Shirley McKerrow
Emma KEALY (Lowan) (09:46): I would like to acknowledge the sad passing of Mrs Shirley McKerrow OAM. Shirley was a phenomenal woman and an amazing servant to her community. But she was an amazing woman in so many other ways, because she was the first woman to serve as a state president of any political party, being state president of the Nationals from 1976 to 1980, and then from 1981 to 1987 she was the federal president of the Nationals. We are enormously proud of the work that Shirley did, not just for the National Party but for the community that she served. She did an enormous amount of work with the Gisborne bush nursing hospital when it was first established. She absolutely set the trail for other women to follow in her footsteps and certainly did so for me as a female MP, who saw that the Nationals was a pathway that I could follow. I pass on my sincere condolences to Dianne, Lachlan, Ian and Sally. Vale, Shirley McKerrow.