Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a privilege to speak on this motion. I want to briefly pay tribute to the late Peter Brock and to make mention of his contribution. Before I do so, I commend the previous speaker, the member for Bendigo, on his knowledge of racing history, Bathurst and Australian cars. I can attest that his knowledge is impeccable. As someone who owns a 1971 GTS 350 and has owned several Monaros in my life, I can say that he is absolutely on the money. It is something that is a bit of a passion of mine—though I have yet to get my wife to travel with me in it. The member for Bendigo’s outline of Australian motorsport history was right on the money.

As the member for Bendigo outlined, and as the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition have outlined, Australia lost a great Australian on the day Peter Brock died—on Friday, 8 September. I heard the news on the radio late that afternoon. In the week that Steve Irwin had also passed, it seemed quite surreal. If I had woken up to the news, I would have thought I had dreamt it. As all speakers have outlined—and speakers yet to make their contribution, I know, will also outline—Peter Brock was a very special Australian. He was a great success at his chosen sport for such a long period of time—nine Bathurst wins. To give you some idea of how long he was successful, he won his first race in the year that I was born, back in 1967. But, more than that, he was a great contributor to his local community and his nation.

As the member for Bendigo outlined, Peter Brock made a major national contribution on road safety, the road toll and drink-driving—and did so at a time when Australia had horrific statistics for drink-driving and road fatality. He did not just agree to have the 05 on his car; he went out of his way to promote that message for the rest of his life and the rest of his motor racing career. For those in his local community in Melbourne, he was selfless with his time and for so many causes—many causes you would not automatically associate with a Bathurst winner.

He was obviously—and I say ‘obviously’ because I do not stand here pretending to have known Peter Brock—someone with a great and inquiring mind. He was certainly passionate about the local environment and Indigenous issues—and the list went on. It did not matter how big or small the cause, he would always make the time and make the effort. We of course saw that in the tributes that flowed in the days and weeks following his death. The tributes from his local community and from communities across Melbourne and right across Australia, including those we saw at the recent Bathurst race, where, fittingly, a person he had spent so much time mentoring won the race by half a second—or, as they pointed out, 0.05 of a second—said so much about what a person Peter Brock was and how much we have lost.

As I have said, I do not pretend to have known him well. In fact, I met him once. But what I want to add to this statement is that a very good friend of his who is also a very good friend of mine has been deeply affected, as you would expect, by his death. I speak of Mr Phil Munday, who worked very closely with him for 10 years as a sponsor of and, in many ways, a co-partner in many of his projects in the motor racing industry. In fact, I met Peter Brock at the wedding of Phil and Carolyn Munday just a couple of years ago.

In the week prior to Peter’s death they had been in England together, where Peter Brock raced. They had both worked on restoring a car—and anyone who has been involved in a car restoration knows what it is like—tirelessly over the course of a year. They decided a year or so before to restore to racing condition a 1953 FX 215 which had raced at Goodwood in London in the fifties. The annual Goodwood Revival race south of London was on, and they restored the car and sent it over there with all the complications and headaches that go with that. Peter Brock raced the car to a respectable fourth, from memory, against some of the world’s best. It was a great thing they decided to do to promote Australian cars and Holden—and the very first Holden that came out, in particular. I know that Phil and Carolyn are feeling great loss at this time at Peter’s shock death. I am sure every member would agree that if Peter Brock’s contribution can live on in other generations involved in motorsport, or for that matter any sport, in terms of dedication to a sport and giving back, as he did in so many ways, Australia will be a very good place indeed.

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