Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to pay tribute to the life of Professor Katie Allen and to extend my deepest condolences to her husband, Malcolm, to their children, Monty, Jemima, Arabella and Archie, and to her wider family, friends and loved ones. Katie Allen's passing is a profound loss. It is felt most deeply by her family but also by the many Australians whose lives she touched through her work, her service and her compassion.

Like so many, I had the opportunity of attending the memorial service for Katie, held last week in Melbourne. I have to say, we were asked to arrive at 10 o'clock for a 10.30 commencement, so I thought: 'I'll arrive at 10 past 10. That will give me plenty of time to get in.' When I arrived at 10 past 10, the church was already filled. It was utterly incredible. The line to get into the church stretched around the corner, off Flinders Street, and, by the time we got in, the priest who was leading the service stood and said: 'We are now at capacity. We will now open up Federation Square. We have massive screens for people, and seats have been placed out for people to actually be part of the service.' There were at least over 1,000 people who attended the memorial service. It was fascinating because we were there as part of those who were in her political life. As we know, she served this parliament as the member for Higgins. I think that, in the short time that she was the member, as everybody who spoke about Katie said, she represented her community with diligence, integrity and a strong sense of responsibility. She brought to public life a depth of experience grounded not in politics for its own sake but, because of her background, in service to others.

Before entering parliament, Katie built a distinguished career in medicine. It was incredibly humbling, as I walked through the church, to actually see different sections that had been set aside for the people who represented a certain part of her life. By any analysis, those who were part of her medical career and her time as a medical professional where the bulk of it. She was a doctor, a paediatrician and a medical researcher. She devoted her professional life well and truly, listening to those stories, to improving the health and wellbeing in particular of children and their families. Her work was driven by evidence, by care and by a deep commitment to making a practical difference. As we all know, medicine is not just a profession; it is a calling. It demands long hours, resilience and empathy. Katie embraced that calling fully, approaching her work with rigour, compassion and integrity, always conscious that behind every decision is a human life. Again, that same mindset shaped her contribution to this parliament. Katie brought the perspective of a clinician. She was thoughtful, careful, grounded in facts and acutely focused on outcomes. She understood that decisions made here have real consequences for families and particularly for children.

For all of Katie's professional achievements, though, her greatest devotion was always to her family. In a 2019 Facebook Christmas post, Katie said this:

Family is everything, in whatever form it comes. Family is the reason for getting up in the morning. For working hard. For caring about our community. For caring about its future.

Her partnership with her husband, Malcolm, was central to her life, built on mutual respect, shared values and a steadfast support through the demands of medicine, public service and family life. She was a devoted mother to Monty, Jemima, Arabella and Archie—in fact, her children were literally her pride and joy. She balanced demanding responsibilities with the everyday realities of family life, and her love for her children shaped everything she did.

Those who knew Katie remember not only her intellect and professionalism but her warmth, kindness and humanity. She listened, she cared and she treated people with respect whether in the community or in this parliament. Loss leaves a space that cannot be filled, but it also leaves a legacy, and Katie's legacy lives on through the values she embodied—compassion, service, integrity and devotion to family—and through the many lives she touched. To Malcolm and to Monty, Jemima, Arabella and Archie, no words ease the pain of your loss, but please know that you are surrounded by the thoughts, respect and goodwill of many.

Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have to say that I've found it very hard to believe that Katie is no longer with us. For people who were able to attend her memorial service at St Paul's in Melbourne, she was such a remarkable person. The term 'great Australian' gets thrown around far too often, but Katie had achieved so much in her life. She was a world-class medical researcher. The work she was able to do on children's allergies is going to be used into the future, far beyond the time that we will have on this Earth.

She was a remarkable person. I thought to myself, 'How fortunate were we to have had this person come into public life and want to make a contribution, even if it was only for a day?' She was here in this parliament for three years. I think anyone who is human would go to a memorial service like Katie Allen's and feel very inadequate. Yes, she was a world-class medical researcher, but she was a family person—four children and a magnificent partnership with Malcolm. Her political career and public service was almost like an additional add-on. It was almost an added extra that she gifted to the community.

Katie and I came in in 2019, and she was a ball of energy. She was vibrant. She could be very dogmatic, but she was a magnificent, warm person. She was so focused on trying to make the most of her time for her constituents and to make a contribution to Australia. She had a magnificent civic mission, which was almost religious—I think it actually was religious, and I say this as a non-religious person. I think her memorial service showed the depth of her religiosity, which was very important to her. She had this mission to do good, and she did do good. Sometimes she broke a few eggs. That was, I thought, a magnificent quality. She was so determined to do good. She made her mark as a medical doctor serving in parliament during a health crisis, and she was able to give the government of the day—and Greg Hunt touched on this at the service—remarkable insight. I think he respected her not only as a medical professional but also as a colleague, and I think she was able to cut through some of the bureaucracy and give the advice directly to the executive government.

This was such a premature death and such a great loss to Australia and to Katie's family, of course. Katie did talk a lot about the premature death of her own mother, and, frankly, for the people who knew her well, it seemed that she was perhaps in such a hurry because she was worried she wouldn't have the length of time that may have been afforded to others. She made such a great mark on us. She was a great colleague and a really great Australian, and those of us who were lucky enough to know her and work with her across the aisle—this side, anywhere—were all very fortunate. Rest in peace, Katie.

Dave Sharma (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Link to 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.

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

I rise today to speak about one of the most incredible people that I think this place has ever seen despite only being here for three years. I don't know anybody who has made the kind of mark on this place in such a short time as Katie did in the short time that she was here. But I am actually going to make a fearless prediction that, even though Katie is no longer with us, her legacy will continue to be felt in this place because there were so many things that she did that I think we should all draw lessons from. She actually came here with a true belief in her heart that all she wanted to do was to make this world better for other people. So I'm glad to have had the opportunity to have known Katie for the three years that she was in this parliament and then to have known her for the time that she wasn't in this parliament and then to have had the privilege of working with her last year in the hope of getting her back into this parliament, all of us completely and utterly unaware of the challenge that Katie was facing. But right the way through that the campaign you just wouldn't have known because her commitment to her community and her commitment and her desire to deliver for the people that she wanted to deliver for, which was pretty much every Australian, absolutely never wavered the whole way through.

But I think, as Senator Sharma just mentioned, those of us who had the privilege of being able to go to Katie's funeral left there with a sense that we are really only knew one part of Katie. From almost the minute that Katie was able to make a contribution to the world she started doing it. We heard from her school principal about how even as a young person when she was at school she was already out there. She was a leader from the minute she was born. She did not become a leader; she was always a leader. She led her school community. She was the head of her debating team, which clearly served her in good stead in some of the debates we have in this place. She led that school, but she never left the school. She stayed with that school. Her children went to that school. She remained on the school board and continued to contribute to that part of her life that first started her on her leadership journey.

Then after, obviously, many years of studying, she became a paediatrician. But that wasn't enough for Katie. That wasn't enough. She then needed to continue to develop herself to be able to give to the children that she saw needed her help. She went into research—I was quite blown away—publishing more than 450 times. I won't say an exact number because I'd probably get it wrong, but something like 472 times Katie was published in peer-reviewed papers in her field of expertise, which included making sure people understood about the allergies that we as a society are now starting to see. That is such an important part of her research work that now lives on as her legacy for everything that she did. Apparently she is constantly referred to in policy papers around the world, not just here in Australia, for her contribution in her research effort.

Once again, that wasn't enough for Katie. She needed to do more. So she took the next step in her career, to come in here and continue her public life by representing her community of Higgins. It wasn't just the community of Higgins that Katie represented; it was the whole of Australia. There was never any issue that Katie wasn't prepared to prosecute. There were many times, when I was the minister for social services, that there would be a call from Katie to say that she had a group of people that she believed needed to have an audience with somebody from the government because their story was compelling, and she was prepared to tirelessly advocate for them. I'm sure the reason that Katie always had such a beautifully slim figure is that she never stopped for a minute. She probably forgot to eat because she was too busy prosecuting the issues of the people that she cared for.

I think that probably the greatest loss to this parliament was when Katie was not re-elected to come back into this place. I think all of us would proudly leave this place, even if we'd been here for a long time, if we left the legacy that Katie managed to leave in just the three short years that she was in this place.

Most particularly, our hearts go out to her family. Watching Katie's beautiful children give their contribution about their mother at the funeral and then listening to Malcolm tell their love story—which is the kind of thing that you could write a movie about—in his contribution at the funeral, we realise just how incredibly her family must be feeling the pain of losing Katie. Our hearts go out to them. Vale, Katie Allen.

Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with a heavy heart that I rise to pay tribute to the late Dr Katie Allen, the former member for Higgins. Her life was defined by service, compassion, integrity and a gritty determination. Katie was a warrior for the people she represented and for the causes that she cared about so deeply. Katie was a very good friend and an inspiration. She made the world a better place. It is difficult to comprehend that Katie is gone. At age 59, it is way too soon. She had so much more to do and so much more life and love to give to her adored husband, Malcolm, and their four beautiful children, Monty, Jemima, Arabella and Archie.

As we've heard in these wonderful contributions, Katie came to this place after an incredible career as a medical specialist, paediatrician, medical researcher and professor. She was someone who had spent her professional life caring for others. That instinct never left her. It certainly shaped the way she approached her work in this parliament and the way she represented her community. I'm sorry to be so sad.

In the parliament Katie was thoughtful, conscientious and deeply committed to public service. She brought a calm, determined, evidence based voice to debates on health, women's wellbeing and preventive care and, of course, to the pandemic and to the wonderful people she represented, the people of Higgins. She was a fighter. She never gave up. She had an incredible fight to win preselection for the seat of Higgins. She fought so hard for the three years that she was here in parliament. As we now know, under the most terrible circumstances, she fought for preselection for Chisholm and ran the most wonderful campaign. The last time I saw Katie was here in parliament late last year, when she led a delegation of Liberal women, some aspiring to be members of parliament. She had a genuine commitment to the advancement of women. She was struggling and she was frail, but that gritty determination shone. She was determined to continue to make a difference.

I wanted to actually table Greg Hunt's eulogy at the memorial service. I wasn't able to attend the memorial service because I was overseas on leave, but I attended Katie's family funeral, which was a very moving occasion. I just wanted to draw briefly on the contribution that Greg outlined in his eulogy. I don't think any of us understood how highly credentialed she was. When you look at her achievements, her qualifications and the contributions that she made as a medical researcher as a specialist paediatrician it is quite extraordinary. In the three short years that she was here in this place she played a critical role in Australia's successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She was the only medical practitioner in the Liberal Party, and she played a very significant role in shaping and influencing Australia's successful COVID response. I seek leave to table a magnificent tribute to Katie from Greg Hunt.

Leave granted.

I have to say that the second last time I saw Katie was when Jane Hume and I visited her at her home. It was just after the election. I have to say that it was very cathartic. We had a wonderful time. Katie was on the cups of tea, and Jane and I were on more than one vodka each! We were suffering the consequences of a lost election and then our respective demises from shadow cabinet, and I think it was more therapeutic for Jane and me. We told all sorts of secrets and shared some of the gritty details that had happened with the ins and outs of the election loss and then what happened following the election loss in this place. We actually had a really wonderful time. Malcolm then arrived. It was just so joyful. We kept on saying, 'Sorry, we're talking more about us than we are about you, Katie,' and she said: 'I'm loving it. I'm so loving the fact that I'm sharing this with you.' It was a truly wonderful visit. But, at the same time, she also spoke directly and with such bravery about what she was facing, with such incredible courage.

It's just so shocking to lose such a magnificent woman at such a young age. It's just so shocking. I just want to express my deepest condolences to Malcolm, her beloved husband; to her beautiful children, Monty, Jemima, Arabella and Archie; to Katie's extended family; and to her close friends. Katie's passing is a profound loss to this parliament—she was so determined to come back here—to her community and to our country. Vale, Katie Allen.

Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I pay tribute to Dr Katie Allen and her life of exemplary public service. Katie's long career of service began first in medicine and research. Many people have asked me whether I knew Katie just because I was a doctor. I just want to clear this up now. I really didn't, because Katie was a paediatric doctor, and I was an adult doctor. In medicine, there's a professional and cultural firewall between these two disciplines. There shouldn't be, but there is. I actually learned the most about Katie sadly at her unbelievable memorial service. People will be talking about this memorial service for years to come. Seeing was believing. When I listened to the eulogies from people who knew her well, all I could think about was relentless service and excellence in each of those chapters of her life, as Senator Sharma said. I think, honestly, she set a new benchmark for the rest of us on how to live a good life—a benchmark which I think is unattainable for me, certainly.

She was a consultant paediatrician at the Royal Children's Hospital for nearly 30 years and a leading researcher and academic, holding senior roles at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, including as division head for population health and director of the Centre for Food Allergy Research. She also held professional appointments at the University of Melbourne, Monash University and the University of Manchester and authored more than 400 peer-reviewed publications—an extraordinary output. Her research helped change how paediatric food allergy is understood and managed. Particularly pioneering was the establishment of the HealthNuts study, which was the first population-based epidemiological study that accurately measured food allergy in infants. It turns out that Australia—Melbourne—is the food allergy capital of the world, thanks to Katie's groundbreaking research.

Katie then stepped into political life, serving as the member for Higgins from 2019 to 2022. During my own time as the member for Higgins it was clear that she was respected and well-loved and was seen as an active local member. Constituents widely respected her and said to me, so many times that I lost count, how much they admired her principled stance on what was then a very controversial move—when she crossed the floor on the Religious Discrimination Bill. The constituents of Higgins are a highly informed and educated group of people, and they knew exactly what that meant—the significance of it—and they paid tribute to her for her courage.

During her political term, Katie advocated strongly on behalf of the rebuilt and now absolutely state-of-the-art Very Special Kids, in Malvern. This facility really is a benchmark for the rest of Australia. There are only two or three palliative care facilities for children in Australia, compared to more than 60 in the UK. This is something I learnt thanks to Katie's advocacy. Katie of course built on the incredible legacy of the Hon. Kelly O'Dwyer, who was instrumental in refurbishing and rebuilding Very Special Kids. Katie also championed better care for people affected by eating disorders, including as an ambassador for Eating Disorders Families Australia. There is now, thanks to her advocacy, an eating disorders clinic in Armadale, run by Alfred Health, my old workplace. It's funny, right, the sync?

To Katie's husband, Malcolm, and her four children—Monty, Jemima, Arabella and Archie—and all those who loved her, I extend my deepest condolences and acknowledge her contributions across medicine, research and parliamentary service. Hers was a life well lived but taken too soon. Vale Dr Katie Allen.

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

I rise to add my voice to the contributions that have been made today from around the chamber about the passing of Professor Katie Allen, not only as a former colleague but also as a dear friend. Like many in this place, I too am still coming to terms with her loss and the absence of someone whose presence, whose generosity and whose courage meant a great deal to so many of us.

I first met Katie when she was at the Royal Children's Hospital. I was serving on the board of the children's hospital at the time, and she was at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. She was already a shining beacon there. She bounded up to me at a hospital function. I knew who she was: she was a paediatrician, she was a professor, she was a scientist, she was an allergist, she was beautiful, she was thin, she was blonde, and she had four children—and I thought, 'I'm going to hate this woman immediately,' on sight. But how could you hate her? She was charming, she was warm, she was friendly, she was enthusiastic, she was interested in other people, and she just cared; you could feel, from the moment you met her, how much she cared for others. And she was curious.

I remember being genuinely surprised—quite flabbergasted—when she said, 'I'm interested in politics, and I think I want to run for the Liberal Party.' I thought: 'Why? Why would you do that? Look at you! You're amazing! Look at what you're doing!'

Honourable Senator:

An honourable senator interjecting—

Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to 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.

Slade Brockman (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As a mark of respect, I ask senators to join in a moment of silence.

Honourable senators having joined in a moment of silence—

Thank you, senators.