Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

On 24 May Cheryl and Nikki Bart, lifelong residents of my electorate of Wentworth, were the first mother and daughter team in the world to climb to the top of Mount Everest—and not just Everest. Since 2001 they have together scaled the highest peaks on each of the earth’s continents—all seven summits: Everest in Asia, Elbrus in Europe, McKinley in North America, Aconcagua in South America, Kilimanjaro in Africa and Vinson Massif in Antarctica, and beginning with Kosciuszko in Australia. They are both graduates of Moriah College and their addiction to altitude was forged two decades ago when they visited Israel. While other family members took the cable car to the summit of Masada, Cheryl and Nikki, who was then five years old, climbed to the top.

The Barts are active members of the Wentworth community, involved in a range of charities and community service. Nikki is a medical student at the University of New South Wales and the immediate past co-chair of the Medical Students Aid Project, which donates medical equipment and pharmaceuticals to Third World hospitals. Cheryl is an accomplished businesswoman and company director serving on important boards both in the private and not-for-profit sectors. She is also an ambassador of the Australian chapter of the Peres Centre for Peace, which works on practical measures to bring together Palestinians and Israelis in the cause of peace and reconciliation.

Cheryl and Nikki, you have set a very high bar indeed for -parent-child bonding adventures, one that daunts all the other parents who have observed your achievement. But I am sure that the seven summits you have climbed together are only a foretaste of the heights that you will scale and that you will inspire others to scale in the years ahead. Mazel Tov, Cheryl and Nikki.

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