James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to pay tribute to Mrs Margaret Pyne, who sadly passed away nine days ago. Her funeral was held today, and I regret that I was not able to attend it because of parliamentary commitments to be here in Canberra. I pay tribute to her. She passed away at the age of 93. She led a full life, one of great enjoyment and satisfaction, and, whilst her passing is sad, we are very grateful for the lovely long life that she led. She was a stalwart of the Liberal Party in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide, a community servant, a very proud mother of five and grandmother of 12. Of course, one of her children, Christopher Pyne, served in this House for 26 years as my predecessor, as the member for Sturt.

I first met Mrs Pyne a little over 20 years ago. She was, indeed, the embodiment of that generation that is sadly coming to an end, people who were so dedicated to their community and the contribution that they wanted to make to society. Standing here in the House of Representatives, there are a lot of different elements of Margaret Pyne's life, but I would like to talk about her contribution to the Liberal Party and to politics. It's regrettable that people like Margaret Pyne don't come along very often these days. It is regrettable that we don't have those great elements of our democracy—people who want to work really hard without seeking any personal political glory, to fight for the things that they believe in, who love their country, who care about the direction that it is going in and who make a contribution to the political process. In her case, it was to the Liberal Party. It doesn't matter to me, like it wouldn't have to her, what your political views are but it is so important that we stand up for our values of democracy, of participating in the political process and helping to shape the direction of our country. That is something that Margaret Pyne absolutely did for many, many decades through her involvement in the Liberal Party. She was awarded with the Meritorious Service Award by Liberal Party more than 10 years ago.

When I first joined the Liberal Party and took my first early interest Liberal Party politics and politics generally, I met her very soon after my involvement commenced. She was one of those people who was ubiquitous within the Liberal Party in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide.

I remember her being in Canberra, I think it was 15 years ago, when her son, Christopher, first became a minister in the Howard government. She loved her politics. At times, he, like he did for the rest of us, could frustrate her, but nonetheless she loved his achievements in this parliament and through his career. But her involvement in the Liberal Party was well beyond the fact that he was a member of parliament.

She was very committed and was dedicated to her love of politics, her love of the Liberal Party, her interest in the Liberal Party's success and being someone who would work towards that success through all the jobs that we all in this chamber know our great volunteers do that are why and how we end up in this place. We are so grateful to people like Margaret Pyne, who do so much to support and help us become representatives for our community and contribute to the great contest of ideas that happens here in the House of Representatives and throughout politics in this great democracy in our country.

My deepest condolences to the Pyne and Evans family. I hope that your grief is somewhat tempered by the fact that, after nearly four decades of being apart, Margaret and Remington are together again for eternity in the kingdom of heaven. Vale Margaret Pyne.