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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-12-02 Daily Xml
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Condolence

Southcott, Heather

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:19): With the leave of the council, I move:

That the Legislative Council expresses its deep regret at the recent death of Mrs Heather Southcott AM, former member of the House of Assembly, and places on record its appreciation of her distinguished public service and that, as a mark of respect to her memory, the sitting of the council be suspended until the ringing of the bells.

It is deeply saddening to hear of the recent passing of Heather Southcott AM at the age of 86. Heather was a remarkable woman, who grew up with a strong sense of service and social justice and who was encouraged by her father to believe that she could do anything. She contributed to the South Australian community in many different ways, often leading the way for women. Heather was a founding member of the Australian Democrats from 1977 and South Australian state secretary from 1977 to 1982.

Many of you will recall that, in 1982, with the resignation of her colleague Robin Millhouse, who had held the seat of Mitcham since its creation in 1955, she won the by-election for that seat. In doing so, she became the first female member of the Australian Democrats elected to the South Australian Parliament. This was only one of a number of firsts for Heather Southcott. She was subsequently elected state leader and then national leader of the Australian Democrats, becoming the first woman to lead a political party in Australia. In doing so, she added yet another page to South Australia's significant role as a leader in the history of parliamentary representation for women.

Heather studied pharmacy at the University of Adelaide, as one of only four women enrolled at that time. The group banded together to support each other, establishing the women pharmacists group. After marrying in 1952, she experienced firsthand the discriminatory policies of the time when she was required to leave her commonwealth public sector job due to the marriage bar.

Heather combined work with family responsibilities for many years while she raised her two daughters, and she was involved in numerous organisations. These included the National Council of Women, the Women's Electoral Lobby, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, the United Nations Association of Australia, and Graduate Women Australia, of which she was a member for some 50 years. She was concerned about Indigenous issues, involved in electoral reform. and working with women who stood in local government elections. She was also an advocate for children's rights and was actively involved in the Morialta Children's Trust and in lobbying to have International Children's Day recognised in Australia.

In addition to being a lobbyist and advocate, Heather provided advice to government at all levels, both formally and informally. She once described herself as a 'serial joiner', and networking, facilitating and consensus were the landmarks of her particular leadership style. She understood that networks created opportunities and she enjoyed using networks that brought women, in particular, together to share information and advocate for change.

She continued her involvement in women's issues into her later years through the Women's Information Service (WIS) support group, and the Older Women's Advisory Council which the South Australia government has supported over many years. The WIS support group was established to represent a broad range of women's organisations and ensure that WIS provided impartial information for the benefit of all women. It continues to serve as an important forum for information sharing and to advocate for and support the wonderful work WIS does.

Heather was also a founding member of the Older Women's Advisory Council and its president until recently. She was actively involved in organising their yearly weekend camp-ins which provided friendship, support and information on many important topics to older women in our community. I am particularly pleased to have had the opportunity to acknowledge the outstanding contribution that Heather has made to the South Australian community when, in 2013, she was included in the SA Women's Honour Roll.

The South Australian Women's Honour Roll is an important part of an ongoing strategy to increase the formal recognition of women for their contribution to our community. Heather was eager to pass on her experience and knowledge to future generations and proud to mentor young people in particular, among them former Australian Democrat senator and parliamentary leader and Australia's ambassador for women and girls, Natasha Stott Despoja. Heather has enriched our state through her leadership, and her legacy will continue to be an inspiration to future generations of young women in particular.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:24): I rise to second the motion and endorse the comments by the Leader of the Government and will add a few of my own on behalf of members opposite. I wish to extend our condolences to Mrs Southcott's family at this most difficult time. Mrs Southcott was elected as the member for Mitcham in 1982 at a by-election, following the resignation of the Hon. Robin Millhouse. Mrs Southcott had a long-standing connection with the seat of Mitcham, and in fact was the great aunt of the current federal member for Boothby, Dr Andrew Southcott, whose electorate encompasses the former seat of Mitcham.

At the time Mitcham was held by the Australian Democrats, and to her credit Mrs Southcott held the seat in a tight contest against the Liberal Party. Unfortunately for the Democrats she was not able to repeat this feat some six months later at a general election, and was displaced from the seat of Mitcham. Although Mrs Southcott's time in parliament was relatively brief, her achievements were distinguished.

In addition to being elected to the House of Assembly, Mrs Southcott was also elected the parliamentary leader of the South Australian Democrats on 20 August 1982. This accomplishment was historic, as Mrs Southcott became the first female leader of any parliamentary party in Australia. This was a fitting appointment, given that she came from a reformist background and encouraged bipartisanship in a testament to her goodwill and efforts for the betterment of her community.

Outside the political sphere Mrs Southcott was more generous with her time, finding time to volunteer her services with various groups, including the University of Adelaide. Mrs Southcott was the wife of Ron Southcott, a former commissioner with the Repatriation Commission and a renowned medical scientist. She was also the proud mother of two daughters, Ann Marie and Jane. Ann Marie is a respiratory physician and Jane a music teacher and their respective success is further testament to Mrs Southcott's endearing qualities as a parent.

Not only will Mrs Southcott be sorely missed by her family, but her passing also represents a great loss to the South Australian community, and I am sure her achievements, both in and out of the parliament, will not be forgotten.

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (14:26): I rise to second the motion. Dignity for Disability and myself did not have a direct relationship with the former member for Mitcham. However, I understand that her work and commitment within the disability sector in particular was one of the important parts of a community involvement that marked hers as a life of significant public service.

When it came to politics, Mrs Southcott was first a member of the Liberal Country League and then, as progressive politics developed through a number of changes in South Australia, she moved with the times (which is something I can certainly appreciate), becoming a member of the Liberal Movement and the New Liberal Movement and, finally, she was a founding member of the Australian Democrats.

In 1982, when Robin Millhouse was appointed to the Supreme Court (as we have heard), Mrs Southcott contested the resulting by-election in Mitcham as a Democrat, and was elected with a winning margin of 90 votes. When the general election was held later that same year, and despite strong campaigning, she was not returned. I have been asked by a few people within the community to put on the record their thoughts for Heather and her family at this time, so I would like to read them. The Hon. Ian Gilfillan has requested that I place this statement on the record:

I remember Heather as a tireless, caring person who gave to many causes and many people. She blended humility and determination in unselfish service.

The Hon. Kate Reynolds has also asked me to place on record her sentiments:

Heather was an extraordinary person. She had endless energy and she was always working to organise somebody or something, and always with a grim determination that astounded me. Herding Australian Democrat MPs, state and national council members and an always-changing parade of candidates must have been so much worse than herding cats, but Heather always had an encouraging word to say, and we had many quiet conversations together, and it was in those moments that her knowledge and experience of community, politics and the strange worlds inhabited by members of parliament was most valuable to me. I know her calm and measured counsel was also valued by former state and national president, Richard Pascoe. We shared some very difficult times, and Heather was always dignified and always looking for the right thing to do. She will be missed.

In speaking as a woman in this place, I am particularly humbled, and I think it is important to note, even though it is somewhat clichéd, that I stand on the shoulders of giants, or perhaps sit on the shoulders of giants, in this case. Heather Southcott was arguably one such giant. As a trailblazer, she went where too few have followed—for instance, in being the first woman to lead a political party in the nation of Australia, as we have heard.

The record shows that she was somewhat unimpressed by her time in parliament and was content thereafter to support others who were elected to this place and to the Senate. Always an organiser at work and as an office bearer, she worked with groups including the United Nations Association of Australia, the National Council of Women, the women pharmacists group, the International Human Rights Day Committee and the Adelaide Women's Memorial Playing Fields Committee.

An advocate for peace, Ms Southcott was also involved in the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and was an advocate for disarmament. She was a member of the Older Women Advisory Committee, a proud supporter of Amnesty International and a member of the Coalition for the Bill of Rights. There are certainly quite a few causes there that I can identify with. She strongly favoured a bill of rights for Australia. She also served on the committee of the Disability Advocacy & Complaints Service of South Australia.

In 1991, her service to the community was recognised with an Order of Australia medal and, in 2007, Ms Southcott was honoured by UNESCO for her work in human rights and, in particular, her commitment to refugees. A life like this is guided by a strong moral compass, a strong understanding of teamwork and the resilience to keep going even in the face of adversity. Dignity for Disability certainly believes that we need more people like Heather Southcott in the community and in this place, and that we need to value the people who give their lives to servicing others so selflessly as she did. Finally and importantly, I want to recognise that Heather was active in planning for the celebration of the Centenary of Women's Suffrage in 1994—one of her lasting legacies which the commemorative tapestries proudly display in the other place.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (14:32): I also rise to support the condolence motion for Mrs Heather Southcott AM, and reflect not only as a Greens MLC in this place and a crossbencher in this place but as a former member of the Democrats and someone who knew Heather for many decades. Heather, of course, was born in 1928 and was a foundation member of the Democrats from 1977, and she was the South Australian state secretary from 1977 to 1982. To that, I remember Heather always being there diligently at the meetings, keeping the office running, in the old funeral parlour. Heather certainly livened up that place.

As has been said, she was the first woman to lead a political party in this country, and that is something we should be very proud of. Of course, it was for a very brief time; I think that is something that pleased her. I do not think she actually wanted to stick around this place for very long. She won the traditionally safe Liberal seat of Mitcham in 1982, which has subsequently morphed into the seat of Waite, and she was elected the state leader and then the national leader of the Australian Democrats.

She was the daughter of a bank manager and a community-minded homemaker. She was one of two daughters who grew up in a devout home in Rose Park, but that Presbyterian home was in the very liberal tradition of the Scots Church—a church full of dissenters. Heather was certainly never one to accept things as they were. She was afforded a good education and the opportunities of that church and of her very supportive family life.

As the minister noted, she was one of only four women enrolled at Adelaide University in the pharmacists group. I note that, in the student meetings of that pharmacists group, there being only four women, they would take their knitting to annoy the other male members of the group. Ever the dissenter was Heather Southcott.

She was, of course, involved in many, many groups in South Australia. In fact, I think the oral histories and the Women's Honour Roll do not even scratch the surface of the groups that she contributed to: the National Council of Women, the women pharmacists group, the group set up to establish the Women's Memorial Playing Fields, the Women's Electoral Lobby and so many more. It has been said that she was a joiner but the thing about Heather is that she was a stayer, and that is the ongoing memory I have of her. Her commitment to human rights, women's rights and democracy were second to none.

Heather was a consensus builder and a great mentor to many in the Democrats. That is testified by those who have come today to join us in the gallery: a former member of this place, the Hon. Kate Reynolds, and former leader of the Democrats and current Ambassador for Women and Girls for this nation, Natasha Stott Despoja. I am honoured to have worked for the former senator, Natasha Stott Despoja; that is how I first met Heather Southcott.

I remember working on the preselection campaign in 1994-95 when Natasha was number two to then senator, John Coulter. We held an event in the Botanic Gardens rotunda to launch Natasha's campaign, and she was honoured to have there former senator, Janine Haines, and Heather Southcott. She chose those two women because they exemplified the wonderful leadership and proud history that South Australia has of producing amazing parliamentarians.

Heather is reported, and certainly indicated in interviews that, whilst she only spent six months or so on the green-leather benches in the other place, she did not enjoy her time here; she found it frustrating. Yet she took those skills that she learnt to benefit the many groups that she was involved in. I was one who moved on from the Democrats, and I remember getting a job with Amnesty International. Heather was just down the corridor, and she was always there with a cup of tea and helpful advice and ongoing support. Then when I moved to the YWCA, there she was again. I am pretty sure that Heather was a joiner of many more organisations than we have noted today because in almost every membership organisation I had ever been involved in, Heather was there.

Heather contacted me earlier this year in response to a media interview I did just after the election. Matt and Dave on ABC 891 in the morning picked up that the Legislative Review Committee was looking into the homophobic gay panic defence I had raised in this parliament and hoped to have referred—what is called the homosexual advancement test under the suite of provocation defences. She rang me because I had been interviewed and I was surprised that the Legislative Review Committee had actually kept to its word and was pursuing the reference.

I conveyed the story to Matt and Dave that I had an experience with the Attorney-General on this issue where he told me that I should not even be able to try to move such a thing through the parliament and that it was impossible and too hard to do and wasn't necessary, and Heather rang me up that day and said, 'Good on you. Good on you for standing up, good on you for not being ridiculed, and good on you for sticking to your guns.'

She conveyed that in this place she often had difficulty not just getting people to second her work—and, indeed, I am privileged to be here as one of two members of my political party, so we have the luxury of ensuring that our issues get debated and that we have a seconder—but she indicated that back in those days parliamentary counsel would often refuse to draft her work, considering it too progressive or inappropriate.

So, she really struggled to get issues on the agenda of this parliament, but I thank her for her short contribution—being the first woman leader of an Australian political party, for paving the way for so many more progressive, not just politicians, but politically-active South Australians. Certainly her involvement in the United Nations International Year of the Youth and, of course, the Centenary of Women's Suffrage in South Australia in 1994 cannot be underestimated in the flow-on effect that has had. I want to share the words of Natasha Stott Despoja AM, Ambassador for Women and Girls, who said:

Heather's understanding of and commitment to the Democrats was extraordinary.

She was a trailblazer: she won the first and only...Democrats lower house seat.

It seemed, at times, she singlehandedly kept the party afloat. Her ideals stayed with her and her hopes for the party.

She was an indomitable worker for the party. She found the personalities in politics difficult in a time when personalities were becoming a great deal more important.

What Heather showed [me and I believe others is] that personalities may come and go, as may the politicians in this place—

some quicker than others—

but the power of progressive politics will [always win] out.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (14:40): I rise to support the motion and the comments that have been made by various members. I knew Heather from her period in the seventies and onwards. In recent years, I did not see her often other than at the occasional community function. As has been noted by one of the previous speakers, Heather came to the Australian Democrats from the Liberal grouping. The Democrats were an amalgam of people from varying political perspectives, and Heather had come through the LCL, the Liberal Movement, the New Liberal Movement (I think it was mentioned) and then the Australian Democrats.

Other members have referred to the occurrence of her winning the Mitcham by-election in 1982. I think it highlights the perils of by-elections for governments; I am sure it seemed like a good idea at the time. Robin Millhouse was appointed to a judicial appointment. I am sure the Liberal Party at the time assumed that they were going to win the seat back, as they would have put it.

Refreshing my memory of the election results, Robert Worth was our Liberal candidate—he had been there a number of times—and polled 46 per cent of the vote. Robert, of course, was the husband of Trish Worth, after that to become the federal Liberal member for Adelaide. Robert had been our candidate for Mitcham on at least two or three occasions, I suspect. Heather polled 26 per cent of the vote, so it was 46 per cent for Robert Worth versus 26 per cent.

There was a candidate by the name of J.D. Hill for the Labor Party; members will recognise him as minister John Hill in latter years. He was then probably the secretary or organiser for the party. He polled 24 per cent of the vote and the Nationals polled 4 per cent. From that position, the Labor Party, as it did when Robin Millhouse was running, ran dead in the seat of Mitcham. Anne Levy and John Hill, who were the principal organisers, would actively engage small numbers of rusted-on Labor voters to actually not support the Labor Party to depress the Labor Party vote in Mitcham so that the Labor vote would come in just beneath the Democrat vote, whether it be for Robin Millhouse or for Heather.

In the remarkably disciplined fashion of Labor voters in the seat of Mitcham, way more than 90 per cent of Labor second preferences went to Heather Southcott and prior to that to Robin Millhouse. So, having started with a primary vote of 46 per cent and with 4 per cent National vote, Robert Worth, the Liberal candidate, lost the seat in that particular by-election. So, it is a tribute to the discipline of the Labor Party, at least in the electorate of Mitcham.

I knew Heather through all of that period and subsequently. A number of people have referred to the fact that she was a joiner. I think the Hon. Tammy Franks said that she was a stayer in terms of her causes, and I acknowledge that, but what I want to briefly comment on is that Heather, in my experience with her, was someone who sought to build bridges between people of different views if they came to support a cause.

The example that I want to give is in relation to—and many in this chamber are probably way to young to even remember it—the massive Palm Sunday peace marches that occurred in South Australia through that period of the eighties. Heather, of course, was not only a joiner but an activist in relation to the peace marches. More than 10,000 people on occasions marched through the streets of Adelaide, supporting peace, from varying perspectives.

The point that I make is that there was then a small group of Liberals who marched for peace through the streets of Adelaide during that particular period, and I note to his eternal embarrassment, I suspect, that Nick Minchin was a fellow protester, as was Robert Hill—I suspect he would have been embarrassed about it. It was a very small group of Liberals who did. We were not always greeted well by many who protested, particularly those from the left, who saw the notion of peace as being the prerogative of those from the left of politics.

It was Heather Southcott—and a number of others, not just Heather—who sought to build bridges between people, whether they be from the left or the right in the Labor Party or left or right in the community, and who also sought to involve and continue to allow to continue to engage in the broad protest movement people from all political parties and political persuasions. I remember that to this day, the fact that she and a small group of others on occasions argued with other organisers as to whether or not people should be able to participate under their own banners, because clearly we came to the marches with a slightly different perspective than many others who were marching at the time, while supporting the broad principle that I am sure most people in the state and the nation supported anyway.

I want, in acknowledging that, to use that as an example of what I know was a trait that Heather had, not only in that area but in many other areas, in that she did seek to build bridges between people, to build coalitions of support for the causes that she believed in over her many years of activism. Certainly, I know I speak on behalf of a number of former members of the Liberal Party in acknowledging her activism and her commitment to her causes, and I share with the passing on of condolences to her family, friends and acquaintances.

The PRESIDENT: If there are no further speakers, I ask all members to stand in their places and carry the motion in silence.

Motion carried by members standing in their places in silence.

Sitting suspended from 14:47 to 15:04.

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