Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Can I add a few words this evening to thank and congratulate Trish for her contribution to public life. As Senator Moore has just said, we have not heard the end of Trish. She may be leaving us, but there is definitely life after the Senate. We know that Trish, who is so much an advocate for public policy and fairness, is not going to go away.

There are some times in your life when you meet someone who has a very formative impact on you, and I think that everybody here who has served as a senator with Trish would say that Trish is definitely one of those people. As we have heard, she has been very generous in the way in which she has mentored and supported people in this place. She was very kind to all of us who came in here trying to make sense of how this place works. And, as Senator Moore just said, as a teacher and an educator, she has the gift of being able to make those things so much easier and so much simpler.

I know that Trish has been sitting here for nearly an hour, as have her family. We are going to have lots of opportunities to thank Trish and acknowledge her work. Many speakers have already talked about the specific work that she has done in this place. We all have great personal memories of our relationship with Trish, which we will celebrate on some other occasions. I was having a conversation with the Clerk, and we discussed what kind of a poem Trish deserved. In deference to her past work as a teacher and in recognition of how Trish always pares away the inessentials to get right to the heart of the matter, I have decided to apply the discipline of a sonnet for you tonight, Trish. Here it is:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

I think I'll just resist that great temptation

And take this opportunity to pay

A tribute to your fine work for our nation.

Since '98 you've worked for the Northern Territory

Dragging us round the country in your zeal;

Indigenous rights were just one specialty

You wanted us to see, "to make it real".

On petrol-sniffing, migration and health

Committees were the beneficiaries

Of your insights and knowledge. And the wealth

Of fun we had in Ireland—what a wheeze!!

I'll miss you, Trish, and hope we remain friends

Long after both our time in Canberra ends.