Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House record its deep regret at the death, on 29 August 2021, of Senator Alexander (Alex) McEachian Gallacher, Senator for South Australia, place on record its appreciation of his service to Australia, and offer its heartfelt sympathy to his family in their bereavement.

It is with great sadness that I rise today to pay tribute to a colleague gone too soon. On Sunday Senator Gallacher lost his battle with lung cancer, but he fought bravely. He was 67. Today we gather to remember a straight talker, a man who knew the values he stood for and the working people he fought for, and a servant of Australia who loved his adopted country and the party he so honourably and faithfully served. Senator Gallagher was born in 1954 in New Cumnock, Scotland, a remote town that has weathered the seasons and struggles of life for centuries and is known for its vast open vistas and rolling green hills, and a town that, like many, has wrestled with its place in the 20th and the 21st century economies. Sixty years ago New Cumnock was a vibrant coalmining town. Working in the pits was of course difficult and strenuous and, indeed, dangerous work, but with that hardship comes camaraderie and community and a determination to watch out for each other because your life is always in each other's hands. On the town's worst day, in 1950, 129 miners were trapped underground, and it was a race against the clock. Thirteen lives were lost that day. In that world safety was everything; looking after your mates mattered. That was the world of New Cumnock.

During the 1960s, as the pits started to close and jobs disappeared and houses were boarded up and opportunity faded, in 1966 Alex's father brought his family to Australia. He moved from the cold and remote and windswept places of southern Scotland to a place just as vast but nowhere near as cold: the Northern Territory. In so many ways Alex's story is typical of immigrant stories going back centuries. In Alex's words, his father came to Australia seeking a better chance for him and his family. But he and his family knew that a better chance is never handed to you. You work for it and you take the opportunities where you find them and you're rewarded for them. Indeed, some of Alex's criticisms of the casualisation of the workforce related to the way you can get stuck in roles that have neither security nor opportunity. Alex's early career as a labourer and a truck driver in the 1970s ignited what became for him a lifelong mission—giving a voice to workers in the transport industry. After working at TAA as a ramp operator, Alex had established himself in the union movement. He worked for the Transport Workers Union representing members in South Australia and the Northern Territory. He represented transport workers for 22 years—faithful, dedicated service. As we know, he rose up the ranks of the TWU, becoming president in 2007. It was a lifelong passion he brought to this place.

His approach, as those who knew him well, was no nonsense. No doubt, he was influenced by Aunty Doris and Aunty Mattie, who, on hearing he had been elected to the Australian Senate, gave him some stern Scottish advice: 'Don't get a big head,' they said. In the Senate Alex brought with him the beliefs, values and humility so conferred to him by Aunty Doris and Aunty Mattie, and these guided him, his decisions and his conduct, in this place.

When he entered the parliament, he spoke of his love of the transport industry and said:

In my humble opinion, there is no better place to work. There is no smoke and mirrors, just plain-talking, hardworking employees and employers alike in a tough, competitive industry which works harder than most people imagine and continues to work while most people are asleep.

It was a point he reminded us of during this pandemic. Alex had an understanding and appreciation of what Australian wage and salary earners give to this country, and it was not something he left at his first speech. It was integral to his last as well, where he spoke of the workers who carry this country.

Alex had a rich and nuanced understanding of the place of work in our lives and of the dignity of work and what we sacrifice in our labours. He saw it wherever he went. When he returned to Australia after a nine-day placement in Afghanistan as part of the ADF Parliamentary Program he said this:

Probably the biggest thing that I learned in my short time in Afghanistan was the absolute commitment of our people, the courage of our people, their wanting to do their job well, to serve their country well, to look after each other each and every day and to get home at the end of each day in one piece, with all their crew intact.

I can hear echoes of the lessons of a mining town that suffered such tragedy, in those remarks, and I hear a former advocate for transport workers who wanted his drivers to return home, at the end of a long stretch, each day in one piece.

It's a passion he brought to this place, in the parliament. In 2014 he formed, along with the member for Gippsland, the Parliamentary Friends of Road Safety group. It was something he felt in his very being. He once said:

I don't ever go down the Hume Highway without calling into the truckies memorial at Tarcutta. If I have 10 minutes to spare, I pull off and look at the names on that list.

That was the sort of bloke he was.

We know Alex Gallacher loved his family, he loved his work and he loved his country, but he had another love, I'm told, and that was golf. He once said one of the most peculiar statements ever recorded by Hansard—and that's saying something! He said:

There is no more beautiful place in the whole of Australia than a new golf course.

It's a nod, perhaps, to the undulating green Scottish fields of his childhood.

But I think we saw a deeper insight when he was sick. I'm advised he said after receiving chemotherapy, 'Golf makes me feel good, exercise makes me feel good and work completes it.' He continued to work to the very end because he found and saw meaning and purpose in his work. He said, 'I'm trying to change my use-by date to 'best before'. I just keep going as long as I can.' And he did, bravely. He did, and those who love him can be just so proud of his service to our country—those of his family, those of his friends outside of this place and those here in this place who join us today. He did, right until the very end.

Alex's birthplace, New Cumnock, has in its town centre a statue of one of the most famous Scottish compatriots, the 18th century poet Rabbie Burns. Burns's face adorns the roadside that welcomes people to that town—Scotland's national bard. We mostly remember Burns for what have become his most famed words, about old times and old friends and memories of what was, in the words of 'Auld Lang Syne'. In a lovely coincidence, the son of New Cumnock who we mourn today was actually born on New Year's Day. Alex's birthdays were ushered in with 'Auld Lang Syne'. Allow me to read—certainly not sing—a few of the verses in memory of a colleague and a friend:

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and never brought to mind?

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne

…   …   …

And there's a hand my trusty friend!

And give me a hand o' thine!

And we'll take a right good-will draught,

for auld lang syne.

In farewelling our colleague leaving this place too soon, we honour his service to this place and to our country. To Alex's wife, Paola, and his children and grandchildren, I offer my and Jenny's gratitude and condolences and those of the government and also of the people of Australia. May God bless you, and may Alex rest in peace.

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