Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

I knew Katie Allen in a professional capacity prior to her entering this place as the second paediatrician to be elected to the House of Representatives. I dealt with her professionally in her role as the head of the Centre for Food and Allergy Research in the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. She had a national and, indeed, a worldwide reputation as a paediatric allergist and paediatric gastroenterologist. She specialised in allergy and, in particular, some of the rarer manifestations of allergies, such as eosinophilic enteritis and anaphylaxis. She had qualifications far greater than mine in an academic capacity. She was an inaugural fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. She started the longest and biggest prospective study of allergy and anaphylaxis in the developed world, called HealthNuts, which is still ongoing. She had a PhD, and her PhD thesis was on liver cell transplantation using a mouse model of Wilson's disease, a very rare but well-known cause of liver failure. She, as has been mentioned, had an Order of Australia given posthumously, which was well deserved and only a small recognition of her talents.

I respected her greatly prior to her coming here, and, when she came here, I respected her even more. I was expecting a rather patrician, aloof person elected as the member for Higgins, but what I found was just a really decent, lovely person, willing to engage on all levels, even though we represented different parties and had different political views. She was a really deep thinker, a really decent person and someone—like many paediatricians—who understood the implications of the social determinants of health and was willing to work hard to make sure that Australia led the way in paediatric health care.

She was brave and she was steadfast. She was someone who stood up for her views. I well remember the fight she had in this place with one of my colleagues, where she stood her ground—

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