Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I want to make some comments, and add to the very many comments that have been made over the last few weeks, about Joan Child. She was a special, inspirational woman who served her community well and inspired so many women that they could and would have an opportunity to serve in this parliament.

I only met Joan Child many years after she had retired from this place. She had such warm words of encouragement and also a daunting sense of humour. She did not want to talk about what she had achieved; she wanted to talk about what could go on in the future. I did not tell her then exactly how much she had inspired me, and I regret that. Naturally, I said thank you for the work that she had done and for the wonderful quotes that she had left us, and also for the inspiration that she had given to us. But I wish I had had the opportunity to say to her just how much she gave encouragement to people, to give them the strength to say that not only could they be but that they can be a member of parliament in this place.

Amidst these walls, when people go wandering through this parliament, you see lots of portraits. You acknowledge them and you are caught up by the people in those portraits and want to find out what they did and when they were here. There are not many portraits of women in this place. There is one of Joan Child; it is up in a corridor amongst Australia's 'firsts'. Not only was Joan Child Australia's first Labor women parliamentarian in the House of Reps but she was also our first woman speaker.

She did not make a big deal about this. She is on record as saying that all politicians are parliamentarians; it is not their gender. She felt that she had a role to play to represent her community. This was not as a woman—not as an astoundingly successful woman who was left as a sole parent when her husband died tragically quite young, with five boys to raise and not a lot of social welfare. We know how poor the pension was in those days, but she did not sit around and mope—and she actually used those terms, 'There is no room for moping.' She went out to work to get the money to raise her sons effectively. I understand at her state funeral—which she earned—those sons talked about the inspiration and the love that they had for their mother, and the way that she had kept their family together.

The range of work that the Honourable Joan Child did before she was elected to this place in her 40s after living for many years on a very tight income is on record. As she said, she was always devoted to and loved the Labor Party. Joan Child worked as a cleaner and in factories—they talked about her working in factories and they talked about her working in shops. She worked for a wage and she understood the struggle of working for a wage—a very limited wage—to earn money for her family. She then went on to work for Jim Cairns as an electorate officer. I am not quite sure whether that is where she got her taste for the Labor Party, but it is certainly where she honed her skills.

In terms of the encouragement that she gave to other people standing for parliament, it was something that she believed you did by working hard. This was said consistently in the media that surrounded her election. It was novel at the time to have a women coming into the House of Reps. It was way too late, and it is something of which the Labor Party should not be proud. Certainly, we are proud of Joan Child, but the fact that it took so long for our party to elect a women to this place is to our shame. I think we have made up for it since that time.

In 1974 Joan was elected for Henty—the seat that she worked hard to hold over many elections. She lost it at times, but she came back because she had the dedication. She said of herself, 'I am stubborn. I probably am still very stubborn and I had another go, and I won.' She actually got to her position by working hard and she told people that is how to do it. She drew people around her, people from her community, people from organisations in her area and people from the Labor Party, who saw that the work to which she was committed was something we could share. There was concentrated support for her at a local level from that time on.

She was always interested—and you can read her speeches, Mr Acting Deputy President—in people being given a fair go. She was genuinely interested in our social welfare system and worked hard as a backbencher. Then in 1986 she was actually appointed by the parliament to be the first woman Speaker of the parliament. That of course was media worthy. I do want to compliment the Parliamentary Library not only for the extraordinary work they do all the time but also for their biographical information packs on people, and they have been able to show us the media that surrounded Joan Child's appointment as the first woman Speaker and the concern that was raised about whether this was a position that a woman could hold, whether it would be successful and whether it would change parliament by having this process.

Parliament continued and Joan Child was described as a woman with a 'crisp and matter-of-fact style' in the chair. She had great respect for this place and for the role of parliament. She described her first time in the chair as a deputy speaker—and we can both understand, Mr Acting Deputy President, what it is like the first time in the chair. Joan said, 'It was probably my second time in the chair and it was pretty disastrous—it just didn't gel.' But then she said—and this shows the inspiration of the woman—'I learnt a lot from that and I just kept going.' I think that is indicative of her style. She learnt from her experience and she just kept going. She has provided inspiration to many men and women in our party and in our community. The way the community responded when she was actually given the Order of Australia and later a number of awards within the community for her tireless work was indicative of her strength.

The state funeral was televised last week when the state, justifiably, farewelled a woman who had brought great honour to this place. Moving tributes were made by a range of people about the warmth of the woman, the strength, the hard work and also the impish humour. I think that is something that will always be remembered about Joan Child.

Tonight I just want to quote a little bit from one of her speeches because, as you know, Mr Acting Deputy President, we are currently working through the issues around the National Disability Insurance Scheme and how we can provide a better scheme for people with disabilities in our country. In 1974, on 16 July, in her first speech, Joan Child told parliament:

Handicapped adults—in fact, handicapped people—are usually a political nonissue. They do not have political strength; they do not march down the streets; they do not congregate; they do not have any muscle.

…   …   …

While they represent an energetic breakthrough, welfare services have been neglected for far too long for us to rest on our laurels. We have taken the first steps along a path for a new deal for handicapped people where self-respect, personal dignity and independence will be the touchstones for what we do.

It is fine to have strong words in this place and it is important that we acknowledge the work that Joan Child did, but I think the message she has left us about the steps towards ensuring that people have self-respect, personal dignity and independence will be a lasting legacy for this inspirational woman.

When you walk through the corridors of this place and you pass that portrait of Joan, I think one thing we can do is to say thank you, that we have heard her message, that we who have come after her know that we have a strong legacy and that we must continue the work that she has done. I respected Joan Child and I think that her work will live long in our memory. I want to thank her family for sharing her with us. I think the people of Australia can look back at a wonderful woman who has left us a job of work to do in this place.