Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise with all of my colleagues in this place to celebrate the life of Peta Jan Murphy, born on 1 November 1973 and deceased on 4 December 2023 at just 50 years of age. By all accounts, Peta had a pretty humble upbringing. She was born in Wagga Wagga, and she was a product of a public school upbringing. I give my condolences to her parents, Bob and Jan, and her sisters, Jodi and Penni.

I first met Peta when she walked into this place in 2019. She actually took the seat of a friend of mine Chris Crewther, which is always a fairly confronting thing, but that's what happens in this place. As you know, Deputy Speaker Claydon, I got to know her pretty well from our involvement with the Social Policy and Legal Affairs Committee, which I chaired and you deputy chaired—this is her and I and not so much you and I, Deputy Speaker Claydon, just for clarification. Lest we think we're getting all sentimental here. Peta and I established quite a strong rapport as two barristers. I respected her intellect. I respected her hard work. I respected her wit. I also respected the fact that you were never left wanting where you stood with Peta. She was always very clear about her views on things, and that's as it should be. That was one of her great attributes. As the minister for skills said this morning in his fine speech, you always knew where you stood with Peta.

Some of the seminal work that we did on the Social Policy and Legal Affairs Committee was in relation to age verification for online pornography and online gambling and the work that we did together for family, sexual and domestic violence were, I think, two of the best reports we've done in this place and that I've been involved with in this place. I learned that Peta, in that process, was a fierce advocate for her community and her beliefs. In my preparation for this speech—there's the old phrase, 'I respect my political opponent; I might think that she's politically misguided, but I respect her nonetheless'—I read her forward to the report, You win some, you lose more. Whilst we had many differences of opinion politically, deep down I think Peta and I shared a great many number of personal beliefs about, for instance, the damage that gambling does to our community.

I want to send a shout-out to her family, and, of course, to my Labor colleagues, who will most particularly be feeling the pain today, for the leadership that she gave as the chair of the Social Policy and Legal Affairs Committee and for the work that she did in that role. It reminded me, in fact. I was only talking about Peta just last Friday to one of her constituents. I had a Zoom meeting with one of her constituents, whose name is Carolyn Crawford. She's the secretary of an organisation called GHLEE, or Gambling Harm Lived Experienced Experts. Carolyn shared with me her story, and she talked passionately about how much she loved Peta Murphy, her federal member. And I have permission from Carolyn to share her story. Carolyn was 64 when she was imprisoned for stealing from her employer so that she could feed her gambling habit. She paid all the money back and then became an advocate to counter gambling harm. She spoke so lovingly of her federal member. I'm not sure that too many people would say the same about me in Fisher. I hope they might; we live in hope! But it was really quite touching to see her love for her own federal member.

In her report, whilst there is a committee behind her, her words jumped out from the page to me—that those words, particularly in the foreword, were Peta's words. But she spoke about the dangers and the harms to millions of Australians who have a gambling problem. She spoke about how Australians are the biggest losers in the world when it comes to online gambling—impacting upon their work, their families, their relationships and, of course, their finances.

In the report, in her foreword, she spoke about the bipartisan nature of that committee, which reached 31 recommendations. The most important, in my view, of those recommendations was to recommend to government to implement a three-year phase-in of a total ban of gambling advertising. This is something that I aspire to and something that I think would be a wonderful legacy on the part of this government to remember and recognise Peta Murphy, the member for Dunkley—the former member for Dunkley. That was, in my view, the greatest recommendation out of that report. Peta's legacy will live on in Australian society forever, to the betterment of millions of Australians, if the government were to accept that recommendation and, ultimately, if the parliament were to accept that recommendation.

She spoke passionately about how our children no longer can differentiate between sport and gambling—how the gambling companies have just leached into our society, leached into sport, such that kids no longer talk about who kicked a goal on Sunday, and wasn't that great; it's all about the odds now. When I talk to kids about sport, there doesn't seem to be that differentiation anymore, and Peta recognised that.

I really want to encourage the government; I really want to encourage you, Deputy Speaker Claydon, because I know that you have a lot of sway in your party room—that, if this government wants to honour the member for Dunkley, there is no greater way to do that than by implementing what I regard to be the most important recommendation out of that report. Call it 'Murphy's law'. I know that word has been used before! But I think that would be a really fitting tribute to her. And, as I said, millions of Australians would lead a better, more fulfilling life by not being hooked on gambling, if the government picks up on Peta's recommendation.

I do want to send a shout-out to my McKinnon Institute colleagues. There have been many messages flying around in the class of '22 group. Peta and I, and other colleagues from around the country, took part in the McKinnon Institute for Political Leadership program last year, where, once again, Peta showed that her true colours in this place are not that she was a politician but that she was a parliamentarian—and there is a very big difference.

When Peta walked through those doors in 2019, it was very clear to me where her priorities lay. She wasn't coming in here to climb the greasy pole; she was coming in—albeit at the expense of one of my friends—to look after the people of Dunkley, to be a parliamentarian in the true sense of the word. I think that that is something that we can all take a leaf out of her book on.

To her husband, Rod, who's one of the coordinators of the McKinnon Institute program, the class of '22 are feeling your pain. We are so sad and so sorry for your loss. I also send out our best wishes to Rod and Peta's family and to our Labor colleagues in their hour of loss. I simply say: vale, Peta Murphy. Rest in peace.

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