Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I know: isn't that terrible? But she was deadly serious, and it was almost immediately that I understood why she wanted to do this. She believed that, if you had the capacity to contribute, you also had a responsibility to contribute. That was what her life was all about. She was the real deal. She was determined to make the world a better place. Achieving excellence, for Katie, was never an excuse to stop; it was a reason to keep going. She was generous with her time. She was, as I said, interested in others. She was deeply grounded, and, despite everything she had already achieved, she wanted to achieve more.

Over the years that followed, she did achieve more—more than I think anyone ever dreamed would be possible. She brought that intellect and that discipline and that moral clarity into public life as the member for Higgins, a position in which she served with distinction. When she lost that seat and it was redistributed away, she came back, and she was absolutely determined to finish the job that she had started, as a candidate for Chisholm in the 2025 election. I worked with her very closely there. She was an incredible campaigner. 'Indefatigable' was the right word, I think, Senator Sharma. She fought every day, even when she didn't feel quite right, even when she was in pain and even when—right up until election day, before she was diagnosed—she clearly knew that the cancer that she thought she had defeated had come back.

A couple of days before the election, I was out on prepoll with her, and her whole family were there. I've got to admit that there was a bit of me that was quite jealous. I thought, 'God, I don't think all my family would come out like this.' But I think that they all knew that something was coming. It didn't become official until after the campaign was over, but they all knew. They're an incredible family.

She approached politics in the same way she approached medicine—evidence based, thoughtful, calm under pressure, always focused on outcomes and not distracted by noise. People have spoken about her contribution to politics during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her experience and judgement were widely sought from right around the chamber, from colleagues in government and across the parliament, from the media and from Australians who were looking for somebody credible who could give us guidance. She never overstated what she knew. She never sought attention. But she also never simpered and never apologised for being the expert in the room. She always spoke with integrity; I loved that about her. In a period when trust mattered most, Katie earned that trust.

One of the causes closest to Katie's heart was, as others have mentioned, empowering other women. Her commitment to the Pathways to Politics for Women program was deep and sustained. She gave back generously through so many avenues—and I won't go into all of them—but the mentoring of young women will always be part of her story and part of her legacy. She continued this even when her health was failing, as Senator Henderson has said. That was Katie. Even at the very end, she was always thinking about how she could help others, who she could lift up, who she could encourage and how she could leave things better than she had found them. What I'll always remember about her is her sense of right and wrong, her loyalty, her kindness, her thoughtfulness, her courage and the fact that she worked tirelessly every day, even when she didn't have to. She believed deeply in service.

Above all, Katie loved her family. She spoke of them often and so fondly: her husband Malcolm and her four children, Archie, Arabella, Jemima and Monty, who have been mentioned so many times before and who spoke just so magnificently at the memorial and at her funeral—from the heart. What an incredible family she has left behind. It was clear to everyone who knew her just how deeply she loved them and how much that love was returned. That love truly sustained her and truly defined her.

She succeeded in absolutely everything that mattered. She improved lives, she lifted standards in medicine and in public debate, and she lifted standards in this parliament. She leaves behind a legacy of generosity, of leadership and of belief in others that will endure for many, many years to come. Now, I'll let you in on a secret that, probably, is pretty obvious when you look back. Her favourite colour was pink, and the brighter, the better. So, anytime you don a pink jacket or a pink frock or put on your pink lipstick, I hope that people in this parliament will remember Katie Allen. My deepest sympathies are with Malcolm, Archie, Arabella, Jemima and Monty and all of those who loved Katie. I think that we are all much better people for having known her.