Television Transcript - Broadcast 22 October 2026, 7:34 am - 7:42 am

Emma Rebellato: Well, Mr. Haines was speaking there alongside Australia's Governor-General, Sam Mostyn, who joins us now from Admiralty House in Sydney. Your Excellency, thanks for joining us.

Governor-General: Good morning, Emma.

Emma Rebellato: You stood alongside Phil, who I think we all agree spoke so bravely and so eloquently to all of us. How is he and the family? And how are you?

Governor-General: Oh, well, the only person I'm concerned about at the moment is Helen and her family. You ask about how Phil was and I think the comment already you've made is what strength – it's a deeply, deeply emotional time for Phil and his broader family. I had the great honour before we did the press conference to spend time with his broader family, including two brand new little grandchildren. It's just simply heartbreaking. And the family, I think, made it quite clear through Phil that all of our thoughts go to Helen and her day-by-day recovery at this moment. She's lost both her legs in this horrific attack and how any person, let alone the family, then starts to process that, we've just got to continue to have them in our thoughts. I love the fact that Phil did speak, though, about her beautiful heart and her beautiful mind and I think that's encouraging to his family and has encouraged all of us around the country to think about how we do respond to this terrible tragedy and pay deep respects to Helen and to her beautiful family. And I was very, very privileged to have Phil call me yesterday morning and ask if I would stand beside him as Governor-General and a friend of Helen's to offer some remarks on behalf of the country.

Emma Rebellato: Can you tell us about your friendship with Helen and what she means to you?

Governor-General: Well, Helen represents for me and so many of us the, I guess, the embodiment of what great representation can look like in this country - Cathy McGowan before her I knew and had travelled to many, many years ago to understand what does that community representation look like. I was interested in it many, many years ago in terms of how communities were thinking about getting their voices out into the broader electorate at all levels, our parliaments and our systems. And Helen is someone that I've got to know. I wouldn't say we're close or deep friends. It's been a friendship based on the things that we all do. I have that friendship with many people across our parliaments at local, state and federal levels. And I'd most recently, though, been with Helen in Euroa at a bushfire recovery hub where we were thanking first responders to the terrible things that had happened in Victoria with floods and fires. And we just started to talk about how generally across our country, this rising tide of anger, of division and threatened violence was something that we could think about and what would be a response to that. And also include in that, what she saw me doing in talking about care, kindness and respect deep in our democracy – encouraging people to actually understand how our system works, why we should be so proud of it, why we have this great strong democracy that everyone participates in. But how we would reasonably deal with this rising tide of anger and to see it perpetrated in this vicious attack on this beautiful woman just going about her job, representing her community, I think has brought forward the notion that we can all do better.

Emma Rebellato: Well, that was one of the things you said yesterday, that this is a moment for us to pause and do better. You are in the highest office of this country. How do you feel seeing what's happening in Australia right now?

Governor-General. So, I have the ultimate privilege serving as Australia's Governor-General. And all former Governors-General have commented on this in their terms. We're above politics. We don't have any politics or policies. We are uniquely positioned to cast, I guess, some observations about where the country is at and before going into the problems we've got, I would just say that because I get to travel all around the country and deep into communities, the biggest thing I see across our country is still the very good of Australians and the building of communities, the sense of fair play, of stepping-up for each other. We saw that in Ricky Jefferies, you know, the local barber, jumping in and possibly saving Helen's life with his immediate actions. They're the Australians I see most regularly across the most diverse population. And I see it in our young people who step up to want to be involved in politics. I saw 150 of them in Canberra as the first ever Youth Parliament to celebrate 125 years since Federation. So, Australia's story is still a good strong one and we shouldn't forget that. That's why I think as a nation we pause and think about what are those new features that have crept into our system. They've started many years ago, I think the long tail of COVID, of isolation, the increasing decision by many to isolate themselves and to only have curated sources of information. So, fact is no longer agreed between us when we debate. All those things are a threat and are a worry. But that's what's on all of us, I think to remind ourselves that we do the job, be curious about our democracy, learn about who we are as citizens and how we exercise our vote, and then show this deep kindness and care for each other and not take that immediate descent into an attack or viciousness or division. There's too many other forces around us trying to make us be like that. It's not an Australian trait. I see generosity and care everywhere I go. I just want us to exercise that, that real muscle of decency in everything we're doing and to protect against those forces that, you know, other countries, other nations, we've seen fall into much more, much more violent clashes. That's not what we want to have here. I don't believe that's what will happen here. And I think part of my job, as all Governors-General have done, is to remain optimistic and make sure that our modern, successful Australia continues to do the things that we do so well.

Emma Rebellato: One of the things you also said was words matter, whether they're in person, written form, online. This, of course, has thrown a spotlight on security as well as increasing threats against people in public life. As the Governor-General and as a woman who has been in leadership positions before now as well, what's been your experience?

Governor-General: Well, I think like any woman who has stepped up into any position across any part of our society, there is a unique and pernicious form of attack that comes our way. I still receive that online. In fact, I was just saddened this morning to see some of the comments on my own Instagram page, in capitals with expletives, once again questioning the very nature of what it is that I do. I think that women across the country know that there are certain things that are reserved for women in that attack that go to our gender, and they are often vicious and just despicable. I know that that's also what's being experienced by women and men across the country. Our rising levels of violence against women is something that we've had great concern about for a long time. And the fact that it's not changing says something about the temper of our times and how that continues. But I think what we need to take care of, it's not just women, it's not just people in high places. Attacks on people who service in shops, on nursing staff. The fact that we go into places where there are signs asking us to show respect to people who take care of us or serve us says we've got to a point where some responsibility on all of us just to be, just to be caring and decent, to show care, kindness. Wherever I go, Emma, people say to me, why do we not talk about kindness more? Why is kindness seen as some kind of just things that women do always or is soft, people yearn for kindness and they're yearning for a sense of decency. And I think what we've got to do is we all have an individual role and I think all of us in public office, we've got a model behaviour that says we understand when people have concerns about those that serve the country. And I think that that's, that's on all of us. I hope that this terrible tragedy, unspeakable attack on one of the best exemplars of this forces us to pause, reflect and we can be so much better. And I know that is the Australian character that's at the heart of our nation.

Emma Rebellato: Governor-General Sam Mostyn, thank you very much for your time.

END.

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