Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] Some months ago, I spoke in this chamber about one of the most shocking days in British politics in this century, a day that occurred just five years ago, a week before the Brexit vote, where brewing tensions came to a head with a horrific act of violence, the murder of UKMP Jo Cox. Jo was on her way to meet with constituents in her community when she was a attacked. She was merely doing her job. Today I speak of another UKMP being killed in the simple act of doing their job. Sir David Amess was stabbed do death while meeting with his local constituents last week, a routine, necessary, and important part of the work of all MPs. Following his murder, there has rightly been an outpouring of grief and affection from all sides of politics, both in the UK and around the world.

Sir David was an MP who advocated fearlessly for his community for more than 40 years. He never was a minister; rather he was the greatest champion for his community, a clear example of the importance of being a good community representative before anything else. Former UK Prime Minister Theresa May summed it up when she said, 'I suggest to anybody who wants to be a first-class constituency MP that you look at the example of David Amess.' Prime Minister Boris Johnson overnight told the UK House of Commons that politics needs people like Sir David, describing him as 'dedicated, passionate, firm in his beliefs, but never anything less than respectful for those who thought differently'. He went on to say:

While his death leaves a vacuum that will not and can never be filled, we will cherish his memory, we will celebrate his legacy, and we will never allow those who commit acts of evil to triumph over the democracy and the Parliament that Sir David Amess loved so much.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer added, 'Sir David held his beliefs passionately but gently,' adding, 'I believe that not only can we learn from that but we have a duty to do so. Civility in politics matters.' From what I believe was the greatest praise of all, one of his constituents said that Sir David was an MP who would cross the street to talk to you, and people would cross the street to talk to him.

We are elected to public life with a certain understanding that we will be targeted and put down just as much as we will be sought after, but the life of a politician shouldn't come with the caveat of expected violence and malicious behaviour. Generally we believe we are free of such things in Australia. Until recently we thought that, too, in the UK. Things that used to be deemed unacceptable in public discourse have now become too common. We saw this with the murder of Jo Cox. We see this every day when politicians are trolled relentlessly on social media and increasingly harassed or even threatened in their offices or out in public, and now we see it in the brutal murder of Sir David. This trend must be reversed to preserve our highly accessible democracy, not descend into the need to sequester our members of parliament away from the public to ensure their safety. Ultimately what drives us all as parliamentary representatives, what we all have in common regardless of our political ideology, is the intention to make our nation better. While we may disagree on how and the detail, I believe we all seek to represent our communities in the best way possible and achieve the best outcomes for our constituents and the country. We all have more in common than what divides us. As a result, across the globe, we stand in solidarity with Sir David's colleagues, his family and his community against this violence. Vale, Sir David. Your community and this world were all the better for having you in it.

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