Today we are all saddened by the death of former Senator and Minister the Hon Jocelyn Newman AO.
Her contribution to the Senate, to Tasmania, to the Liberal Party and to Australia was, by all measures, considerable and enduring.
Together Jocelyn and Kevin - her husband and Minister in the Fraser Government - were a formidable political couple. Before Jocelyn was a Senator, the experience of standing in for her husband when he was away on Parliamentary duties gave her first hand experience in marginal seat political campaigning.
Initially not expecting to win preselection - she beat a field of 12 men to join the Senate in 1986.
She was an indefatigable advocate for lower taxation and greater individual freedom throughout her time in Parliament.
As Minister for Social Security and then Minister for Family and Community Services, she navigated some of the most complex changes to the social security system in a generation - preserving the social safety net and making sure government assistance was appropriately there for those who needed it most. As she said as Minister back in 2000: “Welfare reform is about removing barriers, it's about having a community believe in the social security system and it's giving people opportunities.”
As Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women in the Howard Government she championed measures to get women into small business, along with historic reforms to the treatment of superannuation after marriage breakdowns, and measures to combat domestic violence.
Her own experience as a solicitor, a farmer, a hotelier, and community worker - helped form her views that guided her as a Senator. She founded the first women’s refuges in Hobart and Launceston and was a founding member of the Women’s Electoral Lobby in Sydney.
I spoke with her son Campbell this morning to offer condolences and sympathy on behalf of the Government.
Our thoughts are with her family including her two children Campbell and Kate and granddaughters Rebecca, Sarah, Emma and Samantha.