Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of the Greens to support the motion of condolence moved by Senator Minchin following the death last month of Senator Jeannie Ferris. I am the Greens’ whip and, like other whips, every day I attended meetings with Senator Ferris. Although I was a newbie, for two years I thoroughly enjoyed my time working with Senator Ferris, and I came to respect her a great deal. She was a woman of great dignity and principle, and that thought was obviously shared by many people who attended the service in the Great Hall. Over those 18 months when I first started, Jeannie cut me no slack—even though I was a newbie I had to start straightaway, and she was quite severe. We worked together on many issues, not only in women’s health but particularly in rural and regional affairs, where we shared the same background and qualifications—the issue of apples was one of them. Jeannie was very supportive on the issue of apples. Those of you who do not know that issue will not appreciate what that means.

The time I really got to know Jeannie was when we were working on women’s health issues. She showed leadership in those debates. Just after the stem cell vote went through, Jeannie was coordinating the letter from the female senators on Gardasil. She was going around the chamber getting us to sign the letter. She sat next to me, because Senator Milne was not here, and we were talking about the letter and she said, ‘I think I am getting a little bit radical.’ I said, ‘Keep going, Jeannie.’ But Jeannie was always a radical on the issues she worked on. She was radical on women’s health, on regional issues and in fact on every issue that she campaigned on.

It was a pleasure to work with her. It was fun. Here is a secret from a whips meeting: when Jeannie decided she was going to take off her wig we saw that she had curly hair. It was the subject of a number of discussions in that whips meeting. It was a female dominated meeting and we talked about Jeannie’s hair when she decided she was going to go wig free. They are the light-hearted moments that I remember and treasure about Jeannie. She set an example of how we could work across parties, and for me coming into this place as a newbie that was extraordinarily strong. We worked together on RU486 and on stem cells, across parties. To a large extent it was women working together. That showed me what we can achieve in this place if we put aside some of our prejudices and our fear of working with those who are opposed to some of our other views and work together to achieve a common goal. They are the most powerful things I will remember of Jeannie—how she led those debates and how she extended the hand of friendship through that. We got to know each other on different levels. I found that extremely powerful.

I pass my condolences to Jeannie’s family, who were extremely brave during the service, and who also showed great dignity. Obviously, her sons take that example from their mother. I add the Greens’ support for this condolence motion. Jeannie will be long remembered in this place and by all those whom she helped.