gibson. Peter is my Chief of Staff. He offers a level of professionalism and advice—fearless sometimes, and not always heeded—that would be the envy of any departmental head, and I want to express to Peter and Margaret my appreciation and my best wishes.

The member for Prospect very eloquently made the point that it is indeed an honour to be in this House. It is a particular honour to be elected to an office in this House, either as a whip or as the Speaker, and I am very grateful for the opportunity to have been elected to the House and the particular honour that has been conferred on me by the members of the House in allowing me to be their Speaker. The view from this chair, my friends, is a little different to the view from any other part of the parliament and that may account for those few occasions when I see things from a perspective that not everyone else appreciates. The Leader of the House was all too generous when he said I provided a `good face' for the House around the world. I have to tell him my children's view is that their father provides a much too grumpy face of the parliament all around the world!

I recognise that in this place we have passionately held points of view that inevitably must sometimes clash. The tragedy is that there are some people listening to this broadcast, even sitting in the gallery, who will think that what has been said over the last 1½ hours is in fact hypocritical. Let me then as someone who has been in the parliament for 21 years reassure Australia that what I have been hearing over the last 1½ hours is in fact what characterises this parliament.

Of course we see things from different points of view. That is why there are government and non-government sides of the chamber. That is why Australians get a choice at every election time. But the underlying passion in this place, as long as I have had an association with it, has been that peace on earth and goodwill toward men is more important to every individual member of this parliament than any of their individual political philosophies, and they pursue the individual philosophies only because they believe that, through them, they can indeed bring additional peace on earth and a greater sense of goodwill.

So, my friends, let me conclude by extending to the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the Leader of the House, the Manager of Opposition Business, the whips and the members the very best wishes of Carolyn and I for a joyous and blessed Christmas and a very prosperous and successful new year. I stand—as indeed the member for Prospect indicated that she stood in relation to her spouse—indebted to my spouse. Carolyn, like Ivo, has ensured that our three children seem to have been largely unaffected by the absurdities of almost 21 years of political life, and I remain totally indebted to her for that and for the support she offers. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the people of Wakefield, who have been generous to entrust their representation to me. Thank you for the sentiments expressed to the chair this evening. My best wishes to you all. I look forward to joining you in 2004.

Sitting suspended from 6.24 p.m. to 8.30 p.m.