Page 589 - Week 02 - Thursday, 18 February 2016
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MS FITZHARRIS (Molonglo—Minister for Higher Education, Training and Research, Minister for Transport and Municipal Services and Assistant Minister for Health): I seek leave to make a brief statement.
Leave granted.
MS FITZHARRIS: If I could speak directly to Mary today and reiterate what everyone else has said here today, Mary, about your commitment to Canberra and to social progress. I would love to reiterate what Ms Burch said about you bringing people into the centre, people who feel like they do not have a voice or have a say in some of the major decisions and some of the minor decisions that governments take. You have taught us all a lot about that.
You mentioned also the values your father instilled in you: compassion, fairness, hard work, believing in yourself to make a difference and working with people. As a colleague, as a fellow party member, just as a member of the community and, since I was elected last year, in the committees and in the chamber in general, that is your hallmark—working with people and bringing people together.
In a world of what often might be seen as quick policy wins or a very heightened media environment, you have taken a couple of key issues. For me, too, it is the end-of-life issues that you have taken and worked on steadily and slowly. You have provided people, as Mr Rattenbury said, with a safe place to talk and explore issues, even if we do not agree. I think we all wish we could do that on many important issues that face us. The reality is that we cannot, but your role as an MLA in progressing those sorts of issues is a lesson to us all. It shows that it can be done and that things can be done slowly but effectively. I think eventually we will honour you here in seeing further change on end-of-life issues. Thank you.
One of the things I want to reflect on is learning from you, Mary, as a woman of another generation. I think back to a couple of meetings I had with you prior to and since being elected with people like Margaret Bell, a pioneer with you of the volunteering movement in Australia, with Heather Reid from Capital Football and with Maureen Cain, as well: women of a different generation who forged a path in community service and in leading other women. It has been incredible for me to learn from you individually but to learn from you with them as well about the fights that you had along the way, what you achieved and your joy at seeing women coming after you—women of my generation and women younger than I—your joy in seeing them achieve and succeed in life through hard work and compassion. Again, that is a lesson to us all.
I want to comment as the minister responsible for the Territory and Municipal Services Directorate, as others have. People will know that in administrations there are databases. I think they even contemplated having an entirely separate category of constituents’ representations and then one for Mary Porter representations, because the numbers are so significant. I gather there was a question on notice a couple of years ago, and Mary well and truly won hands down the award for the most number of constituent representations—at that point 768. That, as Ms Berry said, does not take
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