James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on this condolence motion on the passing of Barry Humphries, a great cultural icon—perhaps the cultural icon of Australia and for all Australians. It is a totemic, epochal moment that he has passed. For almost everyone in this chamber he was a living, breathing embodiment of the Australian character for the entirety of our lives. My first reflection on Barry Humphries is: thank God so much of his career was in an era when we had the technology to record and preserve it, because how could you possibly explain Barry Humphries—what he was about, who he was and how brilliant his comedy was—to anyone in the future without them being able to see it firsthand, as we can. I'm sure I'm one of the millions of Australians that's taken the opportunity to reacquaint myself with so many of his great performances on YouTube in the last few weeks since his passing.

I say Barry Humphries is the great cultural icon of Australia and for Australians because I do think that what we know and describe as the Australian character, particularly in the modern era, really, frankly, is thanks to Barry Humphries more than anyone. Some of those great Australian attributes in our egalitarian society include those of self-deprecation and, perhaps even more controversially at times, tall poppy syndrome and the other elements of Australians' liking to exist on a level playing field and exist in a society where we can laugh at ourselves and laugh at each other. One of the great legacies of Barry Humphries is that he made sure, through his brilliance, that everyone understood the value of poking fun at ourselves, at those in our society, at, sometimes, our leaders and at some of the stereotypes in our society, and that it made us more comfortable and at ease with our society, because what is better than laughter when it comes to considering and weighing up the society that we live in and the culture that we live in?

Of course, he also grew up and rose to prominence and then fame in a period of Australia doing a similar thing, really. The post Second World War period, again, was an epochal moment, and I think, probably, the Melbourne Olympics was also one of those defining points in time when Australia, in the early days of the great Menzies era, was understanding its significance in the world. Hosting the Olympics is obviously a pretty good example of being centrestage in global affairs for a period of time, and it was in that era and in that city of Melbourne that Barry Humphries moved from his adolescence and university days into his early days of performance and fame.

Of course, that was just the very beginning of a career that saw him conquer the great comedy capitals of the world, particularly London, Los Angeles and New York, and to have an Australian with a very, very unquestionably Australian sense of humour and Australian comedic technique conquer audiences of non-Australians is one of the great examples of him not being a funny comedian—an excellent comedian—but an unbelievable comedian that fellow comedians around the world, since his passing, have acknowledged as being, some say, one of the greats, and I would say: the absolute great. Apart from Sir Donald Bradman, I can't think of an Australian that had such an unquestionable dominance of their particular pursuit and talent in life. I don't think any Australian comedian would be offended at Barry Humphries being described as the greatest Australian comedian, and, of course, being an Australian, I would say: the greatest comedian of all time, not just in this country but across the globe.

He leaves a great legacy in my home city of Adelaide. He very honestly and openly always described Her Majesty's Theatre on Grote Street in the Adelaide CBD as his favourite performance venue in the world, and in the last few years we were particularly honoured to have his significant contribution in fronting the fundraising efforts to completely redevelop Her Majesty's Theatre, which was a $60 million undertaking. It's the last remaining Tivoli theatre. It was renamed Her Majesty's Theatre. It has been completely redeveloped, and Barry was, of course, there throughout that journey—both the fundraising journey and then the first performances in that finished product—and that's one of the great legacies he'll leave in my home city of Adelaide. Very early in his career, he travelled to Adelaide and performed in Adelaide, and just in the last few years, of course, he was the artistic director of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Right through his career, from beginning to end, Adelaide was a very big part of it.

We will never have another Barry Humphries. Many might say, 'That's a good thing,' in both a complimentary and derogatory sense—and I say that statement with both of those elements—but the legacy and impact he leaves on our nation and on our culture, I think, is immeasurable and in many ways will never be eclipsed. As Australia has become the nation that we have, some of the greatest attributes within our society and within our culture were certainly empowered, emboldened and brought to life by Barry Humphries. His contribution in those ways will never be forgotten. Vale Barry Humphries.

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