Andrew Leigh (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Adele Horin's last article centred on the topic of luck:

… I’ve attributed my moderate successes in life to luck—

she began—

Yes, hard work and intelligence do play a part, but luck stands out as queen of the trifecta.

Ms Horin's understanding of chance never led to fatalism or cynicism; rather it became the foundation for the gratitude she felt for all of the beautiful things that had marked her life. Her loving partner, her two sons, her parents and her upbringing; her long and eclectic career as one of Australia's leading female journalists. As a cadet journalist, Ms Horin once earned the ire of Western Australian farmers when she misreported the time of sunrise on the weather pages. She went on to earn a name for herself as a Walkley-winning social issues journalist of remarkable rigour and empathy. Adele Horin applied her prose and intellect to many issues that saw her become a voice for the voiceless: euthanasia, poverty, sexual harassment, there were few topics of poverty and disadvantage that escaped her pen. If any of us were in her position—almost 65 and struck down with lung cancer without ever having smoked a cigarette—Adele Horin's affliction could be painfully difficult to accept. Writing in her last blog post, she appears tempted to give into this idea:

I want to say it's unfair.

But she returns like a magnet to her refrain:

Whatever happens, I’ve been so lucky.