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7366 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Thursday 21 November 2002 ______ Mr Speaker (The Hon. John Henry Murray) took the chair at 10.00 a.m. Mr Speaker offered the Prayer. VALEDICTORY SPEECHES Mr GLACHAN (Albury) [10.00 a.m.]: May I first of all thank the Leader of the House for his indulgence in allowing me this opportunity to speak today on this the last occasion on which I will address this Chamber. This morning began for me as mornings usually do when I am here in Sydney. I got out of bed, had my usual breakfast of cereal, toast and tea, then walked up from where I stay to Parliament House here in Macquarie Street. But, of course, it is not an ordinary or usual day at all, because this is my last chance to say things that I want to say about the people who have assisted me as I have been here serving the people of my electorate of Albury. In many ways, it is a sad day because this is the last chance that I will have to address the House. I do so with some sadness, of course. But, for me, it is simply one era of my life that comes to a close, and I look forward to the next era that begins at the end of March next year. My life has been a very fortunate one, and I am very grateful to all of the people who have assisted me along the way. I am particularly thankful for the parents I had. Although I grew up in a home where there was not a lot of money, it was a very happy home. I had a father who was a great role model for me and a mother who was loving and caring. My parents made both my sister and I very much aware of the fact that we were wanted and loved. I think that is all that a child really needs to have a happy childhood. I left school, on my father's advice, when I was 15 and began an apprenticeship as a fitter and turner on the waterfront in Sydney, in a little street called Lime Street. On one side were the sheds of the Darling Harbour wharves, on the other side, the workshops. I have been back there in recent times. Lime Street has disappeared altogether. There are home units there now. It is quite a different place to the one it was when I served my apprenticeship. There were lots of little workshops and lots of tradesman working in that part of Sydney down at the bottom of Erskine Street, but all of that has gone as this city has grown and developed. During my apprenticeship, when I was about 16, I went to the Hornsby scout dance one night—the first time I had been to the old Scout Hall in Hornsby. There I saw a striking young woman—14 at the time—Helen Margaret O'Brien. I fell in love with her at first sight. It was the most important night of my life, and she has been with me for the rest of my journey through life. When I finished my apprenticeship I was called up for national service in the Air Force, at Canberra. I was there for five months. When I was discharged I took a position as a detail engine draughtsman with the Australian Shipbuilding Board. I was a pretty hopeless draughtsman, but they kept me on. When I finished my marine engineering studies at the old Sydney Technical College I went off to sea as a marine engineer, after first of all becoming engaged to Helen. I was away at sea for about five years. We were married during that time. Just before our first daughter was born I gave up the life of a seafarer, and we bought a farm in the New England. It was not much of a farm, I can tell you, but we struggled along for a while, realised that we would never be successful there, so we left and went to Gilgandra to grow wheat. That was a bit of a struggle as well. Wheat quotas were introduced soon after we arrived. We finally decided that the land would be a struggle for us for as long as we owed money, and we sold the farm and moved to Albury and bought the newsagency in Olive Street, and owned that business for about 18 years. Then, without ever before in my life having given any thought to a career in politics, one day the former member for Albury, the late Gordon Mackie, happened to meet Helen in a store in Albury and suggested that I might consider a career in politics. This was in 1983. "But," he said, "don't bother about it now. The Liberal Party is looking for candidates for the '84 election. Wait till the election for '88. It's a bit of a rush now." The next day the Hon. Lloyd Lange, who was Leader of the Liberal Party in the upper House, rang me at the shop in Olive Street and said, "Don't wait. Nominate now." So I did. 21 November 2002 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY 7367 Interestingly enough, although I had been a member of the Liberal Party for about eight years, I had never ever been to a meeting of the party, and did not know anyone in the Liberal Party in Albury. But I contested preselection, and was successful. I stood against the sitting member, Harold Mair—for me, unsuccessfully; he retained the seat. But I was endorsed by the Liberal Party immediately after that election. I worked in the news agency but I campaigned as well, and in 1988 I was elected to this Parliament. I want to say what a great privilege it was to be elected as part of the Greiner team and to have come into the Parliament at that time. My election to this Parliament presented me with many opportunities, and I have met some remarkable and outstanding people since my election. I think of Governors of the State, Her Majesty the Queen, people like the Prime Minister, John Howard. I can boast that I actually know him, and from time to time have been able to speak with him. I was very proud to be part of the Greiner team, because I consider that history will show he was one of the greatest Premiers this State has ever had. I must also say what an honour it was to serve under other Liberal leaders who followed him: John Fahey, Peter Collins, Kerry Chikarovski and now John Brogden. I am very proud to have been a part of each of those teams. During my first two terms in government I was able to achieve some significant things for my electorate. They include the new Albury Base Hospital; the new police station, which is magnificent; a new school at Jindera; a hall for the school at Lavington; and a new bridge over the railway line at Borella Road, replacing an old, single-lane wooden bridge. Those were great achievements, and I am most proud of them. I am disappointed, though, that one issue is still running, one that has not been resolved. It has gone on for about 40 years now—and it looks like it might go on for another 40 years, the way things are going. That is the road issue. How disappointing that is. Everyone knows that this work needs to be done. They know it is desperately needed; they have been talking about it for 40 years. If it had been done 40 years ago, it would have cost about a sixteenth of what it will finally cost. But the arguments go on, backwards and forwards, decisions are made, decisions are changed, then changed back, and the saga goes on. It is disappointing that it has not been resolved during my time in the Parliament. It has been an issue for every election that I have contested. Like most people in Albury, I am getting a bit sick and tired of it all. But one day it will be resolved and it will be a great advantage to the cities of Albury and Wodonga once a final decision is made. Let me now go on to thank all of those who have something to do with this place and make it work as effectively as it does. All of the staff here at Parliament are wonderful, helpful and considerate. I want to pay a special tribute to all of them and thank them for the help, the advice and the support they have given me in the almost 15 years that I have been a member here. I thank the Clerks, the Serjeant-at-Arms and the Deputy Sergeant, the attendants in the Chamber, people in the Library, the bookbinders, David and his catering staff, the waiters who serve us in the dining rooms, the people in the office store, the cleaners, the maintenance staff, and the security people. I thank the people in Hansard, who sometimes I am sure have great difficulty understanding what some of us say; they might often be excited by what is said but perhaps would not mind if I said they might sometimes be bored by what is said. I also thank the staff on the committees of Parliament. I had the great privilege of being the first chairman of the Health Care Complaints Committee. I have been on the Public Accounts Committee for some time and chaired it for while.