Ms GILLARD (Lalor—Prime Minister) (14:14): by leave—on a very different matter, I move: That this House mark the 25th anniversary of this parliament building, honour those responsible for its design and construction, and thank all those parliamentarians and parliamentary staff who have served the nation during that time. In moving this motion I acknowledge that this is a new building but one which stands on very old country. So I begin by honouring the traditional owners, the first people to meet and confer on this land. Today we celebrate this building, this building which rises from that ancient soil to tower over this city. The competition for this building was held in 1979 and we could easily have acquired a brutalist structure that would have dated and faded with the decades. Instead, our nation has been blessed with a monumental building of grace, a building of character and of quality and a place that will endure. Writing in 1914, Walter Burley Griffin said that this structure would be the foremost building of the Commonwealth, and in this masterpiece his vision for our nation's capital has been triumphantly realised. It was, of course, the work of Romaldo Giurgola, one of the post-war era's finest architects, and this is his finest work. It is to be deeply regretted that he was too unwell to join the ceremony this morning to mark the 25 years of this building. Aldo came to love this country so much that he joined our national family, and we do regret that he is not here in person. Like Griffin, Aldo Giurgola was an American architect who saw from afar the possibilities of this site. Aldo had designed many buildings, including office towers, museums and libraries, but this was something apart, as he well recognised when he said: … if Australia’s new Parliament House was to speak honestly about its purpose, it could not be built on top of the hill as this would symbolise government imposed upon the people. The building should nest with the hill, symbolically rise out of the Australian landscape, as true democracy rises from the state of things. A House of the people for government of, by and for the people. But this was not the work of one man alone. From the beginning this edifice was a partnership between architects and designers, tradespeople and labourers, stonemasons and weavers, planners and public servants: 10,000 people in all, who worked on or for this site. To all of them, from the most senior architect to the most junior apprentice, go our nation's thanks. Your work on this building really is one of those stories to tell your grandchildren. When the Queen opened this parliament a quarter of a century ago she said that this building was a confident expression of Australia's faith in parliamentary democracy. Now, 25 years on, we are so at ease in this building that we do not call this the 'New Parliament House' anymore. It is just 'Parliament House'. In fact, its predecessor down the hill is now 'Old Parliament House', and is currently fulfilling its third career as a museum of the democracy that we honour today. Like the old one, this Parliament House now has a history of its own: great national moments, like the passage of the Native Title Act and the Apology; state visits, like those of presidents Bush—father and son—Clinton, Hu Jintao and Obama; and the daily school visits that do not get recorded but which stay in a child's heart forever. But mainly this is a working parliament, a building where democracy has its daily expression—what Bob Hawke called: … the forum for our differences and the instrument of our unity. So I pay tribute to you, Speaker, to your colleague, the President in the other place, and to all our colleagues on both sides of both houses. I especially pay tribute to the happy few who have served in both the 'Old Parliament House' and in the new. I am thinking here, of course, of the former minister for immigration, Mr Ruddock, the members for Scullin, Mackellar, Fisher and Lingiari, and our colleague on the red leather benches, Senator Ron Boswell. Above all, I want to pay tribute to every member of the parliamentary staff who nurture and sustain this building. Sustaining the operation of this building takes a community of workers the size of a small town. It is a job that you do with pride, and this place shines with the result of your pride every day. We care for this place, ultimately, not because of what it is but what it stands for. This is a House of freedom—freedom hard won and jealously kept, because that freedom belongs to all Australians. So this building belongs to all Australians. No citizen can be a stranger in this place. It is a home worthy of our democracy. It is the fourth place our parliament has sat, and it will be the last. This is our democracy's enduring home, superbly designed, lovingly maintained and a gift to the nation that it symbolises and serves so well.