Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also want to put my formal thanks to Senator Lundy on the record—for everything she did on behalf of educators working in the early education and childcare space in Australia. I can see Yvette Berry, a former United Voice staffer and now a minister in the ACT government, up there in the gallery. When Yvette and Lyndal Ryan, the secretary of United Voice, came to see me and said, 'There is this wonderful senator in parliament; she will really advocate on behalf of low-paid educators'—this was when the union was trying to run a very big agenda around wages and quality on behalf of low-paid members—I have to say that I was a bit cynical. However, Senator Lundy stood firm for educators throughout the Big Steps campaign.

I thought that perhaps when she became a minister during that period she would be too busy to be concerned about educators or to continue to push the Big Steps agenda—but she wasn't. Every time we called on Senator Lundy to do something for us, she rallied to the cause. Not only did she do that but she managed to spread the word about what we were doing and get other Labor members involved in the campaign. In the end, we had a very big group supporting the important agenda that educators were running.

I wanted to say that the other night, but it was too noisy and there were other people with bigger agendas. But I felt that, given that Senator Lundy mentioned United Voice today, it was absolutely fitting that I put on the public record—as a former official, as I was then, who negotiated with you—the absolute gratitude of educators. We knew we had a champion in this parliament. We knew it was a difficult agenda, but educators absolutely knew that Senator Lundy was always going to be there for them. And it went beyond that. It went to cleaners; it went to all low-paid workers—the membership of United Voice. Senator Lundy, we will miss you. You were an absolute Big Steps champion. On behalf of the educator members of United Voice, I put my thanks to you on the record.