FOR 22 years Leigh Tshirpg has been by Tony Windsor’s side. “You’d get less for murder” the New England MP joked .
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It’s been a rollercoaster ride for the staff of the local member this week as they come to grips with the retirement of Mr Windsor and his subsequent exit from politics later this year. The dedicated staff gave the 62-year-old a warm welcome as he returned home from his last sitting in parliament.
The MP thanked his staff for their devotion before joking about Mr Tshirpg’s life sentence.
“He’s been with me the whole time,” Mr Windsor joked.
“You wouldn’t even get that for murder.”
But Mr Tshirpg said it’s more than a job.
“It’s been an honour and a privilege to work for him,” Mr Tshirpg told The Northern Daily Leader.
“And it shows because there’s just been so many people who’ve been coming in and with well wishes.”
Fellow staffers Sandy York and Andra Milne say they’d been overwhelmed by the well wishes for their boss.
“People leaving notes on the door and other people coming up and signing them,” Ms York said.
“There’s been so many letters, just hundreds of them,” Ms Milne added.
And while the emails are creeping into the thousands and a there have been a fair few phone calls, there have also been some deliveries of flowers and chocolates, even a cake.
But as the age-old saying goes, there’s no rest for the wicked.
Mr Tshirpg says the work is still constant.
“There are people still coming in for us to help them – and that’s what we’re here for, really,” he said.
“We’re still going to help people for as long as we can.”
The final leg home from Canberra yesterday culminates one of the biggest weeks in politics for the New England MP.
But Mr Windsor isn’t fazed.
“It’s been a busy week, but it’s been a good week,” he said.
“Really it has.
“But it’s back to work on Monday.”