Over the past few days, many people in Tangney have written to me, spoken with me and asked me to share their message of love with Helen. Our hearts go out to Helen, to her family, to her community and to her team. Helen and I are the same age, and many of our conversations have been about family and the joy of our love of being a grandparent. I first got to know Helen back in 2022 through our work together on the anticorruption legislation, and later we were on the parliamentary delegation trip to Malaysia. We have spent a lot of time together since then. We talk a lot and have a lot of long discussions. I feel very lucky to have had that opportunity to get to know Helen and to learn from her. I hold Helen in such a high regard for her integrity and her kindness, her selflessness in the way she has helped me and so many others in the House here, and her dedication and pride for her community. Helen is a beautiful person.

Many people in Tangney have asked me to share the sadness they felt at what had happened to Helen and to express concern and fear of what is happening to our society, our democracy and our community humanity. Our shared humanity is our strength. We are all human beings deserving compassion and care. We can all have bigger hearts. We can all treat people with loving kindness. For some time we have seen this fire of hatred and division burning and damaging our community, destroying our country. Every week, and sometimes many times a week, I have constituents reaching out to me about friends being attacked verbally or physically for being who they are. A father had his dastar—the Sikh turban—pulled off his head while out with his family at a shopping centre. Others are shouted at and abused because they have a different skin colour or because they have different opinions or beliefs.

I have had people call my office to say that they no longer feel safe to go out in a community they have always called home. There is concern across the community for the respect and safety for so many people who serve at the front line of our community, like police officers, nurses, emergency services, first responders, healthcare workers, teachers, retailers and many, many more. Abuse has never been accepted and yet it seems to be increasing by the day. This makes it harder for so many people to do their job, to do what they love and to be part of with their own communities.

We need to reduce the amount of polarisation and find those bridges we can build when we have differences. People must be able to disagree without abuse and threats. It must be possible to have different ideas and to still have respect for one another. We need to ask ourselves what needs to change so that we can live better together and what we can do to be kinder and more civil to one another. As I was out in my community this week, doorknocking and attending sporting events, senior events and high school graduations, I had many conversations about division but also many conversations about unity. There is more that unites us than divide us.

I, and all of Tangney, send Helen our love and very best wishes for her recovery. May all beings be well, happy and peaceful. May all beings be free from harm and danger. May all beings be free from mental or physical suffering.