It's hard to imagine, Madam speaker, what more might be said but I do want to reinforce some of the comments made by my colleagues and add some further observations.
The last nine years have been full of remarkable policy achievement.
Who would not be pleased that the kept promises of this Government are now improving the lives of New Zealanders.
We can all celebrate that under this Government superannuation is secure, the Working for Families package is making a real difference to thousands of families, and Kiwibank and KiwiSaver are helping to assure our future.
It costs less to visit the doctor, prescriptions cost $3, and preschoolers have 20 hours' free Early Childhood Education.
I am personally proud of the passage of legislation I inherited in respect of Civil Unions, and the Care of Children, and note also the success of the reintegration of Child Youth and Family Services into the Ministry of Social Development family.
Stunning reductions in unemployment beneficiary numbers - from 161,000 in 1999 to fewer than 20,000 now - have enabled the implementation of new initiatives such as Working New Zealand, and programmes to improve access to Health Services and to support and strengthen vulnerable families.
I want to acknowledge the leadership of the Ministry of Social Development.
I am delighted to see Peter Hughes, Sue Mackwell and Doug Craig in the gallery today and I want to extend to them and my former ministerial staff, Debbie, Janet and Linda, my thanks for their dedication, professionalism and friendship.
Another area where we are making progress, and we surely need to, is in respect of the violence in our households.
I remain appalled that in a country with our awful level of domestic violence, that anyone should seriously advocate the need to provide a defence for violence against children.
Let's hope gradually our communities are coming to agree that IT'S NOT OK.
But we should all be frustrated that so little objectivity is applied to the charades that happen in this place and that opposition parties indulge themselves so uncritically in playing to the basest of motivations in our community.
Government is about facing up to hard decisions - how could it be that we debated a fart tax that was not about either farts or a tax actually, and then were criticised by those who built that deceit as not moving fast enough on issues relating to global warming.
I guess the latest exercise in similar cynicism is the extraordinary argument around energy-saving lightbulbs.
Really? So now it's a bad thing to encourage everyone to save money, save energy and make a practical contribution to the challenges we all face.
If that's PC, bring it on! And it's because of that lack of serious informed debate that I consider it a tragedy that too many journalists have become players not reporters.
Some of them want to be the news, no longer merely report events.
Once-"watch-dogs" have appointed themselves attack-dogs and some are about as endearing and useful as the nastiest pit bull.
Our community needs to give more attention to the key role of the media in ensuring the dissemination of accurate information on issues and improving the quality of debate.
I read a British commentator last week outlining the media responsibility for the quality of the conversation, as much as for the quality of their presentation of the news.
That responsibility is not enhanced by journalists who consider it acceptable to text the leader of the opposition during question time, and is certainly not achieved by the open articulation of personal political views.
When I became Labour's Senior Whip in 2002 my colleagues told me that in that job I would see the very best and the very worst of human nature.
The list of the achievements of this Government fills the first category, as do the relationships with some wonderful colleagues, both political and staff.
The fascinating idiosyncrasies and dark revelations will have to wait for the best-seller I'm afraid, but I do want to spend a few moments on the lower levels of debate in this place in the last few years.
One of the episodes I consider most disgraceful has been the constant attack on the NCEA, a policy we all know was introduced by National.
I've watched and been involved with the introduction of that qualification, both as Associate Minister of Education - and a parent of high school students.
I've seen the positive effect on my daughter and son and the motivating effect on them and their friends, and that is a common experience.
Are they satisfied with "Achieved"? I don't think so. "Merit" and "Excellence" are the targets. And isn't it great to finally have a qualification designed for our own country, our own needs.
So how destructive it has been to hear the constant criticism of this initiative, and the inevitable demeaning of the efforts and achievements of our young people and the work of so many great Kiwi teachers.
Not the Opposition's proudest moment.
The real low point for me, though, has been the repeated veiled insults and other misogynist behaviour to female presiding officers in this debating chamber.
Ugly stuff, hard to put up with and difficult to do anything about. I hope this is something a future Parliament will address.
But let me turn to happier thoughts.
My special thanks to voters in Dunedin for their support during 23 years as their city councillor or MP. I hope I have always repaid their loyalty with my hard work.
To all parliamentary staff who make this building function so well, including those we don't know, who clean up after us while we sleep.
To Gina Anastasiadis who has wonderfully managed the challenges of parliamentary, whips and ministerial offices; to Trudi Sunitsch, my Dunedin office manager who has delivered a level of service and support to our community that would make any MP look good; and to my family, for putting up with it all, and even delivering leaflets occasionally.
Well, it's coming up to an election.
We again own Air New Zealand, the rail track, corridor and operation, our world-leading ACC system is not being privatised, and this Government will not sell them eventually. Best of all, young new Zealanders are not coming home from their OE in Iraq in body bags.
They would have been, had voters made a different choice in 2002 or 2005.
For me, that makes the choice for this year pretty clear.
