Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with great respect I rise today to speak about Joan Child AO who was the first woman to be Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives, and what a marvellous achievement that was. What a pioneer she was. What a trailblazer she was. Up until the election of Anna Burke on 9 October last year she was the only female Speaker of the lower House. The woman I succeeded as the member for Riverina, Kay Hull, was a trailblazer as well, not just for the National Party but in so many aspects of her life. She had the utmost respect for Joan Child as a person and certainly as a politician. I spoke this morning to John Sullivan, who was the tenth member for Riverina. Mr Sullivan, from Narrandera, served the electorate from 1974 to 1977, a period which overlapped with some of the time that Joan Child served in the House of Representatives. He recalled Joan Child as someone who always stood up for her rights, who never forgot that she came from Yackandandah in Victoria. She never forgot her regional origins. She was someone who, in John Sullivan's words, blossomed in her political life by becoming the House Speaker and always did the right thing, not just by the parliament and not just by her electorate, but by the Labor Party. Mr Sullivan said that she was 'old Labor' and there was a great respect for those people who have those old Labor values, those old Labor principles. Whilst he did not agree with everything that the old Labor style politicians espoused, he certainly had great admiration for the fact that you knew where you stood with them. They meant what they said and they said what they meant.

Sadly, Joan Child passed away on 23 February. She leaves a great legacy. She was a pioneer. Her family will miss her greatly. We will always remember her for her wonderful achievements in this place and for being the wonderful role model that she was. The fact that she was the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives will live on in the memory of this place.

Harry Jenkins (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was with great sadness that I heard on Sunday three weeks ago of the death of Joan Child. Mr Deputy Speaker Mitchell, as you will recall, at a function that was held the night before—the night of her death—I made remarks about Joan. The way that events transpired is quite eerie. I will take this opportunity to share the very heartfelt remarks that I shared at a gathering in my electorate on that night.

I am very proud that when I entered parliament Joan Child was the Speaker. That came about for the same reason that I became the member for Scullin: my father had resigned both as Speaker and as member for Scullin. I arrived in Canberra as a pretty raw recruit; I probably had some tickets on myself. I have realised over the last 27 years that the product that I sold back then was pretty raw. I think it is a better product now, but that is for another debate. Joan of course was elected Speaker. As I said, I was proud to enter the parliament with her as the first female Speaker, and I am proud that when I leave the House will be in the charge of the second female Speaker, Speaker Burke.

The other thing that I shared with that gathering on that Saturday night, the Saturday night of Joan's death, is that when I arrived in Canberra I had a Victorian perspective of Labor Party politics. Being a member of the Socialist Left, I actually thought—with all due respect to you, Mr Deputy Speaker—that members of Centre Unity were pretty bad people; they were as gruesome as it got. But I soon realised that they were actually lovely people. Of course, Mr Deputy Speaker, you are an example of the cuddly nature of Labor Unity. But it was Joan who helped me understand it. I thought: 'This is really radically different. When all the tribes come from the states and gather nationally you get a different perspective.' I remember that Joan said one day: 'But, Harry, you've got to understand that when the Left and the Right in Victoria say something to each other they actually really mean it and they deliver, warts and all. But there's a great trust.' That is one of the things that I have thought is really, really important about this place.

Much as been made—quite correctly—of the very important fact that Joan was the first female representative of the Labor Party in the House. It has made me realise that, while I have only been here for 27 years of Federation, I have actually served with every female member from the Labor Party in the place. I served with Joan and with the others who were there when I was first elected. It brought home to me how much of a trailblazer she was. She had that down-to-earth ability to work with everybody and to communicate on whatever level was required. Down in the old house there was a card school that used to play a couple of nights a week in the party room; it is something we have really lost in coming up the hill. There was only one female player in that card school and that was Joan. I never entered into it, but I understand that she was fairly good at it and she was able to make sure that she was on top of things.

The other story that I will share, and this is a difficult story because you never know how public to make these anecdotes, but Deputy Speaker Mitchell, you will know of my great admiration of a former member for McEwen, the late Peter Cleeland. Peter was as anti-uranium as you can get within the Labor Party. I have not quite researched the circumstances of what was actually going on at the time, but we were debating a matter to do with uranium within the caucus and numbers were fairly tight. Members of the Right caucus were being asked to do the right thing by executive government. This led Peter into a real dilemma because he was a very loyal member to those that he hunted and ran with—the right—but had really strong views about matters uranium. One day he went off to have a meeting with some people from his faction and I bumped into him soon after he returned from this meeting. Peter was a pretty strong person, he was not a shrinking violet, but I struck a colleague that was ashen faced and it did not take much to realise that whatever his recent experience had been, that it had been pretty tough for him. I said, 'What happened?', and he rattled off who he had gone to have the meeting with, and there were a number of luminaries of the faction who were there, and he said, 'It was amazing. I expected what I got from most of the people in the room, but the person that shocked me was Joan, and she was as tough as all the rest of them, and that surprised me'. I only share this because the point is that Joan did not want any favours because of her gender. She was here as a member, and she was one hell of a tough cookie, and I think that if you look through her life she had to be that. I believe that that is the way that we look upon the contribution and the ongoing contribution of female members of this place. They can be as determined and they can be as driven as anybody else, and Joan certainly was. She conducted herself in the chair with great dignity and she of course goes into the history books as the last Speaker in the old House, and the Speaker who brought us up the hill.

I was looking at the portrait of the 1988 House, when we were first here. I think that there are only three of us who are still members: myself, Warren Snowdon—as an aside, I will say that in the portrait Warren does not look any different, although I have aged—and Philip Ruddock. Phil looks really young in that. It is only Phil, myself and Wazza that were here, so for me it is important that, as somebody that was here we make sure that we put remarks about how Joan was such a good Speaker and tried, like we all try, to make people welcome in this place.

I read her comments in an article from 6 December 1987, in which she said:

If members, by their attitude, appear to lack respect for the institution of parliament and the standing orders, their attitude will be reflected in the community. If the House manages its affairs with appropriate dignity, the public perception of the parliament will be enhanced.

All I say is: Hear, Hear! How the wheel continues to turn. I think that those are things we should always remember.

In preparing for this speech I looked at her final speech in the House back in November 1989. The circumstances were that she stepped down before the election that she was retiring at and gave the opportunity for the election of her Deputy Speaker McLeay. In her speech she really shows her great love for the Australian Labor Party because predominantly this last speech is about the Labor Party's role not only as a political party but also as a parliamentary party. She said:

First there can be no true understanding of the nature, meaning or history of Labor except by understanding its central role as a parliamentary party. Secondly, there can be no true understanding of the Parliament of Australia except by understanding the critical role of Labor in shaping the Australian Parliament. Just as the work of Labor for the past century has uniquely shaped the Australian nation, so its work in the Parliament has uniquely shaped our Parliament into a uniquely Australian one. I make a third assertion that it is the House of Representatives through which this great national work has been done, and it is through that House alone that Labor can continue its central task of shaping the destinies of our people and our nation.

I know that could provoke debate, but I think that people in the Federation Chamber would understand that, where I have tried to consistently come from, I could not think of a better way of summing up. I stress that the thing that struck me was this evidence in one of her last speeches in this place of the importance she placed on the actions that we can achieve through the Australian Labor Party. For all the troubles that we have at the moment, I think that can continue to be a driving force. What it emphasises to me through Joan's own words is that we can be a political party and operate in the wider community as a political party and when we come here operate as a parliamentary party which is a subset of everything that we do. I think from time to time it is important that we remind ourselves of that.

As Speaker, I was lucky enough to have a special afternoon tea for Joan, who had not really visited the place much. She had missed the 21st anniversary function that we had. I was able to be her host. She appeared on that occasion to enjoy the day. She had a great love of the institution.

She perhaps had similar views to some of us who made the journey from down the hill to up the hill—that there were aspects of the old place that we missed. I do not think that you can wind the clock back. Many of the things that this new house has achieved could not be achieved in the old house. Joan shared the responsibilities with President Sibraa in bringing us up the hill. It was done really well. She could be very proud of her endeavours: (a) as the Speaker, (b) as a member of the House of Representatives, (c) as a political person that was able to get herself first elected, leave the place and get herself re-elected and, finally, just simply as a great Australian who through her family who should be intensely proud of her continued to make a mark.

I pay my respects and send my condolences to her family. My regret is that, because I was overseas, I was unable to attend the state funeral. I am not a person who looks for many funerals to go to but this is one that I would have wanted to attend if I could have. I send my condolences to her family and her friends. She is somebody that we all, as members of this place, whether we are Labor or not, should be intensely proud of.

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise to pay my own tribute to Joan Child, the first female Speaker of the Commonwealth Parliament of Australia. I just want to thank the member for Scullin for that beautiful tribute to Joan Child. It was wonderful to get that personal connection with her from someone who obviously had a very long relationship with her. I also want to thank him for reminding us of our wonderful Labor Party and the values that drove us on this side to get into parliament and for reminding us of the very strong connection that Joan Child had to them. Thank you to the member for Scullin for that beautiful tribute and also for that tribute to our wonderful Labor Party.

Joan Child was an inspiration for so many women. Unfortunately, I did not know her, but it was wonderful to get the member for Scullin's reflections and personal responses to knowing her personally. Last week on International Women's Day I made a number of speeches to the community here in Canberra, to Soroptimist International and also to one of the unions. I used that opportunity to pay tribute to Joan Child and to dedicate those speeches to her because, as I said, she was an inspiration to so many women at a time in the seventies particularly when women were finding their voice through the feminist movement and were being empowered through the changes that the Whitlam government was introducing at that stage.

As a young woman I was interested in politics, and it was politicians like Joan Child who showed me that there was a pathway and a place for us to succeed in politics. Like my great-grandmother, my grandmother and my mother, Joan Child was a single mother. Like my great-grandmother, my grandmother and my mother, Joan Child was also a cleaner. Her experiences made Joan Child a strong and outspoken fighter for the rights of working women. She understood how difficult it is for single mothers trying to help their children get through life and get an education. I have firsthand experience of that as a result of my mum being a single mother, which is why I am a very strong advocate on a range of issues to do with single mothers.

Joan Child was a pioneer, a forerunner who led the way for women and showed that we can reach the highest levels. I was thinking of Joan Child's achievements this week when I attended Canberra's 100th birthday ceremony in the Federation Mall. To see the national capital's centenary being marked by a female Governor-General, a female Prime Minister and a female Chief Minister was a significant milestone, and it made me very, very proud. When I was a young political activist at university, I never imagined that in a few decades we would be able to achieve so much and achieve this, and for me, sitting here as a member of parliament, as the member for Canberra, it was quite an extraordinary and moving moment. It took the strength and courage of women like Joan Child to make this possible.

In 1974, Joan Child was first elected to the Melbourne seat of Henty. At the time, Joan was the very first female member of the House of Representatives for the Labor Party, and, incredibly, she was only the fourth woman—this is only 30 years ago—elected to the House of Representatives. Today there are 37. But Joan was not content to be just Labor's first female member of the House. In 1986 she was elected Speaker of the House, and she served in that position until 1989. Joan Child was, until our current Speaker, Anna Burke, was elected, the only female Speaker in our history. By all accounts, Joan Child ruled this House pretty effectively and with her renowned humour and patience. We heard about some of that from the member for Scullin. We all know that she had some very robust characters to control. We heard yesterday about her management, so to speak, of the young Paul Keating, which would have been an interesting task in itself.

Perhaps the greatest tribute to Joan Child is that, despite what many would consider incredible and inspiring achievements, she was always considered a normal woman. She loved her garden, her books, her sport and her family. It is a great honour to be a representative in the federal parliament of Australia. For women this was not the norm 30 years ago. For us, Joan Child was an inspiration and a pioneer in so many ways. In closing, I recount her mantra: everybody counts or nobody counts. It is one that should guide all of us who serve the Australian parliament, each and every day. I pay my respects to Joan Child. I send my condolences to her family and friends—lest we forget such a wonderful woman.

Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Many fine words have been said in tribute to former Speaker Joan Child; I would like to add my voice to those. She has had a wonderful life story, an inspiration to many. She overcame adversity, as the member for Canberra has just outlined: raising five children as a single mum, finding time to get involved and interested in politics, being a part of the campaign that led Gough Whitlam to office, being elected herself and making a great contribution to her electorate, our party and to this parliament in being a role model for future women to come. Indeed, it is because of the contribution of women like Joan Child that we subsequently, within the Labor Party, set up EMILY's List, to ensure that women like Joan Child are no longer an exception—a grand exception—but that they become the norm.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I understand it is the wish of the honourable members to signify at this stage their respect and sympathy by rising in their places.

Honourable members having stood in their places—

I thank the Federation Chamber.

Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That further proceedings be conducted in the House.

Question agreed to.