CONDOLENCES

Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (19:21): It is always a pleasure to follow the member for Sturt, who, like the person we are honouring tonight, is also a trailblazer, and I commend her for her speech and her fine and eloquent words. Certainly we are marking the death, but also very much the life, of a remarkable Australian, a powerful woman. The member for Sturt and many other women have drawn great inspiration from this fine lady.

Mary Genevieve Gaudron was born on 5 January 1943. She saw first light in Moree, at the time of a great heatwave in inland Australia—not uncommon for western New South Wales. And to think that from those very humble beginnings she elevated herself, despite many obstacles, adversities and hurdles, as we've heard, to the positions that she held.

It is something quite incredible. It says a lot about her indomitable spirit. It says a lot about the character of this fine person.

It also shows that it doesn't matter what your postcode is in Australia; you can be anything in this country, the lucky country. It takes perseverance. It takes, in her case, kicking in that glass ceiling.

It takes a little bit of luck, a lot of determination and a lot of intellect. She won a scholarship to the University of Sydney, graduating with the university medal in law. That was perhaps one of the first of many amazing achievements.

At 27 she became the youngest person to appear unled before the High Court of Australia, in O'Shaughnessy. In 1972 she became the first woman appointed to the New South Wales Bar Council. At 31 she became a deputy president of the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission.

In 1981 she became the first female to serve as Solicitor-General for New South Wales. Also that year she became the first woman in New South Wales appointed as Queen's Counsel. In 1977, at just 44 years young, she became a justice of the High Court of Australia.

She served on the High Court until January 2003, and she later served as president of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization in Geneva. All that is quite exceptional, and we know that. But, aside from her amazing career in silk and her incredible achievements in the legal profession, she never forgot her country origins.

She was a mother, she was a friend to many, and, of course, like all of us, she loved family; she did. The difference that she made in our country was profound then, but, many, many years into the future, the work that she did and the achievements that she accomplished will make a difference—long into the future. She believed that equality before the law had to have a practical and meaningful effect, and she lived that to the nth degree.

As a junior barrister, she argued the equal pay case for the Whitlam government in 1972, and that would have been pretty difficult back then. That would have been very, very tough. She helped establish the 1979 maternity leave standard while serving on the commission, and bravo to her for that.

She considered both achievements amongst her proudest. We've heard about Mabo, but there were many others as well. In Kable she helped establish limits on state parliaments using state courts in ways incompatible with the independence and integrity of the Australian judicial system.

That all sounds very legal and complicated, but she found a way. She forged through, because that was this incredible Australian. As I've said, and as we've heard from the member for Sturt, she broke barriers for women.

Her appointment to the High Court in 1987 meant that women's voices were finally represented in Australia's highest court, and that is special. She demonstrated that the legal system is stronger when it includes perspectives previously excluded from positions of power, and I think we could say that about this place too. I think we could.

Her career helped pave the way for many women who have since been appointed to Australia's superior courts. I could also say, as we've heard from the member for Sturt, that she probably didn't realise the women, particularly, she was influencing. She probably didn't realise that she was providing that spark, that inspiration, to many young women to try to be the best that they could be.

She effectively forged a path that other women could follow and did. Her journey from Moree to the High Court is not only a story of breaking barriers for women; it is a powerful example of the contribution that regional Australians can make at the highest level of national life. Vale to the Hon.

Mary Genevieve Gaudron. May you rest in peace, and may your family and wide circle of friends find comfort in your many incredible achievements. Federation Chamber adjourned at 19 : 28