Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Jeannie Ferris was a wonderful person, and all of us in this chamber are well aware of that, but, for those who might be listening, the number of tributes that have been made to Jeannie with such genuineness and heartfelt kindness are an example of the sort of person she was. She was a true friend I think to most of us here. She was a genuine friend of rural and regional Australia. I well remember how for many years she would lead the Thursday morning meetings of the rural and regional Liberals, and she would proudly proclaim to all and sundry that it was our party that was the true voice of country people, and she and I had that so very much in common. That is what we both believed, and Jeannie was a living example of how our party has been closely associated with rural and regional people throughout its existence.

She did much for country people and for country industries. As chair of our rural and regional backbench committee, she not only contributed much to the Howard government’s policy initiatives in rural and regional Australia; she also did something that I can confidently say no-one else will ever be able to emulate. She used to be able to manage in a skilful, firm and even pleasant way the policy ‘debates’—if I can use that word in inverted commas—between three of our more gentle debaters: Wilson Tuckey, Bill Heffernan and Alby Schultz. The way Jeannie would handle them will forever live in my memory and, as I say, I am very confident that no-one else will ever be able to achieve what Jeannie did in her control of that particular committee.

She used the same sort of firmness and fairness in the way she handled all of her duties in this chamber. Others have spoken about the many issues that she worked very closely on. I well remember her calm determination and her management skills in those difficult debates on RU486 and stem cells. They were issues where Jeannie showed every consideration for everyone else’s view and position, which is very difficult at times. As the whip—and there were not really whips for those particular debates—she made sure that the debate continued in such a way that everyone had their say and no-one was put under more pressure than they should have been. In her way, whilst being fair to all sides, she did a hell of a lot of work to achieve what she believed was right in those areas. It was to an extent her advice to me, her counselling—along with counselling from a few others, who know who I am talking about—that made it easy for me to make my decision on those two very contentious issues.

I extend my condolences and those of my wife, Lesley, to Jeannie’s family, to Robbie and Jeremy, and particularly to her staff, Robyn and Bronte and the others in her office, who were all very much part of Jeannie and her Canberra family. Jeannie was very kind to me in a personal way at a time when my troubles would have been very minor in comparison to her troubles, which she principally fought privately. Thanks very much for everything, Jeannie; rest in peace.