It is really difficult to know what to say after the events of last week. I know that many of us here are still in shock about what happened but, more importantly, about who it happened to. Helen's a thoroughly decent person. She's a much-loved member of this parliament and she's a much-loved member of her community in Indi.

We both came into parliament around the same time. She got elected in 2019; I was elected in a by-election in 2020. Until recently, we shared an electorate boundary, even though she's in Victoria and I'm in New South Wales. When I first got elected, Helen rang me and congratulated me and then she invited me to her office for morning tea. She put on a cake and tea and pulled out the good teacups. She's just a warm individual.

We've got regional electorates with very similar demographics and similar industries, and we've often worked together to support our local communities. We had similar Black Summer experiences and have had a shared desire to see temporary disaster roaming in place; this summer, for the first time, it will be in place. I spent a lot of time with Helen in Indi, more recently in the aftermath of last summer's Victorian bushfires. In every community we went to, Helen was warmly embraced—in Euroa, in Yarck, in Ruffy, in Alexandra—and people had a sense of comfort and safety when they were around her. Those fires impacted her deeply, but she continued to wrap her arms around her community. In true Helen fashion, she welcomed joint meetings with me and the member for Nicholls, and we worked together to solve some problems for communities who were doing it tough, including making sure we could deliver beer to an isolated community who had really gone through a pretty terrible experience.

We've worked together to get housing for healthcare workers up in the Albury-Wodonga region. She was a big advocate for expanding paid prac to allied health students, and that will be in place from next year. She brought her experiences into this parliament with a view to making things better for the next generation. She was passionate about better infrastructure, and we had many conversations about road upgrades and making sure infrastructure was more resilient if we had another natural disaster.

In the last sitting week, I had the honour of working with Helen as co-chairs to establish a new parliamentary friendship group. The Parliamentary Friends of Snow Sports and Alpine Economy group held its first event, and Helen spoke passionately about the importance of Australia's ski fields to regional economies, our local communities and our nation. It brought ski resort general managers, local councils, chambers of commerce and sports stars together, and Helen spoke to all of them with the same level of admiration for the work that they do.

I want to convey my love and support to Helen; her husband, Phil, and their family and friends; Helen's wonderful team; and her community. I've learnt a lot about Helen over the last six years. I know deeply that Helen is a fighter and she'll get through this with all the love and support that she's been shown from around our country. I also know that, despite her serene and warm exterior, she still has a fire in her belly to continue to advocate for change.

This senseless attack on Helen has been confronting for our nation. It's not an easy thing to reconcile with what we know about our country and how we see ourselves. We often say you need a thick skin to get into politics, but that doesn't mean violence and abuse should be okay. We've also seen that abuse and violence bleed into other parts of our Australian life—the retail sector, our hospitals, our first responders, council workers. Inciting violence because you don't agree with a policy position, because service is slower than you'd like or because someone looks different to you is not who we are. Making fun of someone's health condition to get clicks on a cartoon is not okay.

The level and nature of abuse have increased over the last six years that I've been in federal politics, and we've all got a job to do to tone down the debate we have here, but we know social media is not helping. We experience death threats and threats of sexual violence as well, and I know this happens to women from outside politics. In the last 90 days, there have been a number of abusive comments on my own social media, including a comment left on a media personality's page offering to give out my address if someone wanted to take vengeance on the government. Right now is the time to turn the volume down. We can disagree respectfully in this place, and we must do so for the benefit of the Australian community. We all look forward to Helen coming back to this place, to seeing her stand over there again and ask the pertinent questions and ask us all how we can do better. We can do that by following Helen's lead.