Former MP Peta Murphy has passed away aged 50
The former barrister and second-term MP was just 50 when she died today after a very public battle with cancer.
Transcript
00:00 A bold vision to restore faith in politics drove Peter Murphy to run for federal parliament.
00:07 It's been quite a journey to this place for a public school girl from Wagga.
00:10 But it was her biggest adversary that shaped the political career to come.
00:14 Let's be frank, cancer sucks.
00:17 Don't kick me out for unparliamentary language.
00:19 First detected in 2011, her breast cancer's surprise return just weeks after she entered
00:24 parliament in 2019 saw her become a highly visible and candid advocate for others.
00:30 It was the first time that someone so publicly shone a very bright light into a dark place
00:37 for those people living with treatable but incurable breast cancer.
00:43 The first woman elected to the seat of Dunkley, Peter Murphy made a fair go for women, gambling
00:47 reform and a national metastatic cancer registry, some of the issues that defined her career.
00:53 And she continued her work until the end, appearing in parliament just a day before
00:57 she was hospitalised last week as the push for a national registry gained momentum.
01:03 She travelled to Canberra last week to try to launch the national report.
01:08 As ill as she was, she was again thinking about us.
01:12 Flags were lowered to half mast with contributions from across the political divide.
01:17 We've lost someone who was admired on both sides of the aisle.
01:21 And beyond.
01:22 The sheer selflessness of Peter Murphy to keep sitting and fighting and being a moral
01:29 voice to the very end of a life that's far too short is what so, so inspires me.
01:36 Peter Murphy died at home, aged 50, her husband of more than two decades by her side.
01:42 Above all else, I would like to be able to say that I left Australian politics, Australian
01:48 democracy in better shape than when I joined it.
01:52 This country was a better nation for her contribution.
01:57 May Peter Murphy rest in peace.
01:59 [BLANK_AUDIO]