Gary Gray (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Resources) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the words of the member for Wentworth, a great personal friend of former Premier Wran and also the words of the member for Sydney. I knew Neville as the president of the Labor Party from the time I became a national official of the Labor Party in 1986, which was of course towards the end of Neville's term as Premier of New South Wales. Frankly, I cannot imagine a modern Labor Party without Neville Wran. It was my view, and I said this to Neville many times, that Neville was single amongst any of the premiers that I ever knew in any state ever. He is the only one who could have been the Prime Minister of Australia. Beyond any doubt, his personal work ethic, his character, his remarkable urbanity, his ability to speak to the most ordinary Australian in the most ordinary circumstances and yet still be a respectful friend of business and princes. He was a truly remarkable man.

As a Labor figure, his ferocious forensic support of the institution of the Labor Party impressed me very early on. He was the President of the Labor Party at the time when we dealt with the expulsion of John Halfpenny. Neville wasn't simply a stickler for natural justice. He could see that to remove something as valuable as a party membership from a person of substantial Labor Party standing such as John Halfpenny would be something that would require a lot of thought.

When the national executive convened over several days to debate the matter of whether or not John Halfpenny should be expelled, it was done by Neville ensuring that John Halfpenny was given legal representation. It was done by ensuring that present at the national executive was legal advice. It was done so that at that national executive meeting the proceedings were not simply recorded, they were transcribed. It was done in a way so as to supply the most magnificent natural justice to John Halfpenny.

The hearings at the national executive carried an immortal passage of debate where it was alleged that John Halfpenny's consistent attacks on the then Prime Minister in the view of Mr Halfpenny and his legal defence did not constitute an attack on the Labor Party. Neville, with his QC's intellect and his Labor heart, turned on John Halfpenny and he said to John Halfpenny: 'You have here described on the whatever date it was in the 1980s the Prime Minister as being an unfit person for the office of the Prime Minister. Was that an attack on the Prime Minister?' John Halfpenny's defence was: 'No, that is not an attack on the Prime Minister; that is an opinion.'

It was then put to Mr Halfpenny that on other occasions when he had questioned government policy in the early 1980s whether that was also an attack on the government or on the Prime Minister. Halfpenny's defence was: 'No, that also was merely an opinion and an interpretation of government policy.' Wran then rounded on Halfpenny and asked a very simple question: 'What about Pearl Harbor? Was that an attack?'

Neville had the ability to level his opponents with one blow that was always clean but you never saw it coming. Neville's ability to sum up the right and the wrong of a situation was uncanny. His attractive nature—the member for Wentworth has described him as I never have heard him described before: he could have been a movie star.

I saw Neville at a farewell function for Graham Richardson nearly 25 years ago in 1994. Neville was one of the star guests, welcoming people into the room. A young woman at that time, Cathi, came into the room, a beautiful young blonde. Neville gave her a wonderful embrace, a kiss, another embrace and another cuddle. Then, after what seemed to me like five minutes, Cathi came over to me and said, 'Isn't he wonderful? He gave me a cuddle.'

Neville had the most attractive personal style but also an eye for beauty, which was quite extraordinary in many different ways. He almost single-handedly ensured that Labor fundraisers provided excellent quality wine and excellent quality food. Those of us who had to attend those fundraisers will be forever in his debt for ensuring that fundraisers became a pleasurable dining experience.

Neville also had an ability as a personal politician to not only turn a room but an ability that quite probably in the business of politics is very akin to what is described as Lyndon Johnson's personal ability as a politician to win you over by affection, by intellect and by knowing you—knowing you better than you even knew yourself.

It was said, in the latter years of the Wran government, that the Wran government had an air of corruption about it. Those allegations deeply hurt Neville Wran. I am so pleased to hear the member for Wentworth describe the way in which Neville Wran departed the premiership of New South Wales—not just with dignity and integrity but with, simply, his house, his pension and a heart of gold.

Neville's mentoring, not just of individuals but of the politics of reform, is extremely important. The personal contributions that the member for Wentworth and Neville made to supporting the republican movement and the referendum in the late 1990s is simply astonishing—quite probably the largest ever single financial contribution to a political process that we have seen in this country, or probably will ever see. And that contribution was made entirely for good purpose. If I had to put a figure on that number today I would guess it to be something substantially in excess of $10 million.

I hope that we see the likes of Neville Wran again. My party needs that. Our country needs that. The great state of New South Wales needs that. To Neville's family, I offer my condolences. To Neville's memory, I thank him from the bottom of my heart for his enduring contribution to public policy and public administration.

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