Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

You can hop out of the chair. I reckon Susan Ryan would be honoured that I managed to stop the Australian parliament for a brief moment in order to make this further contribution to her life, and it was a bloke that we had to give permission to to leave the chamber! She would like that. She would have a smile on her face.

I just want to offer two very personal recollections of Susan, and they are of my last two meetings with her. One was at an anniversary for WEL, Women's Electoral Lobby, which she was a founding member of. It was an important anniversary for WEL, at Sydney. We were gathered in the Sydney Town Hall, and all of the amazing women of her generation and her era were gathered in the room. What a powerhouse of feminists. I walked in awe of all the women that were gathered there.

Susan ran a punishing kind of life and set herself so many goals—to still be rallying against injustice wherever she found it and certainly trying to find remedies for gender inequality wherever she found it. She would probably be offended, almost, by my statement saying that she was still running a hectic legislative and reform program to the very end, because she would say to you: 'What the hell? Don't expect me to be retiring and playing bridge here. That is not what I do! Why would you be shocked that I'm still a reformist to the day I die?' Literally, I know she was on that phone, ringing many of my colleagues, with her outrage and her deep concern about what was happening in aged care in Australia. So it was terrific to catch up with Susan at the Sydney Town Hall. She was there with all her colleagues, and it was a real night to remember. You were reminded, in a very tangible way, of the debt you owe to those women that go before us and pave the way for us to be here to be able speak in this House today.

There is another moment that I want to reflect on. I'm very thankful to the member for Sydney, Tanya Plibersek, for organising a Status of Women committee one night for Labor women here in this House. We were gathered in the member for Sydney's office, and Susan came to brief us with her enormous skills and expertise that she had attained as Australia's inaugural aged-care commissioner with the Human Rights Commission. Susan was there to ensure that we younger Labor women had a very sound understanding of the needs of older women in Australia and the crisis that was looming in terms of issues around safety and housing for women in Australia. I must say, I am now on an inquiry regarding homelessness and housing in Australia and another inquiry examining domestic and family violence in Australia, and Susan Ryan's words of wisdom are with me on each and every day that I sit in those inquiries. I am eternally grateful for her taking time to tutor younger women coming through. She had a very generous spirit and was deeply committed to mentoring and training, and that remained part of the gift that she gave to all of us Labor women coming through behind her.

I was gutted when I heard of Susan's death. I was really shocked. I had no sense that she was anywhere near passing this world. As I said, she was a feisty feminist warrior each and every time I encountered her. I will always remember her in that light and remain eternally grateful for what she did in her life for all of us and for what she did later in life in making sure that those of us coming behind her were well schooled in the history of the struggle for gender equality in Australia and for the rights of older Australians and, indeed, that we remain dogged in our pursuit of injustice wherever we might find it. Vale, Susan Ryan.

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