Page 702 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 1 May 2007

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Your mother was a great role model for women in Australia. The integrity she showed in her work, and her sincerity in dealing with the public, give us examples of a democratic culture of leadership for society to adopt.

We mourn her loss.

MR PRATT (Brindabella): It is clear from all the tributes we have seen in recent days that Audrey Fagan made an astounding impact on anyone who came in contact with her over her 44 years of life. Chief Police Officer Fagan was a much respected and highly competent police officer who was held in high esteem by colleagues and the public alike. It seems obvious to all that she was a fantastic mother to her daughter, Clair, and a much-loved and loving wife, daughter, sister, relative, friend and colleague.

With all due respect to male coppers, the police profession has traditionally been a male bastion, only changing over the last couple of decades. That is a fact of life and is not a criticism. Policing is tough work, and that is the way things have been. Audrey Fagan seemed to have fitted quite well within that culture and did so with charm and intelligent leadership.

During lengthy discussions with the AFPA, the association, middle-ranking commanders and rank-and-file police, I rarely detected a bad word about Audrey—rumblings about bureaucracy but never a bad word about her. It was clear to me there existed, among police of all ages and all experience levels, a respect for and a quiet admiration of Audrey Fagan.

From time to time I enjoyed robust discussions with Chief Police Officer Fagan. She was always cooperative, always warm and always willing to stick around the extra few minutes for that discussion. I can recall one day last year, while discussing local crime issues with some shopkeepers at a local shopping centre on the north side, Audrey, rushing around the corner, bumped into us after leaving the gym. I know that for most of us—certainly me, most senior officials, when we finally get that precious few minutes off away from work to go and get some real time—the last thing we want to do is engage with our job. But not Audrey! She was quite willing to stop with us and quite willing to chat cheerfully with us about the local issues.

We know that she was a champion of women policing nationally. She was quite a role model. She was a tireless campaigner on women’s protection issues, the only female detective in the local criminal investigations section for some time, focusing on those areas. I understand it has brought a new focus on how to combat those issues.

Audrey Fagan’s funeral was an incredibly impressive, but nevertheless harrowing, event for many of us who were there on Friday. Her family, particularly her daughter, Clair, got through that funeral with great dignity to send off Audrey in the fashion that Audrey deserved. Her husband, Chris Rowell, and her ex-husband, Clair’s father, Andrew Phillips, were remarkable on that day. Clair’s role particularly was an extremely brave one and demonstrated to us the closeness of that family.

I also commend Mick Keelty and the AFP for their organisation of such a fitting tribute. I must say this too: Mick Keelty clearly had held Audrey in very high regard


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