Zoe Daniel (Goldstein, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

After I was elected to this place and I set about writing my first speech, I watched one other MP's first speech—only one. It was Peta Murphy's first speech in 2019. As has been said today, just two weeks before she gave it, Peta had learnt that her breast cancer, first diagnosed in 2011, had returned. Yet, even with that immense challenge in her future, she chose to accept another one: to represent her community in Dunkley, in a part of Melbourne not far from me, where there is an immense need for forceful representation, deep engagement with community and empathy for people. And Peta gave that.

Peta Murphy was the member for Dunkley for a few short years, taken by cancer at a time when it was clear that she had so much more to offer. In her first speech, Peta spoke to what she wanted to achieve from her time in this place. Above all else, she said:

I would like to be able to say that I left Australian politics—Australian democracy—in better shape than when I joined it, that I was part of a generation of Australian politicians who worked to recover the public's faith in our democratic system and who strove to reharness politics as that vehicle for enlarging opportunities and enlarging our national imagination, and that we did so by rejecting politics based on fear and division …

Amen.

It's clear that the vast majority of people who win their way into this place, courtesy of the support of their communities, whatever their political affiliation, do so out of a desire to make a difference and to promote change for the better. That was Peta Murphy. As Reverend Cam McAdam, the Minister of the Mt Eliza Uniting Church, said:

I like to know politicians and ensure they know me, and get to know Peta, I did. I wrote to her some months ago about an issue, and she replied, 'You know me, Cam.' She was a politician of the people, and she wanted to know your story, your issue, understand and help if she could. Peta was at our church a few months ago and didn't look well. I told her when I saw her next, offering my concern and support. But she was a professional, passionate about her role, and she knew the privilege of office and sought to make a difference for the people of Dunkley.

From the member for Monash, whose electorate adjoins Peta's, who's been in this place longer than all the rest of us, for decades, a Liberal, and now my colleague on the crossbench:

I have been in Parliament 25 years; I see new people coming through all the time. Peta was a star performer.

There is deep sadness in this place, where there is now an empty seat where Peta sat for the last time just last week. The member for Monash also said this in tribute to Peta:

…she was tough. She had missed out 2016, came back fighting and won her seat in 2019. And it takes special people to do that…

Several members of the crossbench are unable to be here today. My colleague Monique Ryan, the member for Kooyong, is unwell, and she asked me to read this on her behalf:

I served on the Parliamentary Health, Aged Care and Sport committee with Peta for 18 months. On joining the committee, I liked her immediately. Peta was calm and collegial. She had a lawyerly, analytic mind; she thought through things methodically and fairly. As she got sicker last year, she talked about her illness with courage and honesty. I know that all the Class of 2022 would have liked to know her better and to spend more time with her. We'll happily accept the responsibility of working for improved care of breast cancer, and for better women's healthcare in general; the next Health Committee enquiry will be into women's health, and it will be our privilege—but with great sadness—to dedicate it to Peta. The people of Dunkley have lost an excellent representative, and the House is poorer for her absence.

On behalf of the people of Kooyong I send love and sympathy to her husband, family, and community. She will be much missed.

From Dai Le, the member for Fowler, who is also unable to be here today:

I'm shocked and devastated to hear of the news of the passing of our esteemed colleague, Peta Murphy, the Member for Dunkley, Ms Murphy left an indelible mark on our hearts and in the annals of Australian politics. Her legacy, a testament to resilience, advocacy, and unwavering strength, serves as an inspiration to us all.

The member for Fowler says:

As a survivor of breast cancer … I understand the profound impact it can have on one's life. Ms Murphy's battles were not just her own; they were shared by many who looked up to her for guidance and inspiration. It saddens me to bid farewell to a colleague I respect and watched across the bench, who fought valiantly until the very end.

Today, we extend our deepest condolences to the Member's family, especially her husband of 24 years, Rod. In these moments of sorrow, we must also celebrate the life she lived and the positive change brought about. May her soul find eternal peace, free from pain and discomfort.

Rest in peace, Peta Murphy.

And from Rebekha Sharkie, the member for Mayo:

While Peta was not in the Parliament long, she made the most of her time here, and her loss is to the detriment of us all. In particular I would like to draw attention to Peta's courageous work as Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs' Inquiry into Online Gambling Harm and its impacts on those experiencing gambling harm. I hope that the Committee's report and recommendations will create change and leave a vital legacy for Peta. I and many more people within and outside of this place have a great deal of respect and appreciation for Peta's untiring efforts both in the health space, and to help reduce gambling harm. I send my sincere condolences to Peta's husband, family, friends and fellow colleagues.

I thank my crossbench colleagues for providing those heartfelt words for me to read on their behalf today.

As the member for Mayo has highlighted, it goes to the member for Dunkley's dedication and determination that she accepted the challenging role as chair of the House social policy and legal affairs committee. In that position she headed an incisive and much-needed inquiry into online gambling and its impacts on those experiencing gambling harm. She recognised the social and health costs of the explosion in gambling and was determined to do something about it. In this, she and I were 100 per cent aligned.

The committee held weeks of hearings, took dozens of submissions, heard from witness after witness, all while Peta was struggling with the effects of the cancer which would not loosen its grip on her body. She strived and ultimately failed to get honest answers from the gambling giants, the broadcasters and the sporting codes about their financial arrangements and links. What she did succeed in doing, though, was producing a landmark report that not only pulled no punches but had the support of all members of the committee, Labor, coalition and crossbench—no mean feat, given the contentious nature of the subject matter and the powerful influence gambling and broadcasting interests have around this place. It was a rare consensus in this combative place—consensus that must be acted on in Peta's name.

I do not claim to have been a friend of Peta's, but the reverend Tim Costello was. Not only that—he was a neighbour. He tells me that, on the night before Peta's death, he walked past her house, paused briefly and offered a prayer. Sadly, it was not to be answered. 'She's one of the bravest women I have ever met,' he says.

As Peta said in her first speech:

This parliament is the cauldron of Australia's national conversation, and politicians are not just participants in it; we are its custodians, and we must do better … how we do that matters.

In this, again, I agree with her aims, which cut across the differences in our politics.

When I think of Peta in the future, I will hold central the fact that she and I had a shared love of Pippi Longstocking. In her first speech, Peta referenced Pippi, the 'strongest girl in the world'. In many ways, in fact, Pippi was a misfit, with odd socks, wild pigtails that stuck straight out of her head and freckles, living by herself in a house in the forest with a monkey and a horse. What little girl didn't want to be Pippi—strong, independent and living by her own rules? In many ways and by all accounts from her close friends and colleagues, that was Peta. 'Why I walked backwards?' Pippi asked. 'We live in a free country, don't we? Aren't you allowed to walk any way you want? Don't you worry about me. I'll always come out on top.' Like Pippi, Louisa Dunkley and, indeed, Vida Goldstein, Peta Murphy was a fierce woman who walked the walk, and that's what I will remember her for. We are all better for it.

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