Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Trish, I am going to miss you a huge amount. Because of the shadow portfolio and spokesperson roles I hold, I have worked a lot with Trish, and with Nigel. I am not a Territorian but I suspect I have spent more time in the Territory than most of our Senate colleagues. I have been in the Territory, in community, with Trish on many occasions. I cannot tell you how highly Senator Trish Crossin is regarded in those communities. This is quite obvious the minute you go into the communities with Trish—you see everybody coming up to her to ask her questions about what is going on and to show their respect for the work that she does. It has been a great learning experience for me to be in community with you, Trish.

Likewise, I remember my worst day in here, which was when the intervention was announced. I had a group of Central Australian traditional owners in my office the day it was announced, and I will to the day I die remember the tears flowing down their faces when they heard the news. I swore then that I would fight to oppose it—and I will continue to oppose it and its new invention, Stronger Futures. I still do not think that Stronger Futures has given the control and decision making to communities. We spoke on many occasions of things being just the same.

I have also deeply respected your chairing of the committees which I have participated on, such as legal and constitutional affairs. I must say that you have been very generous in the time that you have given me to ask questions in estimates. I also acknowledge the fair way in which you have chaired the many inquiries which I have taken part in. We have spent a relatively brief time together on the joint committee on constitutional recognition. I am very sorry that you will not be chairing that committee, because I think you have done a great job and you want to see constitutional recognition achieved.

The work that you have done for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities has been outstanding. A measure of that is that, since the announcement in January that you will no longer be in this place, whenever I have been in community or with members of the Aboriginal community, they have asked me: 'What's going on? What have they done to Trish?' They have shown a great level of disappointment that you were treated in the manner in which you were treated and that you will no longer be a senator—a senator who speaks so passionately about community interests and who ensures in all ways that the effect which any bills have on Aboriginal people and communities is taken into account.

I also remember the time we spent adding up numbers for the issues that you talked about—RU486 and stem cells. I have said in this place before that those occasions when we all work together across parties on various issues show the best of this parliament and this chamber. As I said, many people are greatly disappointed that you will no longer be in this place. I will miss your chairing of committees. I will miss being able to rant and rave with you about bad policies. I will miss the advice that you give on how policies affect the Territory and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Your presence here will be greatly missed. I greatly value your input. The respect that you obviously have in this place is on show here today. I hope the respect that Nigel has shown you and the camaraderie that you as Territorians have continues in this place. I know that you both do your best. I have disagreed with you on many occasions but I know that you genuinely do your best to represent the interests of Territorians.

I wish you well. I wish your family well. It is nice to put faces to the names that I have heard talked about. I met Kate when she was smaller, but it is nice to put faces to the names that I have heard so much about over the years. To Trish's mum—Hi!

Senator Crossin interjecting—

And there is your sister. I have also heard a lot of stories about her. We do talk a lot about our families when we are on the road together. We all miss our families so we all share lots of stories about our families. Trish has shared lots about her sister. It is all good—mostly—except for the time when the mud crabs were thrown out instead of the cane toads. I will always remember that story. The rest of you will have to ask Trish about that one—they were frozen mud crabs that were thrown out. We will miss you, Trish. Well done. Congratulations. You are able to look back on 15 fantastic years of achievement—thank you.