Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 29 December last year, Australia lost one of our finest, most tenacious, advocates, Peter Short. I first met Peter last year at a Dying with Dignity event here in Parliament House and then in Fremantle, where he was spending some quality time with his son, Mitchell, and showing him WA, which Peter knew well from his career with Wesfarmers. The three of us had coffee at Freo's Esplanade Hotel. What struck me was Peter's dignity, his complete lack of self-pity, his determination to use every moment of his last few months of life to see legislative change and his infectious optimism that that day would come.

Peter would speak in person or on the phone to everyone he could, including the Prime Minister just 10 days before Peter died, to explain his terminal situation and to help people to understand the importance of dignity and choice in the matter of one's death. Peter kept a blog called 'Tic Toc Tic Toc dying to a killer clock' and participated in making a documentary    film about his daily life with cancer and his celebration of each step in his campaign to bring into law the bill that will be cosponsored in a non-partisan way by Senator Richard Di Natale, Alannah MacTiernan and Sharman Stone.

Today we welcomed Peter's wife, Elizabeth, to Parliament House. Elizabeth and Mitchell are continuing to advocate for their family's shared goal of helping people have dignity through choice. Rest in peace, Peter, knowing that we will not give up the fight. Your legacy will remain, and there are many people who are forever grateful to you.