Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Emergency Management) Share this | Hansard source

():  I also wish to make a brief contribution to the valedictory. I met Louise, I think, in 1996, but it is so long ago now that it is quite hard to establish the precise date. But it means that I have seen Louise's contribution to progressive politics over a very long time. It began long before she came to this place and has continued throughout your time here as a senator, Louise, and I imagine it will continue for quite some time after as well. You began your career in community activism and you've never truly stopped, and that's brought you to a wide range of issues, some of which you talked about in your speech just now, but not all of them. I observed your interest in climate change, an area where we have both been active; in economic justice; and, of course, in human rights.

Being an advocate requires bravery, and Louise has that in spades. She has been a strong voice for views that at the time were neither popular nor common but have since been vindicated by history. She was the youngest woman ever elected to the Western Australian Legislative Council in 2001. At that time, she was appointed to a ministerial committee on gay and lesbian law reform, and the report from that committee informed the landmark reforms that the WA government made the following year. They included a complete ban on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation; the granting of the right for same-sex couples to adopt children; a lowering of the age of consent from 21 to 16; the right for same-sex couples to inherit from a deceased partner; and the repeal of legislation which had made it an offence to promote homosexuality in schools. These were important reforms, and the reformist drive that you brought to that process you have continued in your other work here.

You've been an important formal contributor to this chamber as a shadow minister, a deputy whip and a committee chair. Just as important have been the informal contributions that Louise has made as a tireless advocate for workers' rights, for women's rights and for climate and the environment. Louise exemplifies the connection between these issues that is found within Labor and the understanding that solidarity between workers extends to solidarity with other people who endure injustice. Your interest in building the bonds between those groups of people and making progress is something that I think has been a very important feature of the way that you've worked and the contribution you've made to the labour movement and to the community.

I know, because they talk to me about it, that there is a generation of young queer Labor activists for whom Louise has been an immensely important example. If you can't see it, you can't be it. You have been vocal and courageous in taking on discrimination and injustice wherever you have seen them. You have organised across the party for decades, bringing together unionists, activists, NGOs and other parties too. You've provided encouragement and mentorship to decades of staff and party organisers inside and outside the building, including within Rainbow Labor. I know that there are many people who have been participants at different times in Rainbow Labor who would acknowledge the role that you played in supporting many, many different people who sought to be active within that movement.

Senator Wong talked a little bit about the campaign for marriage equality. I cannot do it as well as Penny does, but this was a campaign that was conducted in the community, within the Labor Party and the labour movement and ultimately in this parliament. And it is a wonderful thing, in the years since that important legislative reform, that so many people we know have been able to marry the people that they love.

I know that those who have followed this debate will understand that this outcome is the product of years of advocacy. There were people within Labor who built the coalition for change within the Labor Party, within the trade union movement, with the community. There were people who campaigned within Labor, conference after conference, and, as Senator Wong has acknowledged, you were at the centre of that and it wasn't always easy. You were there, putting the case respectfully, but firmly.

Once we had changed our position we created space for further political movement. That non-binding plebiscite asked a lot of the campaigners, particularly those who were willing to speak about their own experiences and speak about their own families to create that connection with others in the community, to make the case with dignity, equality and recognition. It is to your great credit, Louise, that you were so important in that, and it is one that I know many others recognise and for which you should be very, very proud.

I want to say what an entirely decent, compassionate comrade and friend you've been to me, and I know you have also been to others in the building. This can be a place where if something difficult is happening at home it can be a little lonely, and I have absolutely drawn on your support at different times. I thank you for your kindness and compassion and empathy on a couple of occasions when I really needed someone to listen. I was so grateful for that.

And finally, I simply want to say to Dennis, Steve, Bec and Jasper, you are getting Louise back. Thank you for sharing her with us for all of this time. Louise, we wish you the very best in all that is to come.