Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

On indulgence, during the winter parliamentary recess we lost a member of the press gallery, a remarkable man and a remarkable journalist, Rob Chalmers. When Rob Chalmers came to his first question time as a cadet reporter it was March 1951—that is pretty amazing to think about. Bob Menzies was within weeks of his second election victory that ended Ben Chifley's career. It was to become the year of Chifley's death; the year Menzies attempted to abolish the Communist Party. We were at war in Korea. We signed the ANZUS Treaty. We celebrated half a century of Federation. It was a vintage year for a young reporter to join a press gallery of giants. And Rob Chalmers became one of those giants.

He was a journo's journo: shrewd, independent, authoritative. He represented the best of press gallery journalism in this country. If he came to be considered old school that only served as a badge of honour. The 24-hour news cycle, like the spin of modern politics, had no appeal for Rob. If you had a good story locked away by midday on Friday then there was nothing to stop you from stepping out for the odd long lunch and a decent bottle of red to go with it. He was a raconteur in a town that tells many stories. He was also a romantic who ended up marrying his teenage sweetheart, Gloria, as his third wife.

Above all, Rob Chalmers was a true professional to the very end. In spite of the cancer that was to kill him, he worked in the gallery until he could do no more. Then he worked from home in those final days in the Queanbeyan nursing home, plugging away at the Inside Canberra newsletter that has been a part of federal politics since 1957. He also worked on his book Inside the Canberra Press Gallery: Life in the "Wedding Cake" of Parliament House, published in Rob's final days but which unconsciousness sadly prevented him from seeing. There will never be another career like Rob Chalmers'. Alan Ramsey put it in typical blunt fashion when he said last month:

… nobody, in any capacity—politician, bureaucrat or journalist—has equalled what Rob Chalmers somehow endured in the nation's parliament …

He went on to list some of them:

… fifty-eight Budget lock-ups, from the Country Party’s Artie Fadden in 1951 to Labor’s Wayne Swan in May this year, plus every federal treasurer in between; … twenty-eight federal election campaigns … five changes of government—

and 12 prime ministers. They do not make them like Rob Chalmers any more: the cadet who became a giant and who showed why journalism should always be regarded as an honourable profession. Vale, Rob. I do not think this place is going to be the same without him.

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