Over the past week, we've been reminded of something that should never be in question in our democracy: no-one should face violence or intimidation for serving their community. Yesterday we heard truly heartfelt words in this place about our colleague and friend Helen Haines. Our thoughts remain with Helen, her family and everyone who loves her. It is difficult to find the right words in moments like this, but we must, and words do matter. But I think it's important that we reflect on the kind of public life we want in this country and the responsibility we all have in shaping it.

Last night I spoke about a conversation I had on Friday with someone in the Deputy Speaker's electorate in Newcastle. I had to pop in to do some last-minute fruit and veg, and a man stopped me and said: 'You look after yourself. What a week it has been.' I knew instantly what he was talking about. He said:

Meryl, can I just tell you a quick story? A number of years back I went to the cricket. I was in the members. I don't get to the members very often, but in the break I stood up and I was stretching, and as I spun around the bloke behind me was having a stretch as well. It was John Howard. He was the Prime Minister, and in that moment I thought, how great is Australia? Here I am at the cricket with the Prime Minister. I know it was a few years back, but that's my Australia. That's the Australia I want. I want my political representatives to be in my community with me. On the whole, you all do a hard job and a pretty good job, but you can't stop turning up for us.

Amidst all the horror and all the sadness from what happened to Helen Haines last week, that conversation has stuck with me. That is the Australia we all want, and it's not some nostalgic harking back to days gone by. We know the world has changed. We know the world moves more rapidly, but we have to strive for that Australia. We can't lose Australia. We're not America, we're not Europe, we're not any other country. We are Australia and we are representing Australians, and we must strive for that. We cannot lose sight of it.

In this country, we can disagree about politics. We can vote for different parties, support different leaders and hold very differing views about the direction the country should take. That's not a weakness in democracy; it's our greatest strength. We have a long history of robust political debate in Australia, and I can't help but think of Paul Keating and some of the things he said in this very chamber. Some of them were quite incredible, but they never ascribed for a human being to be violent. Some of them were pretty acerbic and, as the member for Ryan points out, there's been some pretty robust debate over the years. We shouldn't shy away from that either, but it shouldn't lead to someone being mown down.

People have brought gender into this, and I know that women do face more threats and more violent threats. But I want to say not one man, woman or otherwise in this building could withstand being ploughed down by a Toyota Landcruiser. This is not about your gender. This is about humanity. We are all humans and we all put up our hand to serve. We do so willingly, knowing that it's a tough job. We've got to come here. We've got to have the disagreements because we want to strive for a better country. What we have here is precious. How we do this thing called politics does matter. We've got to keep doing it. We shouldn't shy away from it, but it is also important that we reflect what people expect out in our communities, and that's what I hear all the time when I talk to people. They want to hear good ideas. They want to hear passion. They don't want us to resile away from the hard conversations. But they expect us to do a good job for them, and, in return, I think most people in this place expect that they should turn up and do a good job. That's what we need to be striving for. So let the passion come. Let's have respectful debate, but also let's continue to strive to be the best versions of ourselves, both here politically and privately, that we can.