Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about Joe Hockey, who was probably one of the first politicians, apart from Joanna Gash, that I ever had the luxury to meet. The occurrence was in Batemans Bay back in 2007 or late 2006. He had been invited to open a temporary office down in Batemans Bay. He came down, duly cut the ribbon and did all the official things. Then he said, 'Come on. Let's walk around. Let's go and see some people here, have a little chitchat to them and see how they're going'—just the everyday, consummate politician.

We walked around the streets and met some young kids. They said, 'Mr Hockey, Mr Hockey!' He said, 'Yeah?' They said, 'You went to Kokoda. We just went to Kokoda.' It was a group of young Indigenous children in Batemans Bay who had saved hard, worked hard and done an amazing thing. They had been inspired to do the Kokoda Trail themselves. Those young people followed Mr Hockey around almost the whole of Batemans Bay as if he were the Pied Piper of Hamelin. They were asking him questions, and he was never resentful and never stopped answering them. He was just always there for them, and, once I was elected to parliament, I found Joe Hockey to be exactly the same in the House. He never gave me the brush-off. If I had a problem with an issue or if there was a policy decision I was not sure of, Joe would say: 'Come in and tell me how you feel. Let me know what your constituents are telling you. I am open to their suggestions.' He is just an all-round, everyday guy, and I found him very approachable and very easy to talk with, but he made sure I was on my mettle with certain policies. One of them was the universal access to education, which I considered to be an excellent initiative from the previous government, and he made me fight for that. He said, 'Are you sure this is the right thing to do?' I said, 'It absolutely is,' and he was flexible enough to say, 'Okay, well if we need to do that, then you need to see this minister and that minister and talk to them, advise them and work with them.' Ultimately, we had a very good outcome on that issue.

In the way that I have learnt from the openness of such an amazing politician, I think his presence and his humour will be sorely missed. Wherever Joe is going next, I hope every aspect of his life is as full of the fun, as full of the professionalism and as full of the compassion he has shown while he was working in this House. He was truly one of the big characters in the House of Representatives, and he really will be missed—I think every single one of us will miss him.

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