Wednesday, 26 August 2026

 Steve McGHIE (Melton) (10:06): Like the member for Murray Plains, as my time in Parliament is coming to an end I want to acknowledge the many people who work behind the scenes to keep this place running. To the clerks, the table office, members services, the committee secretariats and the parliamentary library, thank you for your professionalism, patience and support. I particularly acknowledge the secretariat of the 59th Parliament’s Integrity and Oversight Committee, which I was privileged to chair. To the catering and hospitality teams in the members dining room and Sessions, I hope the bar staff will miss me because I will certainly miss them.

I also thank our PSOs and security staff, the visitor and tours teams, the events and audiovisual crews and the cleaning, maintenance, gardening and other back-of-house staff. You make this precinct welcoming, safe and functional for members, staff and every Victorian who visits here. To Hansard and the broadcast team, thank you for capturing every word and nuance and for taking such care with the spelling of names and places even when Melton has presented the occasional challenge.

I want to thank the Speaker especially for her guidance of this at times chaotic chamber; she has such a job and manages it well. Thanks as well to the Deputy Speaker, and all acting speakers for keeping this chamber running. I thank Tom Bennett, the adviser to the Speaker, and acknowledge those who perform these same vital roles in the other place. During my time as Cabinet Secretary to Premiers Andrews and Allan I was supported by many dedicated drivers, and I thank them sincerely. No names, but we did have some fun on the way through. Without all the contributions of these people, this Parliament would not function.