Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in the House today to pay tribute to the late Peter O’Callaghan, who lost his battle with cancer just a couple of weeks ago. Peter was a great builder of the local Croydon community. He was a doer, an entrepreneur, a man who always did his best, a positive man, a kind man, an inspirational man, a quietly determined man and a man who always had a smile. He lived life to the full. No minute was wasted in any day of his 68 years of life. He served his community tirelessly. He established highly successful businesses from scratch. He established Apollo Gas in the late 1970s or early 1980s, which was one of the first LP gas fitting companies. He established the well-known Pick-A-Part car parts yard in outer eastern Melbourne and, in more recent years, he established AA Recycling. He served the Croydon South Football Club with every ounce of energy for decades, raising money, helping the club and sustaining the club. He served in numerous positions at the club and was a pillar of that community. He then became more involved in local community representation, serving on the then Croydon council. He raised his family of five kids with his then wife, Jan. He was a fanatical cyclist as well in his spare time, riding his bike hundreds of kilometres in all parts of Australia, particularly around the Yarra Valley and the Dandenong Ranges, where he lived and worked, but also overseas in numerous countries.

He was also a dedicated and passionate member of the Liberal Party of Australia. He helped numerous state and federal candidates and members of parliament over a very long period of time in the Croydon area. It was through this connection that I first met him in 2001, when I became a candidate in that election. I will never forget my first meeting with him—a happy, optimistic party member who had rung up and said, ‘Pop down, I would like to meet you.’ We talked about the businesses he had established and about the local community that he had been part of for all of his life. He gave his time, his energy and his support to all of us in the Liberal Party in Casey and in the surrounding state seats. There are too many people he helped to mention individually. His inspiring example, his zest for life and his kind nature will live on in his wonderful family, in his five great kids: Tracy, John, Paul, Katie and Emma and, of course, in his grandkids, whom he was so fond of. I pay tribute to all of them, to all of his family, to all of his friends and to his partner of recent years, Christine. In this House of Representatives I pay tribute to the man who touched all their lives and whose influence will live on with them. I pay tribute to the late Peter O’Callaghan. His passing is a sad loss to the Croydon community and to the local Liberal Party, both of which he served with energy, purpose and distinction for the best part of 40 years. We will miss his happy smile and his helping hand, but his positive, vigorous approach to life will live on.