Luzia Borges and Anna Jancevski stayed as governments came and went at the workplace they've known for 30 years.
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The long-serving cleaners are two of many preparing the rooms of Parliament House for its politicians each day.
They speak to prime ministers and have met several US presidents. Ms Borges is such a fixture, the Dalai Lama recognises her on visits.
A change of cleaning companies at Parliament House has left the pair, and their co-workers, fearing their jobs could go, their sick leave will be cut or their shifts will change.
The $46 million contract to clean the building inside and outside went to Dimeo, a Sydney-based firm that will replace internal building cleaner Limro in July after its 30-year stint.
The government department overseeing Parliament House said Dimeo had "expressed a desire" to offer jobs to existing cleaning staff and keep their conditions. Cleaners will learn more when their union, United Voice, meets the company on Thursday ahead of its five-year contract.
Ms Jancevski and Ms Borges, who remember working at Parliament House when Bob Hawke was Prime Minister, and other cleaners fear the new company could put them on probation and are unsure of receiving a redundancy if they don't get work.
Ms Borges said it had been hard to save on cleaning wages and that without a job at Parliament House, she would have to start again financially.
"Is that fair? After such a long time, you feel so empty and sad because at the end, you end up with nothing," she said.
"So I'm back where I started when I was young. I'm not young any more."
Dimeo referred questions to the Department of Parliamentary Services.
The department expects pay rates will remain unchanged for cleaning staff, and pay increases will keep with the industrial umpire's annual wage review decisions.
Cleaners lost the protection of the Commonwealth cleaning services guidelines when the Abbott government repealed them.
United Voice official Lyndal Ryan said these would have guaranteed the jobs of cleaners under the new contractor.
Some were afraid to make their own case, and many had come from overseas.
"Their experiences in the world can make them reluctant to speak up for themselves," she said.
Cleaners have not received a pay rise for six years and have fought for one unsuccessfully since 2013.
If the cleaning services guidelines had continued, cleaners in Commonwealth buildings across Canberra would also have received annual wage increases, the union says.
