I thank the Prime Minister for his motion, which provides us all in this place an opportunity to extend our love and our support to our friend the member for Indi, Helen Haines, and her family, her staff, the Indi community, the volunteers and the extraordinary men and women who came to her aid in her time of need. Together, we are all working to comprehend the cruel and brutal attack on a person who has only ever represented her electorate with justice and compassion.

Already there has been much commentary and reflection: that it's a continuation of the pattern of increasing violence of men towards women, that it's a case for more mental health funding, that it's online algorithms driving hate and intolerance, that the rising temperature that we are all called to turn down started right here in this place, that this senseless attack is an attack on democracy. Without yet knowing the actual motive, all these things can be true, and they can all be true at once. I will speak today largely to the last point. Here, we are all co-creators of this parliamentary workplace and of the environment within which the political decisions of the nation are made.

When I gave my first speech in this place I spoke about the standards Australians expect of us. I said then that integrity and respect in our national institutions are vital and that leadership requires high standards maintained not only through legislation but through our own behaviour. Four years later, I believe that more strongly than ever. Democracy is robust, but it is not indestructible. Around the world we have watched democratic politics become more polarised, more personal and too often more dangerous. Declining trust, extremism, external interference and misinformation are among the challenges confronting our democratic institutions, and Australia is not immune. Politically motivated violence is not something that happens only somewhere else. Nor does it happen in a vacuum. It occurs in an environment that supports it. This applies to intentional acts of terrorism, it applies to isolated acts based on hate and ignorance, and it applies to violent acts by people who are not of sound mind.

Violent acts within the political sphere can erode trust, deepen polarisation and ultimately discourage people from participating in a democracy at all. That should concern every one of us, irrespective of our party politics, because democracy depends on disagreement. It depends on people being able to argue passionately, protest peacefully, scrutinise governments, criticise politicians and campaign for change. But disagreement can never become dehumanisation. Political passion can never excuse intimidation. And violence can never become another form of political expression.

There is another dimension, too, that we cannot ignore. With one in three women having experienced physical violence from the age of 15, we well understand that in public life political abuse carries a particularly ugly edge. Female parliamentarians have spoken publicly in recent days, particularly today, about online abuse, rape threats, death threats and threats extended to family. We should never accept such behaviour as simply the price women pay for participating in public life. If intimidation causes a woman to think twice about nominating for parliament, speaking publicly, staffing an electorate office or putting her name on a ballot paper then it is more than an attack upon an individual. Our democracy itself becomes smaller.

Security matters, but security alone cannot solve this. Those of us entrusted with public office also carry a responsibility for the culture we create. We can disagree without contempt. We can prosecute our beliefs fiercely without treating those on the other side as enemies. We can choose not to amplify hatred simply because anger attracts attention. We know we can do this. Every member here has had the experience that I've had working together on committees and in interparliamentary groups where we most often put our differences aside and work productively together.

In my first speech I imagined an Australia 20 years into the future, confident and secure, with fewer reasons for Australians to be cynical about their politicians. That future is still ours to build. So let us defend the right to disagree. Let us defend the right to participate. Above all, let us ensure that nobody in Australia needs extraordinary courage simply to take part in our democracy. And when the member for Indi returns to her rightful seat in this place, may her first remarks reflect that her defiant optimism was with good cause and result.