Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Nelson Mandela needs no title; he needs no introduction. He is a household name right across the globe. His is a name etched in our history, in our memory and in our hearts forever. His was a vision of freedom, of equality, of justice. His was a vision which united a country—a deeply troubled and divided country—and is a legacy which gave birth to the rainbow nation we know today as the modern South Africa. It is a vibrant, though still at times troubled, nation but, nonetheless, a united country going forward as one.

To the world he was the iconic Mandela. But to his beloved rainbow nation he was Madiba. He was one of them. He was their leader. He fought the apartheid regime and he won. His was a South African nation made much better, more equal and more historic for his existence, and we should always be grateful for that. The Prime Minister eloquently told the nation last Friday, upon hearing of Nelson Mandela's passing, that he was 'the father of the modern South Africa', and the Prime Minister was right.

Born into the Thembu royal family on 18 July 1918, Mandela studied law, becoming a renowned anti-apartheid campaigner. He rose to prominence in 1952 during the African National Congress's Defiance Campaign. He was later jailed for treason and spent 27 long, hard years behind bars, all the while believing that the rights of his people in the nation he loved ought to be equal to those of the white minority. So committed and passionate a believer in equality was he that he once declared such a mission was a cause 'for which he was willing to die'.

During his almost three decades behind bars, Mandela and his wife, Winnie, never lost faith or sight of their dreams. No-one who watched those historic events upon Mandela's release in 1990 will soon forget what a day it was and what it meant for the world. Indeed, television stations right throughout Australia cut programming to cross to South Africa for his long walk to freedom, which back in 1990 was unusual for commercial television stations in Australia to do. I remember watching in Wagga Wagga and I am sure many of the other members in the chamber today also watched that historic event. It was such a moment of triumph, of belief, that one person could make such a difference—that one person could make such a passionate difference to his nation and, through it, to the world.

Along with then President Frederik Willem de Klerk, Nelson Mandela was awarded a Nobel Prize for Peace in 1993—very well deserved. A year later, Mandela was elected President of South Africa, the first black person to earn that title in his nation's history.

Following the announcement of Mandela's death on Friday morning, Wagga Wagga Wiradjuri man Hewitt Whyman recalled meeting the anti-apartheid campaigner while a member of the Aboriginal Legal Service on Mandela's Australian tour in 1990. Just the other day Hewitt recalled:

We were frightened to approach him but he put out his hand and said 'talk to me.' … I was nervous because I was meeting a great man … It was a moment in my life I will never forget.

Nelson Mandela inspired more than a community and more than a nation. He inspired people the whole world over to stand up for what they believe in and to have the courage of their convictions. He was a man who said what he meant and meant what he said. Although on the other side of the world, Hewitt Whyman says he felt a great affinity with Mandela because, like him, Mandela fought for a fairer deal for people. Hewitt said:

I related to him because he is a black man who served a political prison term because of his beliefs.

He gave me strength to fight for what I believe as a person—the rights of Aboriginal Australians—to achieve good outcomes for our people.

My choice was to stay in Aboriginal affairs and to work toward reconciling.

The world paused yesterday to remember this great man, this legend. His South Africa, his rainbow nation, is better for the 95 years Nelson Mandela gave to it. Here we lowered our flags to half-mast as a fitting tribute to what he did for the world. While we mourn the passing of a legend the likes of whom we may not see again in our lifetime, Mandela's is a story which will live on, in our hearts and in our memories, for many, many years to come. Whilst he is consigned to the pages of history, history will remember him very well, as it should. What a man, what a story, what a legacy! Though Nelson Mandela has departed this world for the next, no-one will ever forget the contribution that he made to our world and to our history. He is the father of the modern South Africa and his is a legacy which will endure for the ages.

Just before coming into the Federation Chamber to deliver this speech I bumped into Kay Hull, my predecessor in the electorate of Riverina. She spoke of the inspiration that Nelson Mandela had given her. Kay is a great fighter for social justice and certainly was in the 12 years that she was member for Riverina, and her great work in my community goes on. She got hold of copies of A Prisoner in the Garden, one of the books about Nelson Mandela, and had them signed by all the national leaders on both sides of parliament. She was a little bit worried because her brood of grandchildren is growing and she only has so many books. But Kay certainly waxed lyrical about the wonderful inspiration Nelson Mandela had given her in her time as a parliamentarian. That inspiration enabled Kay to do the great work that she did on behalf not just of the Riverina but of our nation as well.

Nelson Mandela is, sadly, gone, but his suffering is over. He has finally freed himself of his earthly shackles and he has left behind a better world for his having lived. May he rest in peace.

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