Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about a remarkable and inspiring woman—Registered Nurse Elizabeth Bowell, known as Libby, who lives in South Golden Beach on the New South Wales North Coast in my electorate of Richmond.

This year Libby was the recipient of the Florence Nightingale Medal—an international award presented to nurses who display exceptional courage and devotion to victims of armed conflict or natural disaster. The award is also for exemplary service and a pioneering spirit in public health and nursing education. Only 36 outstanding nurses worldwide received this award in 2015.

Libby is a veteran of about 20 Red Cross missions which have seen her serve all over the world. Libby's work as an Australian Red Cross Aid worker has taken her to some of the worst humanitarian health crises in recent memory including: the 2005 Boxing Day tsunami in Banda Aceh; the flood emergencies in Kenya and the Solomon Islands; earthquake relief in both Yogyakarta and Haiti; and cholera outbreaks in Papua New Guinea and Sierra Leone. Her commitment to these causes can see her dispatched to anywhere in the world with only 24 to 48 hours' notice.

In September of last year, Libby travelled to Liberia as an emergency health coordinator for the Ebola epidemic response. Prior to her arrival, the Ebola virus had spread across Liberia with more than 1,000 deaths. During her five-week stay, she worked 17-hour days providing crucial training to local Red Cross volunteers and communities. That training included important guidance relating to sanitation and disposal of corpses.

Libby also assisted in providing much-needed emotional support for bereaved families. During this period the death toll rose from around 1,000 to 2,400 people, almost 100 of whom were her fellow emergency health workers.

Whilst Libby calls South Golden Beach on the North Coast her home, this too is only temporary since her role as national director for education services with CRANAplus takes her all around Australia. CRANAplus provides essential education, support and advocacy for healthcare professionals working in remote Australia.

It is hard to imagine the degree of selflessness and dedication it takes for an individual to put her life on hold—sacrificing everything, including often personal safety—to travel to often remote locations, all for the purpose of alleviating the suffering of others.

Libby is highly respected by her peers and regarded as an exceptional person and a role model for innumerable healthcare workers both here in Australia and abroad. I would like to quote from one of Libby's colleagues Dr Peter May from Tamworth Hospital:

What makes Libby's efforts so significant are the commitment to service to the needy and invisible, the willingness to experience huge personal hardships in responding to those in need, the courage to expose herself to danger in that service and the generosity that causes her to never say no when she is so obviously terribly fatigued physically, mentally and spiritually.

In all of these efforts Libby is largely unseen and unknown and would not seek recognition. I'm proud of her and honoured to know her and humbled by her. I'm sure that I am not alone in this.

You are certainly not alone: Libby's life is one that has been dedicated to the greater good. I would like to congratulate her exemplary service. It is inspirational and serves as an example for all of us to use that same degree of compassion within our own communities and aspire to. Congratulations Libby: you are a very worthy recipient of the very prestigious Florence Nightingale Medal. Thank you for the wonderful work you do here and indeed right throughout the world.