Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Hansard source

thank you; I'll take that interjection—and, of course, a vocalist. A lot of that was largely due to the inspiration of Olivia Newton-John.

She was someone that everybody wanted to be near. She was someone that everybody wanted to be like. The songs that I outlined were those that I diligently learned in my singing lessons every week, making sure that I could belt out Olivia Newton-John's 'Hopelessly Devoted to You' at school concerts—of course, in the music room at lunchtime on the piano. To this day, I still do have in my office at least half-a-dozen Olivia Newton-John songs and a piano, so I invite any of my colleagues to come in and have a bit of karaoke—even you, Member for North Sydney—and sing 'Hopelessly Devoted to You' in my office.

But those memories of Olivia—as a superstar, as a singer, as the girl next door, as a role model—remain. She had such a massive impact on me—and on my sister as well, who was older than me at the time, and on our young lives and on what we wanted to do with our lives. Olivia was a fierce advocate for cancer, and I realised a childhood dream when I met her in September 2019 when she came to this place, Parliament House. We were able to meet her in the Dame Dorothy Tangney Alcove and talk with her about her cancer research and about how much money and energy she had put into that for others.

She was a kind soul. She was a talented woman. She was a much-loved mother and wife. She will be sadly missed. She was a movie star. She was a singer. But most of all she really was Australia's favourite daughter. Olivia's been part of our lives for as long as I can remember—I was inspired by her as a young girl. She means different things to so many different people around this country but she will always live on in our hearts forever. Vale, Olivia Newton-John.

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