MINISTER LAUDED FOR STRONG STANCE
VICTORIAN politician and passionate anti-family violence campaigner Fiona Richardson saved lives with her work before cancer took hers, aged 50.
Despite a publicised battle with cancer dating to 2013, and recent revelation of multiple tumours, the mother-of-two’s shock death on Wednesday rocked Spring Street.
Flags were at half-mast in tribute to Australia’s first minister for the prevention of family violence.
Premier Daniel Andrews placed her greatest legacy, the 2000-page royal commission report, on her chair on the front bench, with two yellow roses on top.
Her colleagues wore purple, the colour used in the campaign against family violence.
Speaker Colin Brooks’s voice wavered as he recited the Lord’s Prayer.
Ms Richardson’s work changed the state, Mr Andrews told the Legislative Assembly.
“A change that has saved lives and will continue to save lives into the future,” he said.
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said Ms Richardson “left a mark in this place that few will”.
“There are many Victorian women who will lead a happy and safe life as a result of the work that she has done,” Mr Guy told the parliament.
Anti-family violence campaigner and survivor Rosie Batty urged the State Government to carry on her friend’s legacy. AAP