Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to place on record my personal and the government's thanks and congratulations to Senator Payne for her contribution since she first entered this place in 1997! Senator Wong would have liked to have been giving this address this afternoon, but duty has called her away. But she was able to put on record her compliments for your terrific contribution to the Senate.

All of us in this place know the sacrifice senators make to contribute their vision of a better future for Australia, but very few senators make that sacrifice for 26 years, and, with 26 years of service, Senator Payne is the longest-serving current senator. Throughout her parliamentary career, I know that Senator Payne has sought to be a leader for women and girls and to encourage women to get involved in politics. She's been a role model for many as the longest-serving female senator in Australian history, and I know the inspiration it must have provided to many across Australia to see such a talented senator being sworn in as Australia's first female defence minister. Defence, of course, wasn't the only portfolio where Marise was a role model, and other ministerial responsibilities have included the important portfolios of human services, women and foreign affairs—and I will come back to foreign affairs in a moment.

As a representative of the state of New South Wales, Senator Payne fought tirelessly for the people of New South Wales and in particular those in Western Sydney. I'd like to take a moment to reflect on some of my personal memories of Senator Payne. I first got to know Senator Payne and her partner, Stuart, when he was running for the seat of Penrith in New South Wales in 2010. I was handing out how-to-vote cards at the Glenbrook booth with the late Senator Steve Hutchins and my good friend Senator Mark Bishop—and, of course, it was the first time I got to meet my namesake, soon-to-be Premier Barry O'Farrell, and we got the chance to chat while we were handing out how-to-vote cards for many, many hours.

However, my abiding memory of Senator Payne will be the assistance that she personally gave to an Afghan family during the fall of Kabul. She made reference to this in her own speech. I was contacted by the brother-in-law of former Crows coach Graham Cornes about a man who had worked for the Australian embassy in Kabul. The Taliban at the time was going from door to door to find him and, of course, arrest him and, in all probability, kill him. I contacted Senator Payne very late at night, and within 24 hours this man had his papers to leave Afghanistan and an airline ticket to Australia. He brought with him his wife and his three children, including a daughter. You can imagine what life she would have had ahead of her under Taliban rule. Senator Payne, she will forever remember what you did for her on that night.

I was sitting with Senator Payne last week. She made no mention of the fact that she was about to leave, but I do feel as if I may have contributed to the move because I pointed out that, thanks to the scheduling of this place, we're actually sitting on Melbourne Cup Day. Now, Melbourne Cup Day is an event I often see Senator Payne and Stuart at. I'm just wondering now, looking back at that conversation, when she realised that she wasn't going to be able to leave the Senate on that occasion to go down—I don't know whether she's got any horses running on the day; she very well could—whether it provoked this sudden resignation. But, on behalf of the government, I congratulate Senator Payne on her 26 years of dedicated service to the people of New South Wales and this Senate. On behalf the government, I wish you all the best for a life beyond the Senate.