KEY POINTS:
CANBERRA - Kim Beazley has farewelled his battleground of 27 years with a characteristic mixture of passion and quirky self-deprecation.
Beazley, a senior minister and Deputy Prime Minister through the Hawke and Keating years who then led Labor to two defeats, gave his valedictory speech.
Beazley's final stint as Opposition Leader was ended last year by Kevin Rudd. But yesterday was Beazley's day. Rudd and virtually the entire party, including some senators, were there, as was his wife, Susie, and staff, past and present. "The hard, hard secret of our lives is that families come second," he said.
Beazley wound up with a little fantasy about his caucus colleagues that no-one exactly believed. "They have all the eccentricities of a family. Kind, compassionate, love each other enormously, treat each other unbelievably well, engage in no smears."
- AAP
