Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Here is my Gough Whitlam story: I am in my 20s and I am a newish industrial officer at my old union, the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union in the postal and telecommunications branch. A big part of the job was taking phone calls and lots of them. On one particular day, we had been deluged by calls and from recollection there was a stuff-up in the processing of an allowance, so we had a lot of uptight members ringing through wanting to see what the union could do. I had finished this string of calls and decided I would just sneak out for a cup of coffee. But the loudspeaker on the phone piped up and it was reception telling me I had another call. I was at the door of my office and I leaned in and said, 'Can I just go and grab a cup of coffee?' Reception said, 'You'll want to take this call.' I said, 'I will be five minutes'—I was pleading—'take a message and I will grab a coffee.' Reception said: 'It's Mr Whitlam's office. Mr Whitlam wants to talk to you.'

At that moment, you would think that the importance would sink in and that I would respond accordingly, but I said to reception, 'Sure, put the great man through and get me next week's Lotto win as well!' So I pick up the phone and say, 'Hello' and there was silence. Then I heard, 'Comrade' and it was that unmistakable voice. There on the line was the former Prime Minister of Australia. He was ringing because I was the secretary of the Greenway federal electorate council at that time within the Labor Party and we had sent him a letter commending him on his strong response to a very disappointing inaugural speech by a former member for Oxley in this place. He had rung to express his gratitude, but then he went on to do what others have remarked upon and quizzed me about my background—where was I from, where were my parents from, where did my parents raise us, where did we live.

What would you take out of that encounter? Not that Husic is flash at writing correspondence, though I would be grateful for the compliment; rather it was his curiosity, his interest and his care. It is these personal attributes of the man that so many people cherish and remember. Inasmuch as he had an eye for detail, and we have all heard stories of him indexing and footnoting Hansard; there is something else that people valued and I want to get to that point in a way you would not expect. I ask the House: can you remember the name of the Bart Cummings's horse that won the Melbourne Cup in 1974 and 1975?

See this speech in context