2015-12-10
Mr BARBER (Northern Metropolitan) — I feel like this has been not only the most productive but the most fun year in the Legislative Council in my nine years, and that is for seven main reasons: the Presiding Officers' excellent work, which has made sure that the umpiring has been scrupulous this year; the staff of Parliament, who often exceed us in number but do their work very efficiently to make sure we can go on being political gladiators; the new Greens in Parliament — members have all seen plenty of what they have done this year; the new micro-parties, which have brought the most new perspective to Parliament since the Greens arrived here many years ago; the number of inquiries that have been held during the year, often into bills for the first time; the fact that certain inquiries could not agree on much at all while others agreed on pretty much everything, which just goes to show the nature of the issues that have been brought to this place; and finally the fact that Mr Finn had to bite his lip on global warming. I therefore hope that members enjoy their summer break, refresh themselves and come back with new energy so that we will be able to make next year even better.
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