Julian McGauran (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I associate my remarks with those of the former speaker and those of all my colleagues on both sides of the house. I extend my condolences to Jeannie Ferris’s family—her sister, Pam, and her two sons, Robbie and Jeremy—on the sudden passing of our friend and colleague. I offer to the family my thoughts and prayers for the grace and strength needed in their time of sorrow. I respected Jeannie very much as a professional and as a friend. I worked with her seemingly on a daily basis. We seemed to pick the very same interests. I assisted her for many years in the role of whip. As you all know, she was the senior government whip; I was very much the junior. I was also a member of the government backbench rural and regional committee, which Jeannie chaired. I should say that within the government that is a most senior position. We both sat on the Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport for, if my memory serves me right, the past decade, if not the whole term of the government. Jeannie had a very heavy workload, which Senator Ferguson alluded to, but it did not bother her. It very much reflected her political career, the speciality that she came to politics with, her passion and her life experiences. She was a worker and an enthusiast, which makes for a very energetic mix. Jeannie was, at every level, across her brief. She was serious about her work but she was never short of that somewhat cheeky or somewhat witty Jeannie smile. Only on occasions did her stern look come out. It was all this that made her an ever pleasant person to be around. That is quite a personal achievement in life, yet alone this particular profession.

Her achievements have been outlined by my colleagues, particularly the way she tackled, without fear or favour, the rural issues of the day—whether in the wool industry, the beef industry, the wheat industry or the citrus industry. One time or another, each one of those industries required a shakedown if not a shake-out. Jeannie was just the person to achieve that. She had the knowledge, the experience and the unflinching determination. Inevitably, she was always right when she sought reform within these industries, even if she had to convince many of us on the committee along the way. I will not give case-by-case examples, but I heard Kay Patterson mention the apple industry and the wool industry. They are just two examples. We are all aware of the fights that she took on in the rural industry, which is one of the toughest grounds to fight any political battle. She was inevitably the first to take up the fight and she was inevitably right to do so.

Most of all, away from the daily grind of parliament, I appreciated her friendship and her closeness, which I found greatest while on the overseas delegations with her representing Australia. As we on both sides of parliament all know, when you go overseas to represent the country, away from the hustle and bustle of politics, political friendships are struck and you get to know people better. This was well before her illness, which for over a year robbed her of her natural vitality, as you would expect it to, though through it she was an example to everyone as to how to keep looking forward and to keep active, even in adversity. I trust now she rests joyfully in heaven.