Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Minister for Revenue and Financial Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Farmer, solicitor, mother, senator, wife, minister and trailblazer for Australian women—there can be no doubt that the Hon. Jocelyn Newman AO was a remarkable woman who made a great contribution to our nation. It is with both sadness and admiration that I rise today, just like so many of my colleagues, to mark her passing last month at the age of 80.

Jocelyn was elected to parliament in 1986 and followed in the proud tradition of pioneering Liberal women, including Dame Enid Lyons, the first woman elected to the House of Representatives, and Dame Annabelle Rankin, the first woman to hold ministerial responsibility in the federal parliament. Jocelyn's contributions to Australian women are extensive, both within and beyond the parliament. She was a foundation member of the Women's Electoral Lobby in Sydney. She founded the first women's refuges in Hobart and Launceston. Jocelyn defeated 12 men for nomination to replace Liberal senator Peter Rae, after his resignation. As the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women in the Howard government, she championed measures to get women into small business, along with momentous reforms to the treatment of superannuation after marriage breakdowns and measures to address domestic violence. As the Minister for Women, I feel very strongly that I build on the incredibly strong foundations set out by Jocelyn Newman with her enormous contribution in this space.

Jocelyn was someone who marched to the beat of her own drum. She was courageous, eloquent and upbeat. After suffering herself from breast cancer, she used her public profile to encourage other women to undergo regular health checks. Jocelyn was a firm supporter of a woman's right to make decisions about her own body and her right to have an abortion. She also spoke against the Euthanasia Laws Bill 1996, which was aimed at preventing the Northern Territory, the ACT and Norfolk Island from passing laws allowing euthanasia. She said:

… I wish to have the right to knowingly choose the time of my death and the circumstances in which I die. Even more so, I passionately want to have that right for those I love.

On these sensitive issues, her views were informed by her strongly held belief in personal choice. You see, Jocelyn was a warrior for the Liberal Party and for its values. Throughout her life, she fought for greater individual freedom, for choice and for lower taxation. In her first speech in the Senate, she exclaimed:

My Party stands for the free citizen …

Like her husband, Kevin, and her son, Campbell, Jocelyn gave much to public life, serving as a senator for Tasmania for 15 years. In addition to her time as Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women, she also served as Minister for Social Security and Minister for Family and Community Services during the Howard government, and she was of course a member of the Howard cabinet.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said that Jocelyn's contribution to the Liberal Party, to Tasmania and to Australia was by all measures considerable and enduring. And I was privileged to hear former Prime Minister John Howard also speak very movingly about Jocelyn at her state funeral very recently, where he talked of her compassion, her absolute determination and her ability to focus very much on outcomes and on delivery. And two of her granddaughters spoke lovingly of their grandmother, both the private woman and the public woman that she was. Our thoughts are with Jocelyn's family, including her two children, Campbell and Kate, and granddaughters, Rebecca, Sarah, Emma and Samantha. What an inspiring figure she was for those four girls. We hope that they can take comfort in her substantial legacy, which lives on for all Australians. Vale, Jocelyn Newman.

Ross Hart (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Deputy Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to speak on this condolence motion, and I thank the minister for her words to honour the life of a distinguished former resident of the city of Launceston and, of course, representative as senator for Tasmania. It is my distinct responsibility as the member for Bass to reflect upon the life of service led by the Hon. Jocelyn Newman AO, senator for Tasmania, cabinet minister, lawyer and advocate for causes, particularly women's rights before those rights were front and centre in politics.

Her husband, Kevin Newman, was elected as the Liberal member for Bass in 1975. At that time, she had already served as a lawyer, practising in family law. She became active in addressing the plight of women and children facing domestic violence, something that is still a scourge requiring attention at the highest level in civil society today. At a practical level, she was a member of the Northern Regional Child Protection Assessment Committee within my electorate and assisted in the establishment of the Launceston Women's Shelter, as the minister referred to. In addition to that, she served as a board member on the Launceston Church Grammar School board. Having served my time in similar circumstances as a member of that school board and indeed other boards, I well understand how a sense of service and obligation requires people like Jocelyn Newman to serve many community organisations. The many eulogies to her spoke of her service to numerous community organisations, particularly with respect to women's groups and women's rights.

Jocelyn Newman was described, as the minister has said, as a political warrior. In speeches to the House yesterday, there was more than a hint of her tenacity and the strength of her resolve in arguing her case. She served her political party, the Liberal Party of Australia, Tasmania division, with distinction. She held high office as a shadow minister for defence and subsequently, in the Howard government, as a minister for social security. She served in that portfolio for a period of five years, which, considering the complexity and challenge of the portfolio, deserves particular mention.

It can be fairly said that there are clear and obvious differences between this side of the House and the government with respect to the issue of the social safety net and the extent to which a just society may be expected to provide support for those in need. There was nevertheless a paradox in Jocelyn Newman, in that she was prepared to argue the case for her portfolio with a degree of ferocity which spoke of her interest and care for those who were supported and required support from her department. Many have referred to the fact that she was informed by her particular conservative values. The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate provides some assistance in understanding the challenges that she faced. A critic spoke of her as 'warm and compassionate' but said that her reactions to social problems were influenced by, I quote, 'decades of conservative ideology.'

Within two months of taking office, she spoke of simplifying the welfare system, and this remained a focus of her time in office. She regarded the creation in 1997 of Centrelink, the national welfare delivery agency and a one-stop shop for federal welfare services, as central to her aims, noting that it was very much 'my baby'. She oversaw the introduction of the family tax package, reforms to child support legislation and, importantly, measures to combat domestic violence and to assist its victims, and took particular pride in introducing amendments to the youth allowance.

I'm told by one of my Queensland colleagues that it is significant that, when her son campaigned for office as Premier of the state of Queensland, he made one and only one significant promise, and that was in the area of funding for women's legal services. Given the reputation of the Newman government in Queensland for restraint and cutting the size of government, it is emblematic of her advocacy for women's issues that her son funded just such a program. Nevertheless, in her portfolio, she presided over a tightening of benefits and was attacked over changes to the funding of childcare centres and cuts to the funding of a number of communities and women's groups. Having regard to her passion and advocacy in this area, this would have been very difficult for her.

I always find it a matter of irony that those who engage in deep philosophical battles on either side of politics, those who are engaged in the most fierce political debates, those who advocate for change and those who possess such a driving force of personality can be struck down by the cruellest of diseases—in this case, Alzheimer's. As the Leader of the Opposition said yesterday, the terrible thing about Alzheimer's disease is that you become estranged from the qualities and person that so many people knew and admired. As the minister said today, many who knew her well described Jocelyn Newman by using expressions such as 'fierce', 'a warrior', 'strong', and 'a determined person'.

I particularly want to acknowledge the role that she played in bringing female representation to this place. Whilst there are differences as to how each of the main parties propose to address the deficit in female representation in parliament, in wider political and commercial life it should not be necessary for parliamentarians to emulate what must have been extreme adversity for Jocelyn Newman to obtain preselection and, ultimately, election to this place. In making this observation I don't wish in any way to demean the extraordinary service of Jocelyn Newman or others from her era who rose to serve despite all the impediments placed in their way. Rather, I would like to reflect upon the fact that diversity of representation in this place should be and must be celebrated. It is vitally important that women and girls of Australia realise that election to the Parliament of Australia and elevation to the boards of public companies should be seen as their right and absolutely without discrimination in any form whatsoever. It is also vitally important that we celebrate the contributions of those who have served, irrespective of political difference.

I extend my condolences, and the condolences of the electors of Bass, to the Newman family, to Campbell and Kate and their extended families. Vale, Jocelyn Newman AO.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Bass for that heartfelt contribution and associate myself with the comments of both members of the House. I understand it is the wish of honourable members to signify, at this stage, their respect and sympathy by rising in their places.

Honourable members having stood in their places—

I thank the chamber.

Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Minister for Revenue and Financial Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That further proceedings be conducted in the House.

Question agreed to.