Dave Sharma (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

I was looking over Katie's first speech to parliament earlier today, and one sentence she said, in particular, stood out to me. It was this:

I don't know how long I have in this place or, indeed, on this planet, but I've always stood up for a better future, and I'm not stopping now.

That was Katie in 2019. Her maiden speech was in July 2019. It turned out that she didn't have as long as we would have liked in this place or, indeed, on this planet. But her promise then—to her electorate, to her colleagues and to her family—to always stand up for a better future, she fulfilled in very good measure.

Katie, as a couple of the speakers have said, had a life full of many chapters. I think many of us in the parliament, here, only felt like we knew one very small chapter—almost a postscript to a very successful, fulsome and substantive professional life. I was at the memorial service, like some of my colleagues, last week in Melbourne. I, too, like Senator Bragg, felt highly inadequate. If I could get one-tenth of those people to my memorial service, I would be thrilled.

St Paul's Cathedral was packed to overflowing, and there were people from all different parts of her life—her work with Melbourne Grammar School and her patronage of Melbourne Grammar School, where, I think, she was a fourth-generation student and still highly active in the school. She was clearly loved and cherished by that community. The medical community was there in volumes, a testament to the leadership, the mentoring, the research and the capacity that she had shown. Then, of course, there were many, many loving family members.

It was clear to me that Katie was someone who brought a lot of light into people's lives, and I know that was certainly the case in parliament. She brought a lot of light. She brought a lot of energy. She brought a lot of enthusiasm. If I had to think of one word to describe Katie, it would be indefatigable. You could say she was relentless, unstoppable or hugely optimistic, but she was certainly indefatigable. I was simultaneously in awe, jealous and resentful of her energy levels from time to time in this parliament. Her ability to do things and focus on multiple tracks, her ambition to achieve and leave a mark in public life the way that she'd done in her medical life, was phenomenal.

She was only here in this place for a short time—for three years, one term—but during that time, during the global pandemic and the biggest public health crisis Australia had faced in at least a hundred years, she brought all her expertise, all her contacts, all her enthusiasm and all her knowledge to bear. Greg Hunt, the health minister at the time, spoke very compellingly last week in Melbourne about the role that Katie played in the numerous and unprecedented public health and other challenges we as a nation and as a government had to deal with back then.

She made an immense mark during her time in parliament with her indefatigability. I think when she was elected to Higgins that was the second election she'd contested. Just last year she was contesting her fourth election with a diagnosis of a terminal illness but not telling anyone so committed was she, I think, to fulfilling her obligations as a candidate with honour and fulfilling what she thought she'd made as a commitment to the people of Chisholm and the electors as well.

One other thing Katie said in her speech which stuck with me was when she referenced her mother, who wasn't alive when Katie was elected to parliament or sworn in. She said that she thought about her mother a lot when writing her speech. She felt her mother there beside her, guiding her. I thought those were comforting words because Katie leaves behind some really great loves—Malcolm, Monty, Jemima, Arabella and Archie—who I'm sure, much more than we can imagine, are missing their mum, wife and family member greatly. But Katie's presence was such and her energy and her spirit so strong that that will continue to guide them and be alongside them for the rest of their lives. May Katie rest in peace and may her family take her memory as a blessing.