I hope you are all keeping warm as winter creeps in.
This week is a big week for me personally but also for our community. The 58th Parliament of New South Wales will be officially opened tomorrow, Tuesday 9 May. This will include a number of events such as a smoking ceremony, the election of the Speaker of the House and the President of the Legislative Council, and of course, the swearing in of all members. This will be done alphabetically in order of electorates, so I’m guessing as “Wakehurst”, I’ll be towards the end. Details below of how you can tune in.
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Then on Wednesday, I’ve been invited to give my “Inaugural Speech” to Parliament. As some of you are aware, this is kind of a big deal - it’s an opportunity to share your journey and vision and once done, allows you to speak in Parliament on legislation and ask questions of the Government. The speech is scheduled for Wednesday evening. Unfortunately, as you can imagine, in a small Chamber, seating for these events is really limited and unfortunately we’re unable to open tickets up widely. This is really disappointing as I’d love to share these historic moments with all of you who helped me get to Parliament and make sure that Wakehurst has an independent voice to Parliament. I hope you can understand that the seating is limited. I’d love for you to join online though to watch the ceremonies. Opening of Parliament and Swearing In Ceremony: Tuesday 9 May from 10am. Swearing in for the Member of Wakehurst likely to be closer to 11am: https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Pages/la-webcast-page.aspx Michael’s Inaugural Speech to Parliament: Wednesday 10 May at approximately 5:40pm. https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Pages/la-webcast-page.aspx Finally, many of you have been asking about my role as Mayor. As you may have read, I have formally written to the Acting CEO of Northern Beaches Council to indicate my intention to resign and therefore to convene an extraordinary meeting of council where the current councillors will elect a new Mayor. This meeting will take place on Tuesday 16th May at 6pm. The meeting will be open to the public if you’d like to attend or you can watch online via Council’s website. I will write more to you later reflecting on my time as Mayor. It’s been a tremendous honour to serve our community as Mayor and it’s definitely mixed emotions as I stand down. But I’m excited about this next journey and can’t wait to get to work in Parliament. Thanks again for all the words of support and encouragement, exciting times indeed! |
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Regards, |
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