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

You are quite right, Senator Kemp, that is a very tough role and it is a very daunting role, but I think it was even more daunting getting to know Jeannie in that role because I had such respect for her. Not only was she wise; she knew so much about how this place works that you just knew you did not argue with Jeannie. It was an innate thing when you first met her; you just knew that you did not argue with Jeannie. She was very good to me. She was very good in counselling me, advising me and gently steering me along a path. In my early days that was certainly very helpful.

As many have commented, Jeannie often had this wonderful, wicked glint in her eye and she had this wonderful sense of humour. As has been mentioned many times, there is the story about the frogs—keeping 38 frogs in a wheelbarrow. I cannot think of anybody other than Jeannie Ferris who would actually come up with that description of trying to be Government Whip in this chamber. It is very apt. I think all the frogs on this side of the chamber, and those on the other, owe her a great sense of gratitude for her contribution in this place, which really was enormous.

Jeannie was incredibly dedicated. The work that she has done on behalf of women has been mentioned already today. It cannot be underestimated how important that was. I had the good fortune to work with Jeannie on a particular issue which was to be a cross-party issue. I appreciated her knowledge and understanding of not only the issue but how to make sure it went forwards, how to make sure that the processes would work, so that we would not trip at hurdles down the track and so that it would actually be successful. You knew you could rely on Jeannie and that what she knew would be right. I think that in this place we all relied on her an awful lot for her knowledge and her strength. It was that incredible strength that saw her through in this place. I do not think even to this day we can understand how much strength she must have had to continually come into this place; so many of us did not know how unwell she was.

Senator Siewert remarked on that dedication earlier in relation to the cervical cancer vaccine. I can remember very clearly that question time with Jeannie whizzing around the chamber and making sure she got all these signatures from all these women. Only Jeannie would think: ‘I’ve got a captive audience. I have to use it; I’ve got 40 minutes to whiz round this place and make sure that I’ve got this right.’ It was an issue that really was not going to go forward until that point but, within 48 hours, Jeannie had an outcome. It was an extraordinary thing for her to be able to do. The way she thought about it, planned it, did it and got an outcome was really a testament to how she worked and operated in this place at such a wonderful level. It was just an extraordinary example to all of us and especially those of us who are still very new to this place.

I remember her final speech in this place. I was on whip’s duty, so I was sitting next to Jeannie as she was delivering her speech. There were a few of us, not too many, in the chamber at that time. I know that those who were there will remember that as a very special moment at the time, not even in hindsight, because her belief in doing the right thing for women’s issues and the things that she was fighting for came through so strongly in that speech. I had no idea she had been so unwell. She sat down next to me and said, ‘Interesting, isn’t it—they’ve got no idea I’ve been in hospital this morning.’ At that stage, I gaped a bit. She said, ‘I said to them this morning I had to be back in here by four o’clock this afternoon to do a speech and they said, “You can’t possibly do that.”’ I will not say exactly what she said to them but it was along the lines of, ‘I most certainly will be back there to do that speech.’ That was the day leading up to that most wonderful speech that was the culmination of all her hard work.

She was a wonderful person, she was a real lady and I think that needs to be said—not only was she a great warrior; she was a real lady. I have the utmost respect for her, as I know so many other people do. My condolences to her family and also the staff, who I know have been incredibly affected by this. She will be very sadly missed, but very well remembered.