Monday, 10 March 2025
Government House
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC

Bujari gamarruwa

Diyn Babana Gamarada Gadigal Ngura

In greeting you in the language of the Gadigal, Traditional Owners of the land on which Government House stands, I pay my respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging.

I’m not sure whether today is the Bicentenary party Mark II or the After Party.

In either case, we are here to say thank you to all those involved in organising and running the events, programs, and celebrations leading up to and marking the 200^th anniversary of the Legislative Council.

As I said way back in 2022, at the launch of the Official Program of events for the Bicentenary of the New South Wales Legislative Council:

A democracy whose Parliamentary function is to make laws for the ‘peace, welfare and good government’ of its constituency [as our Parliament is constitutionally required to do],] is a prized possession to be honoured and protected.

And whilst the law-making function of the Parliament, in the formal sense, resides within the two Houses, the Parliament could not function without efficient processes and mechanisms supporting it, which is the work you do.

These mechanisms and processes are not merely perfunctory tasks found in some management course which might be called Organisational Studies 101. They have been honed out of and reflect the long traditions of Parliamentary Democracy. 

Each of you, every day that you walk through the corridors of our Parliament House in Macquarie Street, are part of that tradition. Putting it simply, you are part of making our democracy work. That is a huge responsibility and one which bear not only proudly, but so well.

Of course, even in places of great traditions, there has to be evolution to meet the changing times. Despite the ceremony which accompanies many of your roles, you are also a central cog in ensuring the mechanisms and processes of which I have spoken evolve to accommodate the needs of a modern democracy.

The work you do is truly a work of service underpinned by your commitment and integrity, integral to a stable and continuous line of governance, of peaceful transitions of power, of public trust in the processes through which the creation of laws are articulated, and therefore of trust in the first pillar of government, the Parliament.

Leaving aside the important work you do every day; the success of the bicentenary celebrations is testament to your commitment and professionalism. It provided an education about, and re-affirmation of, what Parliamentary democracy is and does, of why and how it is to be nurtured and protected, and how change is effected through decades and, indeed, centuries.

And for that, I offer the warmest and most heartfelt of thanks.

If one was asked to embody in just one person the virtues and qualities, the constancy, stability, and wisdom such a system displays, the answer comes readily. It is the person we farewell today.

David, in just under three weeks’ time, our Parliament, and therefore our State, will lose one of its most stalwart of servants.

You are of uncompromising integrity. You have been a beacon of calmness and deep erudition in an arena where sometimes decorum is forgotten.

Your quiet humour, your profound understanding of history and tradition, your eye always, however, fixed to the future and adapting challenges that might be thrown at the work you do.

You will be missed, but have laid down, by your example, as with all your peers here, and your many predecessors, the way ahead. As bearer of an office as old as the Council itself, you exemplify all the virtues that true public service entails.

To the Clerk of the Parliaments and Clerk of the Legislative Council, Mr David Blunt.

To good governance, for and by the people.