Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I rise with regret at not being able to attend the funeral for Judith with colleagues from both sides and I was anxious to speak today. I just want to reinforce those messages previous people have said about Judith's passion, experience and pragmatism. It was quite a remarkable life.

I do want to talk about two other matters. Judith's experience in Vietnam had left her as a long-term and passionate supporter of our returned men and women. While she was not overt about it, she worked very strongly and was an enormous support to them. I only saw Judith emotional once and that was at the Mount Clarence Light Horse memorial in Albany. I was there with her back in November 2010. She related the story of her father, who had left from Albany. She was a fierce, fierce supporter of Anzac and she was a fierce supporter of the bonds that remain to this day between our country and her birthplace, New Zealand. She was proud of her father's endeavours, as she should have been. She was proud of Albany. I know that Alana Lacy, who was her staff member in Albany, and people like Tricia Matthews will miss her desperately. There was that enormous passion. I have never served on a committee with Judith, so it has been an enlightening experience for me today to hear others talk about their remarkable experiences with her. I suppose mine have been more in a portfolio sense. I saw Judith's passion for the centenary of Anzac in my visits to her. I saw the passion of her staff in the office in Albany. I saw her passion in providing support for our candidate in O'Connor, Rick Wilson, whom she was fighting tirelessly for, and for whom I am sure she would want us to continue fighting tirelessly in the run-up to the next election.

I feel an enormous degree of sadness for what has happened, but what a remarkable legacy she has left her children. They should look, through all their sadness, at what their mother has done and they should be quite rightly enormously proud of that.

There has been a lot of talk today about Judith's interest in women's health; I would remind everyone that she was on the men's health select committee as well. So it was not just about women's health—she was a passionate supporter of the health of all of us. I remember being chastised by Judith on a number of occasions when I was 'going out to get some fresh air' with some others around this place. I copped a beating from her. We did share some past experiences in that regard. There was always a knowing nod. You knew that she was in diabolical strife. I know that when we were at Mount Clarence she was a very sick woman, but there was no way known she was not going to participate in something so deeply personal for her. Rest in peace, Judith.