Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of the government and the Labor Party to acknowledge and thank Senator Janet Rice for her service to the people of Victoria, to the Senate and to the nation. Senator Rice has served for just under a decade in this chamber. She was first elected at the 2013 federal election and took a seat in the Senate in July 2014 before being re-elected to represent Victoria at both the 2016 and 2019 elections. Senator Rice's passionate advocacy for our environment, particularly native forests and wildlife, is well known, along with her deep interest in addressing climate change. I understand that Janet was a key player in the formation of the Australian Greens, Victoria, around the time of the 1992 Victorian state election. I recall that this was not the first position Janet was elected to. Before entering the Senate she was a Greens councillor for the City of Maribyrnong in Melbourne for six years, serving one year as mayor.

Senator Rice has served at various times as the Australian Greens spokesperson on forests; tourism; transport and infrastructure; mental health; agriculture and rural affairs; sports; science; research and innovation; foreign affairs; multiculturalism and, most recently, social services, aged care and government services. But during her time in the Senate, working on LGBTQI issues—and one in particular—was when Senator Rice worked most closely with those on this side of the chamber. It was of course an issue that was deeply personal to many Australians, including Senator Rice, and that is the campaign for marriage equality.

It was a long and arduous road to marriage equality, as Senator Rice herself said when speaking to the bill to amend the Marriage Act. Senator Rice spoke eloquently on what the achievement of marriage equality meant and continues to mean for LGBTIQ people and their families:

It means that our love, our relationships and our families will be equal under the law. It means that LGBTIQ people will feel safer to hold the hand of their partner when they walk down the street. It means that LGBTIQ couples will be able to get married and to celebrate their love in front of family and friends. And it means that young LGBTIQ people will feel safer to come out, knowing that their community said yes and that who they are and who they love is respected by law.

I know that my colleague Senator Wong wanted to thank Senator Rice for her collaboration in making marriage equality a reality. The work across party lines remains an example of how what unites us in this place is often greater than what divides us, and that we can do great things when we put the greater good ahead of grandstanding and narrower partisan interests. I hope we can do more of that on the issues that matter to the people we represent.

In her first speech in this place, Senator Rice described how her upbringing instilled in her the values that saw her pursue a career in public service. She said:

My upbringing was one where you had a responsibility to contribute if you could and to follow the golden rule of doing unto others what you would have them do unto you. They are the values of a caring society.

Senator Rice went on:

I grew up believing in a just society. I believed that if people were law abiding and hardworking then they would have the opportunities to live successful lives. And I believed that government decisions—in Australia at least—were evidence based and in the best interests of society as a whole.

While it certainly is true we on this side of the chamber have not always agreed with every position Senator Rice has taken here or elsewhere, nor is that a requirement in our great pluralist democracy. These are values we should all strive to uphold in this place. In my own experience working with Senator Rice, particularly on committees, Senator Rice was always collegiate, sometimes patient—mostly impatient!—and mostly constructive. And, whilst we will hear the last of Senator Rice in this chamber, I'm confident it won't be the last we hear of Senator Rice. I was going to mention the Leadbeater's possum as well!

Sincerely, on behalf of the government and the party, we thank Senator Rice for her near-decade of service to this place and to the people of Australia. We wish you well in the next chapter of your life, particularly your future wedding, and place on record our thanks for your contribution to the nation as well.