Brendan Nelson (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on indulgence also: firstly, I support very much the remarks of the Prime Minister in relation to the late Bernie Banton. Bernie was, in my opinion, a people’s hero in a country that desperately needed one. He died at the age of 61 from asbestos related mesothelioma. He will obviously be remembered as a great fighter for the right of workers to have safe workplaces. He sought justice for the victims of asbestos related diseases and won that $4½ billion compensation fund from James Hardie Industries to compensate these victims—and, as the Prime Minister so rightly said, he could not have done it without the support of the union movement.

Mr Banton’s full-time job was at a James Hardie owned factory in Sydney’s western suburbs where he worked making moulds from cement silica and asbestos. Less than 10 of the 137 employees of that plant are still alive today. He and his fellow workers at the factory were known as ‘snowmen’, because every day when they left work they were covered with white asbestos powder. One of his brothers, Ted, had already died of the disease, and another, Albert, also suffers from asbestosis, and all three worked at the James Hardie factory.

As we have heard, in 2004 he went every day to a special commission of inquiry into James Hardie’s use of asbestos. The inquiry recommended a negotiated settlement, which Bernie played a large part in securing. He fought not just for himself but for others—in fact, he fought for others more so than for himself. He wanted to make sure that others did not have to suffer the immense pain that mesothelioma causes. He played the pivotal role in negotiating the compensation fund from James Hardie Industries, and his success in this role represented the very best of what can be achieved when a group of people—in this case, supported by the unions—can achieve for working people.

Bernie will be remembered for his fighting spirit, his courage in the face of insurmountable barriers, and his sense of humour. When hearing of the rather large payout of a Hardie chief, Bernie said: ‘It’s taken my breath away, and I only have 20 per cent of it left.’ At his funeral, his brother Brian said that Bernie was able to forgive Hardie industries before he died. To forgive those who had caused him and others great pain is a testament to his character and one of the principal reasons he is remembered, and remembered so fondly, and regarded so highly. He is survived by his wife, Karen, his five children and 11 grandchildren.

I would also like to join the Prime Minister in condolence in relation to Matt Price. It is hard to speak about Matt without speaking about the so-called ‘spearing’ to which the Prime Minister referred, but it would not be possible for me to do that without it being at my expense. He was born in 1961 in Perth and, as we know, he died on 25 November 2007. The son of an accountant, he was educated in the Catholic school system. He was prodigiously talented. In fact, a very senior person in our former government regarded him as ‘the most outstanding journalist in the Canberra gallery’.

He could summarise a situation with great perception and often with an extraordinary sense of humour. He was always going to be a journalist. He had worked for the Albany Advertiser, the Perth Daily News, the Nine Network, and Sky News in London. He won the inaugural Paul Lyneham Award for Excellence in Press Gallery Journalism in 2003. His bio on the Australian website said:

Career highlights include covering the Lockerbie bombing, the Sydney Olympics and watching Fremantle win the AFL premiership. The latter hasn’t happened yet, but it will. Oh yes, it will.

I hear Julie Bishop laughing. When doctors found tumours in his brain in early October last year, Matt wrote a message to his friends telling them he was about to undergo exploratory brain surgery and about to enter ‘a long, dark tunnel’. He signed off with this message:

No pithy punchline, just the obvious observation—life is fragile, hug your loved ones.

Of all of the things that were said about him and the kind of person that he was, I think Mike Harvey’s description of how he came into the lives of him and his partner, Cynthia Banham, who suffered amazing injuries in the crash in Yogyakarta last year, is most telling. Mike Harvey said this:

Cynthia was in a week-long coma and her life was in the balance. Matt was everywhere for us. Every day he would be calling or visiting me or his family were cooking me dinners, just the little things that friends do to take the pressure off in such terrible circumstances.

We had many long conversations about the fragility of life during this time and his sense of spirit and optimism helped us both get through the most terrible six months.

He never imposed himself on us, not once. His emotional strength was a pillar for both of us.

Cynthia was out of hospital for the day, and Matt and Sue and the kids came, and he was excited for us, he was really, genuinely excited because it was such a step for us in our recovery process. That gave us great emotional strength. I don’t know what I would have done had he not been around to help me, to push me, to constantly be a shoulder to lean on. I will miss him terribly.

As the Prime Minister observed, the centre of Matt’s life was his family—nothing else and no-one else. He did not take us very seriously, nor did he take himself very seriously, and he will be remembered not for what he was but for who he was. The Prime Minister said that he did not achieve his full potential, and he did not, but he surely helped us achieve ours, and we will miss him greatly.

I also join in the condolence for Sir Charles Court. Sir Charles was a true giant of the 20th century, and today we remember in him a great Liberal leader. To correct the Prime Minister: he was not a ‘son’ of the Liberal Party; he was a father of the Liberal Party. He was a pioneer and a visionary, whose commitment to the state of Western Australia and to our country continues to reap rewards to this very day. In fact, every Australian who hears about our surplus and our very strong economic circumstances needs to reflect for a moment on the fact that that has been given to us in no small way by this man’s vision and determination to develop the resources sector in the state of Western Australia.

Sir Charles was born in Sussex, England on 29 September, 1911. He came to Australia with his parents as a baby. He was raised by parents of Labor leanings, who also taught their son the value of hard work and instilled in him the importance of family and maintaining high moral standards, values with which he would find himself very much at home in the Liberal Party. His drive and work ethic led Sir Charles to be the first of his family to enter a profession, accountancy, and he helped establish the firm of Hendry Rae and Court. Sir Charles joined the conservative movement in part due to his anger at the obstruction of the war effort, as he saw it, by militant unions. Sir Charles felt the call to duty and enlisted in the Army as a private in 1940 before rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and serving with distinction in the Pacific. Upon discharge in 1946, he entered the Western Australian parliament as the member for Nedlands.

Within three years of entering parliament, Sir Charles became Deputy Leader of the Opposition and, following the election of the Liberal Country Party government of David Brand in 1959, was appointed Minister for Industrial Development, the North West and Railways. It was at that time that Sir Charles began laying the foundations for the development of Western Australia’s enormous mineral resources. He was particularly successful in ensuring the Pilbara was opened up for iron ore exploration and the commercial exploitation of these vast reserves. One particular innovation was to ensure that mining companies paid for the pipelines, townships, railways and other infrastructure needed to service the mining fields. The capital required to finance this infrastructure necessitated the involvement of the big multinational companies, and Sir Charles was assiduous in his work to attract overseas investment to the west. In this regard, Sir Charles was well ahead of his contemporaries in ties with Asia, in particular with Japan. He was the principal driver behind Canberra’s decision to lift the ban on exporting iron ore. As Sir Robert Menzies, another fine Liberal leader, said: ‘Sir Charles was a remarkable man who would never take “no” for an answer.’ After the defeat of the Brand government in 1971, he was the natural choice to lead the opposition; indeed, he was a wise choice for the Liberal and National Country Party. It won back government from the Tonkin Labor government in 1974, and Sir Charles was to remain Premier until his retirement at the age of 70 in 1982. His commitment to developing Western Australia’s regions also saw the development of the North West Shelf gas reserves and the establishment of the Ord River scheme. Whilst both these projects were criticised in their infancy, Sir Charles’s vision has been vindicated in recent years. Western Australia is looked at with envy by the other states for the dynamism, entrepreneurial spirit and optimism of its people.

Among his personal interests, Sir Charles was an accomplished cornet player, performing in several orchestras including for the final Australian performances of Anna Pavlova. His love of the arts and education led to the restoration of Her Majesty’s Theatre, the establishment of Murdoch University and the Art Gallery of Western Australia. He was a man of enormous integrity and intelligence, who set the foundation stones for the prosperity of modern Western Australia and for the way in which it drives Australia’s national prosperity. He was the patriarch of a great, wonderful extended family, he was a patriarch of the Liberal Party of Australia and he was the patriarch of a modern, vibrant, prosperous Western Australia. He is survived by his wife, Judy, by his children, Victor, Barry, Ken, Richard and Geoffrey, and by 16 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.

I would also like to support the condolence for Sir Edmund Hillary. Sir Edmund Hillary devoted his life to exploring, mountaineering and helping the Nepalese people. He was truly devoted to helping others and built his life based on humility and generosity. He will be remembered first and foremost as the first man to climb Mount Everest, a feat achieved in May 1953 with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. Sir Edmund’s life demonstrated that the human spirit, inspired by the fragile yet powerful emotion of hope, can overcome any adversity. He lived the two qualities that are foundations to a successful life. The first is an unshakeable and powerful inspiration of hope to overcome anything, and the second is a life in the service of others. As such, he will be remembered as a true giant of our generation.

Sir Edmund’s achievements extended well beyond mountaineering and exploring. He devoted much of his life to helping the Sherpa people of Nepal to build hospitals, schools and bridges in the remote areas of the Himalayas. During the Second World War, Sir Edmund served in the New Zealand Air Force. He was appointed New Zealand High Commissioner to India, Nepal and Bangladesh in 1985. He also served as the Honorary President of the American Himalayan Foundation, which helps improve the living conditions in the Himalayas. I think the Prime Minister, when Leader of the Opposition, described himself as ‘having to climb an Everest’. Sir Edmund left us a popular expression which describes knowing that something is going to be extraordinarily difficult to achieve and overcome, but which can nevertheless be done. And so I say that we too will climb that Everest.

Sir Edmund is survived by his wife, Lady June Hillary, and his two children, Peter and Sarah. We offer our condolences not only to them but to the people of New Zealand for having given this great man to the world.

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