Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise as a fellow Tasmanian to join with others—and I associate my remarks with those of the members who have already contributed to this debate—in paying my respects to a good man and to a life well lived. Brian Harradine was a giant in Tasmanian politics who delivered real benefits for my state and the people thereof. He stands as the longest-serving independent senator in the history of Australia's federation. He made every minute of his 30 years as a senator for Tasmania count. Respected journalist Tony Wright wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald recently, a few days after Mr Harradine passed away last month, that fellow politicians and prime ministers soon discovered that the senator from Tasmania was one of the toughest and wiliest in their midst. When modern politicians are patting themselves on the back for what they see as the new age of Independents and minor parties, Senator Harradine remains the man who wrote the rules for the 'effective power of one', as Tony Wright called it.

His mightiest achievement for his beloved home state was securing massive amounts of funding for Tasmanian telecommunications and the environment that he loved so much. Even in today's terms, the $350 million he negotiated with the Howard government, in exchange for his support in the Senate for the sale of one-third of Telstra, was extraordinary.

He came from humble stock and, to the end of his life, was unashamedly a conservative Catholic who publicly upheld the values that he believed so dearly in. He was born in Quorn, South Australia in 1935 and moved to Tasmania in 1959. He served as an official for the Federated Clerks Union from 1964 to 1976 and as Secretary-General of the Tasmanian Trades and Labour Council. In 1968, the federal executive of the Australian Labor Party refused to let Mr Harradine take his seat on the body as a member of the executive of the Australian Council of Trade Unions. The vote was put again after the former Labor leader Gough Whitlam resigned and demanded a new ballot. He was eventually expelled by the federal executive in 1975 by a majority of one vote. He contested the 1975 election as an independent for the Senate and won comfortably. He remained a senator until deciding not to contest the 2004 election.

Mr Harradine's behaviour could rarely be predicted. He once discarded his shoes and danced with the Indigenous Wik people outside the High Court in Canberra when they won a long-running land rights case that he had helped broker. He was a familiar sight for years around the streets of Tasmanian towns, campaigning in a tiny Fiat car loaded with children. He and his first wife, Barbara, who died in 1980, had six children. He is survived by his second wife, Marian, who was a widow when they married with seven children.

Some of my earliest memories of politics include Brian Harradine. As a young man growing up in Tasmania, he was one of the most identifiable personalities in my formative years. Certainly in this business, we can never please everyone; that is the business of politics. But, indeed, respect comes for standing for something—in Brian Harradine's case, for principles that were based in his strong Christian faith. My condolences go to his wife and to his broader family. May he rest in peace.

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