Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

All of my colleagues of course want to make a contribution to this and we are running against the clock, so I will keep comments brief, as Janet always liked to make sure we did as she chaired the party room, except of course if she had an idea she wanted on the table.

We are going to miss you, Janet, dearly. I can't remember the first time I met Janet, because I was a ratbag teenager at some point in the Victorian forests, and Janet has always fought to protect where I grew up and my home. And I know that you will continue to do that. Your love for our forests and our environment and our wildlife is unmatched. The fact that everyone in this place knows that, come estimates time, the Leadbetter possum was going to be raised, because we all know that you have such a strong commitment to the natural world and that you can see that it is not there just for our use. We are part of the environment and it sustains us. You have always believed that. You've always fought for that.

Sometimes in this place it is very easy to have one's debates or issues too simplified and we lose the true meaning. I think Janet has always been one—she does the internally in our party room process, but I see her do it time and time again in this chamber—to not allow us to lose sight of what it is that we are actually trying to save and why we are trying to save it.

You are a true believer, Janet, in consensus. Sometimes that meant our meetings went for a very, very long time. But, right down to some of those very late-night discussions when there were issues that we really had to struggle to come to an agreement on, you had faith that getting to the consensus position would mean we would all be able to go out of that room and back-in those decisions. And I can't say the same for everybody else in this place. It's something that you have always held your head high and been determined about—not wanting us as a group to be unhappy with the position that we are fighting for with our votes that people have sent us here to cast—to uphold that, to be proud of that, to make sure that people are included and heard.

Lastly, I want to say that the contribution that Janet made to the marriage equality debate was remarkable and important, and it was for all of us. Janet talked all the time about what it meant for her and her relationship with Penny at the time, but you were doing that for all of us, and I know it took a toll. I know a lot of that debate was hard. A lot of that debate meant that you had to front some pretty horrible things during that period, but you did it for everybody else, and we are forever grateful. Thank you, Janet. We're going to miss you, and we might share the cup of tea around.