Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) | Hansard source

I too would like to make a few brief comments about Trish, who was one of the most welcoming people when I first arrived here in 2012 as a fresh-faced kid who had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do. Trish came over and I thought, 'Oh, my gosh, there are real people in the Senate,' because she actually spoke just like every other person you've ever met. There was nothing toffy about Trish. She was just the most down-to-earth person that you could ever imagine. She didn't care whether you were sitting on this side of the chamber, that side of the chamber or down the other end; she cared about all the people in this place.

For us here, the day that we heard about the famous Julia Gillard's captain's pick—when Trish was no longer going to come back to this place as a senator—deeply saddened so many people in this place, so many people who were in her own party but also those of us on this side who had respected Trish's absolute dedication and commitment to the people she represented. It did not matter what the issue was, Trish always applied a lens of what was in the best interests of the people of the Northern Territory. Most particularly, she had such an incredibly strong focus on the Indigenous people of the Northern Territory.

A funnier couple you could not have imagined in Nigel Scullion and Trish Crossin as the two representatives in the Senate from the Northern Territory, yet, together, the impact and effect that those two people had was because there wasn't a snowflake's breadth of difference between them in what they wanted as outcomes for Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory. That sort of practical, pragmatic approach to everything made them deeply, deeply lovable, the pair of them. But Lord only knows what the pair of them got up to after they left this place and there was no further scrutiny on them, because the one thing you can say about them was that neither of them was very conventional about their approach to things.

Trish was taken way too soon. I'm sure, to her family, it must feel incredibly real for a life that was cut short. I'm sure Trish had so much more to give, not only to you as her family but to her nation and to the great love that she had for the Northern Territory. But the one thing you can be assured of, when it came to the people that knew her in this place, nobody could have packed a bigger punch than she did in what she achieved and the impact she had on the lives of the people that she interacted with while she was here.

The fact that we're sitting here today—you heard the beautiful comments from Senator Hanson-Young, you heard the comments from her colleagues in the Labor Party and you heard the comments made by both Senator Cash and Senator McDonald—you can see she was universally loved in this place. I've got to tell you, that is not something that is particularly common; perhaps it was more common in the past than it is now. But the one thing I can absolutely say about Trish is that she was absolutely, universally loved. There was not a person in this place that didn't have respect for her, for who she was, and the fact that she called a spade an absolute bloody shovel every single time. We always knew exactly where she stood.

She was a trailblazer. She was somebody who was immensely respected. She will have a legacy that will live much longer than her short time on this earth, because it was her incredible passion and commitment that has seen a lot of change. I'm sure she wanted to see a lot more and, if she has her way, I'm sure she'll be dictating from where she is now to make sure things continue to change, such was her passion. Can I just put on the record my incredible sadness in hearing of Trish's passing, and my condolences to you, Mark, and to your family for your incredibly great loss. Her loss to you is obviously felt deeper than anywhere else, but please be assured and take comfort in the fact that your loss is shared by so many people across this country, so many people whose names we don't even know. She made a difference.