Labor luminaries farewell ‘cherished’ MP Peta Murphy

Ms Murphy was a proud trade unionist, political staffer, “magnificent candidate, outstanding local MP and brilliant parliamentarian”, he said.

“There are some members of parliament whose contribution earns the grudging respect of the chamber,” Mr Albanese said.

“There are others – rarer still – who win genuine admiration and real affection across the political spectrum. Peta Murphy was one of those.

“And it is so hard, so cruel, so unfair, to think we’ll never see her bright and shining smile again ... never again listen as Peta the happy warrior wades into a debate or steers a committee hearing with that extraordinary combination of intellect, integrity and empathy.

“And we’ll never again get told off for making fun of squash.”

Mr Albanese said she treated every minute in public life as a gift, an opportunity to advance social justice and chance to serve the people.

“And yet a profound part of the grief we feel today is not just that we have been deprived of someone we deeply loved, it is that Australia has been denied more of what Peta had to give,” the PM said.

Ms Murphy’s husband, Rod Glover, said her aim when the cancer came back was to make her 50th birthday, which she celebrated a few weeks ago with friends and family.

“She left us 11 days ago and she left us the way she lived: with dignity, courage and sarcasm,” he said.

Fiona Todd, who met Ms Murphy when they were junior lawyers at a criminal law firm, recalled her friend as a dedicated professional. She recounted how a former client, Narelle, enrolled herself to vote for Ms Murphy after the aspiring politician door-knocked her house.

“Peta spoke the same way to you, whether you were her friend, a client, a Supreme Court judge or a labrador,” Ms Todd said.

“Peta Murphy, we just love you and we are so grateful to have known you.”

A byelection for Dunkley will be held in the new year.