Canberra
PM: First, in relation to Michelle Grattan of the press gallery.
Speaker, before there was a female Governor-General, before there was a female Prime Minister, indeed before you were, Speaker, a woman performing that role, Michelle was there in the press gallery, blazing a trail for women in what was when she joined it a very blokey industry indeed.
What we can say about Michelle Grattan though is any woman who's got the nickname ‘Cobber' obviously was able to make her own way in this blokey world.
Michelle Grattan is a watchword in Australian politics and in the Canberra press gallery for work ethic.
Anybody who's seen her in the press gallery so early in the morning and so late at night can attest to that.
For a very-old-fashioned devotion to accuracy, indeed at an earlier stage in my parliamentary career I would frequently joke with Tim that if my phone rang at 10:30 at night then it was Michelle Grattan checking copy for the next day, a relentless focus on the facts.
She will be sorely missed in the press gallery, having announced as she has that she is off to The Conversation. So we will get the opportunity of her insights and her experience in a different way.
Speaker, I do ask myself in these circumstances though what explains the timing of this announcement, who spoke to who about this announcement, who was consulted about this announcement, and how long can this chaos in the press gallery go on. I do ask myself these questions.
But Michelle does go from the press gallery with the best of our sentiments and I know she will continue to make a great contribution.