Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I seek the indulgence of the House to mourn the death of Mr Rick Farley. Rick Farley would be known to many people on both sides of this chamber. I first met Rick Farley when he was working at the National Farmers Federation. He was recruited—from the Cattlemen’s Union, I believe—by the then Executive Director, Andrew Robb, and the then President of the National Farmers Federation, Ian McLachlan.

At that time I was a counsel for the National Farmers Federation in various legal matters and national wage cases and I got to know Rick reasonably well. He was always someone who had a great idea. He had an incredibly fertile mind. He gave everything that he had to the National Farmers Federation and he was somebody who, I think, could bridge the gap between farmers, who are generally on the conservative side of politics, and environmentalists, who are generally on the opposite side of politics. That is the way that I think many of us will remember Rick Farley—as somebody who bridged a lot of divides in his life and brought many people together who normally would not have known each other.

Rick was born in Townsville and he grew up in Brisbane. He went to university in the 1970s and began his political career protesting against the South African rugby tour. He dropped out of university and became a journalist—by his own description, ‘a bit of hippie’ with long hair and bracelets. He went to work with Doug Everingham in the Whitlam government. Many people would have thought that that would set the direction for the rest of his life, but his life was one of total surprises.

Rick was recruited to the Cattlemen’s Union, which was a breakaway from the pastoralists in Queensland. The Cattlemen’s Union was a mildly conservative organisation with a very firm agenda. Rick observed that, in moving to the Cattlemen’s Union from being a Whitlam government staffer, he moved from being a vegetarian to a meat eater. He is reported as saying: ‘You couldn’t work for the Cattlemen’s Union and not enjoy a good steak.’

As I said earlier, he was recruited to the National Farmers Federation under Andrew Robb and Ian McLachlan. When Andrew Robb moved on to become the Federal Director of the Liberal Party, Rick became the Executive Director of the National Farmers Federation. The National Farmers Federation had raised a considerable sum of money, which was used to assist farmers but also to fund a lot of legal actions in relation to the waterfront and against some trade unions. But Rick took that organisation and he brought a new respect, I think, to land care and environmental matters. One of his great achievements was that, under the period of the Keating government, with Phillip Toyne he joined the Landcare program and brought farmers into that program—farmers who, of course, have an interest in respecting the environment, which, of course, is their livelihood and their life.

After he worked for the National Farmers Federation he became a member of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, bringing a new group of people into Aboriginal reconciliation and mainstreaming that for a lot of people on the centre-right of Australian politics. He ended his political career, as far as I know, by running for the Democrats in 1998. So, by this stage, he had been with the Whitlam government, he had been close to the Liberal Party and he had become a candidate for the Australian Democrats and stood unsuccessfully for the Senate in 1998.

To Linda Burney, a New South Wales Labor MP, I know that his death will be a terrible loss. Through Linda and through his work in reconciliation he had many friends on the other side of the House. Rick had two children from a previous marriage. We will remember Rick as a talented man with an abiding commitment to rural issues and a deep involvement in reconciliation. Fifty-three is too young to die. To his partner, Linda Burney, and to his children, from his many friends on this side of the parliament and on the other side of the parliament, we mourn his loss and we send our condolences to his family.

Honourable Members:

Hear, hear!

Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With your indulgence, Mr Speaker: I am pleased to join the Acting Prime Minister in this reflection on a great life, and a life well led. It is a tribute to the memory of Rick Farley that we are doing this at all. It is a most unusual thing for a person who has not been a member of parliament to be reflected on in this chamber. The fact that we are doing this is testament enough to his contribution to national life.

Rick Farley was a man who worked to break down barriers, succeeding in drawing together the shared aspirations of cattlemen, farmers, conservationists and Indigenous Australians. During his life he had a profound influence on what were otherwise sensitive and divisive issues. As Director of the National Farmers Federation, he led the farmers into an inspirational partnership with the conservation movement, creating the National Landcare movement, which has changed attitudes forever in regard to farming practices and conservation matters. In 1991 he became a member of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. Along with the environment, that was to be the great driving issue in his life. His role was critical in negotiations with the Keating government over the passage of the native title bill

I remember the roles he played during his discussions on many issues with the Hawke and Keating governments. It was always a matter of, in the first instance, surprise and then great gratification that it was possible for the government, through Rick Farley, to have a dialogue with many diverse interest groups who are not naturally in dialogue with the Labor Party, the labour movement and a Labor government. He was an important source of transmission of ideas from the national parliament and the national government through to a very important sector of our society. The role he played in reconciliation when he took this same approach in matters related to Aboriginal affairs was an equivalent.

In the days since his death, many people have spoken with very great feeling about his contribution and the ability I mentioned to reach out to people everywhere—farmers, conservationists, Indigenous Australians. He has been described by Aboriginal leader Pat Dodson as ‘a peaceful warrior and patriot who changed Australia, a champion who carried the vision of reconciliation and justice for Indigenous people in his heart and in his hands; he delivered where others postured’. His partner, Linda Burney, said this of him:

His legacy is immense, and one of justice and decency. He was full of foresight, principle and practical good sense, and this shone through constantly ... His life mattered, he made a difference.

Today we remember the difference that Rick Farley made. We mourn his early passing. Our thoughts are with Linda and his children, Jeremy and Cailin.

I would like to conclude with some words spoken by Rick Farley in his Australia Day address three years ago. They reflect his passion for his country and his irrepressible optimism for its future:

Our nation has come a long way in a very short time and we have much to be proud of. We have made mistakes along the track, but we can try to correct them. We live in a unique place and we know enough to look after it better. We have the priceless gift of the oldest living culture in the world. Caring properly for our country and resolving unfinished business with our first peoples can unify our communities and create greater national certainty and confidence. 

I would like to think that we will make a devoted effort in this parliament to live up to those remarks and the spirit that exists behind them. Indeed, as Rick Farley said, it is a privilege to inhabit this continent with the oldest living culture on earth. It is a relationship that we should treat as precious, in the same way that he treated it as precious.

A number of members of my frontbench and backbench attended his funeral, because in later years he became well known to members of the party in Sydney and I think he was a member of the party in the Grayndler electorate. But his political interests were far broader than simply us; that was merely his final resting place. He went through the spectrum of the political process as he sought constantly in his life to pattern out that sense of reconciliation that went with his profound patriotism. We can pay Rick Farley no better tribute than to take those words of his very seriously indeed as we contemplate the affairs of this nation for the remainder of this parliament.

Honourable Members:

Hear, hear!

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, as I believe you are aware, a number of parliamentarians would like to make a contribution on this matter. The opposition proposed a mechanism to facilitate that, which we thought was both highly appropriate and consistent with past practice. I understand that you have determined an alternative mechanism, and that is that indulgence will be granted to members in the Main Committee who wish to make a contribution on this matter. Could I clarify with you, Mr Speaker, that in using that mechanism of indulgence no member will be constrained from making a contribution.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Manager of Opposition Business. There have been discussions about allowing members to make statements on this matter in the Main Committee. I have spoken with the Deputy Speaker and he has agreed that indulgence will be granted.