Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate expresses its sadness at the death, on 29 February 2024, of Senator Linda White, Senator for Victoria, places on record its gratitude for her service to the Parliament and to the nation, and tenders its deep sympathy to her family in their bereavement.

I stand on behalf of the Labor government and the Labor Party in the Senate to lead the Senate in expressing our condolences and our loss following the passing of our colleague and friend, Senator Linda White. We are again consumed with grief for the death of one of our own who just a few short months ago sat here amongst us in the chamber and who we were so proud to count among our number and who had so much more ahead to make us proud of. In her first speech, she said, 'Getting justice for people has dominated my working life.' Her death is a great injustice.

I know many colleagues will contribute today. I want to express my personal sympathy and the condolences of the government to all those who lament Linda's passing and especially those closest to her. She loved this institution, she loved this movement, and we loved her. My thoughts are with Linda's family. My thoughts are with Linda's staff, and I acknowledge many of them in the chamber with us today. They have had to shoulder so much at such a young age, and they were with her for so many days and nights and weeks. We thank you for that support and for the way in which you have helped us honour her life.

My thoughts are with the ASU and its elected officials, delegates and rank and file members, so many of whom counted on Linda White, as they count on us here in the Senate. I express my thanks to the many who have already contributed words and memories of Linda in the days since her passing—including the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, and I wish to acknowledge his generous written statement.

Linda's regrettably brief time as a senator and the contribution she made to Australian public life beyond this chamber may not be widely known, but it is widely felt. Ask any Ansett worker. Ask any non-government social and community services worker, for whom she delivered in the 2012 case, some of whom saw their wages go up by 43 per cent. Ask any person who worked with her or who served with her on a board. Ask any boss she eviscerated across a bargaining table. As the ASU stated, her influence extended to thousands, if not millions, of Australians who never had the privilege of knowing her.

Linda didn't seek the limelight, but, through her dedication and commitment, she lit paths that so many have followed. She was never afraid to let you know what she thought—or what she thought of you—but she didn't hold a grudge or nurse a wound. In her first speech, she gave a commitment: 'Not a day will go by here when I won't reflect on the consequences of our actions for those we represent.' She spoke of the power of government to open up new choices and opportunities that would otherwise remain out of reach. She understood the privilege and the responsibility of elected office. Today, we honour her as we reflect on the consequences of her actions for the lives of so many.

Linda was born in New South Wales in the Sutherland shire before moving with her family to the Epping region, where she demonstrated the early brilliance her brother, Michael, spoke of at her memorial service, being both captain and dux of her primary school. Moving to Melbourne during the course of her high school years, it was Victoria that would become her home and one of her many passions. Completing qualifications in commerce and law at the University of Melbourne—the latter with honours—she embraced the fullness of university life. It was also during this time that she would first encounter the labour movement, working at McDonald's, becoming a union member for the first time—a pivotal occurrence that would go on to shape the rest of her life. She commenced at Maurice Blackburn in 1985 and culminated in her role as the assistant national secretary of the ASU from 1995 to 2020.

Her work exposed her to injustices in the justice system, inequities of representation and people going through the hardest times in their lives. It taught her to listen diligently and compassionately but also how to give people straight advice. Many of us have experienced both parts of Linda's character in this regard.

At the ASU she represented workers across a breadth of sectors, including local government, energy, transport and social and community services. She was a member of the ACTU executive for 15 years, vice-president for 10 of those. She never put herself above the people who relied upon her to represent their interests. She never shirked a tough assignment. I am sure others will speak more about the role she played standing up for the rights of Ansett workers when that airline collapsed, securing $760 million of their entitlements in a battle that took 10 years. As a lawyer, I represented some of those workers and I remember how extraordinary she was through that dispute.

I also personally saw all of Linda's relentless advocacy and determination when I was finance minister and she fought and won the 2012 equal pay case for over 200,000 non-government social and community service workers across Australia, so many of them women. They were hard negotiations. I was finance minister and I had to work out how to fund it and how we would phase it in. I admired how much she stood up to me for her members.

Linda always stood with women and asserted the dignity of women's work. She exhibited foresight and vision. She fought for the provision of paid parental leave at Qantas, for the first enterprise bargaining agreement to include paid family and domestic violence leave, and for additional superannuation payments for private sector employees. She helped to set new standards that have now been replicated across so many workplaces and in legislation. Her contribution to our party spanned decades. She is the longest-serving woman on Labor's national executive in its history, serving 20 years since 2004. In this role, she upheld the integrity of the party as it faced legal challenges, committed to its internal fairness and recognising that robust and accountable political parties are a vital part of a vibrant democracy. And this commitment came at a personal cost.

She was a champion of affirmative action law changes and making our affirmative action laws genuinely enforceable. I was privileged to work with her and so many other Labor sisters in that task—rules that have led to our Labor government being the first Australian government comprised of a majority of women parliamentarians. I, like so many others, benefited from Linda's foresight and advocacy. But, more importantly, our democracy benefited. Linda helped make it possible for a wider variety of voices to be heard and for women to stand up and be counted.

In parallel with her professional career, Linda White pursued her varied interests through a wide range of board appointments she held prior to election as a senator. These stretched from organisations and causes aligned with the labour movement to the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and the Melbourne Cricket Ground Trust. It's a demonstration of her talents and the esteem in which she was held in the wider community that she was called to serve in such a variety of fields. It's a demonstration of her belief that the arts, sport, our environment, our parks and our civic spaces belong to all of us and that we should all benefit from their bounty—give us bread, and give us roses too. Linda White gave up a great deal to become an Australian senator. It must have been pretty hard to give up the car park under the MCG that was her privilege as a member of the trust, but we are grateful she did.

Linda White did not have to become a senator to further her legacy or to make a lasting contribution in public life. Her legacy was already suitably burnished and her contribution already considerable. Yet how fortunate we are, particularly Labor senators, that she entered this place following the election in 2022. As the PM said, she may have been the most senior backbencher to have ever existed. She brought persistence, devotion and skill underpinned by her values and commitment to justice—not just legal representation in a courtroom but the broader notion of social and economic justice—and she was served by a talented staff. So many of us have heard her speak of her staff with such love.

Her background as a lawyer saw her steer the critical Joint Select Committee on National Anti-Corruption Commission Legislation as its chair and, following its establishment, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the National Anti-Corruption Commission. She was entrusted to lead negotiations on a memorandum of understanding that underpins the relationship between the legislature and the AFP and its critical intersection with parliamentary privilege. She chaired the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation, one of the oldest standing committees in our parliament. That is a valuable, if irritating, check on executive power, depending on which side you are, and is trusted and respected on all sides. Her other committee service covered a wide range of policy areas, including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice referendum, rural and regional affairs and transport, and the Select Committee on Work and Care.

The qualities that saw her assigned to some of these positions may lead you to think she was a very serious and earnest operator, and she was, but she was equally funny. Her quick wit complemented her forensic analytical skills. On the foreign affairs, defence and trade committee, she could ask tough questions at estimates and sometimes a few mischievous ones as well. I can say to you lot opposite: you're pretty lucky she was never an opposition senator asking you questions in estimates.

I will deeply miss Linda White. There are few people in this place whose advice can always be counted on and whose loyalty, likewise, can always be counted on, and she was one. She was a loyal friend and colleague. She was a Labor sister and comrade. I trusted her. If there was a difficult or sensitive job that needed doing well, we knew Linda could deliver. I also know what a wonderful ally, mentor and friend she was to so many friends of mine, people she recognised in her first speech: Anne McEwen, John Gazzola, Joe Scales and Scott Cowen. They are in my thoughts today. I know how deeply you are feeling the loss of someone who was always there to lend a listening ear and to give you frank advice.

Linda died on 29 February 2024. Sadly, we didn't see her here amongst us in the Senate in what turned out to be her final months, as she took extended leave from late 2023, fighting the pancreatic cancer that claimed her life. She did this privately and with all the tenacity and determination that marked not just her time here but also her decades of commitment to our movement and to working people. So we lament what we have all lost even as we are uplifted by the knowledge that so many have gained because of her.

She never left work to others. As Prime Minister Albanese said, if you were ever looking for someone to settle for good enough that was never Linda White. As her dear comrade Senator Ayres noted about her achievements for working people, these things were never her achievements alone. Linda would never have thought that for a moment but, as he said, they were impossible without Linda. So all of us are better people for her work and all of us are better off for it.

In closing, I again express my solidarity and condolences to Linda's family, to her staff and to all of her comrades and members of the Australian Services Union, and I express my solidarity and condolences to all of my colleagues here in this chamber. It was a privilege to have known and have worked with Linda White. May she rest in peace.