Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I stand before you today, I want to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of this land, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples. While I live on Wajuk Noongar country, the privilege of serving in this place has connected me to Yawuru, Gija, Yamatji, Bardi Jawi, Ngaanyatjarra and many other wonderful communities. It is a connection that has taught me a profound truth: progress happens when we stop seeing others as strangers and start recognising our common interests and humanity.

In his historic Redfern speech, Paul Keating said:

We practised discrimination and exclusion.

It was our ignorance and our prejudice.

And our failure to imagine these things being done to us.

I've got a great-great-great-great-uncle named Alfred Howitt. He led the search party that found Burke and Wills—my mother originates from Victoria—and he witnessed firsthand the consequences of our failure to learn from First Nations people. As Burke lay dying at Cooper Creek, it is well documented today that his racial arrogance prevented him from learning and asking for help from First Australians. Today it is in all of our interests, if we want to live abundant, sustainable lives, to draw on the knowledge of First Nations people—knowledge accrued over six millennia.

For me, the gap between Australia's legacy of colonialism and the needs of First Nations people still remains too great. This is important to all of our wellbeing, and for our wellbeing as a nation. The issues confronting First Nations communities cannot be addressed by treating communities as the problem. We can only step forward by listening to the oldest living culture on earth, a culture that has adapted and renewed itself over the last 200 years since colonisation. A failure of imagination and the inability to see our interests align with others lies at the heart of so many challenges we face, both as individuals and as a society and a nation. I have to say that it was a pleasure to see how we responded to these needs in the Labor budget delivered last night, including cost-of-living relief, climate change, support for families and more.

In 2014, when my first term in this place ended, I stood on the other side, six months pregnant with Jasper—hello, Jasper!—giving my valedictory. He's now 10. I became pregnant with you, Jasper, between the 2013 election and the 2014 Senate re-run, after the AEC lost all those ballot papers. It was a very challenging time for me personally on many fronts, but also there was a loss shared by so many of my Labor colleagues. We knew that some of the reasons behind our defeat were of our own making. But we've worked very hard to rebuild and earn the trust of Australians, and we seek to hold that trust secure.

Jasper, when I returned to parliament, you were nearly two. I have, in fact, Malcolm Turnbull to thank for my return because he called a double dissolution election. I remember talking to you, Jasper, about going to work in Canberra again, and you pointed to the sky and said, 'Plane.' I'm pretty sure you thought that coming to Canberra meant that I was literally up in the air in an aeroplane all the time. It did feel that way sometimes. Jasper, I'm enormously proud of you and of our family. I want to thank Dennis and Stephen and my wonderful wife, Bec, for making it possible for me to serve in the Senate for these last nine years.

Back in 2001, as a state legislative councillor, I was involved in changing the laws around access to IVF in Western Australia. I was part of campaigns before that time that asked Western Australians not to imagine the wish of de facto couples, single women, including lesbians, as strangers in our desire to have a family. Without that change I would never have had the privilege, Jasper, of being your mother because you simply wouldn't exist. So I know that you know that the work of parliamentarians is important. The decisions we make in this place matter both in Australia and overseas. But to me, Jasper, you're more important than all of that. I know you're upset about missing your school puppet show tomorrow, but thank you for being at this puppet show with me today. We both experience that feeling of missing out sometimes, and this place, like your puppet show, holds a unique magic—a stage on which to recognise and respond to the many issues affecting Australia and the world, with a new iteration of sometimes old debates every year.

I really feel these past nine years since my return have been incredible, from defending hard-fought Labor reforms in opposition to embracing the opportunities of government—from marriage equality to COVID, from manufacturing to employment, social security, immigration, blocking regressive industrial relations changes and engaging in ever-evolving debates about rights and freedoms. It has been such a great privilege to play a role in these debates and more.

The journey to marriage equality was long and deeply personal, as it was for others of us in the chamber, but I was so proud to walk that path alongside so many Australians who demanded fairness and dignity. I hope that my time in this place has shown young queer, LGBTIQ+ Australians that there is a place for them in politics and in shaping our country's future. On that note, Senator Wong, thank you for placing me on the committee that established the guardrails for implementing marriage equality. And it was such a great pleasure to work with you, Senator Dean Smith.

We need strong institutions that listen to citizens, and the Senate's capacity to do that is indeed a powerful one. Of course, in this context, Senate committee work is key. When compared to other upper houses, our role in reform through our committees exceeds that of other parliaments around the world. Of course, as I look at the Clerk, we could not accomplish this without the hard work and commitment of all of parliament's officers and staff. I thank you and all of the staff here—the clerks, the committee staff, the Black Rod—for your steady moderation of this institution. I also thank security, COMCAR drivers, cleaners, catering staff, the library, building services, the Parliamentary Budget Office and attendants. You all make this place function, despite the tendency of politicians to create chaos by sitting late and engaging in heated debates, as we may well do tonight.

We are in a very dynamic place, and, having visited other parliaments, I've seen that the access of civil society, unions, advocates, business, health consumer groups and more to this building, and therefore to power, is such a great asset to our nation. This openness is special. Please protect it. It helps us recognise the issues that are important to the nation.

In my time in the Senate, I've seen how we need to face the critical need to break down barriers that make us see the needs of others as strangers unaligned to our own interests. When we see someone who doesn't look like us, sound like us, act like us or love like us, our first instinct is often rooted in fear or judgement. There's a popular quote on TikTok at the moment, from US governor Pritzker. He said: 'We survived as a species by being suspicious of things that we are unfamiliar with.' But he goes on to say: 'This instinct, this animal brain, it limits our potential. When we fail to evolve past these primal urges, our thinking lacks imagination and creativity. Our problem-solving becomes narrow and ineffective, and, most importantly, we miss the opportunity to learn from and connect with the rich diversity of human experience around us.' I have witnessed this throughout my parliamentary career, from the struggle for marriage equality to the recognition of First Nations voices, the fight for transgender rights and the protection of vulnerable Australians from predatory systems like robodebt. In each case, progress only happened when we stopped seeing strangers and started seeing people.

I've been reading an essay by Palestinian writer Isabella Hammad. It's titled Recognizing the Stranger. She writes of recognition versus denial. Recognition means acknowledging our shared humanity and the legitimacy of others' experiences, even when they're different from our own. She also goes on to say: 'With recognition must come action.' She commented on the extremity of language from the Israeli government, dehumanising those being bombed—50,000 lives, or more. But as a nation we have citizens with interests on both sides of this conflict. Just as the Berlin Wall fell, apartheid in South Africa ended, and all throughout history great civilisations rise and fall, nothing is in stone. We always have the power and an obligation to look to the future and to shape it with a stranger in mind.

I saw the transformative power of recognition firsthand when our party caucus welcomed First Nations voices like Senator Dodson's, Senator McCarthy's, Marion Scrymgour's, Linda Burney's and Jana Stewart's. Our discussions changed fundamentally. Today it feels like we're no longer deliberating on the lives of strangers. We can discuss what is important to us all, and that means a great deal to me.

The same principle applies across every domain in life and decision-making. The success of Australia's response to HIV has always meant not treating those affected with stigma or discrimination. Our progress on marriage equality came when Australians recognised that our relationships and families have the same qualities as any other—love, kindness and support.

Our strongest public institutions are those that listen to and serve all citizens, not just a privileged few. In saying this, I think particularly of the Fair Work Commission, Medicare, the PBS, the Net Zero Economy Authority and even the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, who are seeking to drive economic investment and opportunity for communities around the nation. My best experiences with colleagues in this place have never focused on our differences. We've always sought to replace fear with curiosity and, in committee work when taking evidence, to ask in a collaborative way with our colleagues, 'What do we need to learn from this person or this evidence?' It's a practical wisdom.

As a Senate, we should always keep an eye on the need to reform our institutions when they're out of touch, out of date or leaving people behind so that all voices can be heard. We want public services to be adequately resourced to respond to citizens' needs, where we recognise that no parent should be deprived of a relationship with their child due to poverty and no child should be deprived of basic health care like immunisation here in Australia or overseas—a world where we understand that there can be no strangers among us if we are the truly multicultural nation we claim to be. This is a value in today's day and age, in a complicated world, that we must continue to share, with no stranger to us in Palestine or Israel, just as we were moved to see no strangers in our support for the end of apartheid.

Speaking of strangers, transgender Australians have been talked about in this place by some as if they are strangers to citizenship in their own nation. These debates reinforce harmful stereotypes about how men and women should behave and exist in the world, and this ultimately limits all of us—the policing of who's allowed to have a masculine or feminine attribute. It's a ridiculous debate that distracts from the real issues. To address these issues, we need to listen to transgender people and let them speak for themselves. Extreme debates about same-sex parents or marriage equality are no longer the norm. Australians are listening to transgender Australians, just as they did on the calls for marriage equality, and, for us in this place, Australians overall would much prefer politicians to be supporting issues that actually affect their daily lives. They understand that stopping discrimination does not cost money—we can walk and chew gum at the same time—and that these attacks on transgender people undermine the human rights of all.

As I leave the Senate, I reflect on what this journey has taught me about the connection between recognition and action, and recognition isn't just an abstract concept; it demands action. Some of the highlights we've seen in this place relate to child migrants, institutional child abuse, the apology to stolen generations and veteran suicide. These are all issues we recognise that we have to respond deeply to. In this context, I'm proud to have stood firmly on the side of transgender rights, sex workers, people living with HIV, vulnerable children, traditional owners and many other people throughout my career, recognising that social and economic exclusion means you need to take action and that taking action doesn't benefit the few; it benefits us all.

Deep relationships with brave constituents and advocates have been deeply fulfilling, enriching my understanding and effectiveness as a senator, and from all of these people I have learned a great deal. Justice cannot be sought and found without people speaking for themselves. In issues spanning the Sterling collapse, robodebt, the misuse of Centrepay, dowry abuse, immigration rights, aged care, manufacturing, consumer rights, unions, sex workers, LGBTI health, children's policy and HIV, all of these groups and advocates have been instrumental in my drive for the pursuit of justice and positive change.

When we truly see others in their full humanity, we must not be passive. We must not be passive in the face of injustice or indifference. It's wonderful to see how my colleagues in this place understand that recognising issues in our society must compel us to step forward and make a difference. I've tried very hard to embody this principle in my career in this place, and I ask my colleagues who remain in this place to stay brave in your pursuit of justice. Stay curious. Your recognition of what matters to Australia must be paired with the courage to act upon it even when it's difficult.

I want to thank Steve McCartney, state secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union. It's been a collective effort to build political support for important workplace and income and industry issues. But your leadership is also about recognition and action. Your leadership on a just transition in Collie is showing the rest of the nation what needs to be done. You've taken insecurity and navigated that with recognition and action on issues that others remain in denial on.

To the union movement and the ACTU, I'm proud to have been a servant of your movement, our movement, standing up for workers' rights, particularly in my role as chair of the Senate employment committee in the past. Tony, you're doing a sterling job now. I thank the Senate for the opportunity to help the lives, rights and needs of Australian workers so that they be recognised and reformed in this place.

To my Labor colleagues, our collective commitment to the common good is a wonderful asset to the nation. Each of us has the great privilege of helping to realise the values of the Labor Party. To my Western Australian colleagues, thank you for standing up for our state and for being great campaigners. It is a privilege to have been entrusted for so many years with the values and opinions of so many thousands of WA Labor members. I want to thank all of those members now for handing out at polling booths, doorknocking and sharing your values and opinions. I particularly want to thank those who handed out back in 2014 on that rainy day when I stood as the only person at the polling booth in Gidgegannup.

I want to thank the electors of Western Australia, regardless of how you voted. I hope you feel I have served you well. I particularly and proudly want to thank the broad network of party members who are Rainbow Labor. You've given me tremendous personal support. You have been at the core of what Labor governments have been able to do to support LGBTIQ+ Australians. I will always remember the national conference of 2011, where we changed the platform to support marriage equality as a highlight.

I'm going to give a shout-out to Bill Bowtell to thank him for all he's taught me and for his own contribution to the causes we share. I want to express my gratitude to all of those who've made my work possible. I'm very proud to have been part of an Albanese Labor government. In my many years of working with the Prime Minister, I have watched as he has consistently provided stability, made progress and dealt with complexity while keeping sight of the public interest that guides our party. We need leadership with these kinds of navigation skills, and our Prime Minister has them in spades.

I've got many colleagues I'd like to thank for the opportunity to contribute to reforms: Bill Shorten, on Centrepay; Tanya Plibersek, on midwifery; Mark Dreyfus, on hate speech, discrimination and more; Senator O'Neill and my colleague from WA Zaneta Mascarenhas, on a commitment to protect people from financial abuse; Mark Butler, on his work on HIV; and Ged Kearney, on LGBTIQ+ health. Julian Hill, we've known each other for some 25 years, and I want to acknowledge the many things we've worked together on, but, more than that, I want to thank you personally for your friendship, for drinking tea late at night, sitting in bed like two old nanas.

I have a great deal of gratitude for all my colleagues—for all this and more. There are too many other collaborations and outcomes with colleagues right across the parliament to mention at this time, but I thank you all. I have friends and comrades who I thanked in 2013 and who have remained supporters and allies on this journey, and I thank you again without naming you. Many others I'll never have a chance to thank. But I do want to say thank you to Tim Cahalan. Tim asked me to call him a god or something in this speech, but I want to thank you, Tim, as a person with a disability, for your visibility and voice in our party and for standing up against robodebt. Your perspective and advocacy have strengthened the collective work of our movement. Our party is always more effective with diverse voices at the table so we can recognise and respond to what's important.

I depart knowing that this place is brimming with talent and dedicated Labor ministers, who share my values, and it makes it easier to leave. I don't feel the need to be on the stage in the next iteration of debates. It does make it much easier to leave. That stage will soon include Ellie Whiteaker, the first female secretary of Western Australia Labor in our more than 100-year history, who is ready to carry the torch. Ellie in fact worked with me in the past in my office, and I want to thank all my staff for all they have done: helping constituents, listening to people on the phone, strategising with me, giving me sound advice and keeping me organised. You've delivered a great deal to constituents on issues and things that have affected them and that I will never even know of.

Nicky McKimmie, thank you. Alison Elgar, thank you. Jaime Page, thank you. Tania McCartney, we've worked together a very long time, and I thank you. I want to thank all of those who have worked with me since I was first elected to the state parliament, in 2001. Your loyalty, dedication, shared commitment to justice, and agency on issues of importance to us are just as important as mine. Ashley, Andy, Alanna, John and Kate, just to mention a few from the past—and Nicky Slevin is up there, too—I've worked with some of you for such a long time, and, long after our work together has ended, our friendships are strong.

Finally, to my wife, Bec, thank you for marrying me on 4 June 2003. Thank you to my mother, Sandra; my father, Greg; and my siblings, Nicholas and Fleur. Thank you for making it possible for me to serve and for being there when politics was tough. Whether in this place or anywhere else in our nation, the work we do when we recognise our shared humanity lifts us all up. It elevates us above our animal instincts, above our fears and prejudice and into a place where we can see further and find solutions. So, to all of those I have worked with and made friends with in this place, please do not be a stranger. I still want to look to new horizons with you.

Looking to the future, I will draw on my values to help me recognise my next endeavour, whatever that is to be. But I know in the meantime I'm looking forward to school pick-ups, not missing Jasper's school events and being home for dinner with Bec and Jasper more often. I thank you all for the privilege of serving in this Senate.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think Senator Pratt is still farewelling people, but if she doesn't mind I might just make some brief remarks. Louise is one of those people who leave this place with as much commitment to principle as they arrived with and with as much optimism as they arrived with, which is not always the case. Louise, your service has been marked by dedication to key causes and campaigns. Louise Pratt has always been an activist politician in the true sense of that term, pushing the boundaries for change. Through her service, she has sought to amplify the concerns of, address the needs of and, most importantly, bear witness to the perspective and experience of those who are marginalised. We saw that again tonight.

No tribute to Louise would be complete without emphasising her contribution to marriage equality in this country in 2017. It probably says something about our age that that is still something we remember really clearly. We talk to younger members of the LGBTIQ community, and not everybody knows all of the history, and it was a hard history. It was politically hard, it was hard internally, and it was really hard for us personally because it was about our families. And Louise knows, more than anyone else, the years—actually, I think it was over a decade—of work it involved, including community activism and political organising inside the party and with community. She was integral to that.

For some people from the outside looking in, they thought that the journey began in the mid-2010s and lasted for a couple of years before we came to the inevitable and obvious conclusion that equality wasn't something to be frightened of, but I think some of us—Louise and others—know differently. I want to say here, very clearly, that Louise Pratt was at the vanguard of that advocacy for equality, and she has been all her life, not only in here but also before she arrived here, as a student, in the Western Australian parliament and in her community activism. She pushed boundaries to get marriage equality on the agenda.

I had forgotten this but, with Trish Crossin, Gavin Marshall and Senator Brown, Louise introduced the bill in 2012. A few of us voted for it; it didn't get up. That's okay. We had to come back again. Louise and others set up the cross-party working group to advance the cause, and, of course, there was the campaign inside the Labor Party to change our position, which was critical to achieving the final outcome. The pivotal select committee that Louise spoke of, chaired by Senator Fawcett—and that, I think, Senator Smith was on—that considered the issue over the summer of 2016-17 laid the groundwork for the legislative success. I think you described it as 'guardrails', and I think that's a very accurate way of talking about it.

Over this journey, Louise and I played different roles at times, and that was important, but we were united when it came to the desired outcome. There's a great photo of us watching the announcements of the postal survey, and we're together in that. There's a great photo of us in here celebrating the bill being passed, and we were also together then. There are many thousands of Australians who, since that time—and there will be more into the future—have been able to make the decision to marry the person they love, as a result of the work of so many, and Louise was one of the torchbearers for a long time. At times, that was lonely. She kept the flame alight for many years.

I think we saw tonight, again, an example of her undisputed commitment to equality and to human rights. She never relents in her advocacy—including with me at times—on many issues far and wide. She has been quite active in parliamentary friends and has been a leader and supporter of Gavi, the worldwide vaccine alliance. She's been one of the two people who have been the driving force behind the World AIDS Day parliamentary breakfast. She's never changed her view about what matters.

She also doesn't shy away from a tough discussion about economic inequality. I think people may not see, all the time, the extent to which Louise is a policy head. She really is; she's somebody who looks at the detail of policy and comes to her views having thought through the policy issue very clearly. She's a vocal advocate for industry policy and, obviously, a member of the AMWU. She's a longstanding supporter of workers' rights, and her shadow portfolios reflected that over her career.

I was trying to think about how to talk about this, and I thought, really, the most honest way of saying this is that you're not a cookie-cutter politician. Whether it's the quirky Halloween outfits, which to me—I have looked at some of the photos Louise has sent me and thought, 'Oh, my goodness, I don't think I could ever wear that, ever.' You have so much fun! But, also, there's the way you think outside of the square in the way you approach this job and so much else.

I talked at the beginning about your optimism, and that's an inseparable part of who you are. It is a real tribute to you that, after years of being here, you still have that. We see people who leave this place or who come to this place who do not have that trait. You really do, and we are the better for both your optimism and your compassion. Senator Louise Pratt leaves this Senate articulating the same compassion that has been the hallmark of her career, and she leaves it with the same optimism which is the hallmark of who she is. I know that Louise has a desire to contribute elsewhere. I know she will bring the same energy and dedication to this next phase of her life that she has brought to so many areas of passion during her time as a senator.

To her family, particularly to Bek, I'm sure it will be good to have her back more. But I want to say to you, Jasper—I hope you know it now—I hope that in years to come you will come to understand even more how much your mum has contributed to a better world and community for you. You should be very proud, as we are.

Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to make a small contribution to this valedictory for Louise. Louise was here when I first arrived in the Senate, and I can remember back in, I think, October 2014 when Jasper was born. I was in Western Australia for a committee hearing, and I thought, 'Oh, Louise has had her baby; I might see if I can visit her.' That was a terrible thing to do; he was two days old! But, of course, I rang Louise because I had to see this beautiful baby, and she said yes. I've always taken an interest in Jasper and watched how he's grown and all his activities. When Louise was the deputy whip, we used to sit here a lot—I'm telling a few secrets now—and watch little videos of what Jasper was doing at home at the time. Last year Louise talked to me about this new puppy that they had and how the puppy had chewed his teddy, so I got to work with my knitting needles and knitted Jasper a new teddy. I hope you've still got it, Jasper!

Anyway, we've worked really closely on committees, supported each other as senators but also as whips here for some time—I haven't added up the months and years but always enjoyed that—and spent many hours here together in the chamber.

Lou is an AMWU comrade. She's a very kind, gentle and compassionate person and a very hard worker. I have watched how she works really hard. Lou is the only person in the Senate I know who has their own electrical and communications substation under their desk. It is uniquely Lou. If anyone sat at her desk during a division, they'd know what I mean, and I'm sure it's still hooked up there somewhere. It is uniquely her. I don't think anyone else could get away with that in the Senate chamber, but Lou certainly has.

Lou, I want to wish you all the very best wherever your next chapter takes you, and I know that you'll continue to make a really valuable contribution wherever that leads you. So congratulations and best wishes.

Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Emergency Management) Share this | Link to 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.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As a Western Australian comrade, Louise, you probably won't remember this, but I first met you when you worked for Carmen Lawrence—a very long time ago! I was very impressed by this amazing young woman who was outspoken and really active. It was at some community event. I seem to think it was the MUA picket line, but I don't think it quite marries up. Nevertheless, I was very impressed with this young woman who just appeared from nowhere.

In Western Australia, you are a well-known and well-loved member of the Labor Party. You have many followers and, even though 'cherished' is not really a word you associate with politics, you are cherished by the WA members of the Labor Party. We, of course, are members of the left faction. We have really fought hard in WA to make sure that there are progressive policies in the Labor Party.

You have been a very strong advocate for the metal workers union, and not just the metals but for other unions as well, and for people down on their luck. You really pushed on the Sterling First financial crash when probably no-one else did. You took that on and continued to be a champion of that.

Louise has always told us when Steve's in town we have to turn up, and we always do. I know that you'll be missed in this place. I wish you all the best. I'm really keen to see what you go on to do next. I know you will continue to be a strong advocate for WA and a strong advocate for the Left of the party and for the industrial movement. Best wishes, Louise.

Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise to make a short contribution about my friend Senator Louise Pratt. Lou, your passion for equality and inclusion has been really clear in your contribution tonight, just as it has been clear in your work for the Australian people so far, and it has been really clear in the contributions of the leader and others who have spoken here today. But I just wanted to comment on my experience of your commitment to inclusion here in this place, which has been so incredibly valuable to me.

In my time in the Senate, Lou has been one of the most inclusive and supportive people around. For all of us on this side of the chamber—and I hope across the chamber as well—she has brought a bit of joy every day to this place for many of us. She has brought a flash of colour, some vibrancy, a lot of humour and warmth, which we heard in your contribution tonight as well. And you have brought all of that to a place that, lets face it, can be a little bit cold and hard without everything that you bring, and we've all been much better for that.

Lou has been here a bit longer than me. I arrived here in 2019, and, from the day that I arrived, Lou was 100 per cent welcoming and 100 per cent supportive. It's a pretty tough place to land in. I had a lot of questions when I arrived here, as we all do, and there was never any question that was too big or too small for you, Lou, and I really appreciate that. I will always remember that.

Lou is the type of political advocate and the type of person who is always ready to reach a hand out and a hand up to bring everyone along together, and we heard that in your remarks tonight. It's really important that women support other women. Lou has always done that both in her advocacy and in her real-world practice. I know that Lou really knows, practises and demonstrates that, when women support other women, we all do better together; we do better as women in our party; we do better as women in our parliament as a whole; and we do better as women in our country.

Lou has also been the type of political leader here and in Western Australia who has chosen to use her platform not just to advance herself but to empower others and to give voice to others. I know that LGBTQIA Australians know they have a true friend and a true champion in Louise from all of the work that she described today—from reproductive help through to the hard-fought campaign for marriage equality and the incredibly important advocacy for trans Australians—that should not be required in this place and should not be required in this country today, but is required today. I particularly acknowledge the work, Lou, that you've done in supporting young trans people, who really need love and support today. You have that love and support, and you deliver it in absolute bucketloads and in boundless ways.

Lou is also just as passionate about the Labor movement and the union movement. I also acknowledge the AMWU and Steve McCartney, here today. I acknowledge Lou's long advocacy for manufacturing workers and for women workers, including vulnerable women workers, like sex workers, who you spoke about tonight. I know that everyone that you fought for really thanks you for your advocacy. To Beck and Jasper; Lou's mum, Sandra; as well as Dennis and Stephen, I hope you're all as proud of Louise as all of us here. A life lived in service of others is a life well lived. A life in service of our great Labor movement is a life well lived, and Louise has made a tremendous contribution.

I'm really proud, Lou, to have worked alongside you. I'm proud to call you a comrade and a sister in our movement. I'm proud to call you a friend. I and all of us will really miss you. We will miss all of the chats in the chamber. We will miss the laughs. We really look forward to watching your next big strides that I know you will take to empower Australians and continue your really fantastic work on behalf of all Australians. Thank you, Lou.

Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to make a very short contribution. I'm conscious that there are others who wish to speak. I've only known Louise for a very short time, but in that time I have really appreciated her sense of curiosity, her sense of humour and her deep engagement and collaboration in committee work. I also want to note that my colleague Senator Barbara Pocock thinks you're a wonderful chair for the Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration. We both want to thank you for the warm and welcoming way in which you worked with us when we first came to the parliament as new senators. Jasper, I want to thank you for your love of capybaras because, without that and your mum's persistence, I would never have seen a capybara in the wild. You're a fantastic travelling companion. Your reputation preceded you, because I heard about your work long before I came into the parliament, so I feel very privileged to have met you and to have got to know you. On behalf of all of my Greens colleagues, I want to wish you all the best for what comes next.

Lisa Darmanin (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Louise, for your extraordinary service; blood, sweat and tears; and leadership that you've provided to the myriad of progressive causes that matter to so many in our country. Before I came here, your reputation preceded you to me as well, as someone with great courage and conviction to strive for what is right and get outcomes. You might not remember this, but we did first meet a bit less than a decade ago, I think, when we were both involved with the national committee of EMILY's List. Jess spoke about women supporting women, and you absolutely lived your values through EMILY's List, and we crossed paths there for a short time. You had baby Jasper in tow at a particular meeting in Melbourne that I was at, and I remember being so impressed back then, about how you managed everything—be such an amazing activist for women, undertake the important role in politics you played, be a community activist and find the time for EMILY's List, all while juggling your new little one.

You travelled from Perth to be in Melbourne in your own time, at your own expense, for national meetings with everything else that you had on your plate. You were just the kind of role model that has inspired so many, as others have said. Never did I imagine that I would become your bench buddy so many years later. Whilst we haven't been parliamentary colleagues for very long at all, I want to thank you for your kindness and generosity as we've sat here over the many hours in the months that I've been here, and for your generosity in helping me to navigate the weird, confusing and sometimes scary things as we sit on these red seats. I can confirm that the little space station down here still exists, but there are many useful things that have helped me over the last few months. You've demystified many things, at many times, and provided a quiet word or some steadying encouragement—as a new senator, one sometimes gets a bit overwhelmed.

You have really gone out of your way to help me settle in, and I think you were the first one to use the little phone under the desk to call my office and help me get some notes when I was in a particular flap at one point in time. Your contribution has been extraordinary. I wish you all the best and I say thank you to your family and friends for sharing Louise with all of us. I hope that you get to spend so much beautiful time with your family and friends.

Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know that we're waiting to hear a contribution from another departing senator, but these moments come and, if you don't make a contribution right now, they go, and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to acknowledge you while your family are here, Lou. To Lou's family, particularly Jasper, it's nice to have been on this journey with Louise long enough to remember her with that beautiful bump, and her delight and joy in moving around the place and sharing the pregnancy with all of us, as a working mum, and then the many, many times that I've travelled with her to places far and wide, often in the northern parts of Western Australia, and experienced her joy in reconnecting with her family. Jasper, she's such a fun person. I know that, and I see her having such fun with you, and I know that you'll be absolutely delighted to have her back with you at home. I have had the privilege, perhaps more than any of the other contributors here, to work very, very closely with Senator Pratt on so many important pieces of work that we've done, both in opposition and now, more recently, in government.

Personally, I want to thank you for your time sharing with me your insights as an assistant minister, when I took on the role as shadow assistant for mental health and for innovation. That was profoundly personally helpful, and I think the stories that we're hearing from everybody show that, somehow, Louise Pratt has a homing beacon for finding people at a moment where there's a learning opportunity for them to pick up on her wisdom and her insight, but it's just this feeling of kindness. When everybody forgets everything that you do, what you produce and what you create, if the last thing that they remember about you is how kind you were, you're in that club. I believe that is part of why you have been so successful as a senator. What's driven Louise is not personal interest, not professional path-making to a particular personal end but a deep and abiding belief in people who have been done wrong. I would put it in the Christian tradition, the language that brings me to this place. The option for the poor in theology is manifestly obvious in you.

What we see through the work in the Corporations and Financial Services Committee is Louise's determination. I see Senator Scarr here, who has been your partner in profound endeavour on behalf of people who were unbelievably exploited by financial instruments that were established determinedly to exploit people in the Sterling matter. People talk about a dog with a bone or, 'She was like a terrier,' but that is about the explosive energy of keeping on going, and you certainly have that. But Louise has a very secret weapon, and it is this very, very deep and authentic sense of her responsibility as a servant of the nation in this place to stand up for people who have no-one else to stand for them. Thank you for your remarkable contribution. She's a serious person, but she's also incredibly funny. I hope that you have a wonderful, wonderful time in the years that follow your contribution to the Australian nation through your role here in the Senate. Thank you.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Senator Pratt. I think you're free to go, if you choose.

Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

First and valedictory speeches are the bookends to our parliamentary careers. I'm deeply appreciative of the opportunity to do this valedictory speech tonight, to have the opportunity to reflect on the things that I'm so proud to have delivered in this place, and to thank the many people—many of whom are here tonight—who have helped me along the journey.

I'm also very grateful to be leaving the Senate at a time of my own choosing—an opportunity I'm very well aware not all members and senators have. But let me be very clear about one thing. While I am leaving at a time of my choosing, the timing of my choosing has been expedited by events that are well known to all in this place. Those events have inflicted deep wounds on so many. However, my wounds do not define who I am. They have not distracted me for a second from what I was elected to do here as a senator and member, but they have made me stronger and they have made me wiser. More on that later.

None of us succeed in this place on our own. We are at our best in this place when we collaborate to deliver meaningful and important reforms for our nation. It is a real shame that more Australians don't get to see this dirty little secret of ours—about how much we do actually work together across the aisle in this place. I've got so many people to thank, which I will do at the end. But I do have a few acknowledgements upfront. Foremost is to my family—my partner, Robert; my father, Laith; my brother Andrew, and his partner, Angela, and his daughters, Octavia and Anastasia; and my mother, Jan, who is so desperately sad that she could not be here tonight but is watching from home in Perth. To you, Mum, I say, 'Thank you,' and, 'I love you.' But I am somewhat comforted that my brother Cameron and his wife, Charlotte, and his two daughters, Olivia and Sophie, will be with her this evening.

As senators, we choose this life, but our families are conscripts. I think it's safe to say that it's never really been that easy to be related to me. I've got to say, what those opposite did to me was so brutal and so deliberate, but they also did it to my family and my partner. For that, I am so deeply sorry that my career choice has done so much damage to those that I love the most.

I'm also more grateful than I could ever express that so many friends, staff and colleagues are here tonight, and I know many more are watching online. I've received the photos of the screen on with the glasses of wine in front.

Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Where's our wine?

Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Later! I know, and many of you here tonight know, that it has not always been easy being my friend, either. I'm so deeply grateful that year after year you have kept showing up to support me and be my friend. My staff are simply spectacular, but I'll have much more to say about you a bit later on.

My journey into the Senate was not a particularly smooth one. In 2012, after long and successful careers in both the Army and the Liberal Party, I was deeply honoured to be preselected by the WA Liberal Party as a Senate candidate. Service defines who I am and what I do, and it always will. In my early 20s, I found my philosophical and ideological roots in the Liberal Party, as well as lifelong friends, many of whom are in the chamber here and also in the gallery this evening. I am a Menzies Liberal. I draw on both philosophical traditions of our great party. I'm as comfortable with supporting same-sex marriage as I am with boat turn-backs and rearming our nation in preparation for war. I've never been a member of a party faction. I understand them, but I find them distracting and often destructive.

I left the Army as the adjutant general, the senior governance adviser with responsibility for reforming the Army's compliance and assurance processes to ensure capability and the safety of our people. So, after 35 years of military and political service, I felt very well prepared to serve my state and my country in the Senate, but it almost was not to be. After the great excitement of being elected in 2013, the election was voided by the High Court, as the AEC had lost the princely sum of 1,375 ballot papers, and Senator Cash remembers that well. As third on our Senate ticket, I almost lost in the 2014 Senate election rerun. I was then referred to in the media as 'one of the unluckiest people in Australian politics'. I've got to say, after the experience of the past four years, one could be forgiven for thinking that maybe they were right, but nothing—nothing—could be further from the truth. Being elected to serve in the Senate is such a rare privilege—a privilege that comes with great responsibilities but also great opportunities to do wonderful things for our nation. I've never lost sight of that—not once, not ever. Since Federation, I'm the 569th of only 648 Australians who have served in this place. I'm the 87th of 125 women, the 90th Western Australian and the fifth Liberal woman from Western Australia to have served in the Senate. At the last election in 2019, I had the great privilege of leading the WA party's Senate ticket.

In my first speech—at that bookend—I focused on the themes of democracy, of leadership, of change and of gender. They were all causes that I have consistently and passionately pursued in this place both as a senator and as a minister. In that first speech, I also reflected on the values that underpinned my approach to life and to work, the dominant value being respect, which I learnt from my parents very early in life: self-respect, respect for others, and respectful compassion and support for those who genuinely need it, but also respectful but tough actions against those who ruthlessly exploit the compassion and the vulnerability of others and against those who seek to do us harm.

On reflection, the most important lesson I take away from this place is the need to constantly recalibrate your own moral compass. We must be vigilant in here in ensuring it remains always pointing true north. I have Army to thank for instilling this practice in me. Constantly doing so has made it possible for me to navigate through some of the most challenging circumstances, and it has made complex moral decisions far easier.

It also made the challenging issue of leadership challenges—three of which I went through—a relative breeze. My motto was: 'You always support the leader, unless there is a serious misconduct.' And if you support the leader, you walk with them to the spill. I'm proud I walked twice with the leader, but today, on reflection, I must confess I have some degree of buyer's remorse for the second.

Since my early 20s, I've worked in this building in very many different capacities, so when I came in I really thought I had a good handle on what to expect as a senator. However, the past 11 years have far exceeded my initial expectation in so many really wonderful and often challenging ways. I've had the privilege to serve in two constitutional roles: in the legislature and in executive government—and I'll address each in turn. But there was never any doubt in my mind that, if I was going to put my hand up for federal parliament, it would be for the Senate. I have such a deep respect for the Senate and its role in maintaining the strength and stability of our democracy.

But it was in the committees that I found my greatest joy and purpose in the Senate. I counted it up—actually, one of my staff members counted it up—and I've been a member of 30 different committees, many of them on multiple occasions. I've chaired and deputy chaired seven and participated in hundreds of inquiries. I'm proud of all the inquiries and the reports that I've put my name to, but sometimes you're a little prouder of some than others.

I think in this place we always have that moment where we realise the power that we possess to champion causes and change so many lives for the better. There are no topics off limits for senators, but we do have to choose which ones we pursue and for how long we pursue them. Now, that realisation came to me when I learned that thousands of young Australians with serious and permanent disabilities were forced to live in aged care. There was simply nowhere else for them to live. I'm so proud that the result of the inquiry, the report itself, was implemented. It has taken time, but thousands upon thousands of those people are now living with support and dignity in the community.

In fact, my very last committee report was tabled today. It was the second community affairs committee inquiry into tick bite diseases. I had promised Senator Rachel Siewert at her own valedictory that I would continue the fight for justice for the thousands of Australian victims of tick bites who are so disgracefully and shamefully treated by the medical profession. I now ask my fellow senator, Senator Kovacic, to take on the challenge and to keep the fight going for those people.

Sometimes, as well, issues just come across your desk—ones that you actually know very little about, but when you look at them, you just know there is something not right; there is something a little bit stinky. One such issue was the sudden axing of the Western Force club from Super Rugby by the Australian Rugby Union. This devastated fans, players, their families and their club. Now, I couldn't even identify a rugby ball—sorry, some of my friends up there, but I still can't after all these years. They were completely devastated. They could not understand why it happened, so, as the sport was partially federally funded, I sponsored a Senate inquiry. We did get answers for fans and the team, but unfortunately the Australian Rugby Union was never held accountable for their many quite questionable actions that sat behind that reason.

Committees in this place can also lead us to very unexpected places. Over time—I'm sure like all of my colleagues here—I came to realise that sometimes solving or addressing some of the issues that we deal with goes well beyond our own national borders. For me, one such issue is tackling modern slavery. This is a crime that exists not just overseas; it is hidden in plain sight right across Australia. As a Liberal, there is no more important freedom for us to fight for than the freedom from slavery and servitude. As a direct result of my work in this place on tackling trafficking and slavery, I now lead global reforms on child trafficking and forced labour, particularly orphanage trafficking.

This journey began in 2016 with two parliamentary study programs. The first was a CPA UK sponsored parliamentary education program for Commonwealth MPs on how to tackle modern slavery in legislation. The second was a Save the Children parliamentary study tour to Cambodia. This is where I learned that Australian donors, donors from many other countries and volunteers had inadvertently created a trade in children to satisfy their need and desire to help poor children. It's hideous. But the inquiry report that we initiated when we returned, called Hidden in a plainsight, recommended the introduction of modern slavery legislation in Australia. Significantly, the report also recognised orphanage trafficking as a form of modern slavery, and we were the first country to do so. One of the proudest moments in my ministerial career was when, as the Assistant Minister for Home Affairs, I carried the legislation through the parliament. Since that time, I've worked on developing global partnerships to implement global reforms to stop orphanage trafficking and to reunite over five million children who've been trafficked back with their families. These efforts are coordinated through the orphanage trafficking working group that I chair at a DC based inter-parliamentary taskforce on human trafficking. I'm in this for the long haul.

Unfortunately in this speech I can't completely avoid dealing, at least in part, with what I now refer to as 'the plan'. I have never disputed, not once, Brittany Higgins's claim about what happened in my office in the early hours of one Saturday morning. Brittany Higgins and David Sharaz developed a political #MeToo plan based on a simple but very powerful lie—a lie that has now resulted in the longest and largest political scandal in our nation's history and one that is well into its fifth year. Brittany always knew the truth. Justice Lee dealt with this in his judgement, where he sets out the false representations and false warranties given in her settlement deed. Justice Lee said, 'What is notable about Ms Higgin's account of a cover-up or victimisation allegation is not only its inconsistency with the contemporaneous records and its falsities, particularly as to Ms Higgins's dealings with Ms Brown but also its imprecisions and reliance upon speculation and conjecture.' He also said:

… putting what occurred at this meeting—

on 1 April—

and the events of the preceding days together, a clear picture emerges, but it is entirely at odds with the notion of an attempt being made to cover up an allegation … by discouraging it to be reported to the police.

The moment Labor's leadership made the conscious decision to politically weaponise Ms Higgins's allegations, my life and the lives of so many others were changed forever. Every human being, no matter how strong they are, has a breaking point. Labor deliberately and so very surgically and relentlessly found mine—whatever it took. That type of persistent and aggressive personal attack would never be tolerated in any other workplace in this country. Labor so badly wanted the allegations that a female cabinet minister and a prime minister had covered up the rape of a young woman to be true that they didn't actually care if it was true or not, I believe. Consequently, as a result of their actions, Labor failed to exercise any proper judgement or independence before becoming so publicly involved in perpetuating a story that Justice Lee described as 'insufficiently scrutinised and factually misconceived conjecture'.

I never wanted to sue Brittany or David, but ultimately I was left with no choice. I've been asked why I did it. Once the Attorney-General barred me from defending these highly defendable workplace allegations, he left me with no other alternative but to fight for the truth and for justice under defamation law. The Commonwealth's conduct in the swift settlement with Brittany sent a clear and very unequivocal message to the nation that these demonstrable lies were in fact true. This enabled me to continue to be grossly defamed. As a senator in this place, I had to fight for my and my staff's and my family's reputation. People ask why, but if in the Senate, in this chamber, we don't fight for truth and justice, where on earth in Australia do we fight for it? I had no choice. Of course I had to fight. Once Justice Tottle has delivered his judgement then I will have a lot more to say about this. However, I conclude on this matter by saying this: in the next parliament, it is my great hope that all parties can come together to agree on how we set the standard in this place and calibrate it so it is the same standard that we legislate for every other workplace in this country. To do that, to set the standard, those in this chamber—not 'we'; it won't be 'we' anymore—will have to agree on where robust and privileged debate finishes and where inappropriate workplace behaviours and bullying starts. The abuse of parliamentary privilege is no longer acceptable.

Scott Morrison appointed me to several portfolios over his tenure as Prime Minister, and I am incredibly grateful for the opportunities that he gave me: emergency management, defence industry, Defence, the NDIS and government services. Scott and I spent much time together in 2019 and 2020, visiting a range of natural disasters across this country, and what I saw in him was a leader who had great empathy and demanded decisive action for those in urgent need. What he saw in me then as emergency management minister he also saw in me as defence minister. We may have had our differences on occasion, but, when I collapsed in this place, Scott rushed over to the anteroom and he was so incredibly kind. He sat with me for over an hour while I was sobbing hysterically and completely incoherently. He sat there, he looked after me and, throughout my recovery, he stayed in contact with me and my doctor. When others were baying for my head, he kept me in cabinet, which gave me a new purpose. It gave me a new challenge and it gave me hope. What happened to me also happened to him and to his family. He was also a target of the plan, of the lie. So, Scott, I thank you for your service to the nation and for your stewardship of this nation through the COVID-19 pandemic. Your leadership and the decisions you took saved tens of thousands of Australian lives, millions of jobs and thousands and thousands of companies. I thank you for that. It was an extraordinary time in these portfolios, but time doesn't permit me to address them all tonight.

Scott and I had a shared understanding of what our nation needed for its defence, and together we delivered it: a defence strategic update and an accompanying force structure plan; the budget to fund it; new agreements with the United States. I signed an agreement with NATO. And, with some of the people in the chamber tonight, we set this country on the pathway towards nuclear submarines.

I came into the Defence portfolio well prepared after a long career in the Army as a senior officer, having worked at higher headquarters and having completed a master's in strategic studies at the War College. It was very clear to both Scott and me that we were facing a higher risk and a rapidly changing strategic landscape, the worst since World War II. Not long after becoming the minister, I gave a keynote speech at the Hudson Institute in Washington DC. I started with the observation that the rules based order we had lived in since the end of World War II was no more and was not coming back. Sadly, that has proved to be true. Alarmingly, the threat has only increased since then. That is due in large part to not just China but the new axis of convenience—China, Russia, North Korea and Iran.

The brutal reality we very rarely discuss in this place is that we have a four-nation axis of dictatorship and authoritarianism that has a shared enemy, and that is democracy and that is us. This axis is rapidly expanding its political and military spheres of influence. All these regimes have nuclear capabilities. They exert brutal control over their citizens, they have no regard for human life and they have a shared hatred of democratic values. This axis has already progressed from non-kinetic to kinetic war in two theatres of war—Russia in Ukraine and Iran in Israel and the Red Sea, with the support of proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

I acknowledge the Ukrainian ambassador, who joins us here this evening. He has been an astonishing advocate for his nation. I am in complete awe of the work you do for the family and the friends that you have lost yourself and for seeing your country under such relentless attack. I acknowledge the bravery of the Ukrainian people. As I've said many times in this place, their war is our war. Absolutely, their war is our war, and we need to be doing far more to help Ukraine defeat Russia. I know there are a lot of discussions going on globally at the moment, but, as I said in here in a much longer speech, appeasement of Russia will not work. The United States appeased Russia 10 years ago and gave them Crimea: 'They won't take anything more'—until they did.

It's not just Russia. China has a vice-like grip on the South China Sea and is well advanced in its preparations to cross the Taiwan Strait. North Korea continues to advance its nuclear and long-range strike capabilities. They are providing ballistic missiles to Russia and are gazing oh-so-longingly over the DMZ.

What this axis have over us at the moment is they understand the benefits of shared industrial and military alliances and materiel alliances to achieve what they cannot on their own—and they're not just doing it as the four of them anymore. They're doing it with many BRICS members, who are not even hedging their bets anymore; they've just jumped ship.

As a Western Australian senator, I've been aware for many years that China has been quietly and persistently manipulating critical minerals and rare-earth commodity markets globally. They've done this to stockpile offtake and monopolise processing. This, combined with the CCP's prolific use of slave, forced and bonded labour, provides China provides with an overwhelming economic advantage in the new energy technology sectors. This is something that those opposite know only too well, but it is inconceivable that anybody in this nation would choose a solar panel, a wind turbine or an electric vehicle over human life. We have to find ways in this place to deal with both—to stand up for human life while we transition to net zero.

Robert Menzies observed in one of his many 'Forgotten people' speeches that Australians take a great many things for granted, which I think was just as true then, in 1942, as it is now. One of the most important things we take for granted is the health of our democracy. We have forgotten as a nation what it takes to preserve and strengthen our democracy. How do we strengthen the institutions that prop up our democracy? But I don't yet see a catalyst for change. That is one of the next things—it's unfinished business for me—that we need to review.

In both my military and my civilian career, I've not just had command positions but led three successive reform projects that deliver change, and change that has stuck. I know that change is never easy, but it is always possible. During COVID-19, we, in this place, and the government demonstrated that we can do things quickly. We can get things done quickly. We can create vaccines. We can get the public servants to get money out the door the next day. We can do things, but, if identifying problems was an Olympic sport, Australia would lead the gold medal tally. We have endless royal commissions, we have inquiries, we have reviews, and we inquire into hundreds of issues every year in this place, but the recommendations are rarely, if ever, fully implemented—if at all. Being Deputy Chair of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, I know that every single report, for decades, has said the same things over and over. We make policy and we implement legislation, but little of it actually gets implemented effectively.

I'm a transformative conservative; I'm not a radical one. There's a lot of discussion and debate, particularly in the United States, about this at the moment. I don't believe that the radical destruction of the status quo will automatically result in the delivery of better outcomes. It will certainly tear down underperforming institutions, but we need more than that. We need a plan for how we rebuild. For what we cut or what we remove, how we are actually going to make what we replace it with far more efficient and effective with the taxpayers' money?

I will finish off with a couple of ministerial observations. One of the greatest joys of my time in this place was being Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The NDIS is a fundamentally Liberal insurance scheme. It is not a welfare scheme. It is designed to help provide Australians with the most serious and permanent disabilities the dignity and the ability to realise their own life choices and aspirations. But that is not the scheme it is today. My greatest regret, as the Minister for the NDIS, is that four years ago I was unable to convince Bill Shorten and Labor to work with me and the government to reform the serious structural problems that has made it unsustainable. There were no shortcuts then, and there are even fewer four years later. The fundamental problem is that, as an insurance scheme, the Commonwealth government is powerless to control either lever of the insurance scheme: the number of participants and the cost per participant. Until we can get control of that and the intergovernmental agreements are completely reformed, this scheme, unfortunately, is on a trajectory to failure, and that would probably be the biggest public policy failure of our generation. So, after the election, all parties need to find a way to come together to take the tough decisions to ensure that this scheme survives—but for those for whom it was designed.

One event I would like to share with everybody in the chamber is probably one of the most special and extraordinary events I have experienced. We all have these things that just delight, surprise and fill us with joy. In 2021, when the Taliban had returned to Kabul, Australia joined like-minded countries and formed a temporary evacuation air bridge out of the Hamid Karzai airport. I contacted my friend, a former Afghan politician, Shukria Barakzai, to see if she was okay and if she needed help in leaving. She told me that she was fine—but afterwards found out that she wasn't—but she wanted me to help a young journalist, Khalid Amiri, and his family, who were being hunted by the Taliban and who needed help to get out.

I made contact with Khalid on Twitter at the time, and the most extraordinary series of events followed over the next several days, including hundreds of WhatsApp messages between us, as he and his family were navigating the streets of Kabul in burqas to hide their identities. Thanks to Marise and her team, we got them visas. They managed to get to the sewers of Abbey Gate with thousands and thousands of other desperate Afghans, and then there was silence and silence. But then, wonderfully, in question time I received a message from Khalid. He sent me a photo right from the wall at Abbey Gate, and I could see the back of two marines sitting on the wall. I asked him to hand his phone to one of them to see whether the marine would talk to me and whether I could convince that marine that they were Australians, that they had visas and that we wanted them to come to Australia. Wonderfully, this marine, whose name I can't mention, but who has been thanked, came on the phone. He knew lots of Aussies from the marine corps, so he recognised the accent. He took Khalid over the wall with his family and dropped them off at the Australian collection point. The rest is now history. Khalid and his family, 16 in total, are now settled in Melbourne, and they are great Australians. They're studying. They're working. Their daughters go to school, have ambitions and have a life in front of them. Khalid has just finished his master's degree at Melbourne University and is now winning awards as a voice for his people, particularly young women.

This reminds me that in this place we can't save everybody, but we can save some, and I think that's why we do what we do in this place.

As I prepared this speech, I was thinking about who I had to thank—there are many!—and I realised that my overwhelming feeling was one of immense gratitude to so many people. Firstly, to the people of Western Australia who elected me to represent them, four times in fact: I hope I have done you proud. To the Liberal Party, my philosophical home for nearly 40 years: I've made so many friends over that time, and so many of them are here tonight. There are far too many of you to thank individually, but you know who you all are and what you mean to me. I also thank my Western Australian colleagues, many of whom are here tonight, and our leader. As Western Australians, we are one mighty team. We are united in our passion for and our commitment to Western Australia. We are so ably led by Michaelia Cash, who is such a wonderful Western Australian. She's a strong leader, and I thank you for your leadership of our team. We've still got a mighty job ahead of us now to win enough seats so that, Peter, you become Prime Minister, and we are in that a hundred per cent.

I'd also like to acknowledge Sir Lynton Crosby and Lady Crosby. Lynton gave me my first big job in the Liberal Party. Lynton saw something in me. He gave me so many opportunities and I received such wonderful mentorship over many years. It means a lot to me that you are both here tonight. Thank you for everything that you have done and for your friendship.

To my Army mates—who are many—here this evening, it is a very, very special bond we have, and it means a great deal to me that you are here tonight. I'm sure there will be a few wines to celebrate after this, but I am very grateful. Thank you.

To my very special friends Heather and Danielle, you couldn't be here tonight, but you have been wonderful, loyal friends and champions, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you do for so many women in the Liberal Party, including me. You are incredibly generous with your time and your money.

I'm truly blessed to have had so many amazing friends in and out of this place. Again, many of you are here, and I thank you for that. Unfortunately, Marise couldn't be here tonight, and I want to give a special thanks to Marise—and to Ann and Jane and many others in here. They say that sometimes this building is a very lonely place, and it can be desperately lonely, but when the chips are down and when you can't defend yourself or look after yourself, you have people here who drop everything. They rally around you, they lift you, they support you, and they make sure you're okay, and for that I cannot say thank you enough. You are the reason I am still standing here today.

I'm blessed with the most amazing staff, both in my electorate at ministerial offices. I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to you all, one I know I will never be able to repay, but I hope in some way that you take great pride in the work that you have done and the experiences that you have gained. But I am sorry that, for a number of you, your choice of workplace—working for me—was not always a safe one. You, too, have been subject to behaviours that would be unacceptable in any other workplace: a tsunami of hatred directed at me by every possible communication medium. For that, I thank you. Again, there are no suitable words.

To Michelle Lewis, who has been my EA and office manager for what I'm sure she feels are 11 very long years. And it's wonderful to see James Smith, who organised my life as Minister for Defence so beautifully. I thank you for the care you took in ensuring that I was always where I needed to be and always perfectly turned out. Michelle, saying your job has not always been easy is an understatement. I'm more grateful than I can say for your leadership, your friendship and your carriage of our mighty team, and I'm sorry for the burdens that you've also had to carry.

To my current team—Ashley, Josh, Kyle, Charles and Matt—thank you for the amazing contributions you continue to make. They are incredibly valued, and you are all highly respected for your professionalism, just as are a number of former staff here who have gone on to much bigger and better things in many different careers. So to all my ministerial staff, I say thank you.

My extraordinarily talented and committed ministerial teams were so ably led by Fiona Brown, Scott Dewar, Alex Kelton and Darren Disney—and, of course, Dean Carlton, Alex's mighty deputy. Leading ministerial offices is never easy, particularly in cabinet portfolios, where you have ministers with big portfolio ambitions. I'm grateful for all your hard work, and I hope, as I said, you're all rightly proud of your contributions.

We don't often, in this place, thank enough the thousands of staff that keep our building, the engine room of democracy, going. There are thousands of staff who keep this place operating, from the wonderful attendants in this chamber to the Black Rod, the Clerk, the cleaners, the gardeners, the drivers, the printers, the caterers, the researchers, the guides and so many more. We don't say it often enough, but thank you.

I may also be the first senator ever to thank their lawyers and their doctors. This might be a first! Firstly, to Ashley Tsacalos and his team at Clayton Utz, over the past four years, you have supported me through a defamation case, a criminal trial, a judicial inquiry into the criminal trial, a civil workplace claim, multiple defamation claims and two NACC referrals. Your compassion, your professionalism and your sheer endurance have kept me going through these never-ending proceedings, so thank you. Inadequate as it is, again, thank you.

To Martin Bennett and his amazing team—Rachel, Taleesha, Andrew and Cindy—you have supported me now through several separate defamation actions, including the defamation case we are awaiting the verdict for. I'm so grateful that they have been so thorough in piecing together the detail of the plan. There are thousands and thousands of documents now that demonstrate exactly how this plan was developed and executed, and I'm very grateful that you have brought to light the truth, which has given me great peace—and, I know, many others in terms of finally having their voices heard. Having you in my corner has been life-changing in so many ways.

Now, to my doctors. To both Dr Antonio Di Dio and my cardiologist, Professor Abhayaratna—I'm sorry; I always mispronounce it—this patient thanks you for your medical care and the patience you have shown me along this medical journey, often with it playing out in the national media and in the courts. I thank you.

As I said at the very beginning, my family means everything to me, in ways that words cannot capture. But I know you know how much I love you and how much I care for you all. I'm also incredibly grateful for the hundreds, if not thousands, of random acts of kindness that my team and I have received from total strangers who send these most wonderful messages. It has made all of the difference, and it reminds us that there is great good out there and that there are good people in the community.

My final and most heartfelt thanks go to Robert. I'm so very grateful for the love and unconditional support, particularly over the past four years. It has been unimaginably tough for you. You have had to fight your own battles as well as mine, but you have never taken a step away from my side. For that, I love and thank you.

We all leave this place with unfinished business. I certainly do. My colleagues will not be surprised to learn that I have already written to various ministers, shadow ministers and colleagues with some detailed briefing notes on the reforms that are still to be delivered. Rest assured, I will be following you up on orphanage trafficking, antislavery, intercountry adoptions, defence spending, AUKUS implementation and Liberal Party gender reform. I am more determined than ever to finally realise genuine gender reform in the Liberal Party. It is absolutely, well and truly beyond time, but I will have more to say about that.

In conclusion, I leave this place with great sadness but also with immense gratitude and great pride. Sorry! I know who I am, and I remain true to my values. I know who I am as a woman and as leader, and I have confidence in my abilities. I'm a much better and wiser person for the sum of my experiences in this place, and I thank the people of Western Australia and the Liberal Party of Western Australia for the greatest honour of my life. I look forward—I really do, despite the tears—to the next chapter of my service, wherever that will take me. Thank you.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Whilst all the hugs and congratulations to Linda are still going on, it is an honour, I have to say, to rise and pay tribute to my friend—a very long time friend—and colleague from Western Australia, and indeed senatorial colleague, Senator Linda Reynolds. Linda and I have, of course, worked together in this place since 2014, when Linda first arrived, but, like so many of us, Linda and I go back a lot further than that.

Linda, I am often known in this place for ad-libbing my speeches; however, tonight I am actually going to read, because you have such an outstanding record of service, as a senator but also prior to being in this place, that when people looked at your valedictory and the contributions in many years to come I want to make sure that that outstanding service to our country is properly recorded.

Linda and I actually met as Young Liberals in Western Australia in what is now way back, the 1980s. In fact your partner, Robert Reid, who is with us tonight—hello Robert—was with us back then. In fact, it's almost scary, when I look at it now, to do the maths, because, as much as I still feel like I'm a 17- or 18-year-old, that was actually 35 years ago now, Linda. So, over three decades ago, we were working together in the Young Liberals.

I have to say that when I first met you back then—you are slightly older than me, and I used to very much look up to you—even back in the late eighties, when I was still a teenager, I recognised that you had a strong sense of duty and, without a doubt, a desire to serve our nation. Linda joined the Army Reserve in 1984. Linda was just 19 when she decided to embark upon that journey to serve our country, and she found what she has subsequently described on so many occasions: her first great passion in life. What came of that passion can only be described as an extremely impressive and stellar career in the military—I don't think, Linda, too many people know this—for over 30 years.

Linda served in various roles—again, as I said, I'm going to read, because they need to be properly recorded—including officer cadet, regional logistics officer, training development officer and military instructor at the Army Command and Staff College, before rising to be commanding officer of the 5th Combat Service Support Battalion, directing the Accountability Model Implementation Project and being director of the Army Strategic Reform Program. People sometimes say to me when they see Linda's name, Senator the Hon. Linda Reynolds, with letters after it, 'Why are there letters after Linda's name?' Well, there's a very good reason for that. In the 2011 Australia Day Honours, Linda was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross. Linda was awarded that for this reason:

For outstanding achievement as the Director of Army Strategic Reform Program coordination.

Congratulations, Linda. She was also the adjutant general of the Army Reserve from 2012 to 2013.

But I think this is a little-known fact. When we talk in this place about celebrating women, this is something that I don't think too many people actually know. On attaining the rank of brigadier in 2012, Linda became the first woman in the Australian Army Reserve to be promoted to a star rank. I will say that again because I don't think too many people understand (a) what that means and (b) that it is Senator Linda Reynolds. On attaining the rank of brigadier in 2012, Linda became the first woman in the Australian Army Reserve to be promoted to a star rank. That, Linda, cannot ever be taken away from you. This achievement, as we all know, should not be underestimated, and without a doubt it places Linda as a true trailblazer in the Australian Army Reserve. Linda has often commented that her service to the nation was something that she loved more than anything, and, Linda, I say on behalf of each and every one of us that that service of over 30 years, and also being the first woman in the Australian Army Reserve to be promoted to a star rank, as I said, is something that should be acknowledged and is certainly something that should be celebrated.

Linda, you have often commented, and others have observed, that your ethos of service to the nation was something that no doubt drove you to seek office in this place. As I said, Linda had been involved in the Young Liberals in our home state of Western Australia, joining the Liberal Party in 1987. Again, a little-known fact about Linda: she was very active in our party in Western Australia over many years, holding many positions not just at a state level but also at a national level, which has also served us well in subsequent elections in Western Australia. Linda was the Deputy Director of the Federal Liberal Party from 2006 to 2008 and Manager of the Federal Liberal Party Campaign Committee in 2007. Whilst Linda has served in this place as a senator, she had, prior to that, worked in this place for many years, including as chief of staff to then justice minister Chris Ellison.

But, as Linda also acknowledged, her path to get here as an elected senator was not a completely smooth one, and I have to say, unless you were a Western Australian senator at the time, you probably have no idea what that felt like. Linda was elected as a senator, as she said, from third place on the Liberal ticket in 2013 federal election. But I have to say, again, unless you were a person who was on that ticket at that time, you would have to imagine how you felt when the Western Australian election for the Senate was declared void by the High Court. No other election for the Senate was at that time; it was just the Western Australian election. The High Court was then acting as the court of disputed returns after—as Linda said, it was quite extraordinary—ballot papers were actually lost, and, fortunately, they found a lot of them afterwards in places they should never have been. This meant they had to re-run the WA election for the Senate, and we had to campaign again as if it was a full campaign.

Linda was, again, successful in the re-run election, and her Senate term commenced on 1 July 2014. But there are not many in this place who can say that they sit in this place for the first time having been elected not once but actually twice. An indication of Linda Reynolds's decency was very evident in some of the observations that you made in your first speech, Linda. I went back, and I looked at that speech. In thanking the mentors that you had been lucky to have who had encouraged you to pursue the many opportunities, you acknowledged that you had much to pay forward. By any measure, Linda, you have succeeded in paying forward the kindness shown to you by so many of your mentors.

In fact, Linda started mentoring many women, in particular, before she even arrived in this place. Linda mentored political leaders from new and troubled democracies, including Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Again, this is a little-known fact about her. Linda remarked in her first speech that she had been inspired and forever changed by their stories and their courage in fighting for what we take for granted in Australia. Linda also acknowledged that she had performed extensive committee service over her 11 years in this place, and, Linda, without a doubt—and it's been acknowledged by many and will be acknowledged—you have always done so with diligence and a dedication to the task at hand.

Your first ministerial appointment was as the Assistant Minister for Home Affairs in 2018. You then went on to serve as the Minister for Defence Industry and the Minister for Emergency Management and North Queensland Recovery, but it was in 2019 that you were appointed as Australia's Minister for Defence. It was acknowledged at the time that your many years of military experience were put to good use in that portfolio. Your admiration, respect for and understanding of those who serve in our military were a real strength that you brought to the Defence portfolio. After that, you became the Minister for Government Services and then the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

As well as the hard work that you undertook in those portfolios, I think one of the passions that you have always had—and I know that you will continue to have well after you leave this place—was your advocacy against modern slavery and the international child exploitation industry. It has actually been second to none—again, potentially a little-known fact about Linda Reynolds. Linda has spent time overseas investigating and advocating against modern slavery, and indeed, as the Assistant Minister for Home Affairs, Linda was responsible for taking the Modern Slavery Act through the parliament. Linda, you have every right to be extremely proud of the work you have done in this area but, more than that, of taking a bill through the parliament that has made a difference.

You've also been passionate about the mining and resources industry in Western Australia and of course its contribution to the national economy. You've also been a fierce advocate for technology and innovation in Western Australia, and you understand that our state often leads the nation in technological innovation, particularly in the mining industry. The WA team were united at the time when we fought together for our state's fair share of the GST. And I think something that is well and truly acknowledged in this place is that the WA team hunt together as a pack. We put all our differences aside. WA is always our main focus in this place—and achieving what is best for Western Australia. Certainly, that achievement by the federal Liberal coalition Senate team, working with our House of Reps colleagues, has ensured that WA now does receive its fair share of GST. It was delivered by the former coalition government and it remains a priority for us today.

Linda, you can be extremely proud of your more than 10-year service to the Senate and the outstanding contribution you have without a doubt made to our nation. As I said, your service to the nation really did commence back in 1984, when you were but a teenager and you first joined the Army Reserve, and it has never stopped. I want people to read this in the future and understand that, on attaining the rank of brigadier in 2012, you became the first woman in the Australian Army Reserve to be promoted to a star rank.

You've outlined in your speech—and I'm not going to canvass it any further here—that working in this place is not always easy, and you outlined the share of challenges that you've faced along the way. But your resilience, your strength of character and your stoicism in the face of these challenges are things that I give you credit for.

On behalf of all of us, I want to thank you for not just your service to this place but your service to our country. As I said, you leave this place, but you go on to what I hope are bigger and better opportunities. To you and Rob, we wish you only the absolute very best. I know that you will succeed in anything that you do in the future.

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll be really quick because I know that you, Linda, would like to get back to drinks with so many of your friends who are here tonight. Standing between you and your friends and a drink at eight-something tonight is probably a really silly thing to do!

Linda, you haven't just been a colleague. You have been a genuine and dear friend, and you will be a genuine and dear friend after you leave this place. Linda is actually hugely good fun, which many of you probably know. She cooks an extraordinarily mean curry, and she can do that really quickly from scratch when she leaves here at eight o'clock, and it can be on the table by quarter to nine. And she's actually obsessed with jigsaws. This is something I found out during COVID, when we didn't have a dining room table, because Linda was always doing a jigsaw puzzle.

But the characteristic that defines Linda to me more than any other characteristic is that she is a person of immense integrity, and that is something that I think has been unfairly questioned in this place. The strength that you've shown when your personal life has been smeared across the front page of every paper in this nation over a number of years shows what an extraordinary person you are. I know you are immensely admired by everybody that sits on this side of the chamber.

Your time in this place has been marked by many, many achievements. We probably remember the high-ranking one, when you were the Minister for Defence, which was something that I know was so tremendously special to you. As has been mentioned, it was a pretty phenomenal achievement to have risen to the rank of brigadier and been, at the time, the highest-ranking Australian woman in the reserves in Australia's history. I know that that was a role that you took such enormous pride in when you first got it.

But I think your tireless work on some of the really tough social issues that you have taken on since you've been here is probably as much of an interesting reflection on you as the strength that you demonstrated during your time of service, either in the military or when you got responsibility for our forces when we were in government. Senator Reynolds is tough and dedicated to service—but she has got a heart that is absolutely enormous and, sadly, to her own detriment, she sometimes wears it on her sleeve instead of keeping it in her chest, which is the reason we love her so much. Much has been said in your contribution and in Michaelia's contribution around the things that you did. Your anti-slavery work in relation to orphanage trafficking was just extraordinary, as was living through it as you were going through it. Something Linda didn't mention is that she is currently the co-rapporteur in relation to orphanage trafficking at the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which is an international body of 180 nations from around the world, and she managed to get a unanimous decision of that group—that is almost unheard of; in fact, it is unheard of—to establish the first global action on orphanage trafficking, which now means every one of those governments around the whole world has a framework through which they can legislate to actually stop orphanage trafficking. It is quite extraordinary, yet I don't think that many people know that that's happened because of Linda Reynolds.

I also acknowledge the support that you give to women, which has probably made the treatment that you've received in this place at the hands of some women somewhat more gruelling and galling. I know there are an enormous number of women in public life and there are an enormous number of women in this place that are here because of the support and the encouragement they received from Linda, not just to start but all the way through their journeys. So I think there is a debt of gratitude that is owed to you by so many.

Linda, my friend, it's been a pleasure to have had time working in this place with you. We had a false start; we thought we were going to get you here in 2013, but we eventually got you here in 2014. It's been great to be in the chamber with you, but it's also been great to have been your house buddy for most of the time that you've been here. You are incredibly generous and you have got a wicked sense of humour, but your loyalty to your friends and your colleagues is something that absolutely stands out to me. The person who made the statement, 'If in parliament you want a friend, get a dog,' obviously did not know Linda Reynolds.

Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Harry Truman!

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Harry Truman didn't know Linda Reynolds—who knew! Go well, my friend, and I hope you now have the opportunity to visit all of those libraries that Rob really wants to take you to!

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I hope you'll give me the privilege of speaking not from my seat. I wanted to be able to look you straight in the eye. It has been a very long journey since 1987, when Linda Reynolds and Dean Smith joined the Young Liberal movement in Western Australia. For the first two years, I recall frequenting a cafe on Outram Street after Young Liberal movement council meetings, and I know that you're as delighted as I am to have Sandra Mutch and Russell Gianoli in the audience with us tonight, who were there in 1987 as well.

But it wasn't until 1989 when six Young Liberals descended on the car park at the Midland railway station. They had hired a Tarago van. There were three young men and there were three young women. The three young men were all under the age of 21, so they weren't able to drive the hire car across the Nullarbor to Adelaide to attend their first Young Liberal convention. In the car was one Linda Reynolds, myself and four others. We embarked on what was a pretty big adventure at the time, going to our first Young Liberals convention in Adelaide. So excited were we about our newfound importance in the Liberal Party. We got to our Young Liberals convention. Things were very tight. We were not part of the moderates; we were part of the conservatives. We were challenging the moderates, led at the time by Marise Payne and Chris Pyne, who were seeking the very auspicious positions of federal president and vice-president of the Young Liberals. Realising we didn't have the numbers, we thought would do something bold and brash—and we walked out of the convention! We learnt some very powerful lessons as a result of that experience.

Just to finish that tale: we got our first taste of senators interfering in party politics. News had got back to Western Australia that we were supporting the conservative candidate—Karen Raisi, I think, was her name—at the time, and that we weren't supporting Marise Payne and Christopher Pyne. We didn't realise at the time that we were caught in the Howard-Peacock leadership battles. One senator who was very prominent at the time got on a plane, flew to Adelaide, wined and dined us and took us to bars. We had a great night. The next morning they called us to a meeting and said: 'You had a wonderful night the night before. This is my suggested course of action.' We thought: 'That doesn't really make sense to us. We had a wonderful night, thank you very much. We're embarking upon our original course of action'—which didn't go down very well in Western Australia at all.

Ever since those days, Linda, you have shown consistency. You have shown tenacity. You have endured through very challenging and difficult times, and you have always triumphed. The Senate and our Senate party room will be the poorer for your absence. On a personal level, I thank you for the courage you have shown me in some of those more difficult battles.

You called out the importance of GST reform in your first speech, and it took some years after that to achieve that outcome. We often reflect on the very joyous photos of the marriage debate here in this chamber. Senator Hume and Senator Reynolds—I think there was a sequence in which I mentioned the names in closing the debate. They were very hard and difficult times for many of us in our party. But you, with Jane, were strong and clear, and you joined me in that Senate chamber when many others didn't. I thank you for that courage. It's yet another timely reminder that when the chips are sometimes down for your colleagues, or your friends, you are always there for them. When I caught up with Sandra and Russell last night, that was exactly the comment that Sandra and Russell reflected on—that, no matter the depth of the adversity or struggle you might be going through yourself, with your personal self or your professional self, you've always found time for other people.

You were right to identify your achievements: the fifth Liberal woman and the 96th Western Australian senator. You're also one of 10 Western Australian defence ministers. One of those 10 was Paul Hasluck, who later became Governor-General. One of those 10 was John Forrest, who had been Premier. One of those 10 was Sir George Pearce, who served 12 years plus as the Minister for Defence of this country. One was John Curtin, and one was Kim Beazley. You join those ranks as the only female Western Australian to have been a Commonwealth defence minister. And you are one of 60 Western Australian parliamentarians to have served in the federal ministry. These are great achievements by any measure, but I think it is the values, the care and the courage that you have brought to your role that are the stand-out virtues. As a friend, I wish you all the very best for whatever happens next.

In your first speech to the Senate, you mentioned how you were well accustomed to change. It's a bit difficult sitting here, having this conversation and extending these remarks, knowing that Linda Reynolds will always be somewhere, and my great hope—having, with myself and others, pursued some important battles of reform in our own party—that you will be a constant presence in the Western Australian Liberal Party going forward, demonstrating to young Liberals of the now and of the future that you can have values, you can have courage and you can make friends and that these things can endure through a parliamentary career. Thank you very, very much, from me to you, for your support of me and the causes that we've fought for together. I wish you, Robert and your whole family the very best of happiness and good fortune, whatever happens next. I'm sure we'll be walking that path in other places in years to come as well. Best wishes.

Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to 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.

Perin Davey (NSW, National Party, Shadow Minister for Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise not just for myself but to recognise, on behalf of the Nationals in this place, the friend that is Linda Reynolds. She has been a friend to all of us. I think it was Senator Cash who said Linda lives by the 'pay it forward' ethos. You do so in spades.

I am relatively new to this place, having been elected in 2019, and I consider myself one of the lucky ones, because I am a beneficiary of the women, like Linda, who have come before me. I came into this place and I had a defence minister who was a female and who had been the first female brigadier in the Army Reserve. As a former Army reservist myself, I knew of you already. So she was already on a pedestal when I walked into this place. But, Linda, we had Marise Payne, Senator Cash and my colleague Senator Bridget McKenzie, who, as a group, wrapped their arms around all of the new women who walked into this place and said: 'Your experience will not be like ours. Your experience is going to be better, and we will make this place better for women.' And you have done that. All of your colleagues at the cabinet table at that time did that, and so I am forever grateful to have had the privilege of coming in when I did, when there was that generosity of spirit, that real support of women supporting women, and I knew that people like you had my back.

That's why I will just say that it was with absolute horror that I saw what you went through. I knew that there was no way that the Linda Reynolds I knew could have been guilty of what she was being accused of. But I don't want to dwell on that, because I want to dwell on all your other achievements. You've spoken on the modern slavery legacy that you leave, and it is true. It will continue to lead to genuine change right across the globe, because I know you're not leaving it alone; you are going to continue to work in that space, and that is fantastic.

I've already mentioned the support you've given to women, the work on gender reform that you are truly committed to. It has made a difference. It has made a difference in the Army Reserve and it has made a difference in this place. You will continue to make a difference in that area.

I also want to personally thank you for joining me on the Senate Select Committee on Australia's Disaster Resilience, for showing me around and sharing your vast wealth of experience and knowledge from your personal experience as an emergency management minister and a defence minister, and your thorough understanding of the issues we were trying to investigate. Your pragmatic approach was: what is the problem we are trying to fix, and what is a genuine solution that we can present so that the report we produce doesn't end up, like so many reports that are produced in this place, on a shelf collecting dust? You have a proven track record of participating in committees and producing reports that make a difference. I believe that that report will also make a difference.

Linda, when I think of you I think of a calm, reasonable, approachable, pragmatic woman who truly lives her values. You are a role model to me. May you continue to be a role model to your colleagues in the Western Australian Liberal Party. I sincerely thank you, but I also want to thank you on behalf of my colleagues in the Nationals. Your door has always been open to us. You've always shared your knowledge. I wish you and Rob all the best in your future, because the next chapter is going to be fantastic.

Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will keep my comments brief, but I didn't want to let this opportunity pass without acknowledging Linda and the role that she's played in me being here today. Linda, you'll recall that you were the campaign chair when I ran for the seat of Burt, and I learnt a tremendous amount from you in that campaign. But, prior to that, you'll recall, Linda, I didn't win that preselection initially, and I remember getting the phone call from you straight after it. You were, I think, one of the first people that I heard from, and you encouraged me to turn up to the next thing and stick with it. You saw something in me. At the time, I was disappointed, and you were there for me. That preselection was turned over, and I ended up being selected to run for the seat of Burt. I didn't win at the election, but I learnt so much from you through that campaign and have been able to pay what I learnt from you forward to many campaigns that I've been able to be involved in since. I'm very grateful for that.

Everyone tonight has spoken of the courage and the incredible tenacity that you have shown over these past few years, and it's something that we're all grateful for having seen. We wish it wasn't the case that you had to go through that, but we have admired you tremendously over these last few years. I'm thinking about, now, the effort that you're putting into campaigns even now. You could be forgiven, having had a very successful career here, for wanting to, maybe, put your feet up, but you are an absolute champion. The way that you are getting behind all of our candidates across Western Australia in this election campaign is phenomenal, and everyone respects you tremendously for that. The way that you are getting behind all of us is just wonderful.

Linda, I wish you the very best in what comes next. As others have remarked, I really do hope that you see yourself as playing and will play a key role within the party going forward. You talk about the reform I think you will continue and, I hope, will continue to play a really pivotal role for our party, particularly in Western Australia. I also hope that you—and I've got no doubt that you will—play a significant role in service to our nation. I've got no doubt that you'll play a role, possibly even internationally, of service to our nation and, indeed, the world, particularly in the area of modern slavery. I've got this sneaking suspicion that what you've been able to establish here with the Modern Slavery Act won't be the end of the contribution that you've made in that space on this important issue that I got to witness firsthand. I don't know if you recall that I was working at Minderoo at the time that you were developing that; there was some support and assistance provided by the Minderoo Foundation at that time. Your dedication to that, I've got no doubt, will continue.

Linda, thank you. Congratulations on a very successful career, and I look forward to seeing what comes next.

Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to associate myself with all the wonderful remarks that have been made about an incredible woman. I'm sorry I'm standing here with my back to you, but I want to briefly make a few remarks. I know you've got incredible supporters here—family and the wonderful Rob—all waiting to share a drink with you to celebrate what is a truly amazing 11 years of service in this place, including as the Assistant Minister for Home Affairs, the Minister for Emergency Management and North Queensland Recovery, the Minister for Defence Industry, the Minister for Defence and, of course, the Minister for Government Services and the Minister for the NDIS. Senator Cash spoke in detail about your many wonderful achievements, as have others. I won't repeat that, other than to say that you've also been the most incredible fighter for the people of Queensland. But there was one big achievement as the Minister for Defence—

Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Western Australia.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Queensland? Seriously?

Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Oh, sorry. Apologies.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We had to pick her up on that, seriously.

Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sorry. Apologies. Scrub the Hansardan incredible fighter for the people of Western Australia. It's late.

One of your many achievements that hasn't been mentioned tonight, though, Linda, is the incredible work that you did reinstating the howitzer Defence project for the people of Geelong after it was callously cancelled by the former Labor government. I remember that day so well: standing in Waurn Ponds, making that announcement committing to bring back Defence vehicle manufacturing to Geelong with the howitzer Defence project. That was, of course, just prior to the 2019 election, when I was the member for Corangamite. Now at Avalon we have the most amazing Hanwha Armoured Vehicle Centre of Excellence. It is incredible, delivering not only the howitzer Defence project but also phase 3 of Land 400. That's just one of your many legacies where you understood the importance of defence industry, backing the men and women of the ADF and making sure that they have the capability they need to keep them safe whenever they are called to serve our country on the battlefield. It was a disgrace that that project was cancelled by the former Labor government, and it is a great credit to you, Linda, that, drawing on your expertise and your incredible service to our nation, you reinstated that project.

Thank you for the incredible work that you've done on modern slavery, for people with disability and for women. There is a very, very long list which I won't repeat. But the thing that really stands out to me, Linda, is that, no matter what you do, you do it with such courage. I have been your great friend over the last four or so years as you have taken on the injustice to which you were subjected so disgracefully, including by members of the Labor Party and by the government as a whole. I am so proud of the way you have fought. Your treatment was utterly disgraceful. It was debilitating, and I am so proud of the fact that you are still fighting for justice.

You have so much more to give. To you and to Rob, as a great team, I say that I know you will leave this place with many great plans. I absolutely cannot wait to see what you do next, but I know that, whatever it is, you will continue to serve to 100 per cent of your capability. You will be driven by the strongest sense of justice, care and kindness for others, and I wish you all the very best for the years ahead.

Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You didn't really think you were getting out of here without hearing from all the Western Australian senators, did you? I don't want to get between our friends and a drink, but it is very important to me to say a few words. I'm not going to repeat your career, Linda. We've heard that. We understand what a stellar ornament to this place and to the WA Liberal Party you have been.

In many ways, my career has followed behind Linda's. Linda and I were rivals in our first preselection battle, in 2012. We both put our hands up. Linda won fair and square. I don't know if she slightly regretted winning it when 2013 happened and I was No. 4 on the ticket. I talked to the then state director, Ben Morton, and I said: 'Ben, you know, we're not going to win four. Do you really need me on there still? It should just be the top three.' But Ben said, 'Oh, I'll think about it,' but then said, 'No, you're going to stay on there.' So we did go through the campaign, where one and two were solid and four was never going to get up, but it was fighting to make sure we retained our third spot in the Senate. It was such an important fight to have. It was a unique election campaign. Literally no-one can say they've been through a campaign like that, except for four people, basically, and I don't think anyone is likely to have to go through it again. I certainly don't envy them if they do.

You've served the Western Australian Liberal Party with such distinction for a long period of time. As I've been able to say in Western Australia on a few occasions when we've been at events together over the last few months, you have gone out at a moment of your choosing; I know it's perhaps not the way you would have liked your career to end, but I admire you for that. I admire you for everything you've done for the Liberal Party of Western Australia and for this place—and for the achievements you've had, which have been talked about by my colleagues. To Rob, to your family, to Michelle and all your staff: it is such a wonderful career that you have had, and you have given so much of yourself to this place, to our nation and to the Western Australian Liberal Party. Thank you.

Maria Kovacic (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Linda, your achievements have been articulated very well by our colleagues. I won't add to that, other than to say I support and associate myself with those comments.

I want to very briefly speak on your comment that you know who you are. There are many people here who also know who you are. I know you to be a person of integrity, I know you to be a person of courage and I know you to be a person of great decency. I thank you for everything you've done for our country, but I also thank you for your kindness and generosity to me as a friend.

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price (NT, Country Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Firstly, I acknowledge your commitment, Linda, not just to serving the people of our wonderful country, Australia, but also to the betterment of humanity more broadly, with the lives you have saved globally. Many of us have the wonderful opportunity to serve in this place, but few of us get the opportunity to say that we've had such an impact on the lives of so many not just in our country but around the world.

To a first-term senator such as myself, you've demonstrated to me what a conviction politician is—someone who leads with truth and integrity in the face of disgraceful political bullying. I've learned very quickly in this job that you have to pick your battles. On what you've been subjected to by those opposite: many might have run away from that, but you stood your ground because you knew it was the right thing to do. It was the right thing not just to defend yourself—when those of us here know the true character of who you really are—but to stand up to defend those who were also impacted through that and to set a precedent. If you don't stand up for what is right you allow for a standard to be lowered, and those consequences will be felt by all of us in here and those who come to this place for generations to come. It is evident in everything you have done that you have set a standard, a standard for all right around the country—one that we must continue to push to maintain and continue to push higher in this place. That should be part of the legacy you leave behind here. That's a promise I can make to you.

As conservative women in particular, we don't have the luxury of the feminist sisterhood coming to our side in times such as those you've had to endure. Therefore, for me personally, I want to recognise your incredible courage and your commitment. You absolutely should be recognised and commended for that—and so too your family, because we all know that, in this place, we can't do it without our family. And Colin just wanted me to mention this to Robert: thank you, Robert, for demonstrating what a partner, a husband, looks like who stands by such a wonderful woman doing a courageous job for Australians and what family means, because you are just such an important piece of that puzzle. Thank you, Robert.

I just want to say that part of me wishes I weren't losing you after my first term, but I'm also very aware that you've got plenty planned for your future. I know that you have so much more to give as well, and I know that you will continue to give. Thank you for demonstrating to me the kind of woman that I hope to grow up to be.

Wendy Askew (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Very briefly, like others tonight, I just wanted to make a quick contribution. I think tonight we've seen the quality of the person of Linda, of what you have brought to this place, of what you've done over the years. Throughout it, through your experience, you've demonstrated the absolute professionalism that you've had all the time and that you show in all aspects of your life. I've had the pleasure of knowing you, I think, for nearly 20 years. Wow, it has gone so fast. Throughout that time, I've always been inspired by you, your ability and your commitment to everything that you've done and your encouragement of the Liberal women. You've done that throughout the time that I've known you—as one of those beneficiaries. I can remember having a conversation in New Acton here probably 10 years ago. As a result of that is why I'm here today. I'm actually very thankful for the fact that you did that and also that I was fortunate enough to have you escort me into the Senate chamber when I was sworn in.

On the committee work that you've done, you mentioned tonight tick-borne diseases. That's something you mentioned to me very early in my career, and I was very pleased that we finally were able to get that up. I was really pleased when we came to an agreement—with a heated discussion earlier in the week!—around finalising the report. Thank you very much for that. You're never afraid of hard work. You're so committed to everything you do. You give it 150 per cent, and I'm just so proud of you. You will be missed. Everyone in the chamber will miss you, especially on our side. I just want to wish you every happiness in the future, as to Rob. Thank you very much for everything you've done for me and for the party.

Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you for everything you've done for me.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My apologies to those upstairs waiting for a drink and something to eat. Probably, apologies to the caterers as well. I just want to associate myself with my colleagues' comments tonight—from Michaelia and from all across the chamber. How we conduct the traditions of this institution is important, and it reflects on us. The way that your valedictory tonight has been conducted, attended and observed is a reflection on our respect for the chamber. The way that it hasn't been attended and respected is a reflection on those on the other side of the chamber, and it's to their shame and it's a stain on this place. The way that you were treated—I was sitting next to you during all of that period in the last parliament. I worked with you night and day through COVID and all of those events to ensure that Australians were able to get through the pandemic safely. You were looking after disadvantaged Australians on the NDIS at that time. I was dealing with aged care. But to see the heartless and callous way that you were attacked in this place for political gain is a stain on this place. It really is. You said in your speech that they found your breaking point. I think the way that you continue to conduct yourself shows that they didn't break you. You're an incredibly strong woman, person, colleague and friend who we all value enormously, and you deserved better, and the fact that you have been progressively vindicated is a demonstration of that to us all. There are things that occurred here in the chamber but also within the legal system that are an absolute disgrace, in my view, and it's an absolute tribute to you that you continue to fight.

The achievements that you've made during your time have been so eloquently described by our colleagues here tonight, as has the respect that we have for you as a colleague. I first met you when you were involved with the secretariat and we were campaigning to get campaigns done and colleagues elected and all of those sorts of things,. I can only reflect on that experience and everything that you put into everything that you did for the benefit of the campaigns that you were working on and in the portfolios for the benefit of the country. To have seen you achieve all of the things that you did is a thing of great pride for us all, because when our colleagues are succeeding it is a success for us too. We all carry that together.

What we achieved during the last parliament in getting this country through the pandemic was extraordinary. When you look at it in the context of other countries around the world, we were at the pinnacle of that, and for you and former prime minister Morrison to continue to be derided even now is a shame, because it's not deserved. So I am so delighted to see so many colleagues on their feet tonight paying tribute to you as a part of this process, which is an important part of the traditions of the parliament. As I said before, the way that we observe them is a demonstration of our respect or otherwise for this place that we all have the privilege to serve in, and it is the ultimate privilege in this country to serve in the parliament—and, I say, particularly in the Senate.

So, Linda, congratulations. Rob, thank you. It was bloody hard at times, but you, Rob, can be enormously proud—as you can, Linda—of Linda's amazing achievements in this place. We know that there is so much more to come, and we wish you all the very best for those.