Senator STEPHENS (1:08 AM) —Madam Acting Deputy President, I want to seek your indulgence this evening to add an addendum to my valedictory statement, and in doing so to say:

Another (not a senator, and really far too modest)

Who’s worthy of inclusion as an honorary goddess

Is Annie Lynch, the Senate’s shy, retiring Deputy Clerk.

(I just had to add her name because I know she loves a lark.)

We think of Anne as Iris, a goddess of charm and grace

Who’s the faithful voice of Zeus, always flying from place to place—

(Let me interrupt to make a point on which I will not tarry:

That reference to Zeus is just a little joke for Harry!)

Now as a goddess, Iris is a kind of backroom gal,

Never looking for the limelight but a trusty, loyal pal

Equally beloved of mortals, heroes, and her fellow gods,

Presidents and Clerk (Procedures), even Ushers of Black Rods!

We know that gods and goddesses spend quite a lot of time

Cavorting, but for Iris such behaviour is a crime.

I can’t think of any other god who works so like a beaver

(Though she’d be the first to say I must have quite forgotten Cleaver!)

In mythology, the dedicated harpies are her sisters,

And the people on our ground floor running round till they get blisters

Are the parliamentary version of those mythical winged creatures

Who have learned their job from Iris who’s the most precise of teachers.

She’s an expert on the structure of the Senate Committee System

(Did I mention she’s been with us since the heady days of Whitlam?)

And she’s written timeless works of such accessible utility

As her expose on ‘public entities’ accountability’.

And now she’s off to see the world; please, senators, stop your whimpers,

She’s earned the right to visit her old home ... at Mount Olympus!

The name of Iris signals ‘hope’, while Anne’s own name means ‘grace’:

Both words convey our blessings as we wave her from this place.