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

I rise on behalf of the Nationals to support this motion and to pay my respects to the late Hon. Jocelyn Newman, who, sadly, passed away on 1 April this year. It's always bittersweet to farewell a colleague who contributed so much to this place. Not only do we say goodbye with great sadness and sorrow to those who sat on these benches and passionately proclaimed their convictions, but we also reflect on and celebrate their lives and their achievements.

Jocelyn was a rare gem whose value and contribution to so many areas in the community was totally unprecedented. It's fair to say that Jocelyn spent her life breaking barriers in society and achieving a great deal of success through her life, through her career and as a mother. She spent her life pursuing issues such as women's rights, changes to the welfare system and better support for Defence personnel and their families, but all in all she never failed to serve her own family first.

What strikes me as most fascinating about Jocelyn is not actually the fact she achieved so many things whilst raising a family; it's the fact that she overcame so many health setbacks during that period of time. She let none of them deter her from continuing along the chosen path of supporting and advocating for so many of her passions. As we've heard, Ms Newman pursued a lifelong advocacy for the rights of women who suffered violence at the hands of an intimate or domestic partner. She started this in her early days as a lawyer and continued this passion throughout her life. Her legal career, however, was put on hold after her marriage to Kevin Newman and their relocation to Tasmania in 1973, where her husband served in the Army.

It's important to acknowledge that during this time Ms Newman experienced firsthand the challenges of being a family member of serving personnel whilst her husband was in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968. Her efforts to improve the support for our armed forces and their families would be something of an ongoing cause of hers through the span of her career, and it represents her habit of taking hold of own experiences and observations in order to bring forward awareness and change.

The mid-seventies saw the beginnings of a new Newman family dynasty of sorts in the Liberal Party of Tasmania with the election of Kevin to the division of Bass in 1975. I understand that Jocelyn spent much of her time representing her husband at many functions around the electorate and, I dare say, got a bit of a taste of public life and what she could really contribute to her community. She went on to hold many positions in and around Launceston, including, notably, establishing a women's shelter that I believe still remains.

However, Jocelyn was determined to carry out her goal of the ultimate service to the community by representing the people of Tasmania as a senator in the Parliament of Australia. Her success in being selected—you have to remember this was in 1986—out of a dozen men to replace former Senator Peter Rae after his resignation was to many an extraordinary achievement that displayed the tenacious parliamentarian that indeed she turned out to be. I was pleased to serve alongside Jocelyn for a very short period, literally a month or so—being a Territorian, I started the day after the election; I think it was a month or so before Senator Colbeck came. But even in that short period of time, with crowds of people in this place, she still left the indelible mark of someone who knew what she was doing here. She was a very strong, very resilient character.

In the party room I recall she had absolutely no qualms about stating her views but, most importantly, she would have a little chat to those people who were asserting their views but not in a respectful manner. When I heard of the shopkeeper asking Jocelyn for Kevin's signature on an account, I shudder—knowing that the shopkeeper wouldn't have survived that event! Jocelyn brought to politics, I think, a very practical circumstance. I remember that. I came here with a naive experience. I had not come from a parliamentary background. She quizzed me about my experience in the Northern Territory. She quizzed me all about Arnhem Land. She talked to me particularly about the plight of Aboriginal women—what did I think, what happened and a whole range of stuff. I felt she had such a focused interest in her business of protecting women, understanding more about the domestic violence and how it affected different demographics.

But Jocelyn was also a bit of a character. Some of us recall when she pulled a bit of a stunt to highlight the Hawke government on a serious issue of airport security. She gave a staffer a red briefcase and said, 'Get on the plane, book in and off you go to Canberra.' Of course, at the last minute, she got the staffer not to go and to leave his case on the plane that went to Canberra to make this point that the security really wasn't what it was cracked up to be. You can imagine nowadays the furore that would cause but that was Jocelyn.

I would be surprised if this place delivers a better minister for social policy. They were tough times to make changes from a conservative government. Many of those who have been here a while understand there's a perception that it's harder to make social changes from conservative government—I'm not making a political point—because those on the other side think that's their job. She did such a remarkable job of reforming Australia in that area at such an important time.

Jocelyn is well regarded as the champion of women and the champion for her beloved Tasmania. She never stopped going in to bat for Tasmania and, can I tell you, she has such a deserved reputation as a dogged and fierce advocate. So, on behalf of the Nationals, I would like to recognise the life of Jocelyn Newman and her contribution particularly to this parliament and to the nation. Our thoughts and condolences are with her family and friends at this very difficult time. Vale Jocelyn Newman.