Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When I was running for preselection in my seat of Sydney in 1997, I got a letter from Maggie Deahm. Maggie being Maggie, it was full of good, solid, practical advice—blunt and forthright. Of course, by then Maggie was the veteran of two successful preselection campaigns—one in 1993, when she went on to win the seat of Macquarie by just 165 votes, and another in the year of 1997, when she won the right to contest Macquarie for the ALP again.

When Maggie won the seat of Macquarie in 1993, although it was on different boundaries to those of the 1940s, she was very conscious of representing the same seat that Ben Chifley had held for Labor. In her first speech to the House of Representatives, she told the story of meeting Ben Chifley when she was a little girl. She said she had been impressed by his 'quiet strength'. Maggie herself had plenty of strength, but 'quiet' was not a word that many people would have applied to her. She was fearlessly outspoken on the issues that mattered to her. She was a fierce advocate for the community she represented and which she loved so much. She was an advocate both inside and outside our parliament. She stood up against injustice and unfairness wherever she saw them. At her election, she joined what was then quite a small number of women in the parliament and in the federal parliamentary Labor Party. There were just 13 women in the House of Representatives then, and nine of them in the ALP.

It was not at all a welcoming an environment. Her first bound copy of Hansard arrived embossed with 'Mr Deahm'. But Maggie was not one to take a backwards step. When then Treasurer John Dawkins addressed a female Liberal MP as 'sweetheart' after taking her interjection, Maggie did not hold back when TheSydney Morning Herald asked her opinion. It was an example of the 'boys club' in the House, she told the paper. 'It was sexism.' It did not matter that John Dawkins was one of her own. And Maggie did not hesitate to condemn what she termed as 'patriarchal' attitudes from some members on the other side of the chamber, either. She was frank and unashamed—an advocate of the rights of women to work, to have access to child care if they needed it, and to have access to safe and affordable abortions. She is also remembered as a strong advocate for improved social policy in our parliament and in the Labor caucus. She left her mark on Labor's policies in income support, aged care, carers and veterans payments, and health policy, especially around the management and treatment of breast cancer.

Her niece, Cynthia, wrote to me about Maggie's commitment to her electorate and to her parliamentary committee responsibilities in the Keating government. She said that it was the most fulfilling time in Maggie's life—in her very full life. In that email, Maggie's niece Cynthia also asked me to thank the members of the Katoomba branch of the Australian Labor Party: Remola Hollywood; Trish Doyle and Adam Searle, state MPs; Ross Free; and Senator Cameron, who is with us this evening.

Maggie was very special to us. She made a big difference to many of us. She had a big impact on the ALP. We value her contribution. She is one of our own. But I think for women of my generation in our party, Maggie's greatest legacy was her example—unapologetically outspoken, unashamedly passionate about the things she believed in, unafraid to stand up for herself or for anyone else who needed it.

Our thoughts and our sympathies are with her family and friends, who feel this loss most keenly, especially her brother, Robert Deahm, and his wife, Beverley, who are attending here tonight, representing Maggie's family, her sister Nancy Pope and her nieces and nephews. We remember Maggie. We celebrate her contribution. She truly was one of our own.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Could I also acknowledge Robert Deahm and Beverley Deahm—the brother and sister-in-law of the late Maggie Deahm, who are in the gallery and with us tonight.