Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to support this motion and acknowledge the member for Moncrieff's speech as well, and those of others who have spoken about Don Burrows in this place. I would also like to pay tribute to the great jazz musician, Don Burrows, who sadly passed away this year. Don leaves an undeniable legacy for Australian music and the arts in general. His achievements are many and varied. He was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame, the first jazz musician to be given this honour. He was twice named as one of Australia's living national treasures. He was responsible for taking Australian jazz to the world stage through his countless TV appearances and recordings. He was the first Australian act to perform at the great jazz festivals around the world. But it was his passion for education and fostering a love of jazz and music in general that will be one of his greatest legacies. Don Burrows helped establish the first jazz course in Australia at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and he was responsible for putting together one of the first jazz studies programs in the Southern Hemisphere. Don Burrows understood the importance of having a strong and vibrant arts scene. He understood this and he used his public image to champion the next generation of young musicians. But it wasn't only students at the conservatorium who had the opportunity to learn from this passionate musician. Don Burrows also spent a great deal of time providing music education to all sorts of people, but especially people in remote communities. He usually visited each place for a week and loved witnessing the children's joy and exhilaration when he played to them or with them or participated in events with them.

Don Burrows understood that a world without music and the arts is unimaginable—and I think most of us understand that as well. He understood the importance of our creative industries, and I am certain that he would despair at the current state of the sector. Our creative industries and the arts sector, play such a vital role in our culture, our community and our economy. The culture that we produce in this country is about who we are. Whether it be music, movies or authors that write books, culture is very, very important. The arts sector is very, very important. It is the way that we see ourselves through the prism of arts, and Don contributed greatly to that area.

It is really sad at the moment to see some of our artists suffering the loss of their jobs overnight. We heard the member for Dunkley, the member for Moncrieff and others talk about how our arts sector is just starting to get up and about the theatres and musicals that were shut and how the everyday life that musicians like Don would have had basically been locked down—and then, of course, there were the mass job losses overnight.

We pay tribute to Don. He contributed greatly to the jazz industry. At a time when Australian jazz was not frowned upon but we weren't known that well around the world—jazz normally came from other places around the world—he put Australia on the map through his jazz music and through his work as a performer and a whole range of other things. He was one of Australia's greats. He was a legend to the jazz industry. From what I was reading earlier, he didn't like being called a legend of jazz and music. Nevertheless, he was, and Australia will miss him dearly. The jazz music industry will miss him and so will the arts sector.

See this speech in context