I've sat here today for hours thinking: 'Where do you find words to describe what's happened? Where do you find words that are going to make an ounce of difference to Helen, Phil, the staff, all the first responders and everyone that was involved?' It's not going to take some of that pain away, and it's near impossible. It's impossible because Helen is a very special person. As neighbours, we've both covered the Murrindindi Shire a bit, and we've had lots of discussions about different things.

Helen is one of those unique people who you can spend five minutes listening to and—it doesn't matter how angry or worked up you are—she just brings calmness. She is a paragon of virtue, really. Last Monday, I was just 20 minutes away from where it happened. The shock that it brought to those across the nation and the globe is unbelievable. Helen is a noble soul. She's a person who is calm. She oozes integrity, and, most importantly, decency—common decency and humanity. To think of what's gone on and the things that have happened—it is quite hard to fathom.

Today, when I looked at a lot of different notes that people had put online, I thought: 'How did we get to this space? How did we get to a place where this sort of action happens?' I know post COVID we've had a lot of issues. People went through COVID and it was a tough time. Then we had Ukraine-Russia straight after that, then Israel-Palestine and the US and whoever they've got this week. There hasn't been a break.

But violence is never an answer. It's never an answer to any sort of question. It affects people you know in this place and outside—like a friend of mine, Heather McTaggart, a former MP in Victoria, who just today talked about the vitriol that she gets. It's just got to stop. No matter how hard we do our jobs by coming in here and doing everything we need to do, it's moments like this that make you sit back and reflect on what's important. What's important is to see people like Helen do their job the way they do it best—being out and about, being in front of people and being the person she is, the great karma, the great relaxed human.

The Dalai Lama once said that being a good human being is about being a kind-hearted, affectionate person—in other words, be a Helen, because she just epitomises everything you want in a nice person. Seeing Phil today was pretty tough, but you could see how the two of them together are an unbreakable force. They're both extremely well balanced, kind, caring and fulfilled. To be able to come up here today and talk to us speaks volumes about the human being he is and the human being he's married to. You can see why those two have such a great relationship.

Helen's got a big challenge ahead of her. I'd like to see her face when she sees all these speeches and people talking about her; that would be very interesting because she's a humble person. But she's got this rare thing where she's got a big challenge and she's got a nation right behind her—a nation of decent people who want to see her back and who want to see her growing. The challenge that her staff face now and into the future is going to be tough, and that's why we made the commitment that we would help wherever we could, to help support them in their needs that they have. To the first responders that were there on scene, I know from speaking to some of them firsthand the shock they had with all this happening.

Violence is unacceptable. As people try very hard, very quickly, to put someone in a box of why it's happened, let's let the police and the agencies do their jobs, because all this is doing is stirring up more and more of what we don't need. What we need now, and into the future, is to focus on Helen and her family, and make sure that we're all continuing to do what we do—but do it in a far better spirit than we have been.