Carter David: Adjournment — Sittings of the HouseText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCarter David: Adjournment — Sittings of the House[Sitting date: 11 December 2013. Volume:695;Page:15519. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Mr SPEAKER: I want to start by acknowledging the understanding and the patience of all members as I have come to grips with the responsibility of being the Speaker. Most members have been courteous most of the time. To the others I say that I will be watching you even more closely next year.I want to join the other contributors to this debate and acknowledge and thank all the people who contribute to making this Parliament work but specifically to our Serjeant-at-Arms Brent Smith thank you. To our security team—they were tested in a recent incident and in my opinion they responded in an exemplary fashion. To our Chamber staff thank you for your loyal contribution to this House. I particularly want to acknowledge the services of Grant Bamfield Deputy Serjeant-at-Arms and Alan Husheer Assistant Serjeant-at-Arms as those two gentlemen retire at the conclusion of tonight after a combined contribution of 22 years to this House. We wish them both well. I certainly want to record my appreciation of my fellow presiding officers: Eric Roy Lindsay Tisch and Ross Robertson. I think that together we have made a good team.This debate could not conclude without me acknowledging and paying a particular tribute to our Clerk of the House Mary Harris and her outstanding executive assistantAndie Lindsay and to all members of the Clerk of the House team. I have always been aware as a member of Parliament now for 19 years of the contribution that this office makes to the smooth running of this House but after 12 months as Speaker I now realise how outstanding a team Mary Harris has assembled and the work that they do. Thank you Mary Harris.To my own office staff—Lisa Kinloch and StephanieEdridge—thank you. We are a small team but I acknowledge their loyalty through the transition of this year. And finally to Roland Todd Speaker’s assistant. Roland you are in danger of becoming an institution yourself. The unflappable way in which you guide not only me but the whips and all members of this House and the procedures associated with the House is hugely appreciated. Thank you Roland.As I reflect on my first year as Speaker I want to comment on two particular and challenging decisions I had to make. Firstly there was the decision to accept the resignation of Mr Geoff Thorn as the then manager of Parliamentary Service. It had to happen. The Henry inquiry presented many challenges but above all it highlighted for me the unique privacy issues that confront members of Parliament every day. It alsohighlighted the importance of a free media to report the deliberations of both the executive and Parliament and that involves the media being able to move around this complex and meet various members of Parliament. It further served to remind us all of the distinction between the executive and the House of Representatives. I want to record that in my opinion Geoff Thorn did a very good job in managing Parliamentary Service prior to his decision to resign. Parliamentary Service is a better organisation because of his tenure.The second challenge I faced was the decision whether to maintain recognition of United Future as a party in this House following its deregistration by the Electoral Commission. Standing Orders were silent on an event such as this and therefore it required me under Standing Order 2 to decide the fairest way forward. Although my decision to derecognise United Future initially and then to re-recognise the party subsequent to the Electoral Commission’s re-registration of the party I know was not a decision that pleased all political parties in this House my job is to be fair to you all. I believe I accomplished that with that decision and hopefully a review of Standing Orders next year will mean that these rules are clearer in the future.As we head to our Christmas break you can be assured that 2013 has been a busy year. We sat for around 600 hours and passed 144 bills. We have had 1059 oral questions answered—to my satisfaction—and just under 17000 written questions have been submitted. We have had six urgent debates compared with eight such debates last year. So to all members—enjoy your break enjoy the quality time that you have with your children and your partners and never underestimate as politicians how tough this place can be on those whom we love. Merry Christmas to you all.Motion agreed to.