Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Spence for his contribution to this condolence motion. We had the opportunity to share some of the parliament's thoughts with the family yesterday when the Prime Minister spoke to this motion. It gives me real pleasure to be able to stand and make a modest contribution myself, because Senator Rosemary Crowley was indeed an extraordinary Australian, a real trailblazer in our nation's political landscape and a very fierce advocate for women's rights. She was somebody who, within the Labor movement, inspired me from her very early steps towards ensuring that women's rights were on the national agenda and up for public debate.

Senator Crowley was a woman of many firsts. In 1983, when she was elected, she was the first South Australian woman to be elected to the Australian parliament. She was the first woman from South Australia to serve as a minister. Her contributions as Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women and later as Minister for Family Services in the Keating government have had a profound and lasting impact on the lives of Australian women and families. I'll come to her legacy in a moment, but it's pretty astounding to think what it might have been like to be a woman in the Australian parliament in 1983. Obviously, this was the parliament sitting in Old Parliament House, where we know they didn't even have toilets built for women. There were very few women; we were a very rare, precious commodity in the '83 environment.

I know that Rosemary would be so proud of a Labor government today having a majority of women for the first time in Australia's history since 1901 when Federation formed. We sit in a parliament where, on the government benches, it is a majority of women. I suspect that was unimaginable—maybe not unimaginable for Rosemary; she always had a big vision—or would have seemed like a very long way away in 1983. Her legacy is not just in the policies that she helped shape but also in the doors that she opened up for women in politics. She understood that breaking barriers was not enough; it was about creating lasting change and ensuring that women had both the support and the structures that they needed to succeed and, importantly, sustain those positive changes over time. She appreciated, as do many of us who've come afterwards, the need to be forever vigilant about those important changes that have been made—never taking that for granted and to be always willing to stand up and be counted in this place, in the other house and, indeed, everywhere that women play, work and have a say.

The other point I want to touch on here is the very pivotal role that Rosemary Crowley played in the establishment of EMILY's List Australia. I've often spoken of EMILY's List's history in this House. Since its founding in 1996, EMILY's List has now supported over 600 women in their political journeys, with more than 320 being elected to parliaments across Australia. The increasing representation of progressive women in our political institutions is testament to the vision that Rosemary Cowley helped bring to life. Without her foresight and sheer determination, the landscape for women in Australian politics would look very different today.

Beyond politics, Rosemary was a tireless advocate for women's rights. She worked to improve access to child care, support working families and strengthen all of those policies that went to empowering women both economically and socially. She understood that gender equality required real, substantive action. She dedicated her career to making that action happen. I stand here today as one of the national co-chairs of EMILY's List Australia, deeply grateful—indeed deeply indebted—to the work that Rosemary not only began but really nurtured for the decades to come. That is such a deep, personal commitment. I really thank her family and everybody who enabled her to be shared and do all that hard work on behalf of so many women that she would not have even known that were coming behind her—those generations of Labor women coming through.

Her vision, her leadership and her commitment to justice have shaped the paths of so many Labor women who followed in her footsteps. I—indeed all of us who sit in this House today—have a lot to be very grateful for in Senator Crowley's work. Today we mourn her passing, but we also celebrate her immense contributions to our nation. The Labor Party is stronger because of Rosemary Crowley, Australian politics is more inclusive because of Rosemary Crowley and the fight for gender equality remains front and centre of Labor's agenda because of Rosemary Crowley. Vale, Rosemary. Your work lives on in the generations of women you have empowered and inspired. Thank you.

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