Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Saturday, 31 March 2012 is a day that has made an indelible mark on me. I was in my electorate office in Burwood East when I received a phone call shortly after 10 o'clock advising me that Judith had died. Whilst we all knew that she was very ill, it still came as a huge shock to me, largely because I had made a phone call to her at home only on the previous Tuesday night. She had moved out of hospital and had returned home after the doctors had organised what is called, in medical terms, as Judith advised me, a peg into her stomach so that she could be fed through that and would be able to go home. At that time I had visited her in hospital, following Senator Evans and Senator Parry, and she had been incredibly upbeat and looking forward to the opportunity of resuming her life, although she was going to have to conduct herself in a very different way. She was coming to terms with the fact that she was going to have to consider how she conducted a parliamentary life whilst being fed through a peg directly into her stomach. So it really did come as a great shock, having only called on the Tuesday night. I spoke to Robbie, who I have got to know very well since I have been in the position of chief whip, who told me that he had just driven his mother to hospital and that they were doing some tests to see why the intravenous feeding was not working as it should. But they were hopeful that she would return home. After I got the news on the Saturday morning, and being quite shocked and very upset, I did call Robbie, who then spoke of the fact that in the last couple of days his mother had decided that she had really given it her very best shot; she had no regrets and she felt that it was time to give way to nature, and that is what she did.

Having been counselled by Judith since being elected to the position of chief whip, I was very mindful today of what advice she would give me in conducting the way in which we honoured and paid tribute to her today. So it was with a great deal of trepidation that I considered something which she would have thought was highly unusual and out of the ordinary—organising a floral tribute. In my mind, that would clearly bring memories and recollections for us of what Judith was like and how she organised her office. Those of us who visited her in her office would know that when you walked in she always had a fresh, beautiful posy of Victorian style flowers in her little reception area and a great big bunch of beautiful flowers, including gorgeous Christmas lilies, the perfume of which would emanate, and I would be the recipient of that perfume in the whip's office. So it was with some trepidation—because we know that Judith was a no-nonsense, no-fuss person, someone who would preach moderation in everything—that I organised the tribute, because I could imagine Judith telling me that it was an excessive waste of money and that it was all unnecessary. But I did think that it was something that was very much Judith and something that was quite appropriate for today.

My colleagues have reflected at length about her enormous contribution to this place, so I will not traverse ground that they have already covered, except to acknowledge a couple of things. Having been in the Senate since 2008, I had worked particularly closely with Judith since being elected whip last year. The first thing that struck me in my time working closely with her was her enormous work ethic. There was no greater demonstration of that than during the parliamentary sitting period late last year when the hours of the business here in the Senate were changed to accommodate more sitting days so that the carbon tax could be passed. The person who was most impacted by that, even though that person did not discuss it or argue why it would not be appropriate, was Judith. What people did not know was that every Friday that we sat was a Friday that Judith actually chose not to fly back to Perth and go to Royal Perth Hospital to have her chemotherapy. Every Friday she would try to get out so that that Friday or the following Monday she would be able to have her chemotherapy. By sitting during those two weeks in which the carbon tax was passed she decided that she would put off the chemotherapy that was so critically important for her own health so that she could do her job and so that no-one could suggest that she was a slouch and not actually doing her work. People have talked about her being stoic and about her strength, but I suggest that she was totally selfless, because there she put her own life in jeopardy by being in the Senate chamber and not having the chemotherapy which was absolutely critical for her health.

The last sitting week that we were here—and, as everybody in the chamber knows, it was an extra sitting week—was a week when she could not get here because it literally would have been a life-and-death situation if she came back for that week. Amazingly, I have to say, she decided that she would stay in her home state and be hooked up to the drugs that she had to be in Royal Perth Hospital.

She was a woman of enormous integrity. Those of us who went to her memorial service saw that. She would have been delighted that she had provided an opportunity for the 200 or so locals who attended that service to meet with their representatives in parliament so they could chew our ears off on issues of particular interest to them. I was sitting there thinking that she would be looking down and smiling from above, which is unquestionably where she is, about having orchestrated for us to meet all these locals whom she had been very effective and tenacious in representing here in this place.

In closing, I would like to recognise, firstly, Judith's office staff. So many of us naturally think of family at such a time, but to her and to them her staff were extended family. They did not merely work for Judith; they were a part of her extended family. It was an incredibly difficult time for them. I acknowledge Harriet Bateman in my office, who flew over and assisted Judith's office. They were more than capable of organising things themselves. As you can imagine, if you were working for Judith you were very capable of organising an office. But Harriet gave tremendous personal support to Judith's staff members. I really would like to put on the record my thanks to her for doing that. She is a young woman and it takes a bit of courage to do that. From Judith's office, I want to pay special tribute to Alexandra Nicol, Alana Lacy and Cate Creedon.

I also want to make a special note of Tricia Matthews. Trish, we all know, came across to Canberra with Judith and worked with Judith here. They were really like sisters. They were sisters in arms, if you like. Trish was very close to Judith in all sorts of ways. In the time that Judith was in Royal Perth Hospital—which was essentially several weeks, except when she had an office function in December, before she passed away—Trish would visit her every day.

Judith's hospital room was like an office. I visited her there, with Senator Evans and Senator Parry, and we can attest that it was like an office. In some of the rooms that she was moved into she could not get internet access, which annoyed her no end, so Trish would print off emails. Judith was still working right through this time. She also did not shy away from giving me advice when I visited her. She asked me to let our colleagues on this side know that Radio National did record all the interjections and all the interjections could be heard during question time. Not only could they be heard but she could name the people making them. She gave me their names and she said, 'Helen, you've got to go back and tell them'—for the benefit of my colleagues here I will not name them today—'they've got to be more careful what they say. If I can hear them, everybody else can.' She was really on the job till the last.

Like my colleagues I would like to particularly pay tribute to her family, Stuart and Robbie, and to her extended family and Gordon's family in Western Australia. I had the benefit of sitting with them at the memorial service. They told some terrific stories. As my other colleagues have said, it is a shame that we are only able to get to know people more fully at such times. I think we should all learn some lessons from that and perhaps try to get to know each other a little better and more fully whilst we are in this place.

Judith was a great woman. She had a wonderful family. She has left a tremendous family. To Stuart and Robbie, their partners and their children also, I say that we continue to think of them but in particular we thank them for sharing their mother and grandmother with us for such a long period of time. She made such a contribution to this place, to Western Australia and, most of all, to all Australians.

Question agreed to, honourable senators standing in their places.