Minister for Indigenous Australians
Subjects: Trish Crossin.
ADAM STEER, HOST: Welcome to the program Senator. That must have been a bit of a shock to be greeted with that news last night or this morning.
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY, MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: Last night wasn't too good Adam, that's for sure. I know that Trish's family, in particular, found it enormously difficult and still are. But so are her friends and her close friends here in the Northern Territory and across Australia. We're pretty devastated, really, to be honest.
ADAM STEER: How do you remember the late Senator, and what role did she play when you first took the role that she had once held for 15 years?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: I still find it hard to believe that she's not with us and have been reconciling it with my own memories, actually, Adam, and talking to those who knew her just as well as I did. I first recall seeing Trish when I was just a young mum, coming in from Borroloola, and her involvement with the Working Women's Centre, with Gillian Harrison, another pretty amazing woman. And her involvement then on a personal level with me and my families in the Gulf region. But as I became more involved with the Labor party, she certainly became a very strong mentor and support. I was always inspired by her determination and her push for women and women's rights. She firmly believed that there was a place for women, not just in the kitchen, Adam, but in the Parliament, and she made that very clear that we needed to be in there.
ADAM STEER: Yes, I was playing some of her speech, in fact, her maiden speech where she landed herself in hot water in just her first speech in federal parliament, and then her reaction when the intervention was called. We did hear from Kathy McMahon, who was a teacher with Trish in Yirrkala in the early 80s. So, she certainly, if anything else, was very passionate about bringing, as the Prime Minister said today, new opportunities to the Northern Territory community.
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Totally. And for everyone. Her time, certainly in Northeast Arnhem Land, with families there as a school teacher with Mark. They were a much-loved couple and still are very well thought of with much love by lots of Territorians, in particular, the Yolŋu. I just think that her ability to fight for the Territory, to talk about the issues that people wouldn't talk about at times. When we think of when she entered, she entered when the Territory was a changing time. It was a time when there was a vote for statehood. It was the era when people thought change was possible and then she was a part of that early stage of those struggles for the Territory to define itself. It had not long been the battle over euthanasia, in terms of the legislation in the Northern Territory. She came in on the back of all of those things as a Senator for the Northern Territory and fought very proudly. And like everyone of us, we don't always get it right, but one of the things I really admired about Trish was, she would certainly correct and make a bold correction of things that she felt she needed to do.
ADAM STEER: Yes, a sad loss for the Northern Territory.
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: A big loss.
ADAM STEER: Thank you so much, Senator, and our care goes out to everybody who's been deeply affected by the sudden passing of the Senator. It's good to hear from you.
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Thank you.
ADAM STEER: That's Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, current Northern Territory Labor Senator, reflecting on the life and times of Trish Crossin, the former Northern Territory Labor Senator.
