Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Sometimes in life we think it's those who speak rather than those who do who are righteous or good. In fact, in Peta's case, one of the most noble things she did and one of best examples of why she was such a wonderful person was during the height of COVID, back in February 2021. Don't forget: there were conspiracy theories everywhere and all manner of things that were going on at the time. There was a picture of her with the now Prime Minister and the Leader of the Greens, the member for Melbourne, in the Canberra hospital getting the COVID injection and saying to people, 'This is the time; she has advanced breast cancer.' She said: 'If you had a flu injection, it's the same. It honestly didn't hurt at all.' Peta was asked about why she was doing this, and she said: 'I genuinely volunteered to do it to try to give other people confidence.'

When you met Peta, you had confidence. She gave everyone who knew her confidence. It wasn't just through her words but through what she did. What a demonstration that was at the time—not only for her local community but nationally. That was all over the media. In fact, I have seen social media with that picture of her sitting with the Prime Minister.

I want to pass on my deepest condolences to Peta's family and her whole community of Dunkley. She was a terrific person, a force of nature and a magnificent contributor to our party, our parliament and her community. She was tenacious, passionate, warm hearted and super intelligent—anyone who met her knew that. She was courageous and thoroughly decent. She was a person of principle and a communitarian of conviction. She was much loved and will be missed by many people in this chamber across both sides.

There's a lot of absolute nonsense that people say about staffers, but they often make terrific parliamentarians. She worked for Duncan Kerr, and, of course, the government leader here, the member for Watson, talked about the fact that she worked for Brendan O'Connor. I was the shadow minister for immigration and border protection; Brendan was the shadow minister for industrial relations. A lot of people from the Labor opposition thought, leading up to the 2019 election, we were concentrating to neutralise the issue of border protection, but we also met with the unions on many occasions. Brendan, in that role, and I, in the immigration space, met with the unions on many occasions. Peta was so well briefed that she made us look good in those meetings—she was terrific. You couldn't have anything but confidence when she was there. It was just astonishing. That experience as a staffer for Duncan and also for the member for Gorton, Brendan O'Connor, really prepared her.

Don't forget, she not only was involved and active in her health community back home—people forget that as well—but was an advocate as a lawyer and defender, working in criminal law and other areas of law. That demonstrated her incredible preparedness to come here. When she came here, she hit the ground running. Anyone who saw her knew she was a terrific local member and a consummate parliamentarian. She really knew the standing orders; she would have made a good Speaker. People talked about her being a potential cabinet minister; she would have been a terrific Speaker, can I tell you.

Everyone who comes to this place looks around and sees if anyone is going to be any good in their first term. Honestly, you look and see how they go in 90-second statements, three-minute speeches, MPIs and questions, in the way that they put it, and you see in committees whether they know their stuff. Well, Peta really knew her stuff. She really knew it in her speeches here, her 90-second statements, her three-minute speeches and her MPIs. The opposition must have feared when Peta Murphy got up on her feet during MPIs, because she was about the best we could deliver on our side on an MPI. She was absolutely brilliant. When I was the shadow minister for veterans' affairs, she was constantly coming up with good ideas, because she was an ideas person in many respects. She was a great advocate for veterans issues—even now. She was advocating right till the end on health issues, not just nationally but in her local community.

Don't forget she thought about parliament. Don't forget she talked about the fact that she didn't want these things—mobile phones—in during question time. She also talked about Dorothy Dixers. She was an advocate not afraid to say that JobKeeper or JobSeeker should be increased. On any issue that came to her mind, she was not afraid at all to speak out and let everyone know. She was a bit like that prophet Nathan in the Old Testament, speaking truth to power—that was her. Peta was never afraid to speak her mind, that's for sure.

She practised as a lawyer. Can I tell you: I enjoyed working with her in the parliamentary inquiry of the joint select committee on the Voice to Parliament. Peta did most of the hard, legal stuff. I did a bit of it. I almost acted like a second chair on occasion during that inquiry. I remember coming back one night from Canberra after we were all quizzing these learned lawyers, juris and judges. Sitting on the plane, I thought to myself, 'I was a lawyer with more than two decades experience'—I was a litigation lawyer before I came here. I was sitting on the plane as I was thinking about it, thinking, 'If there were one person in this parliament, apart from the member for Isaacs, who I wouldn't want to go up against in court, it would be Peta Murphy.' I thought she would be tenacious. I thought, 'I don't know how I'd be able to cope with her if I were arguing a case against her in court'—certainly not in criminal law, that's for sure. Her contribution to that inquiry was brilliant. She was across every detail. Every time I thought about a question to ask anyone, Peta had it in front of her. Her preparation was completely thorough, and she was absolutely forensic in relation to it.

As someone who's father was an alcoholic and had a gambling problem, I've been through a couple of gambling inquiries in this parliament since I've been here, and they were variable in terms of their outcomes. Peta was incredibly inquisitive, investigative and forensic during the inquiry she led on the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs. There were 31 recommendations in the report, called You win some, you lose more. It's all about a public health focus, rather than personal choice. She got it.

I want to tell the member for Cowper, who might be listening, that before Peta went to New York with the UN and the member for Gippsland—whose speech I want to praise; it was a great 90-second statement that he made in parliament last week—she rang me up. I was on the committee with her, so she said: 'Shayne, I want to let you know I'm going over to New York. I'm just not sure—can you take control of this committee for me?' I said: 'Okay, Peta. What are the issues and challenges and the matters?' You know when you can tell that someone hasn't got the information in front of them? She then proceeded, on the phone, to outline all the details to me, thoroughly and comprehensively and, indeed, concisely at the same time. I thought, 'She's right across everything.' She said: 'The member for Cowper's a good bloke. I don't think he'll cause you any problems, Shayne.' But you know what? Here she was, coming in from New York, chairing meetings! I don't know what time in the morning or evening it was over there, but she would be there. Despite the fact that she was going to New York, she never forgot the parliament here. She took that inquiry so seriously. It's not revealing stuff to say how patiently and perfectly she worked to get everyone together on that inquiry and that report. That is the Murphy report. Those recommendations are terrific, and I know the government's taking them seriously.

Hers was a life lived well—50 years, but not long enough. It's hard to come to terms with the fact that she's not here. I'm a right-winger in the Labor party from Queensland. I'm a long way from a suburban/urban left-winger in the Victorian branch of the Labor party! It took me a while to get to know her, and it took me a while to respect her and understand her. But I'm telling you: by the time I got on committees with Peta Murphy, I deeply respected and admired her and thought she was a great contributor. I remember those days with Brendan O'Connor, and I remember what she did and how she performed. Tony was right when he said that the IR changes owe a lot to Peta Murphy. She lived politics. She was prophetic in what she said. She talked about the fact that she wanted to leave democracy in a better shape than when she joined it, and she did.

My sincerest condolences to her loving husband of decades, Rod; her family and friends; her staff; and her supporters. We mourn her, we grieve her, we admired her and we respected her. She was well loved and well liked. Vale, Peta. Rest in peace. You've made our country better.

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