Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for School Education and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate record its deep regret at the death, on 18 June this year, of former Senator Jean Isabel Melzer, and place on record its appreciation of her long and meritorious public service, and tender its profound sympathy to her family in their bereavement.

Jean Melzer was the first ALP woman elected to the Senate to represent Victoria. She was a senator for seven years from 1974 until 1981. In 1978 she was the first woman appointed as secretary of the caucus of the federal parliamentary Labor Party. Jean was a remarkable woman who lived through and was part of remarkable times.

Jean was born in the Melbourne suburb of Elsternwick on 7 February 1926. Academically gifted, Jean left school to help support her family in 1941 following the death of her father. Jean was principled and politically minded from a young age. Her concern for the disadvantaged and her commitment to the peace movement, feminism and the environment were constants throughout her life.

Jean joined the Communist Party as a teenager and remained a member until 1957. Her interest was applying the theory of communism to Australian society to address poverty and the absence of equality. In the 1960s she joined the Australian Labor Party, acknowledging that she was interested in changing the way we were governed. Her passionate opposition to the reintroduction of conscription and to the escalating Vietnam War added further fire to her commitment to social justice. From 1971 to 1974 Jean was secretary of the Victorian branch of the ALP and was responsible for organising the ALP's Victorian campaign for the 1972 election.

In the double dissolution election of 1974 Jean won a position in the Senate. As a senator, Jean was a direct speaker and a vigorous and constructive participant in committees. Always plain speaking, she promoted the issues of discrimination in the workforce, the inadequacies of child care, the inequality faced by Aboriginal Australians and the unequal distribution of superannuation benefits. She rightly saw the establishment of Medibank after the 1974 election as a major achievement for the Whitlam government.

Many of the issues that Jean sought to see addressed remain familiar to this parliament. Her contribution on these matters was groundbreaking. She was part of a social movement which changed Australian society. In part, the number of women in the chamber today is due to the work, 40 to 50 years ago, of Jean and others like her.

Jean was a single mother of six children. How she fitted everything into her life I can barely comprehend. She was a notable advocate of women in working life, especially in the political realm. Throughout her life Jean remained a fervent critic of nuclear proliferation and uranium mining. In 2004 she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia and the Victorian Premier's Senior Achiever Award.

On behalf of the government I offer condolences to her family.