Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

It is a great honour to rise to speak in recognition of Lionel Rose and to do so after the members for Hasluck and McMillan. I say that because they both, in their own way, represent a part of this story. The member for McMillan represents the area in which the great Lionel Rose grew up. It was not a privileged background, as has been well set out. It was a tough, hard background, but he was an Australian who took an extraordinary journey. In my view, the definition of what we in this House seek to achieve for people is the opportunity to live the life of their choice. The title of a book by the great British explorer in the Danakil area of the Horn of Africa, Wilfred Thesiger, was The Life of My Choice. If that is what we aspire to bring in some small measure to Australia, Lionel Rose was the embodiment of that life. He came from the most humble of beginnings in the Gippsland area, an area adjacent to my own electorate. I know that on the Mornington Peninsula and in West Gippsland this is somebody they looked to as one of their own, and there was a great sense of affection many years—43 years—after he took on and beat Masahiko 'Fighting' Harada in Tokyo. He was looked upon as a local. He was looked upon as an Indigenous path maker and trailblazer. But above all else he was looked upon as an extraordinarily generous, decent and courageous human being.

So in our part of the world there is this great sense of affection, connection and gentle love for Lionel Rose which goes back to the fact that he was a local who came from a background which should not have led him to the world stage but which did, and he did it on his own terms and in his own way—a way which inspired generations of young Australians from all backgrounds. But on top of that he, along with Evonne Goolagong Cawley, also helped pave the way for Indigenous Australians to be held in a higher level of esteem and to give themselves that sense of the possibility that they could do anything in this country.

In that context we have somebody who was an inspiration to young locals in Gippsland and the Mornington Peninsula of Victoria and, more generally, Australia; a particular inspiration to Indigenous Australians; but, above all else—and this is where I want to finish in this very brief recognition and tribute—an exemplar to all of us of a life well lived. At end of day there is no doubt he was able to look back and, with family and friends around him and with his own set of achievements—yes, there was hardship at the start; yes, it was hard along the way; and, yes, there was hardship at the finish—look at a life well lived, believing and knowing that he had lived the life of his choice and done so in a way which brought honour to him and to his family and brought joy to millions of Australians.

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