Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to associate myself with the speeches and remarks that have been made in this condolence motion, even though it's a condolence motion that we wish we weren't having today.

Linda White was a remarkable woman. I've noticed in the speeches that have been given already that there are many similar words to describe particular parts of Linda's character. I'm not the first person to say that she was a person of great principle and a generous contributor in so many areas of community life. I always find it difficult after someone has passed to learn more things about them that I wish I had known beforehand. I've learnt a lot from the contributions people have made here and from reading about Linda and talking with Linda. All those areas she was involved in outside politics—the arts, the MCG, all of that—show what a remarkable woman she was, with so many skills that were sought after by so many in so many different areas of life.

I think the word 'fierce' has been used quite a bit today. She was fierce as an advocate, always on behalf of others, though, as a lawyer, as a unionist, as a Labor Party member and, later, as a Labor senator. She was a leader in the Labor Party. I think Senator Birmingham reflected on how tough political organisations can be, and 20 years on the national executive of the Labor Party is simply something else. It recognises all of the skills and capabilities that led her to being continuously re-elected to that very senior position within our political organisation. As Minister for Women, I have been reflecting since Linda's passing on the privileged position that I have been in to move forward with many of the policies that Linda and, through Linda, others—the ASU and other unions—have pushed in the areas of advancing gender equality. The ASU, I think, was the second union I joined as a community worker, and the work they did on equal pay on the SACS case was so important for the community sector, not only in the recognition of the value of the work that was being done in the community sector but also in the recognition of the undervaluing and underpayment of feminised industries like the community sector was. I certainly had a lot to do with the ASU during that time.

When I think about affirmative action—and I think Senator Watt talked about this—the Labor Party and the labour movement is full of incredible women, right across it, at every level of our organisations. But Linda was the best of the best in terms of what she managed to bring to the unions but also to the Labor Party in looking at affirmative action. We talk about that now from the point of view of having a majority of women members in our political organisation. I think some of us who were around during those debates forget how fierce some of those debates were and how much resistance there was to changing our rules and putting in place rules that actually could be enforced and were not just 'nice to haves'. It was, 'We will be changing this political organisation to better reflect the communities that we seek to represent.' I remember being in those meetings too. Linda would come and report back on those negotiations. It wasn't an easy thing to do. You look at those changes that were brought in 1994 and where we are now, 30 years later. That shows you the strength and the commitment of what was achieved all those years ago by women like Linda White.

She would have been so incredibly proud of being part of a government that was able to make the changes to PPL we passed through the Senate yesterday—as well as super on PPL and retirement savings for women in general. When we made the decision about paying super on PPL, which we announced in early March, I spoke to officials within the ASU. We like to think we keep things pretty tight when we've got big announcements like this to make, but we don't mind a chat in the Labor Party. I was actually thrilled to know that—and this was relayed to me—those close to Linda were able to indicate to Linda before she passed that that was something that the government was going to do, even though that was a week before the announcement that we made. So, even though we don't encourage leaking or gossiping in the Labor Party, in that instance I was really pleased when I spoke to Emeline that she was able to talk to Linda and say that another one of those campaigns that she was so involved in had reached that point where we were making that change.

The words that we've heard and I've been jotting down as I've been thinking about Linda are 'principled, loyal, trustworthy, honest, relentless, tenacious, brave, courageous, funny, fearless, intelligent, fierce, hardworking' and, I would add, 'and maybe, when in full flight, a little bit scary—just a smidge'. I think Penny spoke to that earlier. She was humble, of course—she never sought to be the one first in the queue but was always the one to do the work—and private, very private. I had a number of conversations with Linda during her illness, and she made it very clear to me that she wanted her privacy respected as she underwent treatment. This was really important to her, and of course it was absolutely respected. And I think it also meant that her passing came as a big shock to a lot of us—particularly, I think that people hadn't been aware how unwell she was. To those people, just know that that was Linda's choice about how she wanted to manage that time in her life, and it was what she wanted.

To Linda's staff—and I know a lot have spoken about you today: she was so proud of all of you. In the discussions I had, particularly when she was talking to me about all the committee work she was continuing to do when she was away from the Senate, when I asked her if there was anything we could do to make sure that her workload was manageable—or not work, which wasn't, obviously, a choice that she was prepared to consider—she spoke to me about having such incredibly capable staff, and it gave her the support to be able to do the work that she wanted to do while she was undergoing treatment. I know losing a boss like Linda at this point in your careers must be incredibly difficult, but, along with what others have said today, I think we also have to realise how lucky we were to have known her and to have worked with her and to have had her help shape your careers.

We will all miss Linda. We will miss her in the Senate; we will miss her in the Labor Party. Linda was always there. She was always in the meetings, the conferences we'd go to and the gatherings we would have, and so her passing leaves an enormous hole for us in her Labor family. We will miss her forever. We will always remember her. We will always honour her legacy. And we commit to continuing the work ahead of us that she had not finished. We were really so very lucky to have known her, to have been touched by her and to have been a part of her life. I'd like to pass on my condolences to all that loved her and knew her and miss her, including Michael, the ASU family, her staff and all of us here in the Senate, who were, even in a relatively short time, so touched by her and the work that she did here.