Chris Hayes (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to acknowledge the contribution of one of my constituents who made a difference to civil liberties, freedom from discrimination and access to justice. This evening I would like to recognise the contribution made by Mr John Marsden, who passed away in Turkey last week. Passionate, persuasive, polarising, flamboyant and controversial are all adjectives that have been used to describe the character of John Marsden.

From humble beginnings in Lismore, John’s list of achievements is considerable. In 1978 he became a councillor of the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties and later became their president. He was a member of the New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Board, President of the Law Society of New South Wales and was appointed to the Legal Aid Review Committee and later the Justice Act Review Committee. He served as a director of Odyssey House and as a member of the New South Wales Police Board.

However, not all his efforts were focused on such high level positions. Locally, John was known for his deep commitment to Campbelltown. In fact, John always maintained that there were only two great cities in the world—Rome and Campbelltown. Whenever someone tried to cast slurs on Campbelltown, he fiercely railed against them and defended Campbelltown. He was proud to be a resident of Campbelltown, and I am sure that he would have been very disappointed at some recent newspaper reports following his death suggesting that a man of his wealth could have lived almost anywhere.

His commitment to improving the local area remained right to the end. After hearing that John had passed away last Thursday morning, I was not surprised to open a letter later that day from John. It was dated just prior to his leaving for Turkey, but showed that, despite his illness, he was still thinking of how to make one of the two great cities even better.

John’s letter was an invitation to me to meet with him on his return to discuss some of the ideas he had about improving our local area—in other words, improving Campbelltown. I further understand that, just prior to that, John had also written to every Campbelltown councillor, regardless of politics, in an effort to persuade them to take seriously the protection of a particular heritage building.

His great love of Campbelltown naturally resulted in his involvement in a great number of local groups. John was involved in the Liverpool Apex Club, the Campbelltown Swimming Club, the Campbelltown Arts Centre, Wests Leagues Club, Campbelltown Main Street Committee and St Gregory’s College Art Show—to name just a few. His love of art and the arts generally was not only reflected in his involvement with the Arts Centre and local arts shows but also characterised in his home. As one person recently put to me, you could hardly put a pin between the artworks that adorned the walls of John’s house.

There is no doubt that John divided the community at large but, at the same time, his passion for Campbelltown was reflected in the respect that John had within the Campbelltown community. As former Campbelltown MP Michael Knight recently said, ‘Whether people loved him or hated him it was impossible to ignore John Marsden.’

Whether you liked or disliked John, his legacy in advancing civil liberties, social justice, equity in the law, the arts and, of course, Campbelltown itself, would be very difficult to overlook. I think I can say with some confidence that Campbelltown will not see a resident or a supporter quite like John for some considerable time to come.

To his brother Jim, to John’s immediate family and to the partners and staff of Marsdens solicitors, I offer my condolences and, I am sure, the condolences of many in this House.