Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise also to make a few comments about Jeannie and her life and her time here. While I did not know her nearly as well as many in this chamber, in the very short time I have been here I found that you could not possibly be in Jeannie’s orbit without having it affect you. I remember very early on, not long after I was elected—just after the election—I had a phone call from Senator Ferris inviting me out to lunch. It was still a number of months before I was actually going to take my place here. But she invited me to lunch. We went and had a very nice lunch.

I thought two things at that point. I thought that it was incredibly thoughtful that she had bothered to take the time to meet me, get to know me and ask me to have lunch with her. I also thought at the time that she was really just wanting to get a good look at this new crew that was going to come in and make sure that she had the jump on everybody else on how we were all going to operate. I think they were two sides of Jeannie that really reflect the type of person that she was. She was a very clever person, a very astute person and a person with a lot of dignity.

So many members and senators held her in such high regard. I would also like to make the point that it was not just members and senators; it was also a lot of our staff. She was very good to a lot of our staff. Certainly my staff said how much they valued the relationship that they had with her and how good she was to them. I think it is very important that we make sure that that is also acknowledged. She was very tough. When I took on the role as Nationals Whip—it is a fairly daunting job—