Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] The departure of any of our colleagues from the Senate chamber is often an occasion for a little bit of reflection, and in the departure of Senator Siewert, of Rachel, as a senator from Western Australia, I look at the fact that Rachel is now the only Greens senator to have served in the Senate longer than I have served as a senator, and made such an incredible contribution with such conviction over such a prolonged period of time.

Rachel, I want to start by just expressing how much you will be missed, I think from right across the chamber, by colleagues who respect you from right across the chamber. As we saw in the remarks you made just then, and as we've seen right throughout your career, you're a person and have been a senator of passion and of compassion. You are someone with strong convictions but also just such a thoroughly decent person in the way in which you engage and conduct yourself in a principled and thoughtful manner at all times.

Sixteen years of service in the Senate is an incredible accomplishment in anyone's terms. It's a long way from working as an agricultural scientist, digging through the fields and studying soil and salinity in Jerramungup. It's a long way from the 14 years you spent as the coordinator of the Conservation Council of Western Australia. But in 16 years you've made a real imprint not just on the institution of the Senate but, I think probably far more importantly, on the lives of many people, and you touched on that in your remarks, through the committee work and the advocacy work that you've undertaken. There must be so many thousands of Australians who are grateful for the engagements they've had with Rachel Siewert and for the advocacy they've had from Rachel Siewert, and for the passion and thoughtfulness that you have brought to that.

You mentioned in your recollections the work on the inquiry into forced adoption as one of the many different areas that you made a mark as a senator, and particularly as chair and participant in the community affairs committee. Indeed, I remember that day, too. I remember the respect that was had across the participants in that inquiry for the senators who engaged in that inquiry, and between the senators for one another, and how strongly that extended from senators—coalition senators and Labor senators—to you and to the work that you had done as a champion and advocate in that area of such enormous sensitivity and such deep emotion for so many people, and the care that you had shown throughout.

Of course, that's not to say that you don't know how to make a point either. We've certainly all had to turn the volume down occasionally from the odd Rachel Siewert contribution in the chamber!

Sometimes, I think it's safe to say, senators come into the chamber or go into committees or elsewhere and raise their voices for perhaps a little bit of grandstanding, to get themselves noticed, to make sure that people turn and see what they're talking about, whereas I think we all know that when you decided to raise your voice to make sure we all turned around and listened and thought, 'God, what's Rachel getting so worked up about now?' it was because you really cared, it was because it was something that really mattered to you, not just because you were going after a headline or some attention at the time, and that's to your credit and it's a testament to the type of person that you are.

In your work across the committees, in your work as the Greens Whip and in all those different areas, it has been a demonstration of somebody truly committed to the service of the people of Western Australia and to the service of your supporters and those who share your convictions and your ideologies. Although we may have our points of difference, you have absolutely championed your values, your opinions and those who have elected you relentlessly, and for that you've got all of our respect. I want to thank, on behalf of the government, your family for the sacrifices they have made to lend you to the service of the nation in the Senate. They should be proud too of what you've achieved.

So, Rachel, I'm sorry that I'm not there today in person to wish you well, but we do wish you well. It's been a pleasure, for so many, to work with you. I know that's a sentiment that has been echoed, since your announcement, by government senators, by Labor senators and by others; you'll be missed. The Greens certainly need to think carefully in terms of your replacement as whip and making sure that it's someone who brings the same sense of how to get things done while standing up for your values at the same time, and getting that balance right, as you've done. Good luck, all the best, and I'm sure we'll keep hearing those passionate views of yours from outside the Senate chamber, as somebody of your beliefs will no doubt continue to do.