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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-05-03 Daily Xml
Contents
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Motions

Hogan, M.

S.E. ANDREWS (Gibson) (15:37): I move:

That this house expresses its deep regret at the death of labour movement leader Michelle Hogan and places on record its sincere appreciation for her activism and profound contribution she made to the wellbeing and empowerment of South Australian women.

It is of note that we move this motion today, both in this house and in the other place, as this week began with May Day, a day which recognises the historic struggles and gains made by workers in the labour movement. Michelle was a proud unionist, feminist and community activist.

I started working in the union movement in the mid-nineties, and I heard about Michelle well before I met her. She was making positive change at the United Trades and Labor Council and people were talking about it. It is worth considering the culture she was working in at that time: union leadership was dominated by men and Michelle was offering new ways of working.

Michelle made it seem like there were no barriers because she was already blazing ahead, and this was important to me as a young woman wanting to make my own mark by improving the lives of working people. In fact, the mere act of my standing in this place today is in part thanks to Michelle. We shared the same values as feminists and unionists, and I was fortunate over time to call Michelle my friend. She guided and sometimes she goaded, but it was always with a sense of fun. She was well aware of the barriers we were and still are up against, but she was determined to make change.

Once you came into Michelle's orbit you stayed there. She looked out for you, struggled alongside you and laughed with you. She was more tactile than me, often reaching for your hand or giving a friendly punch on the shoulder, which I hope was never meant to be quite as hard as it always seemed to be. Michelle was bold and feisty and a lot of fun.

We worked together in the work life balance team at SafeWork SA. Michelle was my manager, and whilst it seemed that our small team was an island in that workplace she was determined to make our work matter. As union members our entire working lives, it was with great joy that in my very first day of working in her team at SafeWork SA we went on a rally together. I suspect it is not often that your manager takes you on a union rally on your first day on the job.

At the Working Women's Centre, she was our leader and chair for the last five years. While so many of us on that committee wanted to be perfect feminists, Michelle was much more pragmatic. She fundamentally changed that organisation for the better with her deep passion, her understanding of feminist theory and many, many hours of work. Vulnerable workers who seek the support of the Working Women's Centre have better outcomes now thanks to Michelle's leadership.

I think it says a lot as chair of the Working Women's Centre that Michelle managed to form such deep friendships with the staff. I know they miss her dreadfully. Her feminist values were also able to be realised in her work at the Dale Street Women's Health Service in Port Adelaide and later at Catherine House, in both instances ensuring that vulnerable women received the services they needed.

Michelle was a community activist. When she was on Port Adelaide Enfield council, she moved the motion that saw this council as the first in the country to support a raise to JobSeeker payment—topical. She was active in the Port Adelaide branch of the National Trust. One campaign Michelle was active on was to try to save Shed 26, the last surviving sawtooth shed in Port Adelaide on the Inner Harbour waterfront. She also served on the management committee at SACOSS. If Michelle witnessed injustice, she did something about it, always bringing others with her.

Michelle and Robert shared a love of the arts, and Tom and I were lucky to spend a few Festival opening concerts with them on a picnic blanket with the obligatory wine and cheese. Michelle and Robert were also WOMAD stalwarts, and everyone knew that you could find them in their regular spot under the trees.

Michelle was my feminist mentor and friend, and for that I am forever grateful, but more importantly there are so many people in our movement who also feel this way. We all improved our craft thanks to Michelle. The union and feminist movement in South Australia is better because of Michelle's passion and activism. I extend my condolences to Michelle's partner, Robert, and family, her large circle of friends, comrades and sisters, who are devastated by her sudden passing. Vale, Michelle Hogan.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD (Reynell—Minister for Child Protection, Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (15:43): It is with deep sadness that I rise to speak to this motion and to honour Michelle Hogan, a much-loved and highly regarded woman, leader, friend, sister, unionist and campaigner who has made enormous lasting contributions to the labour movement, to women and to community.

I absolutely thank the member for Gibson for her words, for her introduction of this motion, and acknowledge her longstanding love and appreciation for Michelle. I acknowledge the many loved ones of Michelle who join us in the gallery today. I acknowledge the sorrow each of you feels at the loss of this most remarkable woman, a woman who was loved so well by every one of you and who loved others so beautifully. I acknowledge the journey ahead as her loss is so acutely felt. In the months, years and decades ahead, we will be with one another.

Over four decades, Michelle worked tirelessly with compassion, beauty and her lovely sense of humour and deep wisdom to advance workers' rights towards the achievement of gender equality; to ensure respect, fairness and dignity for women; and to ensure that community organisations were supported to effectively work with and for people, and particularly those most vulnerable, in ways that made a difference in their lives.

In all that she did, Michelle relentlessly sought to empower and encourage other women. She lifted them up, she saw them and she was there for them. I saw that, and most importantly I felt that, when more than three decades ago I stepped into my very first women's union caucus meeting and was welcomed by Michelle, not just in words but through her active seeking of my views, her inclusion of my voice, her beautiful capacity to make you know that you belonged, you were special and deserved to be heard.

Michelle was an extraordinary chair of the Working Women's Centre. Her decisions for the direction of the centre were unfailingly collaborative and utterly focused on how best to serve and empower the women who sought the centre's services and how best to progress meaningful change on all that held women back. As chair, Michelle cared for the centre's staff in a way that absolutely transcended the obligation of a board member to care for staff. She was their biggest supporter. She was with them, alongside them and absolutely strove to enable them to do the important, fine, outstanding work that they do.

Michelle was a steadfast long-term supporter of the Anna Stewart Memorial Project, which in honour of trailblazing Anna Stewart sought to empower and support women in the union movement. At a number of the project's training sessions and in the project's very construction, I listened to Michelle honour Anna as a person and absolutely honour her legacy. Michelle's recognition of Anna and Michelle's care for Anna's memory and legacy through her work on the project have ensured that hundreds of women have gone on to play leading roles in the union movement.

Her work as the then United Trades and Labor Council assistant secretary two decades ago was innovative, transformative and always focused on including people and amplifying the voices of others, particularly those most vulnerable. I remember when Michelle took that role on she was brave, she was so clear about change that had to be progressed and unfailingly inclusive. Michelle's work was not about Michelle but about wise custodianship and advancement of the union movement as a whole. The union movement is stronger, kinder and more diverse because of Michelle's work.

Michelle served as a Port Adelaide Enfield councillor and contributed to community life in a range of different ways. Her steadfast commitment to APHEDA Union Aid Abroad, its aim of solidarity not charity, and its mission to tackle those most struggling across the globe was well known, so admired and so focused on enabling those whom APHEDA walked alongside.

Michelle was renowned and so loved for her wisdom and empathy and her generous mentoring of other women. I and others, including the member for Gibson and the Hon. Irene Pnevmatikos MLC, have benefited deeply from her kindness and care. Michelle saw you, she checked in, she laughed with you, she encouraged you, she always thought the best of you. She was tireless in campaigning for fairness, for peace and for women's rights, and it was such an honour for many of us to campaign alongside her.

A kind, true friend to so many, a passionate and compassionate advocate, and an outstanding leader who always wanted to bring women together, Michelle will be deeply missed by all who knew her. Her willingness to support and empower others will continue to inspire us and future generations. Vale, Michelle Hogan. May you rest in peace. I offer my love and condolences to Rob, to all of her family and to the many, many others who loved this beautiful woman.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Minister for Defence and Space Industries, Minister for Climate, Environment and Water) (15:49): I rise to speak about Michelle less as a union leader and feminist and friend, as has been described by the previous two speakers, and more as a neighbour, someone who lived in the same community as me and who also has had the experience of and the honour of representing that community.

When we found out about Michelle a month ago, we were all here getting ready for question time, which is usually part theatre and part terror for those on the government side—more the former than the latter at the moment, I would say—and the news washed through us and it hurt, and not everyone could stay. That small experience here was replicated as people found out across our community, whether that be the community of feminists or unionists or those who care about heritage and the environment or those who live in the Port Adelaide Enfield area, particularly the Semaphore and Le Fevre Peninsula area.

That sense of loss is profound and was reiterated at the Waterside Workers Hall at the very beautiful memorial and celebration of her life, a very fitting place for so many people to get together and tell their stories, which were told beautifully. I see some people in the gallery who contributed magnificently to that. That loss is going to last a very, very long time for all of us.

I simply want to pay tribute to someone who was an exemplar of the best of what community can offer, someone who thought more of others than herself, who saw making change come through supporting others and showing leadership. It is a beautiful combination: wanting others to succeed but being prepared to show where they should go when courage was needed. That was Michelle.

She affected so many people and I wish that she fully knew that. You often have the sense when someone is gone that you wish they could hear what is being said about them, which then immediately makes you reflect that we should say more about what we feel about each other to each other's faces. She was an exemplar for the community that I have the honour of representing. She will never be forgotten. I feel the sorrow for her loss, not only my own but more acutely those who were so close to her who spent so much time with her and loved her so dearly. Vale.

Motion carried.

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