Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to pay tribute to the life of my dear friend Sneha Joshi. Only a few weeks ago, Sneha was with me here in Parliament House meeting the new High Commissioner of India. I called Sneha as she travelled home a few days later. She was in her usual bright spirits and we shared a few laughs. She was over the moon to have finally spent time with my baby, Aurelia, while she was in town. We planned to catch up when I returned from Canberra, but that was the last time we would speak. Sneha was taken from us suddenly and too soon.

I cannot remember the first time Sneha and I met, but I know that it was during the 2013 election campaign. In this profession you do not forget those who join you in your corner when the chips are down, and that epitomised Sneha. That was the start of our friendship. In the nearly four years since, I have got to know not only Sneha but her remarkable family, including her beloved husband, Mahdu, her son, Milind, and her daughter, Madhavi, as well as her extended family and grandchildren. She happened on that occasion, when I last saw her, to be in Canberra visiting her granddaughter Aishwarya. She was so proud of all her grandchildren. One of her proudest messages to me was about how her grandson Jay had excelled with the Blacktown District Cricket Club, and about their historic victory in Orange earlier this year. I know because she said in the message to me, 'I could not resist communicating this good news to you.'

Sneha always addressed me as 'Respected Michelle' or 'Honourable Michelle' regardless of how much I protested. She was a gifted academic, a doctor and a professor of education. In another age she probably would have been a minister for education or a senior education bureaucrat. Her family told me that when she was doing her PhD she would wake early and stay up late—she was always switched on. In fact, they said, she could survive on around four hours sleep a night.

Sneha epitomised the very best of the migrant story. We grew close because we were interested in relationships, and politics is about relationships. The commentary and analysis come and go, but being able to have relationships is a constant. Sneha's relationships were always authentic. She knew how to talk with people. She was a model for young people. Some of my fondest memories are of being at her home and sitting with a number of Young Labor members around table with too much food. A social media memory was shared during the election campaign last year and, yes, we were seated around table of food at her house. On election night last year I had never seen anyone happier. Indeed, she was the happiest person in the room that night at the Blacktown RSL. I will never forget Young Labor making a circle around her, clapping and chanting, 'Boss is boss!'

Sneha was a Swaminarayan devotee, and we would greet one another: 'Jai Ganesh. Jai Swaminarayan.' She enjoyed very much the Lalor Park Community Garden. As one of her former gardeners commented to me at her funeral, the message that Sneha brought, irrespective of everyone's background or their different religions, was that we were all connected. As my staff said, it is still hard to believe that Sneha will not be popping into the electorate office in Seven Hills after her community garden day. I particularly want to thank the Sydney Shakti Temple, which put on prayers at very short notice when Sneha's illness became known.

So many people commented with the same words when they found out about Sneha's death: 'Michelle, she adored you.' She did, and I did not deserve her adoration. I will miss our long talks. I will miss the way we looked at one another knowingly when we could not talk. We always understood one another. I will not particularly miss standing in the cold all day for three weeks, while pregnant, at the Blacktown pre-poll during last year's campaign, but I will never forget how hard Sneha worked at pre-poll and, again, how we would look knowingly at one another when we knew we had a vote.

Sneha was the heart of the campaign and, as I said, she represented all that is good about the Labor story—a respected professor of education from India who migrated to Australia and who lived her life to the fullest. Her passion for education in young people drove her every day. She was incredibly kind and warm. She was a truly selfless individual whose home and heart were always open to others.

I never thought I would be in this parliament thanking a 73-year-old woman from Gujarat for getting me here. She was one of the hardest workers I have ever met. When she was farewelled last week people were spilling out the door from at least six religions that I could ascertain, from so many demographics and backgrounds. Thank you, Sneha, for loaning yourself to me for such a short period of time.