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Thursday, 1 March 2012
Page: 1434

Senator HANSON-YOUNG (South Australia) (16:35): I rise briefly to add my congratulations to Senator Arbib for getting out of the mad house. Senator Arbib and I, just like Senator Xenophon, were part of the class of 08. When we came in here together, Senator Arbib, I did not think that you would be leaving before the rest of us. I actually thought that you would be one of these blokes who stuck around forever. Thankfully you are a bit wiser than that—that you have other things to take on and other challenges that await you.

I have always had a lot of respect for Senator Arbib's commitment to family life and to his children, his daughters. I have a young daughter and we have often shared laughs about what our kids have been up to lately and the next cheeky adventures that they are into. In this place, I think that is such an important element of the lives that we live. When we do leave our families a lot of the time, it is important to know that the rest of us are all thinking about what we would be doing if we were not here. My daughter has upset the security guards in this place, too, but it happened that we got a bit more coverage than perhaps you did on that night—and I am sure you are probably thankful for that. I particularly want to pay credit to Senator Arbib for his commitment to equal marriage. He was one of the first on the other side of the chamber to raise his voice on this publicly. I think that went a long way to pushing this issue onto the political stage, bringing the Labor Party along with him. It was very important. I am sad that Senator Arbib is not going to be able to vote on that legislation; obviously, it was important to you. Commitment to paid parental leave is another issue that Senator Arbib has spoken about.

As Senator Bob Brown said, all of my colleagues in the Greens have always had very positive dealings with Senator Arbib. We have said how pleasant it was to be able to work with him in whatever capacity. I wish Senator Arbib good luck. I am not sure you are going to make ironman of the year, but I wish you good luck in your endeavours and into the future.