Tim Hammond (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I, like many other Western Australians, was deeply saddened to hear last week of the death of former Labor senator for Western Australia Patricia Giles at the age of 88, but I'm also incredibly honoured to mark the occasion of her death with an acknowledgement and celebration of her life today.

Pat Giles is best known for her career-defining advocacy for women. She founded the Perth branch of the Women's Electoral Lobby in 1973 and was later the first woman on the executive of the Trades & Labor Council of Western Australia. When she was elected to the Senate in 1981, there were barely a dozen other women in our federal parliament.

Pat Giles, due to her amazing work, was instrumental in Labor's gender equality agenda in the 1980s and early 1990s. She led a number of international delegations and chaired the UN Global Commission on Women's Health. Following her retirement from politics, she continued to be an advocate, activist and mentor for women in the Western Australian community. In a fitting tribute, a few years ago a women's refuge in Perth's northern suburbs was named in her honour. EMILY's List has also created the Pat Giles Award in her honour, which is awarded annually to a woman advancing the lives of other women.

On behalf of all of the party, like others here, I extend my heartfelt condolences to all of her family—her children, Anne, Penelope, Fiona, Josephine and Timothy, now passed away; and also her grandchildren, Jessica, Michael, Brodie, Hugo and Rachel, now passed away. Pat Giles, your legacy will never be forgotten.