Great Maiden Speeches II

FEBRUARY 17, 2008, and Bill Shorten cleared his throat, took his feet and nailed his heart to the mast:

"Above all others, and I can say this on Valentine’s Day, I thank my wife, Deb Beale, an endlessly intelligent, supportive and loving woman. I knew this instantly from my first outing, when she agreed to visit a picket line with me. I thank my family for their constant support and belief over the years: my mother, Ann, and my late father, Bill; my twin brother, Robert, and his family; my parents-in-law, Julian and Felicity Beale."

It must be true. He said it on Valentine's Day.

UPDATE: In that same draft of eager young Ruddites, futre A-G Nicola Roxon spoke about the importance of a judiciary immune to political interference -- a topic that includes, presumably, not quoting evidence out of context when a matter is due for consideration, not blackening the names of plaintiffs before evidence is tendered, and maybe, just maybe, not arranging for favoured people to avoid the press by being delivered to court via the judges' entrance.

...I was working with the Hon. Justice Mary Gaudron at the High Court. It was a great honour for me to work with the first—and unfortunately at this stage only—woman ever appointed to the High Court. Not only was she an inspiration to me but I learned first-hand the value and strengths of an independent legal system...Jeff Kennett had been Premier in Victoria for some time and a major upheaval in industrial relations had begun. So too had an attack on judicial independence. Judges and commissioners were being sacked. Frankly, it came as quite a shock to my generation of Labor supporters that any of these institutions and achievements could be under threat. It was a jolt that our well-established and accepted tribunal system, which provided the community with independent umpires to protect their basic rights, could be under attack.