Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is with a bit of sorrow but with immense pride that I stand up to speak to pay tribute to Father Bob Maguire. He was a local legend in my part of the world.

A division having been called in the House of Represen tatives—

Sitting suspended from 11 : 11 to 11 : 21

And just like Bob McGuire, who liked to have a bit of a tangent, it is good to be back talking about the great man. Bob Maguire was a legend of our local community. He was also a friend, someone who I admired and someone who I got to know over my time representing the people of Macnamara and a bit before that.

Bob was educated at the Christian Brothers College St Kilda. He was the parish priest at the Sts Peter and Paul's Catholic Church in South Melbourne for 39 years. The organisations he founded and worked for—Open Family Australia and the Father Bob Maguire Foundation—were based in South Melbourne and Albert Park and did much of their work in our local area. Open Family worked particularly with homeless and runaway kids in St Kilda, and the Father Bob McGuire Foundation had its offices famously in Albert Park and also had the community pantry in South Melbourne. Bob loved our area. It was home. It was a home base. He loved the whole City of Port Phillip and, dare I say, the City of Port Phillip loved him in return. Everyone loved Bob, everyone respected him. He had a disarming presence. He would talk to people as they walked by and, no matter what happened in their day, Bob was able to bring them into the moment and connect with them.

I first met Bob Maguire well before I was an MP. In 2014 when he set up his pantry in South Melbourne, I went along on a Wednesday afternoon and volunteered. I learned a few things from Bob in those experiences. I had obviously seen him on John Safran vs God program where he was hysterically funny. But what I learned from Bob after seeing him up close volunteering for his organisation was that Bob Maguire was incredibly generous. He gave away everything. He had nothing for himself. He did not judge. Whatever he was able to acquire, he acquired it for the foundation and passed it on. This is how it went: you would turn up on Wednesday afternoon, set up trestle tables—in the early days, before it became this well-oiled machine—and you would put on different stations of different things that people need. You'd have one table that would have food such as fruit, vegetables and some frozen meats that they were able to acquire from various local businesses and producers who donated them. Then you had toiletries and personal items. Then you had another table that was for clothes. I was often stabled on the juice table because you had to lift cartons of juice, and I gave away the juice to people who wanted it. I asked Bob that very first time that I volunteered, 'What's the deal? Do we just give people whatever they ask for,' and he said: 'Absolutely. If they come here, they are in need, and we're going to give them what they need.'

And that was Bob Maguire. He was funny. He was a little wild at times. He said some crazy things. But underneath all of that he had a method to his madness. He had a kindness that underpinned everything he did. He was a man of the people and he gave the people what they needed. I respected Bob for that. I think everyone respected Bob for that. I learnt that if we are only for ourselves then there will be no-one there for us, but Bob was never for himself; he was always there for others. Bob didn't just preach the Christian gospel of 'love thy neighbour'; he practised it, and he practised it in ways that improved the lives of thousands of people. He loved public housing tenants. He loved our public housing residents and he did everything he could for them.

There were other sides to Bob Maguire that people may not have heard about. He was a lieutenant colonel in the Australian Army Reserve and won the Reserve Forces Decoration for his work in officer training. He was a successful and a very entertaining broadcaster. Obviously, his most famous broadcasting partner was Jon Safran, who gave a very moving tribute to his great friend. Bob was a skilled operator in gaining funding for his various works from governments of all persuasions, and I want to personally thank Bob and his team for inviting myself, ministers from all sides of politics—the member for Petrie came when he was the assistant minister for homelessness in the previous government. He warmly welcomed the member for Maribyrnong when he was the Leader of the Opposition and then our Prime Minister when he was the Leader of the Opposition during the election campaigns. He created colour, movement, pictures and a welcoming place. But he did it not just for his own foundation; he did it for the people that they were going to help.

Bob also helped me. There were moments where he came and gave his support to me and to my efforts. He knew my team. His team knew my team. Paul and Trish—the whole Father Bob Maguire team, who we would see every other week, I know will be hurting right now.

Bob was one of the last old-time Irish Catholic, dare I say it, Labor- inclined stalwarts. As a young priest, he lived through the Labor split of the 1950s, when many Catholics left the Labor Party, but his commitment to solidarity never faltered. He stood on picket lines. He expressed solidarity to many union courses. He was a man of the people and a man of the workers.

I'm probably not the best person to lecture anyone on Christian theology, but if the Catholic Church is correct that salvation is gained through good works and not just by declaration of faith then I think Bob's place among the angels is secure, because few people have packed more good works into one lifetime than Bob Maguire. He was a good man, a funny man, a kind man. He was a man of our community. He was a man of the community. He will be missed. I pay tribute to the great Father Bob Maguire.

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