Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to also pay tribute to a woman who made an enormous contribution to public policy in this country and who was extremely important in the effective operation of the federal coalition in the Senate. Jeannie Ferris was a somewhat fearsome figure. She had an unshakable sense of the duty that each of us brings to this place when we are members of a political party, and she instilled in everybody here a strong sense of that—and sometimes it was more by reminding us of the sticks than the carrots. There was more than a touch of the tyrant in her. I recall after my arrival here having my first conversation with her about membership of Senate committees. I went down to speak to her to advise her of my intentions, my wishes, with respect to what committees I should be on, and I came away with a very strong sense of her intentions of what committees I should be on! Indeed, her intentions prevailed over mine.

She was very clear to remind us all the time that we had a near sacred duty to bear in mind the party’s and the coalition’s broader interests. As Senator George Campbell said, she always carried a torch for the government, and heaven help any of us who lost sight of that fact. That was particularly brought home to me when I had the misfortune on one occasion—and I emphasise it was only one—to miss a division. By doing so—with another senator, who is not here at the moment—I incurred the wrath of the Government Whip in the Senate. It did not help that this was one of the earlier attempts by the government to sell Telstra. It was a fairly significant occasion to miss a division. No schoolboy caught smoking behind the shed ever endured a tongue-lashing in the headmistress’s office of the dimensions that my colleague and I experienced on that day. We had the rounds of the kitchen, I can assure you! Senator Ferris did her job in spades that day. But I also recall sitting here licking my wounds, metaphorically speaking, later in the day and catching her eye. She gave me a glance which was half-smile, half-reproach, as if to say, ‘I’ll forgive you, but make sure it’s only this one occasion I have to do it.’ For all the toughness of her approach, she was respected and liked by all of her colleagues, no matter what she had to tell them—whether it was that she could not find the pairs they wanted or that they did not have their pagers or that she thought some motion was a stupid idea. She always imparted her view, but in a way which ensured that we continued to respect the strength of her conviction and her views.

Of course, her job got much tougher after she was afflicted by cancer. Despite that there were very few of us who would have noticed any break in her stride as she went about her job in this place. She was one who was determined to fight the encroaching darkness all the way. Indeed, she wanted to turn her experience of ovarian cancer to the advantage of others who might follow in her position. As members have noted already in this debate, she was the driving force behind the inquiry of the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs into gynaecological cancers. Although I chaired that inquiry at the end—Senator Moore chaired the start of the inquiry—we all knew that this was Jeannie’s inquiry and that the good that was to flow from this inquiry, and there was very significant good for the 1,500 Australian women or so who are killed each year by gynaecological cancer, was, in part, Jeannie’s defiance in the face of death. She participated fully and forcefully in that inquiry, despite the fact that the subject matter must on occasions have come very close to the bone for her and despite the fact that she was obviously on occasions also very unwell. But she participated with an eye to an outcome. She knew what she wanted and she got what she wanted, and that was a lift in the quality and the quantity of assistance available to Australian women faced with the challenge of cancer.

The call by the committee at the end of the day for a national centre for gynaecological cancer within Cancer Australia originated with Jeannie, and the decision to make a bid for a million-dollar fund to kick-start that centre was Jeannie’s. Although she was by no means the first woman to be afflicted by this disease, she was one uniquely placed to reduce the number of women who might follow her down that dark path. I want to take this opportunity today to repeat a call I made a few weeks ago for the government to seriously consider naming the new centre for gynaecological cancer after Senator Jeannie Ferris. She richly deserves that honour, and that would be a fitting tribute to one whose vitality and determination were in large part responsible for the existence of that resource for Australian women.

Like some others, I had the misfortune to be aligned against Jeannie on a number of key issues in women’s health, including RU486 and stem cell research. Clearly the results in those debates might have been different had that side in the debate not had her formidable organising and procedural skills at their disposal. Particularly that was the case with the stem cell debate, which swung ultimately on only one vote. I might not have agreed with Jeannie’s view on that issue, but I acknowledge that she carried forward her convictions into action with unique passion, recognising the opportunity that she had, by being a member of this place, to influence events.

Finally, I want to put on record the great love that Jeannie had for the city of Canberra. She often mentioned to me what a beautiful city this was to live in and how much she adored it. Her proud citizenship of Canberra never interfered with her passionate advocacy for and defence of the interests of South Australia and South Australians. I would have liked to have thanked Jeannie for the considerable assistance and guidance that she showed to me during my early days here but, like so many others, I was surprised by her death. That is very often the nature of things: we do not have the chance to say in life what we would like to. But I want to put on record today—and I hope Jeannie is listening—that I thought she was a great Australian, a great parliamentarian and a great Liberal, and it was an honour to have spent time in this place and in this life with her.