On behalf of my family and my community of Maribyrnong, I rise to send my deepest love to Helen for everything she and her husband, Phil; their children and grandchildren; her family; and her staff have endured and to the people of Indi. While the attack on Helen was an act of horror, it also showed the very best of us. The local barber ran out into danger. The tourists with first-aid training administered life-saving treatment. Her staff were some of the first on the scene and have still been working on urgent casework in the wake of this attack.

I've been in this place for 18 months now, and something a lot of us new MPs do is watch and learn from those who are more experienced. Helen stood out to me, not because she was the loudest voice in the room but because she always operated with integrity and a quiet grit that has allowed her to be such an effective voice for her regional Victorian community. Helen has had her disagreements with this government, but she never made it personal. She's never punched below the belt. That's simply not how she approaches politics. I've seen it firsthand in a committee that we both sit on. Helen's intellect and ability to scrutinise difficult policy decisions with a calm and measured approach is a lead worth following.

The events of last week cause us all to reflect on the safety of public representatives, and, while I can list the barrage of abusive comments I receive daily online, I have also been thinking about the stories I'm told by teachers, nurses, paramedics, shop assistants and care workers who too suffer abuse in their workplaces every day. I know Helen has often raised this issue too, calling it out and pushing for better safety measures for frontline workers, especially women, who bear a pretty brutal brunt of particular abuse. Helen has been a staunch voice for greater protections to ensure our frontline workers, especially our health professionals, are safe at work. I think of those workers, many of whom were the first responders in this attack.

We must confront that the attack on Helen is a reflection of a bigger issue in our community, one of anger, of isolation, of hate and how we seemingly have lost the ability to disagree well. The temperature has been climbing for a while now, and it has not climbed on its own. Division and grievance as a strategy are chosen because they can be effective, but it's incumbent on all of us not to choose the politics of grievance. Let us be curious not judgemental. Let us disagree and debate the issues that matter with vigour and purpose, but let us all take a leaf out of Helen's book and never lose sight of others' humanity as we do so.

The social media platforms who monetise contempt and hate have no reason to stop on their own. The media has its role to play to, and then there is this parliament. What gets said in this chamber does not stay confined to this building, and somebody on the edge out there is listening to us and taking their lead from us. Nothing can change what happened last Monday, but we what we can do is a thing that Helen has been doing here for seven years: go as hard as you like on the argument, but do it with humility and humanity, and leave the person out of it.

Before I finish, I want to give a special shout-out to Helen's staff. We know, despite witnessing the aftermath of Helen's attack, they have continued to serve the Indi community. That is simply extraordinary, given what they have endured. I want to acknowledge the courage and the strength it takes to carry on in the face of such trauma. Finally, Helen, a self-described defiant optimist, I have no doubt you'll tackle this recovery with the same outlook. I once again extend my very well wishes to you and your family and for what will be a long road ahead, but I look forward to sitting across from you in this place very soon.