Rod Kemp (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too pay tribute to Jeannie Ferris and associate myself with the condolence motion and the wide-ranging remarks that so many of my colleagues have made. There are three things I want to briefly speak on. As a minister, one spends a great deal of time in this chamber. Jeannie Ferris would of course often be in the whip’s chair. While we were always transfixed by the contributions of colleagues, I would occasionally move up to where Senator Parry is seated at the moment and talk to Jeannie. That happened over days, months and years. I got to know her very well as a result of the information exchanges which occurred over that period of time.

Jeannie, to me, was a great whip. It is an extraordinarily difficult job. None of us are shrinking violets in this chamber. I have never met a senator or a parliamentarian who is not ambitious for themselves and for their party. They all have strong interests. They all have immediate needs which must be fulfilled quickly. Often this puts huge pressure on a whip. Jeannie handled that very difficult job with great skill, in my view. It is interesting that so many people can stand up and make so many comments, including personal comments, about the impact that Jeannie had on their lives. I cannot think of an occasion on which I put a request to Jeannie Ferris when she was not able to assist or do her best—as Senator Ian Campbell pointed out to us—to see what she could do to help. Jeannie was a great whip. That puts a bit of pressure on you, Senator Parry, but the truth is that it is a good model to follow. She kept in very close touch with her colleagues and did that extremely well.

That leads me to my next comment: she had an enormous capacity for friendship. I have been most moved by the many anecdotes and stories that so many senators have conveyed to us and the personal effect that she had on their lives. It is not typical that someone could have so much to say to so many people and to have so much of an impact on them. Although, of course, in a condolence motion we always speak favourably, the sincerity with which people have spoken this afternoon is remarkable and it is an enormous tribute to Jeannie Ferris.

Finally, I share a story with the Senate. In my many conversations with Jeannie Ferris, particularly over the last 12 months, I learnt that Jeannie had determined to leave this chamber. As much as she loved it, as much as she loved her colleagues, she had decided to bring her Senate career to an end. She would speak to me regularly about that. I do not know whether she was trying to give me a hint or not, but she said that it was important to her that she left the Senate with dignity. She wanted to leave of her own wish. There are times when people do have to make the judgement to leave this place. The Senate is perhaps the best club in Australia, and it is hard to leave.

I thought her advice on that issue was very sensible and, I must say, in thinking of my own position and what I would do, Jeannie’s views on it did play loud with me. I thought her comments on how you bring to an end an important part of your life were very wise, sensible and had much merit. Jeannie, as was pointed out by Senator Ferguson, did not in the end leave in the way she had wanted to. Jeannie, in her maiden speech, spoke of the need for optimism in life and the need to think boldly about the future. And Jeannie was thinking boldly about the future. She was an optimistic person and I think that her thoughts, her comments and the way she lived her life showed that. I will miss her, like so many others in this chamber and in the wider community will. She was a great senator, she was a great person and she will be greatly missed. On behalf of myself and my wife, I would very much like to extend our condolences to her family.