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

I ask that general business notice of motion No. 75, standing in my name and also the name of Senator Hinch for this afternoon, relating to Rebecca Wilson, be taken as a formal motion.

Question agreed to.

David Leyonhjelm (NSW, Liberal Democratic Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a brief statement.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

David Leyonhjelm (NSW, Liberal Democratic Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 21 November 2015, Rebecca Wilson wrote a story in The Sunday Telegraph in which she purported to name and shame fans of the Western Sydney Wanderers who she claimed to have been banned by the Football Federation Australia for loutish behaviour. This was accompanied by photographs of the individuals. In fact some of the people named had never been banned, some had been banned on spurious grounds and some were under 18 and should never have been named irrespective. Some suffered material harm, particularly affecting employment. I acknowledge her contribution to journalism and promotion of women, but this was something nobody should be proud of. We are all responsible for the harm we cause to others, and death does not absolve us of what we did when we were alive.

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

I, and also on behalf of Senator Hinch, move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes the recent death of Rebecca Wilson and expresses its sympathy to her family and many friends on this loss;

(b) acknowledges her significant contribution to sports journalism, nationally and internationally in this industry; and

(c) celebrates her inspiration and support for women in this industry, and in sport.

Derryn Hinch (Victoria, Derryn Hinch's Justice Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a brief statement of one minute.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Derryn Hinch (Victoria, Derryn Hinch's Justice Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Rebecca Wilson, who was Bec to her friends, was a trailblazer for female journalists—and not only sports journalists—where those early female reporters were regarded as interlopers in a predominantly male and often chauvinistic world. To Rebecca Wilson that just added another challenge. And it was fitting that her namesake, Caroline Wilson, another fearless female sports commentator, would pay tribute to her on radio 774 in Melbourne.

Rebecca Wilson came from a classy media family. You would watch her and her brother Jim, often in a war of words on Channel Seven, on the Sky News sports panel or on radio, and they gave sibling rivalry a new meaning. And their father, Bruce Wilson, was a renowned foreign correspondent for the Murdoch papers, especially the old Sun News-Pictorial in Melbourne. His kids, with ink in their veins, would lap up his war stories and big sports events like Wimbledon.

Now Bruce Wilson is gone and Rebecca has tragically gone at 54 years of age. Our thoughts are with her sons; her husband, John Hartigan—Harto, who is himself a legendary newspaper editor—and Jim, who lost his own little boy, Sam, to cancer. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.