Las week has rocked us all to the core and rocked this country, we prided ourselves on how like things like that don't happen here, and now they have. We won't be the same, and I'll talk about how I believe we need to start to change, but, firstly, I would like to speak about beautiful Helen, her family, her team and her community. To Phil, to her children, Will, Nick and Georgia, and to her grandchildren: my heart goes out to you. She adores you and constantly shows us photos and things like that of you in parliament. Phil, the grace and bravery you've displayed today has been an inspiration. To her team, past and present, who cared deeply for Helen: many of you were there witnessing the attack, coming to her aid and must be deeply traumatised. Now, you're doing exactly what Helen would do: showing up and continuing to serve your community. To Indi: Helen speaks about Indi with so much pride and affection. The people of Wangaratta, the courage and care that you showed each other on that day and that you showed Helen shows exactly why. Finally, to Helen: Helen, I really miss you today. Over the last few weeks and here today, many have spoken about your kindness and generosity and praised your decency and respect that you bring to this place. You are all these things. You are someone I go to when I don't know what to do. When I've got an ethical dilemma, I go to you, Helen. Phil told us about your first words after you woke up after the attack and said that your first concerns when you awoke were for your staff and gratitude to the first responders, nurses and bystanders. That exactly speaks to the character of who you are.

People have spoken about your empathy and grace, and they deserve recognition, but I think it paints a picture of you as a sort of benign force wandering through the parliament. What I will say is that you are also a force for change, and I think this is genuinely the lesson in your life, because you were a force for change. Your list of achievements in parliament is considerable, not least the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which you championed fearlessly for years, but also paid prac placements, home batteries, ensuring the needs of the regions were front and foremost. You championed this, and the way you did it really matters, because you showed that you can have dignity and compassion and respect but also strength. The combination of restraint and force that you showed is a lesson for how to achieve things in public life and do that with the dignity that this parliament deserves.

This attack on you, Helen, should not just shock us; it should change us. There is no meaning in senseless violence, but we need to create meaning from it in the actions that we take. Phil challenged us this morning to do that—for this place to change before Helen returns. I think we owe you that, and I think we owe the country that. We do not know the causes exactly of the violence that you faced last week. We cannot generalise from the specifics, but we can see the rising tide of threats not just against parliamentarians but against everyday Australians who are serving each other, and that is a problem for the whole country. We can deal with security measures, policing, online hate, mental health services—these are all questions of economic prosperity. These are all relevant to how we do take the temperature down, but we also need to look in the mirror, because this country does not believe that parliament is the best of us.

How can we be surprised, when people come to watch our democracy in action and grown adults call out 'rip him another one' and 'rip her apart'? That is not robust debate in an adversarial system. That is violent abuse. We cannot stop violence by our words, but we cannot pretend that our words don't carry weight and that some people won't hear them in moments of distress and despair. We can work for restraint and force the way that Helen has and shown us, and so, like others ahead of me, I am also going to take the civility pledge, because I think it is a place to start, so I will say, in my political life, I pledge to act with honesty, respect and compassion.

I want to speak specifically about honesty because I think that is actually something we don't talk enough about—having an honest debate about what government can and cannot do, being realistic about the promises that we make, being fairer to the strengths of an opponent's argument, even when we disagree with them and continue to disagree. It is less newsworthy, but it is less likely to disappoint people, to weary them with false hope and to make them distrust us.

I don't have all the answers—or any—coming out of what has happened here. But, in listening to the debate that we have had to date, I do think there's an opportunity for the common ground to be found; for us to do things better, collectively; for recognising, again, in Phil's words, that we are both the participants and victims of the coarsening of public debate; that we can do better; that we must do better; and that Helen would expect it of us.