Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Today I rise to pay tribute and to offer my condolences in this place for the late Senator, the Hon. Rosemary Crowley AO. Dr Crowley is survived by her three sons—Stephen, Vincent and Diarmuid—and two grandchildren—Ella and Leo. It was a great privilege to attend the memorial service just last Saturday for Dr Crowley. In saying that, I did, with profound sadness, enjoy listening to the stories told about Rosemary, particularly by or on behalf of her children. It was a tribute to what a great mum she was, and I really want to acknowledge that.

Senator Rosemary Crowley was the first female Labor senator from my home state of South Australia. She was a fierce advocate for affirmative action and for our Labor caucus to be 50 per cent women—a goal that has now been achieved in the Albanese Labor government and in South Australia's Malinauskas government. I know Rosemary Crowley would have been very proud of this.

My first memory of Rosemary Crowley wasn't of her as a person but of the inside of her office, because she opened up her office for young Labor volunteers working hard on election campaigns. She would come in and give us a bit of encouragement, late at night, sometimes. In those days you had to stand over a photocopier to print the fliers you were going to distribute. My connection with Rosemary went for much longer than that. Even after she had left politics, she was regularly providing support to me in many different ways, most recently attending my fundraisers. That was the commitment she had. You only hope when you leave this place and leave office that you will continue to encourage and inspire others, and that is certainly what Rosemary did for me.

Rosemary Anne Willis—later Crowley—was born in Melbourne in 1938, the second of six children. Her Roman Catholic upbringing and her primary and secondary education instilled a passion for social justice and a vocation for community service. Rosemary later completed a medical degree at the University of Melbourne before undertaking a residency as a medical officer at St Vincent's Hospital. She later worked as a pathologist at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne. On return to Australia from Berkeley, California, in 1969 Dr Crowley joined the Australian Labor Party and experienced the excitement of the Whitlam government in 1972 and the subsequent disappointment of the 1975 dismissal. Rosemary then contested the seat of Mitcham in the South Australian parliament in 1977 and 1979, before being elected as fifth on this Senate ticket in the 1983 double-dissolution.

In her maiden speech in the Senate on 4 May 1983, Senator Crowley spoke of her campaign theme, 'Bread and Roses', a song with origins in the Industrial Workers of the World songbook. She shared these words to capture what she wished to offer in her contributions to politics, adding 'The quality of people's lives is very much part of what "bread and roses" means.' In her speech and throughout her time as a senator, Rosemary sought to improve the quality of life for people by improving education and support for people in the community to manage their own lives without fear of discrimination, and by being involved in decisions that impacted them through the Hawke government programs of consolidation and care.

Senator Crowley was subsequently re-elected in the eighties and nineties, and in 1993 was appointed by Prime Minister Keating as Minister for Family Services and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women. I think this was very fitting because, as many previous speakers have said, her fierce advocacy for women's right to be in the parliament cannot be understated. Through her 19 years in the Senate, Rosemary was the only female Labor senator from South Australia. It was her putting her hand up and, as we heard at her memorial, the subsequent preselection battle that really inspired so many other women to put their hands up. She really did pave the way within the party to put one's hand up for preselection.

At the memorial it was really lovely to hear former senator Chris Schacht talk about the way she did this. She did this in a way where she called everyone, left no stone unturned, but forthrightly put forward the contributions she could make to the Senate, and she was preselected. I have to say that, in doing so and through her subsequent career in the Senate, she really demonstrated that the preselectors absolutely got it right. Not only her legacy and her contribution—whether it was advocacy for Medicare or her advocacy for needs based childcare—but her advocacy for women really did pave the way in the South Australian branch of the Labor Party for people like myself to put their hand up for public office.

There are now three female Labor senators from South Australia, and the Labor Party continues to preselect and elect women not just in your marginal seats but in safe seats, in very winnable seats, so that women can take up their rightful place. Rosemary understood that, if we are going to get policies that serve families and serve women in this place, then we need to have women at the table, and she paved that way for so many women. For me, her personal support well after she left politics was really appreciated. As I said, she turned up to fundraisers. You wonder if you have to do that after you leave this place, but she continued to turn up to my fundraisers and continued to support me in my role as the member for Kingston, and I would be very appreciative. She was an inspiration to me and many others. I look to her as a real trailblazer within the Labor Party and within the South Australian branch of the Labor Party. To be quite frank, without people like Rosemary Crowley I wouldn't be in this parliament today. Vale Rosemary Crowley.

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