Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I honestly can't remember when I first met Peta Murphy, but it was in one of those moments of six degrees of separation. Like me, Peta was a former advisor to Duncan Kerr SC, the former member for Denison, although Peta and I worked for Duncan at different times. Peta was Duncan's arts and justice policy advisor from 1999 to 2001 when he was shadow justice and arts minister, and I was Duncan's chief of staff in 2007 to 2008 when he was the Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs under Kevin Rudd. I'm pretty sure we first met by accident, with Duncan somewhere in the middle of it. I know, for sure, we met after my election in 2016 when Peta was Brendan O'Connor's chief of staff, before her own election to parliament in 2019, because we would swap stories about working for Duncan. Nothing salacious, I'm afraid. Duncan was terrific to work for, and Peta and I both thought very highly of him.

Following her own election to Dunkley in 2019, Peta and I were neighbours on the opposition backbench for a short time—right over there—egging each other on. We were both 94(a)'d at various times. And the contribution from the member for McEwen remembered me that she started her parliamentary career sitting next to one Mitchell, and she ended it, in the saddest terms, sitting next to another—not related!

It was clear to me that Peta Murphy was someone special. I wrote this last night, when I came to Canberra, and the contributions throughout today have remarked on this: 'a sharply honed intellect' were the words I used. I think every contribution I have heard today has mentioned Peta's intellect. She had a sharply honed intellect and a passion for social justice, but these were forged with a clarity to provide practical change that made a positive difference to people's lives. All of us here in this place have got a passion to try and drive forward the things that we believe in, but Peta had something that was able to bring it all together and drive through it, whether it was her experience in Brendan's office, her experience as a lawyer and a barrister—I don't know, but she really cut through it. She really was one out of the box.

Everything I recall about Peta—other than her obsession with squash—was about making people's lives better. It was never about herself; it was always about other people. She got in touch with me a couple of years ago to urge me to support a new education counselling service that had been running in her electorate and which she was keen to see spread far and wide. There was nothing in it for her. She just saw an opportunity to make more kids' lives better, no matter where they lived.

I have no doubt that, if Peta Murphy had survived her illness, she'd be well on her way to a senior ministry within a national Labor government. And she certainly never let her illness define her, defying it to the very last week of her life. I wasn't sure I was going to mention this but I will. We both came into the Reps last week, on the same day, the same morning. I was going through the scanning machine, and Peta was just behind me, coming through the doors with some bags. They didn't look heavy, but they were bags she was carrying, and it was clear to me she was unwell. For a moment, I hesitated. I thought, 'Should I offer to carry the bags? and I thought: 'Hang on, mate, this is Peta Murphy you're talking about. Give it a rest.' Peta was one of those people that, if she wanted help, she would have asked for it. So I didn't, and, of course, that's probably one of the last times I saw her. I didn't speak to her the rest of the week.

Over the years Duncan Kerr and Peta maintained contact and friendship, and I recall how Duncan would speak fondly of Peta and her many achievements. Duncan, who's now a constituent of mine in Lyons and who I continue to treasure, has provided me with the following words that I'd like to put into Hansard on his behalf.

Peta was always going to fly high. Her feisty character when she was young as my adviser was never going to be satisfied by the ordinary. Barrister, academic, sports coach or left wing shock jock were all possible candidates for Peta's career. If the time she worked with me helped to open Peta to the possibility that her future might be in elected public service it was at the cost to other paths of her extraordinary potential and paths not travelled. I will miss Peta's sharp wit and a friendship that was maintained to the end.

Breast cancer robs us of so many people every year, most of them women, and now we have lost Peta Murphy. Peta's family, her husband, Rod; her parents, Bob and Jenny; and her sisters, Jodi and Penni, have been robbed of someone they cherished—new memories never to be made, new achievements never to be marked. The parliament has been robbed of someone we all loved and admired, and the nation has been robbed of someone with so much more to contribute to public life.

I'd like to end with this Gaelic saying, and I apologise for any mispronunciation: ar scath a cheile a mhaireann na daoine. Through the shelter of each other, people survive. Vale Peta Murphy.

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