Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Sunday I attended one of the most moving celebrations in my political career: the celebration of Carol and Greig Friday's lives—lives tragically cut short in the Airbus A320 crash in the French Alps in March this year. Carol had just celebrated her 68th birthday and Greig was a month off turning 30. They were going on a holiday together before Greig, a mechanical engineer, began a stint teaching English in France. They were on their way to meet Greig's cousin Pippa in Germany, where she lives, when the plane came down.

At the service I learnt of the lives of these brilliant people—people whom I would have loved to have sat down at a dinner party with. I had met Carol through her love of art through the Amaroo Neighbourhood House. I corresponded with all the family members, because they were passionate members of my community. They had written to me about the environment, same-sex marriage, nursing home closures and many other things in my community. Carol was a registered nurse, midwife, maternal and child health nurse, who most recently worked for the city of Casey. She was a loving mother of Greig and his sister Alex, a devoted wife to husband, David, and sister to three brothers. Her entire family, brothers, nieces, nephews, and her friends, spoke of her joy of life and love of travel—the woman had been everywhere!—her love of family, the environment and those less fortunate, her passion for art, for nursing and for study and, above all, her dedication to a life of fun. Carol was a nurse for more than 40 years and had dedicated her life to helping others. She had worked both in Indigenous and in refugee communities. She had worked in the Northern Territory. She demonstrated her social perspective in helping others; not just in her working life, but also when she committed time to working with refugees who came from Kosovo to Australia back in the late nineties.

Carol spent 30 years caring for babies as a maternal child health nurse and 10 years as a midwife at the Royal Women's Hospital. I am sure many have said that thousands of mothers, babies and families are much better off having had the wonderful care from the many years Carol Friday dedicated to this life. An award has been dedicated in honour of Carol Friday's life—a scholarship funded by the department of education. It will be awarded annually to a high-performing Victorian nurse to undertake postgraduate studies in maternal and child health. The Victorian Minister for Families and Children, Jenny Mikakos, said the scholarship was a 'fitting way' to acknowledge and remember Carol Friday's contribution. She said:

As Carol Friday always reminded us, the focus of the Victorian maternal and child health service is to provide high-quality, flexible and responsive services to support all families with young children, particularly families in the areas of high growth, rural and remote areas and communities of disadvantage.

We then remembered Greig. Greig was described lovingly by friends as a funny, insightful and above all fun-loving individual. All who spoke of him were glowing in their dedications to this marvellous, generous man. They described his love of dance, describing him as someone who danced with the thought that no-one was watching. He was also a dedicated ballroom dancer in the same-sex ballroom competition scene. Greig was remembered for his days at Ashwood Secondary College, where he explored many things—and some, I am sure, the school would rather forget about—and made great, long-lasting friends. He was remembered for his work as the Queer Officer at the Monash Student Association at the university's Clayton campus, where he also helped found the Gay & Lesbian Engineers at Monash—the GLEAM club. I am sure this was not an easy club to establish! He was also remembered for his voluntary work with the Victorian AIDS Council. He was described by VAC's head as 'instrumental' in the success of its Young & Gay peer education program. At the time, the VAC senior coordinator wrote:

We will miss Greig's witty personality and his sense of humour … Greig always put others first and this was evident in his ongoing dedication to both 'The Young and Gay' and the peer education program. … We will remember Greig, and we want him to know that he left a positive mark on the world and put smiles on others' faces as part of his legacy.

VAC has also dedicated an award in the memory of Greig Friday's life.

This was one of those services that you walked away from truly knowing the individuals to which it was dedicated. Nobody spoke of the sorrow and the horror of the loss of this pair; they wanted to celebrate the lives of this mother and son. I know they have left an enormous hole in the lives of those they have left behind, particularly David Friday, Carol's husband and Greig's father. Alex, the sister and daughter, was so moved during the ceremony she literally could not bring herself to speak. But it was an absolute testament to these wonderful lives, and I thank everyone for giving us that chance to celebrate them on Sunday.