Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to speak about the great loss of one of the outstanding constituents of the electorate of Barton. Lina Cabaero, a friend and colleague to many in this place, unfortunately lost her battle to pancreatic cancer on Saturday night. Lina had worked for the Asian Women at Work organisation here in Sydney since 2001. The organisation shone a light on the rights and vulnerabilities of migrant women. Lina worked closely with the union movement and was a member of the Australian Services Union for over 20 years.

I got to know Lina when I was the state member for Canterbury and closely worked with her and Asian Women at Work, a relationship that my office and I continued when I came to this place. Lina's activism started when she was a student at the University of the Philippines, initially studying to become a veterinarian. That all changed the day she and her friends joined a protest against Marcos. She would return to university to study political science, although her activism was her great priority. We pay attribute to Lina for the hundreds and hundreds of women that she helped in her lifetime.