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June 18th, 2013 
OUTGOING Labor MP Nicola Roxon has praised Julia Gillard as an amazing prime minister, saying the party has let internal divisions overshadow its ability to do right by Australia.
Ms Gillard, who earlier attended a caucus meeting of Labor MPs, was in the lower house on Tuesday to hear Ms Roxon give her valedictory speech ahead of her retirement at the September 14 election.
“We should be proud of her and her work,” Ms Roxon said of the prime minister.
While Labor had delivered compassion and nation building in equal measure, its works had been overtaken by ongoing leadership tensions since Ms Gillard overthrew Kevin Rudd in 2010.
“We’ve allowed internal tensions to overshadow our core mission for too long,” Ms Roxon said.
“We are a proud party with a proud record and now we need to start behaving like one.”
The government is facing a potentially huge election defeat in three months and there have been caucus rumblings about whether Ms Gillard should be replaced by Mr Rudd.
Last week the prime minister was subjected to rude and crass comments about her body and her relationship.
“We’ve got a capable, tough, smart, determined woman as our prime minister,” Ms Roxon said.
“But she has been subjected to some of the most crass, silly, petty, sexist and just plain rude behaviour for years.”
Ms Roxon said the proper treatment of women in the workplace had been a priority for her as a lawyer and as a parliamentarian.
“These latest events show us there is a dangerous underbelly still compromising women in Australia and that the feminist cause is just as urgent as before,” she said.
“It really is time for people to understand how corrosive sexism is, to acknowledge that it deliberately sets out to diminish authority and sideline the real issues.
“Constantly sexualising women disempowers them.”
On a personal note, the former health minister and attorney-general said she was proud of her work on Australia’s new tobacco plain packaging laws.
She also said she needed to thank Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
“I wish to thank him for providing the material for some of the most memorable moments of my political career,” Ms Roxon said, noting the time he swore at her after arriving late to a televised health policy debate.
Ms Roxon acknowledged it was a hard time for Labor but the party shouldn’t let the “naysayers and the nasties define us”.
“Nation building and compassion, looking after those who need a bit more help and a lot more opportunity,” she added.
“This is Labor’s enduring mission, it’s one to be proud of and it’s a mission that we should fight for.”
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