Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I would like to pay tribute to a local Bundaberg man: Tom Quinn. Tom is a man for all seasons, literally. He took early retirement from his accountancy profession and Qantas in 1978 and made the move to Bundaberg from Sydney. But I think retirement was the last thing on his mind. On arriving in Bundaberg he took on an aviation consultancy role and lectured at the Bundaberg College of TAFE and Bundaberg’s CQU campus. He became the first CEO of BACAS, our group apprenticeship scheme, which he ran for 14 years.

He also held the positions of state and federal president of Group Training Australia at various times. Towards the end of this period Tom enrolled at the University of New England and graduated in law in 2001. After completing his professional year in Brisbane, with all the young bucks of the profession, he was admitted to the bar in November 2003 at the age of 75. Since then he has undertaken more than 400 pro bono cases for people unable to obtain legal aid. A colleague recently estimated the notional value of his contribution to the law as being in the vicinity of $1.2 million.

To undertake a third career in one’s 70s is quite exceptional, and what Tom has done for the most deprived people, who could never have had their day in court, is a generous and crowning glory to an already distinguished career. He received a number of honours, but two of the most outstanding were a Masters of Business from the Central Queensland University in 1995 and the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1997.

Tom has made two other exceptional contributions in his plethora of community involvements. Along with engineer Lex Rowland and I, Tom helped set up the rescue of Bert Hinkler’s Southampton home from the UK in 1982. At the time the house was marked for demolition. After some intensive fundraising and a lot of hard work by the Bundaberg East Rotary Club and Bundaberg’s construction sector, the house was dismantled brick by brick, transported to Australia in two 20-tonne containers and rebuilt in the Bundaberg Botanic Gardens. It was opened by Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen in 1984 on the day he was knighted. The house is now the centrepiece of Bundaberg’s Botanic Gardens and has seen more than 400,000 visitors. The vision will soon be completed by the Hinkler Hall of Aviation, to which the Commonwealth government has contributed $4.5 million.

The other significant event in Tom’s life was the development of a community centre named in his honour. In 2000 he floated the idea of restoring a derelict waste management building and transforming it into a centre for young people with ADD. His plan blossomed well beyond that and a range of services, business houses and Work for the Dole programs have since helped restore the building to its original finery. It now houses a range of community services focusing on deprived and disengaged youth, and others serving community service orders, and people in need of training. The centre contains a furniture restoration shop, a bicycle construction business, a training kitchen and a range of counselling and skills programs. It was opened in November 2002 and was named in Tom’s honour. It is a beacon of hope for some of our town’s most deprived.

Last week business representatives, Salvation Army leaders and many of the centre’s clients gathered not only to launch the Red Shield Appeal at the centre but to honour Tom, whose Archibald portrait by Ann Grocott was unveiled locally and presented to the centre. It will hang in the centre as a mark of respect for the amazing amount of work that Tom has done in our community. I met some lawyers at the function who are going to take over Tom’s work. Tom is now reaching the time when he must go into his third retirement. It is only fitting, when someone has made such a huge contribution and has been so honoured by his colleagues, his peers and the Salvation Army community that he serves, that we in this parliament should acknowledge him also.