Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The news of Senator White's passing is deeply difficult for the Labor Party, the labour movement, her dear friends and family and her beautiful staff. I want to acknowledge the speeches that have been made this evening and I want to thank those across the chamber for acknowledging Linda's work. In making my remarks to the Senate for this condolence motion, I want to share a bit about the impact Linda had on me as a young person in politics and later as a senator.

When Linda shared, in her first speech, that she had worked at McDonald's and Maurice Blackburn, two of my former employers, I knew we would be great friends. But the truth is I did not know Linda very well before she joined the Senate. I knew of her as many people, women particularly, in the Labor Party knew of Linda. Since Linda's passing, many have spoken about the role she played in campaigns for gender equality, her significant role in the equal pay case, her activism as a union official and leader, her defence of airline workers and her leadership of the ASU in the fight for paid domestic violence leave. Those fights were advanced on behalf of working people, particularly working women. None of those fights were won overnight. Many of them were extremely bold and, I would even say, outrageous to begin with. But eventually the hard work would pay off and Linda would win.

As the longest-serving female member of the ALP National Executive, Linda also took on fights so that the Labor Party would have policies to improve the lives of working people and the organisational restructures required to turn those policies into government decisions. This included advancing the rights of women within the party. Linda's role in advancing Labor's affirmative action policy was well known. It was a policy worth advancing for the workers she represented, because having more women around the decision-making table meant better decisions for the women who worked in the workplaces that she had visited.

At its 2015 national conference the Labor Party agreed to rules that would lead to 50 per cent representation by 2025—at the time, a bold and even outrageous ask. But Linda would win. As the conference came to its crescendo, with only the pointy debates left to have, the aged-care chapter was filibustered while negotiations on the AA rule continued just off the floor. There are many people in this chamber and outside of it who were part of that change and even part of those negotiations. I think there are some incriminating photos of some of my colleagues with Linda in those hallways. They really worked together to achieve that change, but I know that Linda was in that hallway hashing it out, never willing to give up. From all accounts, Linda led those negotiations, giving up just enough to get the deal done. When negotiations concluded, her speech to the conference on the amendment was followed by a standing ovation. It passed. The rule was implemented, and Australia now has the first government with a majority of women.

This was the first time I saw Linda in action. I had decided to attend the 2015 conference just as an opportunity to learn a little bit more about politics and see how it went. The speech from Linda wasn't the first time that weekend that I had really noticed her. Earlier in the day, in the privacy of a caucus meeting, there was a passionate debate on another issue that I won't share. Memories can differ, and there are probably different retellings of these meetings—of who was there and who said what. As Senator Walsh agrees, sometimes these caucus debates can be robust and meaningful. But, as someone who was new to it all, this moment stuck in my mind, and I attribute it to Linda whether it was her or not that said it.

A robust debate was taking place. Senior people started joining the speakers list, so you knew that it was getting serious. The speeches were compelling, but that's not what I remember. The moment I remember was a lone voice responding to what was absolutely meant to be a rhetorical question from one of these important people. The speaker scaled up his voice to the end of his speech and said: 'What are we supposed to do—start expelling people? Is that really what we're going to do?' A woman who I didn't know at the time replied rebelliously, 'Yes!' Of course, no-one would be expelled. The question was a rhetorical one and the answer was slightly in jest, but Linda was prepared to have that fight, and you wanted to be on her side of the fight, not against her. I sat back in that room that day and I thought to myself, 'My God, who is this woman?' She was in charge, she was hardworking and she was listened to. I decided I wanted to be in more rooms with more women like Linda.

So, while I sit here in this room next to Linda's contemporaries, I'm one of the women that she made room for. I didn't know that that was going to happen after going to the national conference that day and seeing Linda in full flight, and I'm so glad that it did. In the end, without two outcomes of that conference, Labor's affirmative action targets and our support for marriage equality, I might not have found myself in the Senate. I might not have found myself in a room with women like Linda or even Linda herself. But I did decide, because of her bold, slightly outrageous vision and strength, that this was the place for me to be.

It fills me with great sadness that Linda is no longer here. I wonder if she knew how admired she was. I never told her. I would have felt a little embarrassed, I suppose, to introduce myself to a new colleague and follow it by, 'Oh, yes, I know who you are, and I'm a big fan.' I tried to play it cool instead, but I was a big fan of Linda and I should have told her that. It wouldn't have made a difference, I suppose. I'm sure she would have just taken the flattery and gone on with her work. She knew what she was here to achieve and what she had achieved across her career. She was proud of it, but she still had more work to do.

Linda was a member of the select committee on the Voice referendum. When I was appointed chair, I went up to Linda's office and I got Ben to get out her diary because I really did not want to have a hearing without Linda next to me. I knew that there would be a constitutional debate that was worth having but that we needed someone with her legal experience and intellect to prosecute the case. We couldn't make it work; the diary just wouldn't budge. She was travelling to Vietnam on a delegation. Luckily, another colleague of ours with an equally sharp legal mind who could go toe to toe with constitutional lawyers was available for that hearing instead. That person was Peta Murphy. I make that observation because losing Peta and Linda so close together is a huge loss not just for the Labor Party but for this parliament, politics and our country. I feel so lucky to have shared this chamber with Senator White and to have sat next to her in estimates, where she would sneak me lollies and skilfully take officials to task. I gleefully listened to her grumble under her breath during debates and I watched her make full-volume contributions to important discussions. She wasn't afraid to say what she meant. She was listened to because when she spoke it was thoughtful and forthright. She enjoyed her time here but was intent on not wasting it, and that's why she made the time of others more enjoyable and meaningful. This building is full of people, yet it can be a little lonely from time to time. Linda made this place a little less lonely.

Linda White was a wonderful person—an idol of mine and other women in the Labor Party. Her loss leaves an impossible space that really cannot be filled. It can only be remembered fondly and deeply and always in solidarity with working people. She was a very good friend, a very good and treasured friend, to people who I hold very dear, and I am very sorry for their loss. I know in particular that ASU members across the country and particularly in Queensland are mourning her loss, and I express my heartfelt sympathies to them. To her comrades around the country, to her friends and to her family, and of course to her staff: thank you so much for being here today with us. You really do honour Linda by being here and sharing this with us. This must be difficult to sit through, but it's so meaningful that you're here, and we thank you for it. Vale, Linda White—senator, comrade, fighter and friend.