Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with deep regret that I inform the Senate of the death on 11 November 2020 of the Hon. Dame Margaret Georgina Constance Guilfoyle AC DBE and a senator for the state of Victoria, from 1971 until 1987. I call the Leader of the Government in the Senate.

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate records its deep sorrow at the death, on 11 November 2020, of the Honourable Dame Margaret Georgina Constance Guilfoyle AC DBE, former Senator for Victoria and former Minister for Finance and Minister for Social Security, places on record its gratitude for her dedicated service to the Parliament and the nation, and tenders its profound sympathy to her family in their bereavement.

Earlier this month, we lost a Liberal Party and an Australian icon. We lost another woman who, in Australia, had made an extraordinary and leading contribution to shape the modern Australia that we live in today. Dame Margaret Guilfoyle was the first woman in cabinet with a ministerial portfolio in an Australian government, the first woman from this place—the Senate—to serve in cabinet and the first woman to hold a major economic portfolio within the Australian government. She was a trailblazer, a pioneer, and her legacy has helped to encourage future generations to follow in her footsteps.

Dame Margaret was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1926, one of three children, to Elizabeth and William McCartney. Two years later, her family packed up their belongings and migrated to Australia, settling in Melbourne. At age 10, Dame Margaret's father passed away, leaving her mother to raise three young children alone. She would later reflect in life that this experience helped shape her views that a woman must be capable of independence, seek education, and that they should have the same political, economic and social rights as men.

Dame Margaret was educated at Fairfield state school and Westgarth Central Business College. By age 15, she was working as a secretary while studying accountancy at night at Taylors Institute of Advanced Studies and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. By age 20, in 1946, Dame Margaret was a qualified accountant and chartered secretary working at the Overseas Corporation Australia, a firm that specialised in promoting Australian exports.

A few years later, on 20 November 1952, Dame Margaret married Stanley Guilfoyle, a fellow accountant, with whom she had three children. The Guilfoyles were active members of the Liberal Party, joining the South Camberwell branch in the 1950s. Dame Margaret undertook various roles within the women's section of the party, where she formed close relationships with Dame Ivy Wedgwood, her mentor, Dame Elizabeth Couchman and Edith Haynes.

Upon her retirement in 1970, Dame Ivy, Victoria's first female senator, encouraged Dame Margaret to stand for preselection to replace her. Dame Margaret followed that advice and went on to defeat 20 candidates and secured the second spot on the Liberal Senate ticket. Nearly all of those opponents in that preselection race were men. Her Senate election bid was successful and, on 1 July 1971, Dame Margaret entered the Australian parliament as a Victorian Liberal senator. In her first speech to the parliament, during a budget debate, quite fittingly, Dame Margaret displayed her financial and economic skills, analysing infrastructure costs and touching on mining industry matters, as well as expressing opinions across matters of the environment, pollution, population and funding for the arts.

Dame Margaret was especially passionate about the arts and a strong advocate for the development of an Australian children's film foundation which would create content that would enrich the lives of Australian children for many years to come. The foundation was established a number of years later in 1982, and Dame Margaret would go on to serve as a director of the foundation for over a decade, from 1989 to 2003.

In opposition, Dame Margaret served in a number of roles, including as opposition spokesperson on the media and on education. A few short years later, in 1975, with the dismissal of the Whitlam government and the appointment of Malcolm Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister, Dame Margaret was made Minister for Education. Through that 1975 election campaign, Dame Margaret handed down the coalition's education policies and, of note, Joan Kirner, the then head of the Australian Council of State School Organisations, would later praise Dame Margaret's policies and the role which they played in supporting sound education policy in Australia.

After the coalition victory in December 1975, Dame Margaret moved to the position of Minister for Social Security, a portfolio she would hold for five years. A reshuffle in 1976 saw Dame Margaret promoted to cabinet and, in so doing, becoming Australia's first female cabinet minister to serve with portfolio. During her time in social security, Dame Margaret is well recorded in history books as having worked hard to shield her portfolio from various spending cuts, engaging in fierce battles with then Treasurer Philip Lynch. Indeed, as she herself described:

I think perhaps the nicest headline I ever had during my time was the one in a Sydney paper that said, 'Minister unhelpful'—unhelpful in cutting the programs that coherently gave income security to millions of people … and maybe unhelpful in trying to persuade other ministers that there were essential matters that needed to be built upon and not destroyed from time to time.

The welfare of women was central to her, and she reminded colleagues often that 83 per cent of the payments made through her then department were made to women. Dame Margaret also oversaw major reform of the National Child Endowment Scheme. Renamed 'family allowance', it was paid directly to mothers and provided greater benefits to lower income families. She also ran the Office of Child Care and presided over a major expansion of government support for preschool, child care and after-school care.

In 1980, Dame Margaret was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Later that year, following the election, she was moved into the Finance portfolio. Having spent the last years defending her portfolio from cuts, she was tasked with the responsibility of looking for savings. As Minister for Finance, Dame Margaret was known for her strong financial expertise and sound understanding of economic matters. She was appointed to the razor gang, as it was known colloquially, and, indeed, was given by the then Prime Minister an expanded role as finance minister in the scrutiny of budgets. Then adviser to Prime Minister Fraser and later cabinet minister in the Howard government David Kemp, a fellow Victorian, noted of Dame Margaret in her role as finance minister in a budget setting and as a cabinet minister:

She had a tremendous gift of making a strong political point very simply. She would be able to convince the Cabinet what would fly and what wouldn't, what they could get away with and what they couldn't, and what debate would be really tough to them if they wanted to take it on.

Dame Margaret was a strong believer in the importance of independence for women, a tenet strongly related to her own childhood experiences. Of note, Dame Margaret made clear that she had no desire to hold the status of women portfolio. She saw from the example that she set for the women who would follow her and the difference that she could make in critical portfolios that those actions would have the greatest impact on future generations of Australian women.

Three years after being appointed Minister for Finance, the Fraser government was defeated at the 1983 election. While Dame Margaret stayed on to serve as shadow minister for taxation, when the coalition failed to win the 1984 election she requested not to be included in the new shadow cabinet and moved to the backbench. In June 1987, Dame Margaret retired from the Senate. In her final speech to the parliament, she noted that when she first entered the chamber there were only two female senators, herself and Dame Nancy Butterfield, who represented my great home state of South Australia. Dame Margaret and the groundbreaking women who served before and with her championed the equal participation of women in this parliament. In her own words:

Equal participation of women in the Parliament, in the whole of community life, can only lead us to a better understanding of humanity and to the fulfilment of the aspirations that we would have for a civilised society.

In 2019, the Senate reached gender equality in terms of representation. In part, this was achieved because of trailblazing women like Dame Margaret, who noted that it was important not that she was the first woman to hold a number of roles but that she was not to be the last to have the opportunity. It would be 30 years after Dame Margaret left the finance ministry before another would step into that portfolio—the Leader of the Opposition in this place, Senator Wong.

After her retirement from politics, Dame Margaret served in a number of roles, including chair of the Judicial Remuneration Tribunal, deputy chair of the Mental Health Research Institute and the Infertility Treatment Authority, president of the Royal Melbourne Hospital board of management and a member of the National Inquiry into the Human Rights of People with Mental Illness. In 2005, Dame Margaret was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia for significant contributions to public life in Australia in support of hospital and health administration, social justice and education, to young people as a role model and to the Australian parliament. Dame Margaret holds a special place in the history of our nation. She was known as a formidable and capable cabinet minister who was dedicated to improving the lives of everyday Australians. In the words of the late Susan Ryan, another pioneer and advocate for equality who we also lost this year:

If anyone's performance should have established that a woman's place was in the Cabinet, it was Margaret Guilfoyle's.

To Dame Margaret's husband, Stan; her children, Georgina, Anne and Jeffrey; and her grandchildren, Hugo, Jennifer, Oliver and Elizabeth: on behalf of the Australian government and the Australian Senate, we offer our deepest condolences.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of the opposition to express our condolences following the passing of the Hon. Dame Margaret Georgina Constance Guilfoyle AC, DBE, former senator and minister, at the age of 94. I begin by expressing our sympathy to her family and friends, in joining with the government in this condolence motion.

Dame Margaret Guilfoyle was one of the highest-ranking women to have served in an Australian government. She entered, and succeeded in, politics at a time when there were few other women in parliament, let alone around the cabinet table. Participating not at the periphery but at the centre, she would be a minister for the life of the Fraser government, briefly in education before moving to social security and then to finance. She was the first woman to be Australia's finance minister. It took 27 years, and five governments, before my appointment brought the next. Dame Margaret earned a reputation as a highly capable administrator, setting a standard that was a benchmark for those who followed.

Born in Belfast in 1926, Dame Margaret emigrated to Australia with her family two years later. She was not a child of privilege. Settling in Melbourne, the death of her father when she was 10 was a lesson in resilience. Her mother had to bring up three children without the support of extended family, which for Dame Margaret became a formative experience and perhaps led her to recognise the value of education and career for women. Leaving a state school at 15, she combined work and study and ultimately qualified as an accountant and chartered secretary. Of course, at this time, post World War II, there was a shortage in this profession, which helped her to establish a career where women would otherwise have faced an even greater number of barriers. Later she would point to her capacity to manage a career and family as evidence of her ability to manage a family and political life.

Along with her husband, Stanley Guilfoyle, with whom she had three children, she joined her local branch of the Liberal Party and was active in the women's section of the party in particular. She benefited from the mentoring of several feisty senior women, who themselves had played a significant role in the formation of the party and who had a reputation for not suffering any nonsense from their brethren. She would be preselected to replace one of them, Dame Ivy Wedgwood—to whom my colleague Senator Birmingham referred—the first woman to represent Victoria in the Senate, from a field of 20 candidates.

After her election, and taking office in this place in July 1971, Dame Margaret quickly established herself by pursuing committee opportunities that aligned with her professional expertise. She entered a chamber in which there was only one other woman, Dame Nancy Buttfield from South Australia. She recognised her role in following the legacy of her predecessors from Victoria but also, as only the seventh woman to be a senator, in being what she described as a 'voice for the women of Australia'. Her first speech demonstrated the breadth of her interests. She addressed economic concerns but, perhaps more significantly, articulated the changing nature of people's attitudes towards what was important in their lives. Noting that Australians had enjoyed great material prosperity in the postwar years, she observed that the nation was changing. She sensed more people were recognising that material progress alone did not necessarily lead to contentment, and there was a restlessness and questioning of previously important standards and values. She argued selflessness needed to be brought to the preservation of our natural resources and that the arts were a necessary outlet for developing imagination, sensibility, perception and intelligence, and an enrichment for all the people.

In 1974 she entered the shadow ministry as spokesperson on the media. When Malcolm Fraser replaced Billy Snedden as Leader of the Opposition, in March 1975, he appointed her as shadow minister for education, in relation to which she had responsibility for preparing the opposition's policy in what was a politically tumultuous time. As Senator Birmingham outlined, it was an effort that earned attention and respect. After the dismissal of the Whitlam government, Mr Fraser appointed Dame Margaret education minister in his caretaker government. She would be the third woman appointed to the ministry in Australia's history but the first to be given a substantive portfolio in cabinet, running a government department. Her stay was brief. After the election that followed, she would shift to social security. After a six-month hiatus from cabinet, she returned in June 1976 and remained for the next 6½ years.

As Minister for Social Security she had to balance the desire of the conservative government to contain expenditure with the necessity of ensuring the welfare system was administered with humanity. Often some of her harshest critics—as is often the case—were her own colleagues. One of the key initiatives she oversaw was the conversion of the family allowance from a tax rebate to a cash payment directly to mothers. And in conjunction with Marie Coleman, who to this day, in her late 80s, remains a powerful and consistent advocate for Australian women, she oversaw the establishment of the foundations of the modern childcare sector, with an increased Commonwealth role in day and out-of-school-hours care.

When Marie was asked to offer some contribution to this speech, among the many superlatives she used was the word 'doughty', which means steadfastly courageous and resolute. It's a word that's gone out of circulation, perhaps because it describes qualities that may have become a little too rare. Marie recalls Dame Margaret's emphatic pronouncements that social security is not a cost but a way to support the most vulnerable amongst us, to offer civilised support for those who need it. It was an outlook that Dame Margaret practised in life as well as in policy. She would go out of her way to give people the dignity of being heard. Even if she could not offer a solution to someone's problem, she would offer what she could, even if it was only her empathy.

Perhaps Dame Margaret's greatest contribution opportunity would come in 1980, when Mr Fraser appointed her as Minister for Finance and she became, in her own words, 'chief accountant for the country'. The Age heralded this appointment as an excellent choice, stating that Dame Margaret was not merely of unquestionable competence but also someone who had shown a determination to see that budget cutbacks were not made at the expense of the poor. Finance put her at the heart of government decision-making for the next three years, and she would be the Fraser government's gatekeeper, maintaining curbs on expenditure in line with cabinet policy and imposing fiscal discipline on ministers and departments. It is, at its core, an often thankless portfolio—as Senator Birmingham is no doubt discovering!—but it is one that is essential, and it seemed ideal for someone who was variously described as meticulous, confident and unflappable. It also put a woman at the heart of economic decision-making.

Dame Margaret recognised the role she played as one of the first few women to enter this place and then to hold significant office. But to her the more significant matter was that she would ensure that it was more acceptable in the future for positions of responsibility to be handled by women. In her valedictory remarks several years later she said:

It was said that I was the first to hold a Cabinet post and administer a department—that might be true—but it had to be very important that I was not the last.

So, as the second—and to date the only other—female finance minister of Australia, I recognise not only the honour of following in the footsteps of women like Dame Margaret and her contemporary, the late Senator Susan Ryan, but also the importance of helping others carry that legacy on. And I hope we're not going to wait too long for Senator Gallagher to become the third woman to serve as Australia's finance minister.

Returning to opposition after the defeat of the Fraser government may have been the end of Dame Margaret's ministerial career, but she took seriously her role as a legislator and remarked, upon returning to the backbench, that her object now was to ensure good governance. When she retired in 1987, the then Labor leader in the Senate, John Button, spoke generously about his departing Victorian colleague, describing her as someone who brought 'great skills and intellectual stringency to her role as a minister and dignity and good humour to this chamber'. In fact, Dame Margaret had also been a source of artistic inspiration for Senator Button, with his 1978 work Still Life in the Senate, of which she was the centrepiece, wining third prize in a competition organised by the Warrnambool Art Gallery. In this masterpiece, subtitled The view from the opposition benches, Senator Button placed a photograph of a smiling Dame Margaret surrounded by her Liberal Party colleagues, who were each hand-drawn as a particular type of animal. Acknowledging in a somewhat understated way that he had an uncharitable view of most Fraser government senators, he said that Margaret Guilfoyle was always the most pleasant and answered opposition questions better than most ministers—which, from John Button, was fine praise!

After parliament, Dame Margaret took on a number of causes. She showed particular dedication to supporting mental health research, notably as a commissioner in the national inquiry into human rights and mental illness, announced by Human Rights Commissioner Brian Burdekin in 1990, and deputy chair of the Mental Health Research Institute. She was also a member of the National Health and Medical Research Council and a director of the Australian Children's Television Foundation. The latter was entirely appropriate, given that in her first speech Dame Margaret had spoken presciently of the importance of fostering the creation of films with a national identity. She also—and I'm sure others might speak about this more—led efforts within the Liberal Party to increase female representation within its ranks.

Speaking at a conference to mark 100 years of women's suffrage in that wonderful state of South Australia in 1994, she emphasised that it was not sufficient to merely increase the number of women in parliament, but that women must be in the cabinet. Remarking that our system is one of cabinet government, she said, 'Unless there are women in cabinet, they won't have the effect on policy development and implementation that they would if they were part of a cabinet structure in which the decisions and policy directions are made.' In light of this, it is still so disappointing that, when this government first came to office, there was only one woman in the cabinet.

My genuine hope is that the conservative side of politics could find it within themselves to honour her legacy, of which they should be so very proud, by supporting more women to be here and promoting more women into senior roles. In their tribute in the Herald Sun, Dame Margaret Guilfoyle's family described her as someone who will be remembered for her humour, spark and intellect. They went on to say, 'She achieved much in her public life, based on her abiding beliefs in equity and fairness.'

We've farewelled some women who have led the way for this parliament and this nation this year, and Dame Margaret led the way for a generation of women, particularly those in conservative politics. She was an icon for the Liberal Party. We, on this side, particularly the women on this side of the parliament, express our recognition for the role she played in changing this place. We, again, express our condolences at her passing, and we convey our sympathies to her family and friends.

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I stand on behalf of the Nationals to offer our condolences and to support the heartfelt words spoken here in the Senate and in the other place today and extend our sympathies to Dame Margaret's family and friends. She was an outstanding parliamentarian and role model, not just because she was a woman, but because she was a tenacious senator, earning and commanding respect in what was then very much a man's world of federal parliament. She was a political ground breaker and a pivotal figure who had a profound impact on Australia and Australians. She was an inspiration for generations, an immigrant, a working mother and an accountant who became, as Dame Margaret herself described, 'the chief accountant for the country' following her appointment as Australia's first female finance minister in 1980.

Dame Margaret held four ministerial positions in the Fraser government: Minister for Education; Minister Assisting the Prime Minister in Child Care Matters; Minister for Social Security, her cabinet position; and Minister for Finance. When I recall Dame Margaret, I think of a person who wanted to be judged by her actions, not as someone motivated solely by inequality. She never let an opportunity go, though, to focus on furthering the cause of female representation. As the first woman sent to Canberra from the Victorian Division of the Country Party, now the National Party, she reached out to me on getting preselected and made sure that I had someone that had been there before that I could draw on for advice. She introduced me to a few of my Liberal Party colleagues before I actually got here.

As a senator and a minister, all sides of politics agree, Dame Margaret was outstanding. She took committee roles that aligned with her own professional experience. Because of her accounting background, Dame Margaret put her experience to use as a member of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Government Operations and the Public Accounts Committee. It was former Prime Minister and colleague John Howard who said that she had a very good grasp on the detail, which is something all senators need to be across. That is just one thing that is required, especially to be a successful finance minister.

For all the headlines focusing on her gender rather than her skill, it must have been a very frustrating period to be a female cabinet minister. What deserves the spotlight was Dame Margaret's tenacity in prosecuting her arguments, done with determination, nous and resolute commitment to the desired outcome. Her advocacy for improvements in child care and the expansion of maternity leave for all women earned her the respect of all sides of politics.

There's no doubt that her own work and life experience influenced her politics. As Minister for Social Security, Dame Margaret drew on her own understanding of the human impact of her portfolio. As minister, she was responsible for the most significant reforms to child endowment since the Menzies government extended it to firstborn children in 1949. Under Dame Margaret, tax rebates were removed for dependent children, and she increased the cash amount paid to parents under the renamed family allowance, which was paid directly to mothers. These changes provided a greater benefit for low-income families and addressed key concerns of opponents who argued that child endowment had not kept up with inflation.

Dame Margaret did not come from a political family. She lost her father at age 10. She was the daughter of a teacher who raised three children without the support of an extended family.

She had a long association with the Liberal Party in Victoria before her election. She recalled her pre-selection challenge as not against men but against the perception of the city-country balance of the Liberal Party representation. In politics Dame Margaret was meticulous, confident and unflappable. For that she was an inspirational role model.

Former Labor Premier of Victoria Joan Kirner said in 2003, 'Dame Margaret forged the view that women could be judged equally on political rather than personal terms.' I mention Joan Kirner because it was Kirner who, as president of the Australian Council of State School Organisations, said that Dame Margaret was also the architect of the coalition's education policy. She spoke on a range of issues in parliament, from the environment to her interests in supporting the arts. Whether finance or higher education, Aboriginal health, ASIO and intelligence agencies or drug use and abuse, Dame Margaret was a succinct and clear contributor. My colleague foreign minister Senator Payne described Dame Margaret as 'one who led by example'. For those of us who have the honour and privilege to serve in this place that is as fitting a definition of something to inspire and motivate us all. Vale, Dame Margaret.

Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to offer the Greens' condolences to the friends and family of Dame Margaret Guilfoyle. Though, of course, we're on opposite sides of the chamber on many issues, Dame Margaret's passion and commitment to promoting women in leadership roles undeniably blazed a trail for all those who have followed and who are to come.

An Irish immigrant raised by a single mother after her father's death, Dame Margaret often said that her experiences confirmed—as was cited before by Senator Birmingham—that at any time a woman must be capable of independence. She worked tirelessly to ensure that she achieved this and made space for other women to do the same.

When she joined the Liberal Party she was mentored and supported by other female members and encouraged to seek leadership roles. She then spent her career paying that forward. In the time she served in the Senate the number of female senators rose from two to 19. I'm delighted that women now represent more than half the senators in this place. Enid Lyons was the first woman appointed to cabinet. Annabelle Rankin was the first woman to be given a ministerial portfolio.

When she was appointed as Minister for Education in 1975 Dame Margaret became the first woman to build on those achievements and to be appointed to a cabinet-level ministerial portfolio. She went on to serve as Minister for Social Security and Minister for Finance. In her social security role she gained a reputation for resisting calls for funding and spending cuts in the portfolio, recognising the importance of providing support to vulnerable members of the community. She oversaw a major reform of the national child support scheme and led the new office of child care within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Working with the director of that office, the inimitable Marie Coleman, who has also been referenced already today, Dame Margaret oversaw a significant expansion of federal government support for the childcare sector and funding for preschool, day care, after-school care and youth refuges. Throughout her career Dame Margaret fought against efforts to pigeonhole her by her gender and to limit her interest to family issues and so called 'women's issues'. Instead she continued to fight on the wide range of social issues that impact all women: access to education and social services, financial security, human rights, mental health and discrimination.

Consistent with her commitment to education and development, after leaving the Senate Dame Margaret went on to get a Bachelor of Laws and work in private practice. She continued her commitment to public life as a member of the National Inquiry into the Human Rights of People with Mental Illness, the Mental Health Research Institute, the infertility treatment authority and various not-for-profit boards.

She continued her mentoring and advocacy for women, working with Joan Kirner on a campaign to secure more nominations for women in Australia's honours system. This is a project that continues today, but much ground has been made.

Like those who came before her, Dame Margaret's career forged a path that, little by little, made it easier for more and more women to see people like them in leadership roles, to know the importance of representation and to put themselves forward. There is still so much to be done to achieve diversity in this place and to get a parliament that actually looks like our community, but we here at the Greens thank Dame Margaret for the doors that she opened along that path. A woman's place is indeed in the House, the Senate and the cabinet. Vale, Dame Margaret Gilfoyle.

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For the second time in as many months we find ourselves rising to pay tribute to a trailblazer for women in parliament and women in government—firstly the Hon. Susan Ryan and now Dame Margaret Guilfoyle. There have been too many of these speeches this year.

I well recall the day last year when, for the first time in our nation's history, the Senate achieved equal numbers of men and women with the arrival then of Senator Sarah Henderson. This was an important milestone for our parliament and for the country. We reached it in large part because women like Dame Margaret paved a path for many of the rest of us to follow. When, in 1970, Dame Margaret was elected to this place, she was only the seventh woman to serve in the Australian Senate. In her long career here, as colleagues have said so well this afternoon—and I acknowledge those speeches with gratitude—she achieved a lot of firsts. She was the first woman senator in cabinet. She was the first woman in cabinet with a ministerial portfolio. She was the first woman ever to hold a major economic portfolio. Not only did she do all of this, but she did it with such extraordinary efficiency that she left everyone in awe. And she won admiration from all sides, as we have seen here this afternoon.

But it didn't come easily. In fact, at first she was written off as 'a mother with political ambitions'. When she was appointed to what was known as the joint prices committee, Melbourne's Herald newspaper described her as 'a housewife with a big say on prices'. The Sydney Morning Herald, upon her appointment as shadow minister for education, described her as 'a mother with political ambitions'. When her talent became apparent she attracted other descriptions like 'the Iron Butterfly' and comparisons to 'the Iron Lady' of British politics, also a Margaret. But she never welcomed the title or the comparison. She said the image of a hard woman bothered her. She didn't believe a woman should have to sacrifice her compassion and her empathy to succeed.

At the same time, she was not interested in being typecast as a woman with 'a woman's portfolio'. She clearly had her eyes on the bigger goal of leading and reforming social security. She was appointed to that role just before Christmas 1975 and, over the next five years, used it as a platform to pursue her belief in women's equal participation. She said at the time:

Equal participation of women in the Parliament, in the whole of community life, can only lead us to a better understanding of humanity and to the fulfilment of the aspirations that we would have for a civilised society.

She started programs, as we have heard this afternoon, that made life better for women in Australia. By her own estimate, 83 per cent of her department's payments were made directly to women, including widow's pensions, age pensions, family allowances and disability support payments. She also reformed the national child endowment scheme and presided over a major expansion of government support for preschool, child care and after-school care. When the landmark maternity leave bill was debated, she had argued for the extension of maternity leave to all women, not just Commonwealth employees. And no-one knew better how important it was for women to have choice when it came to how they interpreted their role as a parent. Indeed, without pushing for flexibility in work-life balance in her own career, she would never have been in a position to create it for others.

In 1980, Dame Margaret was made the Minister for Finance, becoming what she called 'the chief accountant for the country'. She always believed governments needed to govern for everyone. In her more than two years as finance minister, she came to see that it was through the Finance portfolio that a government's accountability on every issue, from the economy to national security, rested. To paraphrase, she said, 'It was a very interesting time for me as finance minister, having that overall look at the accountability of government, to sit on every cabinet committee dealing with economic matters and with the security of the country, because it is the accountability of government, through the Department of Finance, that is the responsibility of that minister.' I think it is very nice that Senator Wong is here this afternoon to make her contribution as Australia's second female finance minister.

Upon her retirement, Dame Margaret reflected that her time in parliament had brought out the best in her, and she did it at a time when, frankly, few believed a woman, especially a woman with children, could or even should serve in this place. People often asked Dame Margaret what it was like being the first woman in her role. She always replied that it wasn't being the first that mattered; it was more important that she was not the last. And I know Senator Jane Hume would have reinforced that this afternoon, were she here. She mentioned that in her social media post last week in acknowledging Dame Margaret's leadership, particularly in Victoria. Seeing how far female representation came over her lifetime was something in which she also took great joy. She once said, 'Since my time as a minister, I have seen women who have been Commonwealth ministers, premiers and chief ministers.' And we know, indeed, we can add to that Governor-General and Prime Minister. As a senator, and as Minister for Women, I feel immense gratitude for the trailblazing path laid down by Senator Guilfoyle. All of us owe her a great debt. She was a woman who made it to the top and then worked to lift us all.

I met Dame Margaret from time to time, over the years, through the Liberal Party, and through politics, and I was always struck by her quiet grace, her fierce intellect, her genuine interest in what those of us who had followed in her footsteps as senators in the parliament were doing here, and her fierce continuation of support for the Liberal Party and the participation of women in the Liberal Party. In fact, just last week, Chris McDiven, former federal president of the Liberal Party and the initiator of the Liberal Women's Forum, of which Dame Margaret was the patron, described her to me as a wonderfully warm, kind and supportive person. That will be the memory of many. I believe she'll be remembered not only as the first woman to do so many of the things that she did but as one of the finest, most accomplished, diligent ministers in our nation's history.

To her husband, Stan, to her children, to her family, we offer our heartfelt condolences. Vale, Dame Margaret Guilfoyle.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Being a Victorian Liberal senator, I'm going to take this opportunity to speak on this matter as well. I first met Dame Margaret three decades ago. Everyone who's a member of the Victorian Division would be aware of her status within our party. While we didn't know it at the time, it was actually the 45th anniversary of her first appointment as a minister on which she passed away, on 11 November. The Speaker, also a member of the Victorian Division of the Liberal Party, and I were down at Old Parliament House and regretted that we did not know at the time. It does cause one to reflect on the events of that day and the achievements that Dame Margaret undertook.

When she entered office, as others have commented, she entered a Senate with a sole other woman and a House of Representatives with none. But she had no wish to be defined by the then limits placed on many women; she was defined by her determination, competence and expertise. She was elected to the Senate coming from the fierce tradition of Victorian Liberal women that has been mentioned before, such as Dame Ivy Wedgwood and Dame Elizabeth Couchman, many of whom were denied the opportunities that she was presented with and took advantage of so forcefully.

At her pre-selection, where she famously beat nearly two dozen other candidates, she was asked how she would manage three children as well as her responsibilities in this place, reflecting the attitudes, sadly, of the times. She responded pointly but politely:

I'm asking you to make a decision to give me responsibility to be a representative in the Senate and I would ask that you accept that I have responsibility to make the decisions regarding my family.

She served in this place from 1971 to 1987 and saw a dramatic increase in the representative nature of this chamber when it comes to the representation of women. I won't recount all her achievements and biographical information, other than to associate myself with the contributions made earlier today. She chose as her focus matters of finance, areas where she had both a passion and professional expertise. She was not going to have her career defined by notions others had for her role. She sat on the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Government Operations, she joined the Public Accounts Committee, and she served on estimates committees just as they were beginning to make their mark, her election coinciding with their essential creation. As I mentioned, she became a minister in the Fraser cabinet of 1975 and, as others have mentioned, she went on to an extraordinary career as the Minister for Social Security and the Minister for Education.

The Hon. David Kemp, himself later a minister, but at that time a senior staff member for Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, described her as follows:

She had a tremendous gift of making a strong political point very simply. She would be able to convince the Cabinet what would fly and what wouldn't …

She continued to serve until she left this place in 1987. As others have commented, she read law at the ANU afterwards. But she continued to give generous and expert public service on tribunals, boards of inquiry and committees, which benefited from the values that Malcolm Fraser ascribed to her in cabinet: she could be totally relied upon and to think for herself. Her Order of Australia recognised her significant contributions to public life in Australia in support of many areas of public activity, particularly as a role model to young people, and to the Australian parliament.

I recently spoke to a long-serving member of this chamber, the Hon. Rod Kemp, who was also a senior staffer to Dame Margaret for five years. He has said:

Dame Margaret showed that politics can be conducted with dignity and decency … that politics in sensitive portfolios could be conducted successfully without sordid deals and vested interests.

I think this is reflected by the many contributions that have been made following Dame Margaret's passing. Margaret Fitzherbert, a former member of the Victorian parliament and unofficial historian of the Liberal Party about many of these matters, summed her up:

She was smart, charming, feminine and worked exceptionally hard. She was a living link to the strong, tough women who helped found the Liberal Party … The party has lost a giant.

I urge those with an interest in these matters to refer to Margaret's work on Dame Margaret and that generation of tough women. It may be that my party has some lessons that we need to re-learn.

In the passing of Susan Ryan and Margaret Guilfoyle, both sides of Australian politics and both sides of this Senate have lost women who both led by example and championed change, albeit in their own ways. The Senate today, while imperfect, better reflects Australian society for the work that they did. With regard to her contribution to public life in Australia and the parliament of Australia, and with particular regard to her contribution on behalf of the Victorian Division of the Liberal Party, we are grateful for the service and example of Margaret Guilfoyle and extend our deepest sympathies to Stan, who many of us also know, and to her family.

Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Dame Margaret Guilfoyle, AC, DBE, will be remembered as one of Australia's most significant women. She was committed to her family and she was committed to her country. Dame Margaret was elected as a senator for Victoria in 1970, commencing her term in July 1971. After serving as opposition spokesperson for education and the media, Dame Margaret served as a cabinet minister for much of the Fraser government, commencing in 1975.

As we have heard in this condolence motion, she was a true trailblazer. She was the first woman to be appointed an Australian government cabinet minister with portfolio and the first woman to hold an economic portfolio. Dame Margaret ensured that the voices of women and men were heard at the cabinet table and at the highest levels of government administration. One of her most important achievements was her oversight of the national child endowment arrangements, which ushered in the change to cash payments from the previous tax rebate scheme. This proved to be life changing for families on low incomes. And she campaigned for maternity leave for all women, not just for sections of the workforce such as employees of the Commonwealth.

Despite the best efforts of others, she never sought to define herself or her work by her gender. She had no interest in being typecast, despite the fact, of course, that after the 1975 election the Liberals and Labor each held only three women in the parliament. Of course, this is in stark contrast, as we have heard from Senator Payne, to my entry into the Senate last year, which was the first time that men and women were in equal numbers in the Senate.

Born in Belfast in Northern Ireland in 1926, Dame Margaret's family migrated to Melbourne shortly after that. Tragically, her father died when she was just 10 years old. With her mother now raising three children alone, Dame Margaret said later that she learned that, at any time, a woman must be capable of independence.

Dame Margaret married Stan Guilfoyle in 1952 and in the 1950s she became active in the Liberal Party, having joined the South Camberwell branch of the party. What good fortune for the Liberal Party and good fortune for Australia that Dame Margaret became so active in politics. She had a calm demeanour, a razor-sharp mind and a fighting spirit, which was evident from the moment she contested preselection in a field of 20 candidates. When asked who would look after her three children if she became a senator, as we have just heard from the President—it's such a good story I'm telling it again!—she politely responded:

'I'm asking you to make a decision to give me responsibility to be a representative in the Senate and I would ask that you would accept that I have responsibility to make the decisions regarding my family.'

Dame Margaret served in ministerial portfolios for child care, education, social security and finance. She was formidable in and out of cabinet. Perhaps her most famous battles were with the then Treasurer Phillip Lynch over his quest for social security cuts and her refusal to accept these reductions in government expenditure. The then Treasurer had labelled her as 'unhelpful', which she wore with a badge of honour. At a conference many years later, she said:

… perhaps the nicest headline I ever had during my time was the one in a Sydney paper that said, 'Minister unhelpful'—unhelpful in cutting the programs that coherently gave income security to millions of people … and maybe unhelpful in trying to persuade other ministers that there were essential matters that needed to be built upon and not destroyed from time to time.

Dame Margaret's record of public service to the nation, to this Senate for 16 years and to the Liberal Party will serve as a lasting tribute to her memory. My sincere condolences to her husband, Stan, to her children, Georgina, Anne and Geoffrey, and to her extended family and friends. Dame Margaret was an incredible woman of substance, integrity and compassion. May she rest in peace.

Question agreed to, honourable senators standing in their places.