Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I am surrounded by others who are cheering that.

She was also an advocate, as the Leader of the Government in the Senate has said, for the Bass Strait freight equalisation scheme. Interestingly, if you do read her first speech, you can see her advocacy for that ab initio, as it were, from the beginning seeing it as critical to the Tasmanian economy. Unsurprisingly, she championed the rights of the smaller states and the place of the Senate in our constitutional framework as a defender of these rights.

If there were ever any doubt that Shirley Walters stood resolutely behind the values and position she campaigned on throughout her time in the Senate, I think that was put to rest by the then Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Gareth Evans, when he spoke on her valedictory in 1993. He commenced with an honest but friendly appraisal, saying, 'A Liberal reformer she ain't' and describing her as 'a campaigner for every Tory value I deeply deplore'. What I would suggest is that that demonstrates that Mrs Walters was an extremely effective campaigner for conservative values during her time in the Senate. Senator Evans went on to reflect that, despite the terrible things they had said to each other over the years, there was never any malice. He said:

She has believed fiercely in a series of particular political objectives, she has been as tough as nails in this place in pursuing those objectives, but she has always been thoroughly charming and pleasant personally and impossible to hold a grudge against.

I think they are fine words from a political opponent.

In keeping with the assessment of her character by Senator Evans, then Senator Walters spent much of her own valedictory thanking the very many people who had provided assistance to her over her 18-year career. After she left the Senate, she remained active in the Tasmanian division of the Liberal Party and was awarded, as Senator Brandis has outlined, life membership in 2003, of course a very great honour.

Regardless of whether or not she would have accepted the label, Shirley Walters was a trailblazer and she left her mark as a passionate advocate for her home state of Tasmania and for the conservative values that she considered core to the Liberal Party. We again extend our deepest sympathies to her family and friends following her passing.