Page 4170 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 22 October 2019
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I first really got to know Catherine well at the start of 2015, when I joined the governance office at the commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department. Catherine quickly made me feel very welcome. Being caring was intrinsic to her nature, and everyone who came into contact with her would attest to this. I vividly remember one of the first things Catherine asked me was if I was dog person. Catherine was without a doubt a dog person. I do not think her little dog, Sparky, could have had a better or more loving carer. He and his numerous health issues were a frequent topic of discussion in the team. Only this year Catherine adopted another little dog, Walter, who I can imagine received the same dedication and love as Sparky did.
But Catherine’s dedicated nature extended beyond Sparky and Walter; Catherine’s dedication to her job was palpable to everyone who came across her. She joined the commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department in 2004, following a career in teaching and having worked in local government in New South Wales. She first worked on the national security hotline and in cyber and identity policy. When I joined the team she was a longstanding member of the governance office and provided, and continued to provide up until her death, high-level and high standard corporate support to the department’s senior management committee and executive board. For those who are not members of the department, these groupings probably do not mean much, but the members of these are the most senior officers in the department.
Catherine was well known and respected among the senior executive, and the secretary of the department, Chris Moraitis, acknowledged this personally last week in an email to all staff. But it was more than just the senior executive; Catherine had extraordinary and enduring connections right across the department at all levels. Her job essentially involved herding cats. She was extremely good at it, in large part due to how well she got to know the person behind a role, no matter what level position they held. And if you had a dog, she got to know you especially well.
It was an honour and a pleasure to nominate her for an Australia Day achievement award, which she duly received in early 2016, for consistently providing exceptional service to the department’s governance bodies and contributing to the department’s corporate management through outstanding cooperation and innovation. She had no idea it was coming, and I had to keep the secret for around two months. I will never forget standing beside her and seeing her face and how quietly chuffed she remained afterwards. I am especially glad that the department as a whole got the opportunity to demonstrate to Catherine in a very public way how we felt about her and what her professionalism meant to us.
As Catherine’s boss I can remark that she was loyal, kind, constant and consistent, all qualities I deeply value and recognise. She was widely trusted and respected, and she was also my friend. If Catherine was listening to this speech she would say she was just doing her job, but it is the way she did her job which was so highly valued and why her loss is so deeply and keenly felt, a painful ripple across the Australian public service for all who knew and worked with her. As one of her colleagues recently remarked:
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