Senator HILL (Environment and Heritage) (9:40 PM) —Madam President, I hope it is recognised that I have dressed for the occasion.

Senator Hogg —Yes, we saw that.

Senator HILL —Madam President, I would like, on behalf of the coalition, to thank you and to thank your deputy and obviously, also, to thank the Clerks and all of the officials and staff and those who work in the front line and behind the scenes, whether they are in the Library, Hansard, attendants, security, drivers—everyone who helps make this parliamentary process work. We are demanding. We require of them long hours in sometimes quite difficult circumstances. We appreciate their dedication to parliamentary democracy and to the effectiveness of this Senate in particular.

From a parliamentary perspective, this has been a long and challenging year, although—if my friends in the opposition will not mind me saying—from the coalition's perspective, also a very successful year. We are pleased that we have been able to achieve pretty much the whole of our agenda during the course of this year. Whilst the opposition in this place have not always made it easy, on each occasion on which they have finally lost, they seem to have taken it with reasonable grace; and I appreciate that. In fact, the spirit during the course of the year has not been too bad. Even though Senator Faulkner likes to take a prominent position during question time, we know that it is within the spirit of the contest, and nobody takes it too seriously in a personal sense.

I particularly wanted to take the opportunity to thank my colleagues for their dedicated effort during the course of this year. Obviously, my deputy, Richard Alston, my ministerial colleagues—

Senator Faulkner —Is he still trying to undermine you?

Senator HILL —No, I have only one problem with Richard Alston, and that is whether he will turn up for the division later tonight. In every other regard he does a fantastic job, but he is just a touch unreliable when the bells are ringing.

Senator Faulkner —We shall quote you.

Senator HILL —He knows that is my view. I would like to thank Ian Campbell, the Manager of Government Business in the Senate. He has had a particularly challenging year and has excelled in his job. I would like to thank our whips, Paul Calvert and Helen Coonan, and our whip Julian McGauran, who I think is serving elsewhere just at the moment. In fact, to all of my colleagues who have done a great job during the course of this year and helped us to deliver the numbers when they were needed, I express my appreciation.

I suppose in a way for those on the other side, the bad news I have is that next year will be just as demanding as this year. The government's reform agenda has hardly started. Much is expected of the Senate during the course of the year in delivering the next phase of the Howard government's program, and we look forward to coming back and participating in the contest and convincing others in this chamber of the merits of our program and ultimately in succeeding in the votes.

Madam Deputy President, in concluding, I also wish all honourable senators and others in this place a happy Christmas and a good rest. I look forward to the return of everyone in the new year.