Thursday, 20 February 2020

Noeline Dalzell

Ms KILKENNY (Carrum) (10:01): Last Friday I attended the funeral service for Noeline Dalzell of Seaford. She died on 4 February, aged 49. Noeline leaves behind three children: Paige, year 11; Zac, year 10; and Olivia, year 8. She also leaves behind a brother, Malcolm, and a sister-in-law, Jenny. These two people, having raised their own children, now find themselves suddenly raising three teenagers. And Noeline leaves behind a local community, my community of Seaford North and Carrum. This is an incredible community—caring, resilient, generous, compassionate—but a community struggling to come to terms with this heartbreak. Their lives and the lives of so many have been ripped upside down.

At Noeline’s service there were so many friends of the three children—classmates, team members from Zac’s football club, school principals, teachers and staff, families, local businesspeople—all struggling with Noeline’s death and aching with sadness for her three children. The distress and grief and sadness, the anguish and the anger they are all feeling was clear. It was and is an utterly painful story, but an all-too-familiar one. The way Noeline died and the circumstances in which she died were not mentioned at her service, but we all knew; and everyone at that service and others who were not there that are trying to deal with Noeline’s death are clear on this: we must end family violence. No children, no family, should ever have to go through what this family is dealing with.

Yesterday there were more deaths, this time in Brisbane. Hannah and her family—another community, another family—are dealing with the aftermath of another shocking incident. I know that my local community of Seaford and Carrum will continue to support Noeline’s children, and I thank them. Together we will honour and acknowledge Noeline’s life and her place in our community.