Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

That's right. There are a couple of alumni here. This was, of course, during the early days of Monash University and during the emergence of social movements and the growing opposition to the Vietnam War. Whether it was protesting against conscription for young men or fighting for Indigenous land rights, Pete was at the forefront of many of these social movement activities.

At Trades Hall in September, Gareth Evans, a senior cabinet minister in the Hawke and Keating governments, was in attendance. He recounted his success in convincing Pete to move to the University of Melbourne and become editor of its student newspaper, Farrago. So he had the quinella—the only person to hold the editorial roles of both universities. Later on, of course, he became managing editor of Oz magazine, which was subject to prosecution in London for what were then seen to be obscenities. It's a good reminder of how repressive things were back in those days. These experiences sharpened Pete's journalistic and political skills, which he used so effectively for the rest of his life.

But he was a victim of the fickle fate of politics, losing the 1984 election, owing in particular to a brutal redistribution of his seat. He then moved on to assist the Municipal Employees' Union, where I got to know him relatively well. He was a really important conduit for the union in engaging with the federal government. At the time, we had just won a work value case for home carers, but we needed Commonwealth funding. Through the efforts of Pete Steedman, I managed, at the age of 25, to meet Paul Keating in the Old Parliament House in 1987, which was a great bonus for the members of that union, the home-care workers who were being paid so little.

Again, that echoes what we do now: we increase and improve wages for low-paid workers and then make sure the Commonwealth funds them. That's exactly what Keating did, but it was in large part due to Pete Steedman's advocacy, which I won't forget.

See this speech in context