Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise, like all of my colleagues who have stood, to talk about a woman who surpasses all of us and whose courage and legacy, even when she was alive, were a living legend for all of us. I know, having been a young person coming up through the system at that time, what it's like walking in the footsteps of women like Dr O'Donoghue. Trying to meet the same principles by which she lived her life was always going to be a tough task. For someone like me, she was 30 years my senior. Going through, I saw a similar role. Dr O'Donoghue's upbringing and that early start in her life mirrored the life of my father, who was a member of the stolen generations.

I remember receiving the news on the day that she passed away, when Minister Burney sent a notice around to all of us that she had passed. It was a sad occasion. We all feel the loss of a family member, and she was like a family member to all of us. We might have come from a different tribal group—she'd come from South Australia, and I'm from the Northern Territory—but it didn't matter where we were from. It transcended—we were all together, fighting a fight and continuing this journey for social justice and equity for Aboriginal people.

I think it was around 1990 when the government established and she became the inaugural chairperson of ATSIC, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, right up until about 2005. The member for Newcastle was absolutely right: in that time, ATSIC was probably the most organised, the most fearless and the most proactive in terms of organising and addressing some of the issues on the ground across our communities Australia-wide, not just in the Northern Territory.

ATSIC was seen as the repository or the body that governments, if they couldn't deal with something, could just shove everything into, and I think it became unwieldy. It became, I suppose, the dumping ground for everything across Australia that had an Aboriginal tag on it. Lowitja and the many people involved in that early movement were able to work through that. It was her intellect, her grace and the way in which she worked with successive governments to work through the politics, particularly on the ground and in the Northern Territory, that enabled her to work through that and get what everyone in those communities wanted: a resolution and an outcome.

I was coming into—and, like her, had spent my life in—the Aboriginal health sector. When I think of her, I think of people like Barbara Flick and of the many Aboriginal women who were triple certificate nurses who had fought to be recognised in that system for their qualifications and to be able to work in the mainstream health sector. That was tough for them. But, in talking to and meeting with her, there was never any sense of resentment or hatefulness from Dr O'Donoghue. It was all of that early life that shaped her to be true, courageous and fearless, and, as Minister Burney said in her statement, what a courageous and fearless leader she was. She was certainly a trailblazer.

For Aboriginal women, she was certainly the person who cleared that path for many of us to be able to go down it and not be afraid, because she was never afraid. If you look at her early life—I'm not going to go over any of that, because I think there have been so many people who have spoken before me that have gone through her early life—and everything that she achieved, it was certainly a pathway that had been cleared for Aboriginal women, particularly young women, and for people like myself to be able to aspire to that through sheer hard work. Keeping your convictions and never losing who you are were always things that came through every time I had the privilege of talking and meeting with Dr O'Donoghue. It was always the same message: never forget who you are, be true to your convictions and, if it's a fight, do it with grace and do it with dignity. You can still get the same outcome if you do it in a way that—I'm just trying to find the right words here. You can have the biff, but she always used to say that honey can bring people—

An honourable member: Into respect.

Yes. She didn't always agree with people, and it was on both sides of politics. I remember working in the health sector and both Pat Anderson, a good friend of mine, and me coming down and meeting with Dr O'Donoghue, with the then Aboriginal affairs minister, Robert Tickner, and with Carmen Lawrence, who was the health minister and also from Western Australia—so I'm going back a number of years—and talking to them about an unpalatable subject. We could see that everything, including the issue of Aboriginal health, was put on ATSIC and that ATSIC commissioners and elected members had to make decisions that they just wouldn't have expected to have happen in the mainstream.

We felt that, whilst health was hived into ATSIC and hidden away in ATSIC, it meant that Aboriginal people, particularly in the Northern Territory, didn't have access to the MBS, the Medicare Benefits Schedule, or the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. We did a lot of research which showed that, for every dollar that was spent on someone in the mainstream for MBS and PBS, 40c was spent on Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory—and a lot of that was attributed to ATSIC. So the blame was pushed onto ATSIC. I remember those meetings and coming down and talking to Dr O'Donoghue, talking to Dr Carmen Lawrence, who was the health minister, and also talking to Robert Tickner, who was the Aboriginal affairs minister at the time, to transfer the responsibility of Aboriginal health from ATSIC into the mainstream health system, where it sits today.

Whilst it was a big hit for ATSIC, I pay tribute to Dr O'Donoghue. With her intellect, her insight and her advocacy, we were able to get that transition which would have at that time been quite highly political and sensitive, particularly if Aboriginal people felt that money was being removed from ATSIC and put back into the mainstream health system. It's a testament to her insight and the work that she did. I think that, when we look at where the ACCHO sector is today—the Aboriginal community controlled health organisation sector—and at Aboriginal people getting access to the Medicare Benefits Schedule and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme to have access to the best health care, that is testament to Lowitja. I also have to acknowledge Carmen Lawrence and Robert Tickner as the ministers at that time.

I heard the member for Newcastle talk about how Lowitja was the steadying ship, and she did have a lot of respect. People did respect her because she was able to listen to all sides of that debate and then work it through with those communities and organisations. Anyone who's sitting in this room who's got any knowledge or understanding of black politics in this country will know she had the ability to balance the differing levels of culture, language and identity, bringing together particularly—and I can only speak for the Northern Territory—Aboriginal people from many different cultural backgrounds, and the ability to keep people focused and energised as to what their job was. That is a testament to Lowitja.

The regional councils at that time, in terms of ATSIC under her stewardship, were probably the best in the Northern Territory. If you go back to 1990 to 2006, when she stopped being the chairperson, you only have to look at what ATSIC did in terms of getting outcomes with housing, with education, with jobs—all of those things that we talk about today and we say, 'We're back to where we were before.' Sometimes it's hindsight, and back to the future is often a good thing. We can look back on some of those examples. Maybe we need to look back at what she had achieved and bring back some of those policies and have a look at them. It made sense then and it makes sense now. We shouldn't be afraid to look at the lessons of yesterday as examples for today.

There are many people that criticise ATSIC—and I've heard those criticisms in this parliament since I've been here and even before I came into this parliament—and they say, 'It was a basket case.' Often, if people criticise ATSIC and call it a basket case, they're reflecting on the stewardship of a great lady and a dame and someone that was highly respected in Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue. She was someone who held the ship. She steadied the ship. She carried it through some stormy waters, and then she stepped away. I think that when she stepped away—and I say this a lot in the Territory: if you want someone to do the job and you want them to do it right, get a woman!

When you look at Dr O'Donoghue and what she did, she did it in a frank way. She did it in a fearless way. She did no favours for anyone, and I think that's what's really important. She kept her dignity. She didn't need favours to be done. But she took no prisoners. I remember many conversations with her, particularly through the health discussions, where I, being a young person and thinking that I knew everything, was pulled down a peg or two—and that's okay. Often we need a bit of pulling down every now and then to make us see.

It was a loss for this nation, as well as for the Aboriginal community and her family, when she passed. I know the South Australian community. I remember being in Adelaide a long time ago, Member for Boothby, and she was sitting at the DFO near the airport, which I like to visit every now and then when I'm in Adelaide! She was at Harbour Town and she was sitting there having a cup of coffee, and I walked over. As always, in her presence, you felt compelled to bow because of her greatness and who she was and who she represented. She always made you feel special, and that was what I'll always be grateful for.

I have a favourite author—and I've read I Know Why the Caged Bird SingsMaya Angelou. Always, when I look at her and when I look at Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue I can see similarities between these two women. They were remarkable women.

I want to read something that I've always had, which is really close to me. I know that this sums up Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue, because she was brilliant, and her ability—and that's what was important, having the ability—like Maya Angelou, to harness the power of words to inspire people was truly remarkable. If you read her books and her teachings, it's not hard to be inspired. But I want to leave a little poem which I thought about with the passing of Lowitja. It's 'Still I Rise', and it says:

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I'll rise.

Vale and rest in peace, Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue.

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