Steve Gibbons (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise also to pay tribute to the life of David Jull. I first got to know Jully, as everybody called him' as a new member of this place. I got appointed to the then Standing Committee on Transport, Communications and the Arts of which David was a member along with that wonderful old character from Corangamite Stewart McArthur and Paul Neville, who was the chair of the committee. The member for Barker might have turned up occasionally too. That was a great eye-opener for a new MP because I had not set foot in this place prior to being elected so I had little understanding of the processes or the way that it will work. You could not get a better apprenticeship from the other side of politics than from those three blokes. We became good friends and still are. Unfortunately we lost David last week. One of the things I remember most about those three blokes, David in particular, was that they never played any party political games on those committees that I served on with him. I can remember David and the others say on a couple of occasions when we were preparing a report, 'The minister is not going to like this.' Nevertheless, they wanted in the report because that was the evidence we had gathered. That was a great influence on me. I have not tried to play party-political games on committees, have I?

Opposition members: Never!

That was David Jull's influence—and, I must say, that of a lot of people on my own side too, of course. We had a great time. He was great company, as indeed they all were, and I will never forget him for that.

I also remember quite fondly a trip to the Middle East, when the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade were en route to Afghanistan on a goodwill visit to our troops there. I was participating in an Australian Defence Force parliamentary program that involved being in the Navy, serving on the frigates Melbourne and Arunta on blockade duty. We all flew over on the same piece of equipment, a Russian Aleutian 77, which was altogether a hair-raising experience, and then the other group moved onto Afghanistan. I was with the ex-member for Wannon, David Hawker; the member for Moncrieff; and another good friend of mine, the member for Farrer. I must say I have made a lot of good friends on the other side, more so than on this side, and I think, on that basis, it is probably time I gave this caper away! On the other delegation were Senator Marise Payne, the member for Maranoa and my good mate Graham Edwards. We all met back in Dubai, when the two attachments finished, and it happened to be Senator Payne's birthday so Jully organised a party at one of the restaurants in Dubai. It was a great night and I remember it fondly. In his inevitable style, he got up and compered our little table—we had a separate room—and gave a running commentary on the participants not only on both sides of the houses but also on that delegation, and it was hilarious. He was great company and one of the greatest storytellers I have ever come across.

The last time I saw David was at a Birregurra branch of the Liberal Party dinner in Geelong two years ago—

See this speech in context