Thursday, 20 September 2018

 The SPEAKER (16:50): Order! I just wanted to take a very quick opportunity to thank the retiring members on behalf of all members for their contributions today. On behalf of the house, we wish them well for the future. You are allowed to retire, but you have got to stay in contact. As the song says, you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

To members: as this is the last chance that I will have in this Parliament to say a few words, I just wanted to say that I do not need to tell members of this place about the important function that this Parliament plays in our democracy, but the 58th Parliament in my view has performed that role effectively, if somewhat robustly. I want to thank all members of this place for their hard work in that regard.

However, we would not be able to do our jobs without the wonderful support and assistance of parliamentary staff. I am not going to go through every business unit and name every single person in staff, but to Bridget Noonan and her Assembly team and to Peter Lochert and his Department of Parliamentary Services team, on behalf of members I want to say thank you.

On a personal note, very briefly I wanted to thank the Deputy Speaker, the member for Bendigo West, who is obviously not here with us today. She is off being a grandmother again. I also thank the acting chairs, who have assisted me so much over my time in this role and taken on the role of chair, and my counterpart in the other place, the President, the Honourable Bruce Atkinson, for his support and assistance over my time as a Presiding Officer. I wish all members good fortune over the months ahead.