Andrew Robb (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Hansard source

It is a great privilege for me to have an opportunity to say a few words of condolence about this very great Australian. I must say how much I enjoyed, and I endorse, the comments by the member for Wentworth, which were put so eruditely and finely in the last few minutes. I enjoyed also the interactions that Malcolm Turnbull experienced with Sir Zelman over a long period of time.

I had the great honour of getting to know Sir Zelman perhaps over the last 15 years. As the member for Wentworth mentioned, we were engaged with Sir Zelman in all sorts of ways during the republic debate and I shared Sir Zelman's view of how it should proceed and what shape it should take—the minimalist model and the lack of election of a president, which he felt very strongly about, as did I and still do. That gave us a point of connection and it gave me a great opportunity to get to know the man and to appreciate what so many others have eloquently put in this chamber about the qualities of Sir Zelman and the reasons for which he is so widely respected within the Australian community and the global community in the many areas that he has interacted with. I have been able to maintain some measure of contact, often by coincidence, as Sir Zelman lived near my electorate. Caulfield, in which he resided, is the neighbouring suburb to my electorate. I have around 8,000 members of the Jewish community in my electorate of Goldstein and I enjoy my regular interactions with the Jewish community. I would often find myself at the same function or event as Sir Zelman as a consequence.

The thing that struck me about him, both in my interactions with him and in the way he dealt with other people, was his humility. I found it hugely instructive and also a source of great admiration for a man of such extraordinary achievements—and not just for the magnificent role as Governor-General but through the history of his achievements which have already been chronicled so well by so many: from a young age as dux of his school, as a Rhodes scholar and then later as the Dean of Law at the University of Melbourne at the age of 30. These marked him as a man of remarkable intellect and capacity. I suspect, despite the humble, sympathetic and empathetic manner that he always brought to interactions with people, there was clearly great strength of character. He was a man who was not easily swayed from his view of things. He had a capacity to stay true to what he believed and to argue it and influence others without any bombast and without any acrimony. It is again a lesson for many of us in this place that there are multiple ways of achieving outcomes and multiple ways of legitimately disagreeing with one another without some of the nastiness that can surround proceedings not just here but in other parts of our community.

Sir Zelman was operational in Darwin when the bombings took place in the Second World War. He experienced the bombings, which in fact exceeded Pearl Harbor. This is not well understood due to the strategic approach taken at the time not to frighten the rest of the community with what was happening up north. To this day, I do not think Australians appreciate the significance of the magnitude of the disaster or the intensity of the hundreds of Japanese bombings that took place. Sir Zelman experienced all of that. He was a patron of the Darwin Defenders group and without exception attended the Darwin Defenders service, which is held on 19 February each year in Melbourne and in other parts of the country. Without exception, he was a patron of the Darwin Defenders group. For the years I have been in parliament I have attended each year, and he has always been there, no matter what his state of health has been. Again, he was always responsive to people and always had that great capacity, which the member for Wentworth described so eloquently, for mentoring. He had this innate ability, whether you were speaking to him for one minute or for 30 minutes, to influence what you thought, without preaching at you or imposing a point of view. It is very hard to articulate; he was a very remarkable man and he had this quality about him. Others, such as the member for Kooyong, have spoken eloquently about this capacity, and they have enjoyed that experience, perhaps more than others, with Sir Zelman.

I saw it again and again. In every interaction I had with him over the last 15 years, that was the thing that stayed with me. I always came away from that discussion, no matter how short or how long it was, with a feeling of more certainty about certain issues and with something to think about. Again, it was all done in a gentle manner. His humility was a constant and it was extraordinary. He had many reasons to have a touch of arrogance or hubris, given his contribution, but you never saw it for a second.

He was a man of great empathy and patience. When Malcolm described that unruly shareholder meeting, I could visualise it. I could see the patience that he would exert, the wisdom that he would convey in his comments and the respect and empathy that I know he would have shown for everyone in that room. That invites cooperation. It calms things down and leads to constructive outcomes. I was not at the meeting, although I have read about it. I can see him in my mind's eye carrying out that role that the member for Wentworth so adequately described. The patience, empathy, intellect and loyalty that he showed to the Darwin Defenders constituted a life and a respect that is not unique but is as strong as you would ever find for any individual in Australia.

It is a great immigrant story, and many have spoken about that. It reinforces the pride that I have, and the confidence that most Australians have, that we are a much greater nation because of the millions of immigrant stories, and this is another immigrant story of great quality. Not only does it help to form the glue that holds this country together; it also ensures that we go from strength to strength. The sorts of stories, experiences and qualities that he is an example of broadens and deepens the Australian character. I think there are many great Australians who have had profound influences over the development of Australia in the last 200 years. There are people who have done things which have unambiguously had long-term influences in shaping either the physical attributes or the cultural attributes of Australia. So there are many great Australians through history, but I think it could be reasonably argued that no-one has had an influence that exceeded his. They might be equal to him, but no-one has had a singular influence that exceeded the unique healing role that he so magnificently performed during his time as Governor-General.

I do think it was a time when Australia could have been heading towards a significant fracturing of our fundamental institutions or culture or sense of oneness. It had that potential to go off the rails, and that could have been a long-term, damaging and unfortunate development. But I think to the great surprise of everyone in such a short period—he had 4½ years as Governor-General but, really, this was within two years—he had taken hold of that source of division, angst and potential fracturing and calmed it down. He had shown a greater purpose that we have all got together, and the value of putting those things behind us and moving on. Things happen—in a family, in an organisation, in a country; they cannot be removed, they happen, but you have to find ways of dealing with them. I think he showed Australia a way of dealing with that issue. For that if for nothing else, even though he made the most extraordinary contributions in so many areas, he must have the undying gratitude of all Australians for many decades into the future. He shaped Australia. He made a critical and fundamental contribution to the essence of the Australian character through the civilising influence he bought to that job. I do feel that he and his family should be enormously proud of that role that he played.

There is so much more that others have said, and said more eloquently than I could. His achievements are just remarkable. As the member for Wentworth said, it never stopped. He contributed at an extraordinary level right through to the end. Despite years of ill-health in the latter part of his life, he was still having this extraordinary influence on people and events.

I conclude by saying that it was a great life. He was so greatly respected. His life was one of simply great accomplishments. But he was a man who was marked by extraordinary humility, empathy and respect for others. We salute Sir Zelman Cowen. His was a life well lived. We offer our condolences to his widow, Lady Anna, his children, all those that were close to him and all those that he loved so much.

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