Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I promise I'll be quick, but there's no way I can let her go without acknowledging what an extraordinary friend and colleague Linda has been. She first came to my attention back in 2015, I think it might have been, or even 2014, just after she had finally been elected. She came to Melbourne and did a speech for the Liberal Party in Melbourne—I think for the women's section, actually—and I was tossing up at that stage whether I was going to run for the Senate myself. And there's this extraordinary woman who's up the front of the stage. She was a brigadier, the first woman to have achieved that level in the military. She'd been a champion of women in the military. She'd been an adviser to a minister, and now she was a senator. She'd worked at the federal secretariat. I thought: 'Oh my god! I'm so unqualified for this job. Here is this extraordinary woman. Look at all that she's achieved.'

Who would have thought that, however many years later, I would be dancing with you and Robert to ABBA holograms on the other side of the world. That's something I will never forget, my friend. It was quite extraordinary. I never thought that I'd become your housemate. I know that you will agree with me that those years that we lived together—and we went through some pretty exceptional times—were also the happiest times, I think, I've spent in this place.

The things that you have achieved have been quite extraordinary. I met Khalid. This young Afghan man bounded up to me at an event in Melbourne and said: 'You're a senator. Oh my goodness, do you know Linda Reynolds?' I went: 'Yes. I absolutely do.' And there's this smile on his face as he told me the story that I'd already heard, because I'd lived through it as your housemate. It was such a joy to see this young man and the new life that he had started here in Australia, in my hometown, because of you.

I've also met the young women that you have mentored, nurtured and sponsored through the Western Australian division of the Liberal Party. I can't think of a woman that they more admire in the party than Linda Reynolds. You have shown them such guidance, and for that you should be extraordinarily proud. I hope you will continue on that mission, not just in Western Australia but right around the country.

Can I just say—and I did promise I would be brief—that because we lived with you through this moment you were sucked into a world of pain, and it was a life-changing event. It was not of your making, it was not of your doing, and it could have been any one of us in here. But your kindness, your loyalty and your decency were used against you for political purposes, for electoral gain and, disgustingly, for financial gain. For that, there are many people that can never be forgiven. Anybody who is listening along at home or watching this on the television may not be able to see the enormous number of people that have come here tonight because they love and admire you. I admire so much that you speak of this place when it is at its best because you were the victim of it when it was at its worst.

Thank you very much for your friendship, on behalf of your friends, your family and your colleagues. You have made us so very proud. You've served your state; you've served your party. You've served your country with distinction, and I know that you will go on to do that. I look forward to being friends with you for a very long time outside of this place—and Robert; I look forward to dancing 'Waterloo' with you again another time soon. But, in the meantime, I know you have a milestone birthday coming up, Linda. Sorry! Am I allowed to say that out loud? Is that really rude? I look forward to seeing the next chapter of how Linda Reynolds serves her country, because it will be spectacular.