On behalf of my constituents in Wannon, I offer my love, my thoughts and my prayers to Helen, to her family and to all her friends at this time. I've got three bonds with Helen, which remain incredibly strong, even though at times we've had political differences. The first is that my electorate of Wannon is where Helen grew up. She grew up near Colac, where she had a lovely, supportive country upbringing. And I've got to say, because I very fortunately had to same, I think in many ways that upbringing really makes Helen who she is today, because she had love, support, community and family thriving all around her. And the fact that she moved from there and made another lovely community her home, in and around Wangaratta, is I think absolutely befitting.

I've also got family members whom Helen represents, and I've got family members who have supported Helen in her campaigns. I know they will be hurting very much today, and I say to them, I can understand why you will be. They were attracted to Helen because of everything she had to offer. And I know that throughout her electorate, the electorate of Indi, there will be people who will be hurting, who will be suffering and who'll be asking the question, why? I say to them: this parliament will also be seeking those answers and will be doing everything it can to try and answer them as best we can.

The second thing I have in common with Helen is an area where I have seen the human side of Helen. And it is wonderful, because all of us, when we are in here, can be serious, and when we're on the media, and people don't really understand that beneath the surface there is a level of humanity. And that area we have in common is, as the Deputy Prime Minister mentioned, that Helen is a passionate Richmond supporter. I'll never forget bumping into Helen after the 2017 election. For those of you who don't understand AFL football, Richmond hadn't won anything for 37 years. They've been the butt of the joke for literally every AFL supporter for 37 years. Yet almost a miracle occurred and we won the 2017 grand final, and I remember bumping into Helen and her family not long after it. To see the pure happiness and joy, the love in her eyes, her celebratory nature was incredible. It is something we both often refer to—bumping into each other and being absolutely on cloud nine. There is something in the Richmond theme song that says, 'We're strong and we're bold.' When I heard the news about what happened to Helen, I just couldn't help thinking, 'Helen, make sure you keep strong and make sure you keep bold,' and I've got to say to hear the news that Helen's condition has gone from critical to stable, I think, is just wonderful for all of us, because we know now that there is serious, serious hope that she'll be able to return to that seat in this parliament, and I know all of us want that to happen. We will it to happen.

Now's not the time for wise, but I will say—and I'm sure Helen will want me to say this—one of the things that we do have to look at, which follows a royal commission which occurred in Victoria, is mental health services in and around regional and rural Victoria and across this nation. We have to see whether we can do better in that regard, but now is the time for us to just express our love, our support and our prayers with Helen and her family. Helen, please get better.