Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to also speak on the motion moved by the member for Scullin. The motion reads:

That this House:

(1) condemn the murder of Mrs Jo Cox, Member of Parliament in the House of Commons for the constituency of Batley and Spen, killed in the course of performing her responsibilities to her constituents;

(2) express its deepest sympathies to Mrs Cox's family, colleagues, and to all who knew her;

(3) pay tribute to Mrs Cox's extraordinary contribution to public life; and

(4) convey the terms of this resolution to the Speaker of the House of Commons.

I agree.

This woman, Helen Joanne Cox, who I did not know, was born in 1974. She had two young children, who were left behind, and her husband, Brendan. She was elected to represent Batley and Spen, the parliamentary seat, in the 2015 general election, and she had spent several years working for the charity Oxfam. She was murdered doing her job. This is the point. For politicians, for members of parliament and senators in this place, it brings home the reality of what happened to this poor woman. She was two years younger than me. She was only a fairly new politician, and she was out doing what all politicians should do, and that is listening to their constituents. She was on her way to a library, from what I understand, to meet her constituents when this man murdered her—stabbed and shot her. It is absolutely appalling.

I am very thankful that justice has been served in some way, that this man has received a life sentence and that the judge recommended that he not be let out. But I note that her husband said:

She—

Jo—

would have wanted two things above all else to happen now: one, that our precious children are bathed in love; and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her.

That is a great statement from her husband. There was no hate in his statement. It was very much remembering what his wife had done and wanting to look after their children and to put the hate aside and move on.

I stand here as a member of parliament in Australia saying to politicians in the UK and to the family of Jo that we are very sorry for what happened to Jo, and we understand. We understand that she was serving her constituency and her country in a very honourable way and that this man murdered her out of the blue. It is a terrible indictment. It makes us think. I often do mobile offices. I am out and about in the community. You want to do that. It is a very important part of our job. What happened to this woman is absolutely tragic, and we remember her deeply.

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