Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to join the member for Gellibrand in condolence today and pay tribute to the life of Clara Jordan-Baird. This week, the Australian Labor Party and, indeed, the community lost an amazing young woman. Clara Jordan-Baird died suddenly and unexpectedly at work on Monday evening. She was my friend and a friend to many of us here and at home. We, like her loving family, are bereft. Clara left an impression on everyone she met. Her energy, her passion and her enthusiasm were infectious. But it was her intellect and her incredible level of engagement that left the deepest impression. Nothing about Clara was superficial. All who knew her and interacted with her felt meaningfully connected to her. That's why this tragedy has broken the hearts of so many. She was a self-confessed fast talker. She spoke as quickly as her mind moved and her smile brightened the room and brightened this great place. In her 28 years, she achieved on a grand scale, but it's the loss of her promise that has wounded us all. It is too soon, too hard and too sad to contemplate her not fulfilling her prodigious potential. To her parents, Prue and Robert, and to her gorgeous sisters, Alice and Emily, of whom she always spoke so fondly, I send my deepest condolences and the condolences of those in the chamber with me today. From all her friends, we share your incredible loss.

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