Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am privileged in my role as the member for Brand to meet and get to know people who make a difference in the lives of those around them because it is the right thing to do and it is a good thing to do. And I'm very privileged to have enjoyed the support of Jerroldine Gilbert, a woman who personified what community spirit is and what commitment is by giving her all to her family, to the community and to the Labor Party. After Jerroldine met Barry, a young sailor, in Sydney the 1950s, she committed to moving the thousands of miles to Western Australia, where they would raise their family. And we were very lucky to have her here.

Jerroldine Gilbert did not do things by half. She was a devoted wife to Barry and a loving mother to her five children, Margaret, David, Simon, Jennifer and Patricia. When they first arrived in WA, life was hard, with the family living in a cramped share house in Kwinana. Jerroldine did not accept this for her family and demanded a house from the Navy. And, unsurprisingly for anyone who knew her, the Navy found the family a home. Margaret, her daughter, tells me how her mum was always on a school committee or a parish committee, and when things got tough Jerroldine was always ready to step in. There are not many people who would take on the running of three school canteens at the one time, but Jerroldine did, and she did it well. A woman of action, she ran for and was elected to local council in her adopted home town of Kwinana in 1983 and served on that council for 12 years. She was passionate about her local community and about how she could help make it a better place for everyone. She would welcome new arrivals in town—migrants, people without family support—by taking them food or sharing local information. She knew herself how hard it was to relocate to a new place without family or support, and she wanted others to feel included and welcomed. She will be remembered for this kindness.

Jerroldine was on the organising committee to start up the low-cost food store the Manna House in Kwinana. This independent and volunteer-run service provided support to local people who otherwise would have gone hungry. While Jerroldine was only supposed to get the service up and running, she ended up dedicating her time to this organisation for 20 years. She was a fierce voice for her community, and thanks to her hard work, alongside that of the late Tom Joyce, she founded the Kwinana-Rockingham Community Legal Centre more than 30 years ago. Coordinating a weekly evening legal service where lawyers gave free advice to people in need, her work here was the forerunner—the model—on which the oversubscribed and heavily relied-on legal SCALES community legal centre in Rockingham runs today.

It is impossible to detail here today all the good and generous work that Jerroldine Gilbert did for her community—for my community. Her Labor values shone through in her community service and her work to achieve equality and fairness for people, no matter their background or where they came from. Her commitment to the Labor Party started more than 50 years ago, and during that time she worked on countless election campaigns to ensure that Labor representatives were elected to represent her community of Kwinana and across the electorate of Brand and the towns of Rockingham and Warnbro and the newer seat of Baldivis. In fact, she worked on every election campaign, state and federal, from the time the Kwinana branch of the WA Labor Party began, back in 1964.

Jerroldine's legacy lives on in our Labor community, with her dedication and commitment to working for the Labor cause, a shining example to every member and volunteer. She was a true fighter for the cause, and her branch is less without her in it. But her legacy will always be in the Kwinana branch of the WA Labor Party. I know that her husband, Barry's, heart is broken, and her children's hearts are heavy with grief. She's greatly missed by her nine grandchildren and her great-grandchild. I would like to thank Barry, Margaret and the rest of Jerroldine's family for having so generously shared a part of their wife and mother so that others could be a bit better off in their lives. I would like to recognise Jerroldine's work in her branch and her life membership of our great party, a mark of respect and gratitude given to both Jerroldine and Barry for their dedication and years of service.

Jerroldine was a stalwart of her branch, the Kwinana branch. She was an inspiration to others on what can be achieved when you believe in what you are doing. It is passionate and dedicated people, those who answer the rallying call, those who do the hard work without the glory, and all for the cause of what they believe in, who are part of Jerroldine's legacy. I would like to thank them all for the work they do, and I stand here today remembering Jerroldine Gilbert and acknowledging how lucky we are to have had her in our fold in the Kwinana branch of the WA Labor Party. Vale, Jerroldine Gilbert.

See this speech in context