Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to stand on the motion of condolence in relation to Eoin Harrap Cameron, who was the member for Stirling from 1993 to 1998—a short career of about 5½ years. But he left an indelible impression in those 5½ years on the parliament, on me and on the Liberal Party. Eoin Cameron served for too short a period of time. He lost in 1998 in the election where about 16 of my colleagues did not come back—the GST election—and he got elected in the 1993 election, which was the one that supposedly could not be lost but we did lose. And in those 5½ years—I was elected in 1993—Eoin Cameron and I became very, very good friends.

Eoin Cameron had tremendous faults, and he was quite unabashed about his many faults. One of his faults was he liked to have a drink as early in the day as possible, and question time created quite a difficulty for Eoin Cameron because he could not have a drink until question time was over. His office was about three down from mine, and as a new member at the age of 25 I was easily led astray by Eoin Cameron. He would like to have a drink straight after question time. I would be able to hold off until at least five o'clock because, as a 25-year old new member of parliament, I felt it was wise to be as good as possible. It did not always turn out that way, as many of my colleagues will tell you. I was not always as good as possible. But he and I shared a lot of laughs in his office with his wonderful wife Wendy and several of his children. He had three children, I believe, and two of them were quite present here in Parliament House during various stages of his career. I am quite sure that Wendy was here to make sure that he was as good as he possibly could be in the circumstances where he was used to being a very free agent.

Politics does not encourage free agency, and Eoin Cameron was a very outgoing, exciting, amusing, larger-than-life, funny character who knew when to be serious and knew when to be fun, could see the difference between right and wrong and would call it out for what it was. It made him much loved as a radio announcer in Perth, where he had a sparkling career, always rating highly, always saying things that people were not supposed to say. I do not know how the ABC management coped with Eoin Cameron. He would have been constantly being counselled, I am sure, by the ABC management for his startling admissions. He particularly enjoyed telling stories about himself and against himself and against his family, and if you were fortunate enough to become a close confidante he would also breach all of your confidences as well. I learnt that pretty early, so I tried to be reasonably discreet, because he would repeat things that I had said to him, years afterwards, on radio—to my acute and excruciating embarrassment. And then he would email me and tell me he had just done so, which would elicit a great laugh from me, because I knew that Eoin Cameron had an absolute heart of gold.

He overcame amazing difficulties in his life. He was raped by the headmaster of the Catholic school when he was 12 years old, at Mount Gambier. Before that he had been a stellar student, and after that his academic record collapsed and his confidence collapsed. His sporting ability, which he had had in great spoonfuls, disappeared, and he left school at the age of 14 and essentially rebuilt his life over a long period of time. He also had bipolar disorder, which in politics can make for interesting moments for whoever might suffer from that particular affliction. He put his bipolar disorder down to being raped as a 12-year-old. I do not think the drinking helped, though. I think that might have added to the sometimes erratic statements he would make.

But he was such a good friend, and when he opened his office in Perth I made the crazy decision to fly to Perth and back in the same day, which I have never done since and which I did not realise at such a young age was of course a crazy plan. But I did it just because I wanted to be at Eoin Cameron's office opening, because he was such a good friend, and he was a tremendously amusing person, and I love to have people around me who make me laugh. And you were always laughing when you were in Eoin Cameron's company.

He did not stay in parliament long enough really to reach ministerial rank or even shadow ministerial rank, but he was a great member for his electorate; he was loved in his electorate. Unfortunately he lost in that swing against us in 1998, and he was as blunt with his constituents as he was with the people who would ring into his radio program for years. He would write letters back to his constituents that would peel the paint off the walls, about how well they had done in their lives and basically what we now call First World problems. He would ask them to put themselves into the shoes of people who had nothing or who were homeless or who were struggling for a particular reason, without jobs—things that we would never write to constituents. And he would show me his letters with great pride and say: 'I really gave it to this person! They wrote to me with this ridiculous complaint about something very minor.' We have all been there and felt that we would like to write those letters, but we have never actually put them in black and white and sent them to the constituent, but he would do so, because he just loved to tell people what he really thought.

He had a terrible row with Noel Crichton-Browne towards the end of his political career and decided that Noel Crichton-Browne should not be supported by the Liberal Party. And because he had such a firm belief in it, nobody could convince Eoin Cameron that this was a bad decision for his own political survival—because actually he did not care about his own political survival; he cared about representing his constituents, he cared about saying what he really believed and trying to make a difference. I think he returned happily to ABC Radio in Perth, where he worked for many, many years after that. I cannot tell some of the riotous stories he told me about being a radio announcer, because these things should not be repeated! Eoin Cameron would have repeated them, for sure, but I will not do so.

I will miss Eoin Cameron. I did stay in touch with Eoin Cameron after he left politics and as recently as this year, which in our business is not something that happens that often. Lots of people come and go through political careers and political lives and you do not necessarily stay in touch with all the people you served with. I had a great regard for Eoin Cameron and his wonderful wife, Wendy, and his whole family. He had a larger than life family. He was one of 10, and they were all big and loud like Eoin—well, the men were, anyway; I will not comment on the women. I wish his family my deepest condolences. I did want to mark the occasion of his passing by commenting on my high regard for Eoin Cameron in the House. I thank the House.

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