Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I feel very privileged to be able to speak to this condolence motion. Margaret Whitlam was a role model to me; she was somebody I looked up to. She was unique. I congratulate everybody on the speeches they have made to this motion. The member for Wentworth demonstrated in his speech in the House that he really knew Margaret Whitlam. His speech captured the essence of the woman, as did the speeches of the member for Griffith, the Prime Minister and other speakers in the debate. She was a woman who was in herself an enigma. She changed the face of the role of Prime Minister's wife. She was a leader in the area of women's rights, changing the face of what a woman's expectations in life could be. She studied and became a social worker, and she worked as a social worker after she was married. Even that was unique at the time. She balanced study, work and family, and she did all of it really well. She showed other women that it is possible to do all those things, that it is possible to have a life outside of being a mother and a wife. I think she gave people, like myself, the inspiration to reach for that other life. She was a real person, and that has been demonstrated by the speeches that have been made here in the House, both in this chamber and downstairs. She was not a person who was concerned about appearances or about presenting in a certain way. She was an athlete, she was intelligent and she was witty. She represented Australia at the Empire Games and, as previous speakers have highlighted, she probably would have won a medal if she had not been sick.

I mentioned the fact that Margaret gave a new definition to the role of Prime Minister's wife, and how she always raised women's issues. She used to attend the Labor Women's Conference, and she was an active member of the Labor Party. I first met Margaret Whitlam when I was a young woman with a very young child. I was the secretary of the Double Bay branch of the Labor Party at that time—and I see that my friend the member for Hunter is really surprised to learn that! One of the highlights of my life at that particular time was issuing Margaret and Gough Whitlam with their Labor Party tickets. They had just moved to the area, and I was overwhelmed by the occasion. From where I lived I would walk down to the corner shop, child in tow, and would see Margaret Whitlam walking down to the shop; she was just like any everyday person. I hate to disappoint my friend the member for Hunter, but at the time I may have been in the electorate of Wentworth.

Margaret always had time to talk to people. As I said, at that time I was just a really ordinary person, nothing special—a mother with a young child. I certainly was not in a strong financial position. And she talked to me. She would acknowledge me as a person. And just as she would acknowledge somebody like me at that particular time, she could then move on and socialise with people from the highest echelons of society and converse with diplomats and other representatives from overseas. She spent time in Paris with Gough. And I think that is really unique: to be able to converse with and relate to people from different levels of society, and every one of those people feels that you are communicating with them and care about what they have to say. She certainly was able to do that.

Margaret Whitlam's life was a life of service to every community in which she lived. My condolences to the family. It is a life that will live on. She will continue to be a role model for women into the future. People will look at society back when she studied at university, raised children and was the Prime Minister's wife and see that you can achieve much and change the community's expectations of that position and individual expectations of perceived roles and even the stereotypes of what a woman can achieve. I think that is something Margaret Whitlam did so well. She was able to take her place on boards within Australia. She was awarded the Order of Australia. She was a positive woman who always looked forward. She achieved things and she encouraged other women to reach their potential. She and Gough were married for nearly 70 years. If she had lived in Shortland electorate she would have got a bunch of flowers as well as a congratulatory message and a card from me because I think being married for 70 years is a real achievement. And there was still that spark in their relationship; they still enjoyed each other's company. They were always 'Gough and Margaret'—each an individual but together as a couple. They were members of the ALP for 60 years and were given national life membership. And their marriage was the longest marriage of any Prime Minister in Australia's history. That is another achievement.

Everyone Margaret Whitlam touched is richer for having known her. They knew her either personally or through her public life. I thank her family for sharing her with us and I once again offer them my condolences.

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