Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to pay tribute to longstanding member of the ACT Labor Party, Sheridan Elizabeth Evans, who tragically lost her brave battle with melanoma over the weekend. Sheridan was a longstanding and active member of the party. She was an intelligent, dedicated and community-minded person who upheld the Labor values of fairness, equality and opportunity. Sheridan was also a loyal friend and staff member to the former member for Fraser, the Honourable Bob McMullan, for many years. On Sheridan's passing, Bob said:

Sheridan was to us above all else a great friend. She was as close as a person can be to being a member of the family without being related. But of course she was also more: a great campaign director in every election I ever contested; a talented and committed staff member for me and other ministers and public servant in the finest traditions. She will leave a hole in our lives.

Since her passing, I have spoken to a number of ACT Labor Party members and former colleagues of Sheridan's who have all expressed grief and shock at a life lost far too soon. On behalf of ACT Labor I express my deepest sympathies to her friends and family including her brother, former Senator Chris Evans. May she rest in peace. She will be greatly missed by her ACT Labor family.