Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of the National Party to make a few comments in the valedictory for Kate Lundy. Kate and I actually share a few things, as only four in this place do. We are all Territorians; and, for those senators who think preselection every six years is a tough gig, you want to have a chat to Kate and the rest of our team!

I got here, and Kate was somebody who really knew the ropes. I can remember being on one of my first committees, and this pretty strident individual was cross-examining someone. I can remember it was actually about customs for some reason. My first experience in a committee was to hear Kate really going hard at someone. They obviously knew each other quite well but always found the balance between ensuring that the public servant was going to provide the information that she required but on a balanced basis of respect. I can always remember that.

I also spent some time as a young bloke in the Australian Capital Territory and, as you know, worked as a builder's labourer a lot earlier than you did on the infamous Melba flats for Leighton, which since have become slums and been knocked down. I can really see the difference in building sites in the times between then and now, and it is terrific to see people who have come here with that life experience. You were removing asbestos, and doing that in the early nineties is a completely different way of doing things. Understanding from a personal perspective about the challenges facing workers in occupational health and safety in that time, I am sure, was much of what led you to becoming a union organiser and representing workers to get a better deal for them. I think that richness of your experience is reflected in much of the work that you have brought here.

You were the youngest female elected to parliament, in 1996 at 28, which I understand was a record held until Kate Ellis came to parliament. I know you play hockey and soccer. You row. I was not familiar with your rowing, but I often saw you at a variety of sporting events around Canberra, and certainly we can see your head bobbing along around the Fyshwick Markets at the various times that I spend my weekends in Canberra. You are proudly involved as the patron of numerous organisations: Computing Assistance Support & Education, the Artists' Society of Canberra, Canberra United Football Club of course and the National Association of Women in Construction.

I was around as a shadow spokesperson of several portfolios in opposition. I can recall when you became a member of the front bench. You rose from parliamentary secretary positions to the Minister for Sport and Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation and Minister Assisting for the Digital Economy. I can recall that from before that time that you were one of those people who seemed to me as a newbie to be on almost every committee. Wherever I went and whatever committee I was on, you popped in. So you certainly leave this place with an enormous experience across such a range of portfolios; and, listening to your portfolio today, I can see that you have taken so much of that with you. I think it is such an important thing that you can actually take something from this place.

Being the chair of the National Broadband Network committee and the Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories—it is one of those compulsory processes that, if you are from a territory, you have to be on the external territories committee—you have travelled to not only the Indian Ocean territories but to Norfolk and other places and faced the particularly challenging environment that is, in effect, much of the time our own electorates. I think people find it difficult to understand why the senator for the Australian Capital Territory would have Norfolk Island halfway across the Pacific in the same way Nova and I are responsible for Christmas Island, but it does add a lot of interest to our electorate.

I think one of your greatest challenges when you served as Minister for Multicultural Affairs and as Minister for Sport was when you co-launched the former government's response to the allegation of widespread corruption and drug use in professional sport. It must have been such a tough time. Many Australians see sport with almost a theological approach. To be in a position, with your own love of sport, of actually doing the right thing, there must have been some very hard yards. I think we all recognise that this was a very tough series of decisions that you had to make and throughout that time you never blinked. I think that not only this place and Australia but also sport should be very grateful for that.

You have improved accountability while here through your ferocious cross-examination of anyone who you thought might have been able to provide a bit more insight and a bit more transparency. I think that integrity will be part of your legacy. Also, the work you have done has very much boosted the profile of women not only in this place but also across all workplaces.

With regard to your passion for technology, we have spoken about you establishing your own website. It was only six years before I came here that we did not have a computer in this place. I think it is a good reminder of all the things that are brought to us in this place in a technological sense and where many of my colleagues say 'Oh that won't work. This won't possibly work'. Of course we are still as out of step as the individual who said to you that you needed to take another track. I think that is a good lesson for all of us.

Kate, you were named as one of the 25 global leaders in government in online innovation by the International Centre for E-Democracy and Politics Online. You have chosen your time for retirement. I do not think that many of us in this chamber necessarily have the luxury of doing that. I know you are going to be very successful in the future. You have spent 19 long years in this place and, as people have indicated, you are still young enough to have another career. I know that you will enjoy it very much. We will watch that space. Good luck, and God speed.