Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Hansard source

I would love to get through this speech without tears. I note the incredible contribution of Peta Murphy's friends and colleagues across the aisle, and those that she reached out to and who reached out to her from this side of the House. I think people outside politics really don't understand how relationships can possibly be real across the aisle, but they certainly are.

I was privileged to enter parliament in the same year as Peta in 2019. I was also privileged to be a co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Nursing. What an incredible role she played in that parliamentary friends group! We will continue to take up the fight for better health care across Australia. I note that Peta's focus was for women and young people. Mine is for regions and regional health, but we played in the same space and we shared those ideas and those ideals. She was truly brave and selfless, and considered and cared for everyone around her. You can't say that about everybody in this House—you just can't.

Peta was a joy to know. I was privileged to also be on the same committee with her, the Joint Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs. This committee first started talking about gambling and pornography online and the dreadful scourge that is, and I was so pleased that Peta became the chair in this parliament to be able to carry that forward, along with my colleague the member for Cowper. It is a huge step to be able to come to the end of a parliamentary public inquiry and to have an agreed position across both sides of parliament.

I attended the Breast Cancer Network Australia launch last week for the report on how important it is that we have robust reporting for metastatic breast cancer in Australia, and I entirely endorse that position: you can't fix what you can't measure. These reports are incredibly valuable to us as a parliament and to ensure that people just like Peta have a better future and that cures can be found. She said that she was neither unique nor alone; she certainly wasn't alone, but I agree with those before me who have said that she was unique. She was a fighter right to the end. She was a warrior and a champion, and I salute her today. My prayers are with her husband, Rod; her parents, Bob and Jan; and her sisters. Together in this House, we mourn a wonderful MP.

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