Mr BURKE (Watson—Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Minister for the Arts and Leader of the House) (09:01): Joy McKean was a great, great leader in the Australian music industry, a true storyteller and a trailblazer. I met her in the briefest interaction 20 years ago at the funeral of her husband, Slim Dusty. I came to know her better 10 years ago when I was arts minister, attending one of the Slim Dusty Day events. And now, 10 years later, we're remembering Joy. In 2019, I had the honour to present Joy with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Australian Women in Music Awards. There, where you have women across all genres in the music industry, all with a central focus on the role of Joy McKean as a leader, as a visionary and as a brilliant songwriter. Her acceptance speech was very, very her—an ode to women in music and a thankyou to musicians, songwriters and her family. She opened with an acknowledgement of the award. She said: The first thing I can say is that I never thought it would happen—an awards night for us! She identified with the plight of the women in the room and the shared purpose of the awards to improve gender equality in the music industry. She said: I used to always think that all this might eventually happen, but it took a darn long while. She was proud of the progress in country music, that, and I quote: … women in country music are writing what they want to write, and they're singing it loud and clear. Joy made an outstanding contribution. She was a giant of Australian country music. Her songwriting really did transport you. Music was a crucial part of her life, from her earliest years growing up in the Hunter Valley. Along with her sister Heather, they performed two-part yodelling harmonies, standing out from the crowd and beginning lifelong journeys as songwriters. As well as her deep connection to music as an artist, she was also a pioneer for women in the music business. She was Slim Dusty's manager and life partner, a relationship of over 50 years of love and music. Joy won the first ever Golden Guitar Award at the Tamworth Country Music Festival in 1973 for 'Lights on the Hill', which she said she wrote to the rhythm of windshield wipers driving through country New South Wales. When Joy first started writing music in the 1950s, the industry was truly male dominated. As an artist and as a manager there were few opportunities for women at the time to be recognised for their work in shaping Australia's cultural identity. As Slim Dusty's manager, Joy was a huge part of his lucrative career, creating more than 100 albums, winning 45 Golden Guitars and touring together all over Australia. The breadth of those tours across Australia is almost incomprehensible. We're not just talking major towns. Peter Garrett, when he was here, used to often relate the first time Midnight Oil decided that they'd go out to remote First Nations communities where no band had ever performed before. At the end of the gig they'd say, 'How does it feel to have us out here?' chatting about it. The First Nations attendees at the gigs would say: 'Oh, yeah. Slim and Joy came through quite a bit.' They never made a big fuss of it, but they made sure, no matter where you lived in Australia, their music was there for you. Keith Urban reflected on Joy McKean, correcting that often terrible phrase that gets used about 'behind a great man is a great woman'. Keith Urban just said, 'In Slim's case, she was always right beside him.' Passionately continuing the deep-rooted tradition in the Australian music industry of helping up-and-coming artists, Joy McKean played a key role in the careers and lives of so many great Australian talents. Legends like singer-songwriter Beccy Cole and Kasey Chambers have recognised and thanked Joy for her empathetic and nurturing spirit. We honour her now, but people also honoured her through her life. Who gets the likes of Paul Kelly, Troy Cassar-Daley, Beccy Cole and Don Walker performing at their 90th birthday concert? Joy McKean was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for her services to the contemporary Australian music industry, and only a few years ago, in 2021, she was honoured with the Ted Albert Award for outstanding services to Australian music, along with her large collection of deserving accolades. Singer and songwriter Georgia Mooney said at that time: Joy is the very definition of a quiet achiever. Humble, wise, tough and profoundly talented. Her contribution to Australian music is too immense to measure. I've no doubt she will continue to inspire songwriters for years to come, especially women. The world was made better for her 93 years, which she dedicated to her love of life, family and music. Joy sang in her record 'I Don't Believe You'—she wrote this after Slim had passed—this beautiful lyric: Don't say a song won't live, after the singer. Don't say that love is lost, while the memory lingers. The queen of Australian country music, Joy leaves us with so much more than a memory. She leaves us with song that will forever be played.