Page 3121 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 20 August 2019
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Australian Federal Police, the department of taxation, the Australian Institute of Criminology and the ACT Magistrates Court, to name only a few.
Aunty Tracey had years of experience serving the community. On 17 January 2011 she was appointed as the Official Visitor for Corrections. Since that time she has spent hundreds of hours inside the Alexander Maconochie Centre, working directly with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander detainees to make sure their voices are heard and their rights protected.
As the Official Visitor for Corrections, Aunty Tracey performed her work for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander detainees with passion and commitment through both good health and bad health. She will be sadly missed for her tireless, non-judgemental work, all focused towards making a positive impact on the lives of the disadvantaged men and women she served in this community. She has certainly left big shoes to fill.
Ms Tracey Whetnall has left an extraordinary hole in the Canberra community and she will be greatly missed, but her legacy and spirit will continue to live on. My staff and I, who have had contact with her personally over many years, very much appreciated her warmth, strength and humour, as much as her professionalism and steadfast advocacy. She also had a lot to offer to me in my various portfolios by way of advice and occasionally encouragement, bringing significant wisdom to those conversations.
On behalf of the Assembly, I extend our sincerest condolences to Ms Whetnall’s family, her children and her extended family. I say to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of this community that I mourn Aunty Tracey’s passing with you.
MS STEPHEN-SMITH (Kurrajong—Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Minister for Children, Youth and Families, Minister for Disability, Minister for Employment and Workplace Safety, Minister for Health and Minister for Urban Renewal) (10.16): I wish to start by thanking Tracey Whetnall’s family for inviting me to represent the ACT government at Tracey’s memorial service at Boomanulla Oval, to pay tribute to an important leader of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
Although I could not quite bring myself to wear the red and green of Tracey’s beloved South Sydney Rabbitohs, it was incredibly touching to see how many people did. Tracey’s passion for the Rabbitohs shone through everything on that sad day, alongside her love for her daughter, Shara, and granddaughter, Kalina.
Today we remember Tracey as a strong Dharawal woman and a fierce advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans, and her legacy will be as strong as her advocacy. Tracey made a difference—to detainees and their families, to the territory’s most vulnerable children and young people, and in the wider community, working with non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the ACT and New South Wales to build understanding of why change is important and what change looks like.
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