Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

To shut up, I suppose, as the member for Moreton says, would be a more direct way of getting across the message that Jeannie Ferris was trying to convey because she, of course, was trying to make sure that all of us were paying the attention that we ought to have been to the very serious proceedings taking place in the party room.

It is on the record that Jeannie Ferris was a very fine Australian. She was a devoted family woman. I would like to pass on my condolences to her sons, Robbie and Jeremy, who, as was indicated, had the double tragedy of losing both of their parents in the one week. I pay tribute to Senator Jeannie Ferris and to her family.

Some people might say that the Liberal Party of Australia is not entrenched in rural Australia. Without wanting to cast any aspersions on any other political party, it ought to be recognised that the Liberal Party of Australia is undoubtedly the largest rural party in Australia. Senator Jeannie Ferris, as Chair of the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee, was always a keen advocate of rural people. Her involvement with the National Farmers Federation and her work with former minister Ian McLachlan indicated that, at the core of her being, she had a desire to assist rural Australia. She had an empathy for and an understanding of people in rural and regional Australia and the particular challenges that they face on an everyday basis. Although Senator Ferris, like me, was to the conservative side of the Liberal Party, she had a range of different views and, I found in some cases, surprising views on some issues. I disagreed with her on a number of the conscience votes that we have had in the parliament in recent times. But, having said that, I will go publicly and strongly on the record to say that Jeannie Ferris ferociously always stood up for what she believed in. She was a woman of absolute integrity. If you disagreed with her, she did not hesitate to tell you that she disagreed with you, but you could not help but respect her. Her loss to the Liberal Party is enormous. More importantly, the loss to her family, the parliament and the people of Australia is enormous. I place on record condolences on my own behalf and on behalf of my wife, Inge, to Senator Ferris’s family.

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