Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I pay tribute to Nelson Mandela and express my condolences, as so many Australians have, to Mr Mandela's widow, Graca Machel, his children and the people of South Africa. Although we all knew that Nelson Mandela was seriously ill, I was still deeply saddened when I heard of his death last Friday morning as I landed in Beijing.

Mandela was a towering figure of our time, such that I feel sure everyone will remember 6 December as the day we stopped to think of this great man and what his life meant to his country of South Africa and to the world. Mandela was truly one of the most recognised and greatest figures of the 20th century, an icon of resistance against repression who became a champion of reconciliation. Mandela will also be remembered as an advocate for human dignity, for freedom and for justice. He was truly one of the most inspirational leaders of our time: a great political leader, a courageous moral leader.

Nelson Mandela's management of South Africa's peaceful transition from apartheid is one of the 20th century's greatest displays of positive leadership. He was the person to whom many turned to look for guidance on issues of forgiveness, respect and how to make a positive individual contribution to our times. He transformed not only his country, South Africa, but also Africa and the rest of the world. Through the 1960s, the 1970s and the 1980s, when South Africa was a polarised, divided and rather desperate country, there seemed little chance that it could be turned into a modern democracy without first suffering through an appalling civil war. It did not seem possible that the injustices, humiliation, exploitation and deep divisions apartheid had created could ever easily be overcome.

We pinned our hopes on the sporting and economic sanctions in the hope that they might force the white regime to change its course. But, put simply, it was the towering force of one man, Nelson Mandela, which changed the destiny of South Africa. Many other people played important roles, but Mandela gave something crucial—his wisdom, his compassion and, almost unbelievably, his forgiveness—so that a peaceful transition was achieved. The people of South Africa, and indeed the world, owe him an enormous debt of gratitude for sparing the world from what could have been a tragedy if South Africa had continued down a path of racial violence into civil war.

Nelson Mandela showed black South Africans that change could be achieved through peaceful ways. He showed the white minority that they did not need to fear a new democratic South Africa. Mandela had the wisdom, the courage and the humanity to understand that peaceful change was what was needed in South Africa. Despite the long years of confinement and personal deprivation he suffered on Robben Island he was able to show enormous strength of courage. He did something we should all aspire to do: he showed forgiveness—forgiveness to the prison wardens, forgiveness to the white regime—so that South Africa could move on to a better future.

He certainly overcame many personal challenges in his life. We should not gloss over the years he spent struggling against the brutal regime in the years before his imprisonment. I think one of his most enduring quotes, and there are many, which sums up the man is:

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.

It was through his personal example that the rest of the country was able to forgive and come together in a peaceful way and transform South Africa into the modern, democratic country it is today.

His leadership as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999 was truly inspirational. He started the process of healing the deep wounds created by decades of bitter apartheid. He showed the people of South Africa that they had more to gain by working cooperatively together. He helped to turn around the economy by reassuring the white population that they had a future in the new South Africa, which helped stem a great potential loss of capital, human capital and knowledge.

Nelson Mandela's management of South Africa's peaceful transition from apartheid is extraordinary. Despite his numerous achievements, he will be remembered foremost for his humility and his humanity. Encapsulating this, Malcolm Fraser, as the then Co-chairman of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group, recalled his first meeting with Nelson Mandela before his release from prison. Mandela's first words were, 'Mr Fraser, is Don Bradman still alive?' The Don was later to inscribe a bat to Mandela with the words 'To Nelson Mandela, in recognition of a great unfinished innings'.

Australia has a long and proud history of engagement with South Africa and support for Mr Mandela and the anti-apartheid struggle. Australian welcomed Nelson Mandela to our shores in October 1990 as a true friend, and more than 100,000 people listened to his speech on the steps of the Sydney Opera House. In 1994, Mandela chose Australia as the first country outside Africa to visit as President and thank for its support in the anti-apartheid struggle. In 1999, Prime Minister John Howard honoured him with our nation's highest award, the Companion of the Order of Australia, in a ceremony at our High Commission in Pretoria in recognition of his leadership and of the example of reconciliation he and South Africa had given the world. Throughout the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, Australian communities and church groups devoted themselves to his cause. Reflecting strong community sentiment at home, successive Australian governments from both major parties campaigned in international forums against the apartheid system and in support of a representative and democratic South Africa.

Nelson Mandela is considered a hero whose struggles, sacrifices and moral stature led to the election of the first truly democratic, fully representative government in South Africa. Today, despite the inequalities which remain as a result of the apartheid era, South Africa continues to embrace democratic freedoms. The economy, while facing many challenges, is relatively strong and stable. South Africa is a respected voice on the international stage, stemming in part from the high esteem with which Nelson Mandela was regarded by the international community.

Nelson Mandela will be deeply mourned and missed. He was a man who made a difference to the life of our times.

Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this condolence motion. I do so, I suspect, as one of the few members of this parliament, or perhaps the only member of this parliament, who had the privilege of knowing Nelson Mandela. For me, it was a unique and very special privilege, and I want to recount why.

In my very early years, before I came to this parliament, I participated in debates in my own political party, which were sometimes difficult and divisive, over both South Africa, with its apartheid system, and Zimbabwe. There were two leaders of significance that we came to support: in South Africa, Mandela, and, in Zimbabwe, Mugabe. I think they have taken very different paths. For me, the magnanimity of Nelson Mandela is what has really distinguished him from his fellow continental leaders, if I might put it in that way.

Just think about it. Australia, for a time, supported the apartheid regime. Many were anxious about it and sought to see change. I can remember when members of this parliament in my very early years would receive invitations from the South African government to go and see for themselves firsthand the apartheid regime and why it should be supported. I could never bring myself to accept that offer of hospitality. For me, the system was so insidious that it was something that I could not bring myself in any way, shape or form to support.

I had a unique opportunity to go to South Africa in 1994 as one of the five Commonwealth observers of the elections—the first democratic elections for South Africa. It included John Cain, a former Premier of Victoria; Janine Haines, the former leader of the Australian Democrats in the Senate; Dr Duncan Chappell; and the chief electoral commissioner. It was a unique experience for me. I have never been an election observer before. I did not think the elections were faultless, but it earned me the enmity of many of my colleagues when I raised some of the faults who were of the view that it should be supported unequivocally. But the moments that I remember and are etched forever with me were to see Mandela at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town, where he addressed one of the largest crowds of people that I have ever seen. I still have photographs in my office of Mandela on a vehicle being driven around the perimeter of the stadium before he spoke.

He was a man of enormous presence. Of course the election outcome was quite decisive. I often remind school parties visiting parliament of the first democratic elections in South Africa. Why do I do that? It is because I want to emphasise the importance of democracy and what it means, and what a privilege it is to be able to participate in elections. What etched it in my memory was standing beside some people of South Africa waiting to vote on that day, sometimes all day, in queues outside their polling booths. Their patience and their willingness to participate in those first democratic elections was something unique and something special.

When I first rose, I compared the results in South Africa with the results in Zimbabwe. Only two years ago, I had the opportunity of visiting South Africa again and Zimbabwe. The results are very, very different. The suffering of the people of Zimbabwe, the reduction in their collective standard of living and the nature of the administration of the Mugabe regime have, I think, left that country greatly diminished. Mandela's leadership has had quite a different outcome, an inclusive outcome—the rainbow society, as it has been called, a situation in which they have not deprived themselves of the economic opportunities that can be gained by retaining the skills and capacities of their people. I am not saying it is perfect, but I think Mandela played a unique and very special role in uniting the people of South Africa. For that, not only should South Africa be grateful but the world should be grateful for his very effective leadership.

Having witnessed that, it was a great privilege for me to meet him here in Australia at Kirribilli House with John Howard and on other occasions when he came to these premises. I had seen a man who had suffered a great deal. Interestingly, I recall the condolence motion only a little while ago when we spoke about the late Michael Hodgman. He, as one of the early members of the parliamentary Amnesty group here in Canberra, lamented that because Mandela would not eschew the use of violence initially in relation to the ANC as it sought a change, he was never adopted as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty—quite remarkable.

I visited Robben Island. I saw where he was held. I saw the way in which he endured so many years imprisonment, unjustly. But here was a man, after all he had endured, who was still able to forgive, to seek reconciliation and to build a nation. I do not think any of us will see a man of this ilk in our lifetime again. It is a remarkable story. He has been a great person of the world, one we should justly celebrate, as they are in South Africa, for his life and all that he was able to achieve.

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I join other members in expressing our condolences over the passing of the former South African President, Nelson Mandela. I would also like to associate myself with the fine words of the Chief Government Whip in his recollections of what this man meant to him and, indeed, what this man has meant to millions of people around the world. Mr Mandela was a leader who fought against the apartheid policies of South Africa and rendered an immense service to humanity. He changed the lives of millions of impoverished and oppressed people. A hero of the apartheid struggle, Mr Mandela spent 27 years in jail and then became South Africa's first democratically elected president.

The collective bereavement which has met his death across the world not only reflects the scale of his achievements but, indeed, the quality of the man. The African National Congress, in a statement released shortly after Mr Mandela's death, said:

The large African Boabab, who loved Africa as much as he loved South Africa, has fallen. Its trunk and seeds will nourish the earth for decades to come.

Mr Mandela's legacy and memory have been celebrated and his passing mourned by leaders around the world. The world leaders' speeches are replete with superlatives and sorrow. The President of the United States, Barack Obama, said just after Mr Mandela's passing that he now 'belongs to the ages'. President Obama said that Mandela:

… embodied the promise that human beings—and countries—can change for the better.

He paid homage to the influence that Mandela had on his own political career. Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, a good friend of Nelson Mandela, described Mandela as being 'like a most precious diamond honed deep beneath the surface of the earth'.

For the many Australians who have paused to reflect on Mr Mandela's contributions, they can be proud that three successive prime ministers—Mr Whitlam, Mr Fraser and Mr Hawke—all played an important role in advocating for Mandela in his struggle. Mr Whitlam's government banned racially selected sporting teams from touring here, which of course meant that we did not go through the same difficulties that we have seen occur in other countries. Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke played a pivotal role at the CHOGM meeting in the Bahamas in 1985, ensuring financial sanctions designed to choke the South African economy were adopted. It is also true to say that there was a different view about economic sanctions at the time. Mr Howard, the then opposition leader, opposed those sanctions. He told parliament in 1986:

The proposition that the white regime can be removed by the imposition of economic sanctions or that the imposition of sanctions will bring about a major change in the attitude of that regime, is a very questionable one.

I do believe that, on that occasion, the then leader of the coalition and, indeed, the coalition at that time were on the wrong side of history. The Australian Labor Party was one of the very few parties around the world to give practical assistance to Mr Mandela and the ANC in the 1994 general election.

When Mandela was released from prison, he visited Australia. Tens of thousands turned out to hear him speak. I had the good fortune to be in attendance at a gathering on 25 October 1990 at Melbourne Town Hall, where Nelson Mandela addressed unionists to thank them for their long effort to put political pressure on the regime of South Africa to have him released and—more importantly, as he would see it—to see a road to democracy for his country. I had the great honour to be in the audience when he was there. I just want to read out a couple of things that he said on that day as he addressed us:

It was the labour movement of this country in the early-50s which supported the dockworkers in this country who refused to unload South African ships. That was a decision which created a great deal of excitement, which gave the people of South Africa in their struggle, a lot of strength and a lot of hope.

It was difficult to understand how workers, thousands of miles from our shores, who did take the initiative the lead, among the workers of the world, to pledge their solidarity with the people of South Africa. The feeling that we are not alone, that we have millions of workers behind us, is a factor which has prepared us, notwithstanding the most brutal form of oppression which we've faced in our country. Throughout, since 1912, every South African Government has tried to destroy the African National Congress, or at least to cripple it. Not only have they failed in that resolve, but we have emerged to be the most powerful political organisation in the country, inside and outside of Parliament.

Clearly this was an emotional tribute by Mr Mandela and it showed his appreciation for the efforts of the union movement in this country, even before Labor governments agreed to impose sanctions on what was a horrific and undemocratic regime. As I say, I was fortunate to be there that day when Mr Mandela addressed us. He seemed, even at that moment—that moment of triumph, one would think—a man of humility, of modesty and of even temper. Amidst a very excitable crowd, he was in complete possession of the moment, and his dignity shone through. It is a great loss to South Africa, a great loss to this world. Let us hope that he will continue to inspire future generations.

Andrew Leigh (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Richard Stengel, who worked with Nelson Mandela on his autobiography, told the story of when he was out walking one morning in the Transkei with Mr Mandela and they spoke about when he would be joining his ancestors. Mandela said:

Men come and go. I have come and I will go when my time comes.

He had an extraordinary life. The first time he shook the hand of a white man was when he went off to boarding school. He was born into a relatively privileged family by black South African standards. He grew to stand six foot two and he had a strong education. Nonetheless, when he was a young man in Johannesburg people spat on him in buses, shopkeepers turned him away and whites treated him as if he could not read or write. He thought to himself that, if that was how he was treated, how must it be for so many other black South Africans?

He was tried for his revolutionary activities for the ANC and sentenced. In the sentencing hearings, he spoke for four hours, finishing with the final statement:

During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

His defence team urged him to take out the last sentence for risk of antagonising the judge and, as history has suggested, it may have been a close-run thing. Another member of the Johannesburg bench claims that he persuaded the trial judge, Quartus de Wet, to change his mind over a cup of tea in the judicial common room just before he returned to the court for sentencing: de Wet had been set on hanging.

The 27-year sentence saw Nelson Mandela become prisoner 466/64. He was held for 18 years in an eight-foot by seven-foot cell. It was a brutal sentence. He was a man who loved children but spent 27 years without holding a baby. As was reported, when he was being pursued by thousands of police, he secretly went to tuck in his son in his bed. When his son asked why he could not be with him every night, Mandela told him millions of other South African children needed him too. He lost his eldest son, Madiba Thembekile, in a car crash in 1969 and felt terrible guilt.

Mandela did not eschew violence entirely, as Gandhi did. He said, 'At a certain point, one can only fight fire with fire.' He never disowned the struggle and he was the founder of Umkhonto weSizwe, the Spear of the Nation, the military wing of the ANC. He regarded violence as a tactic not as a principle. As my media adviser, Toni Hassan, has pointed out, Mandela reached a point of taking the view that violence was a necessary strategy. But when the time came, he said to the ANC:

We must accept that responsibility for ending violence is not just the government's, the police's, the army's. It is also our responsibility.

This was most difficult when Chris Hani was killed by an assassin commissioned by the right-wing conservative party. It was Mandela who called aggrieved black South Africans not to take revenge when the country could have been plunged into bloodshed. He noted that a white woman of Afrikaner origin risked her life so that 'we may know and bring justice to the assassin'.

When Mandela was released from jail, almost a generation had passed. It was said that when he saw a television soundman waving a boom microphone at him he thought he was 'wielding a fancy assassination device'. But Mandela brought black and white South Africa together as the first president of a multiracial South Africa. In the moment when the country hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Mandela wore captain Francois Pienaar's No. 6 jersey on the field. The crowd loved it and loved him. They experienced a great moment of unity.

I am very pleased to see the bipartisanship with which Nelson Mandela has been acknowledged, but it is important to note that this was not always so. When people like Meredith Burgmann protested against white-only South African sporting teams, she was attacked by many Australian conservatives. Reading through the Hansard reveals John Howard opposing sporting sanctions against South Africa in the 1980s and Michael Cobb calling in 1990 for the resumption of sporting contact with South Africa. It also reveals Liberal members calling for the expulsion of the African National Congress from Australia and people like Senator Crichton-Browne saying:

When Mandela gets out of gaol he will be just in the ruck with all the rest. As long as he is in gaol he really is a symbol of all that the blacks represent. The sooner he gets out, the sooner, in my view, his influence will be considerably diminished.

One is so glad that those words have been consigned to the dustbin of history. There was a great moment in that speech when Senator Crichton-Browne said:

No one, in my view, has an absolute mortgage on morality.

And the late John Button said:

Certainly not you, Senator.

Mandela was a towering figure the likes of which we may not see again. His example to all of us was an extraordinary one. We are lucky to have shared this planet with him for that great run of 95 years he was on it. May he rest in peace.

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I appreciate the opportunity to make some comments this evening on behalf of the electorate of Gippsland regarding the death of Nelson Mandela. I am sure that the people of Gippsland would like me to extend their condolences to Nelson Mandela's family, his friends and his nation. Mandela spent much of his life standing up against the injustice of apartheid and, as we have already heard this evening, when that fight was won he inspired us again by his capacity to forgive and to reconcile his country. While the world may never see the likes of Nelson Mandela again, he has certainly inspired countless men and women throughout the world to live more courageous and more honest lives. Much has been written and said already about Mandela's legacy. There is little I can add, perhaps, beyond a simple thank you. Thank you to this great man, and thank you for a life well lived.

Naturally, over the past three days we have seen extensive media coverage—and I must commend the Australian media for the way it has covered the death of Nelson Mandela—and that coverage has been exhaustive but it has been very reflective as well. It has taken the time to delve into the intricacies of the issues that Mandela faced and the way he triumphed against great adversity. There has been grief, and there has been a sense of loss, of course, for his family and for the South African nation, as the world mourns a father, grandfather, a great-grandfather, a husband and simply an extraordinary individual. But there has also been a sense of celebration, to commemorate 95 years of an extraordinary life which, by any standards, has been well lived.

We have already heard in this place many moving tributes—from the Acting Prime Minister, the member for Wide Bay; from the acting opposition leader; and from the member for Berowra and the member for Gorton—both of whom had the opportunity to meet Nelson Mandela. Even in his death, Mandela has been a great unifier; he has managed to unify this place—which in many ways would probably be one of his greatest miracles!

At his trial in 1964, Mandela spoke of his determination to achieve a free and harmonious society, saying:

It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

The courage contained in that statement alone is stark. Mandela remained true to those words during his long and arduous 27 years in prison. I believe his passing serves as a challenge to us all here in this place. His inspirational leadership can guide us as we make decisions and as we make the most of the opportunities that have been afforded to us as leaders of our own communities. I was particularly taken by the comments from Mandela's biographer, Richard Stengel, which appeared in The Weekend Australian, and I want to quote from them:

Deep in his bones was a basic sense of fairness: he simply could not abide injustice. If he, Mandela, the son of a chief, handsome and educated, could be treated as subhuman, what about the millions who had nothing like his advantages? "That is not right," he would say to me about something as mundane as a flight being cancelled or as large as a world leader's policies, but this phrase - that is not right - underlay everything he did.

To see something that is wrong and to take action to make it right must surely underpin our actions as members of this place.

As Mandela himself remarked, he was not a saint; he was just a man. Surely, he was an extraordinary man. But he was just a man. As was reported in The Age over the weekend, both Verne Harris, project leader at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, and Adam Roberts, a former correspondent from The Economist, say that Mandela had his flaws. He led an armed struggle which, by some definitions, could be seen as terrorism. Some have spoken about his stubbornness, his tendency to be aloof, and some other less attractive qualities. But in those failings, flaws or traits, we see Mandela as more of a complete human being. That should serve as further inspiration to us all and to our communities. He was just a man; he was not a saint. This man was able to achieve some remarkable things for his nation—but not through some mystical qualities. If one human being can achieve so much, why can't others rise to greatness?

His life, including any faults or failings, whether they are perceived or otherwise, can inspire us all—men and women, black and white—to protect the legacy of Nelson Mandela and to reach within ourselves to find our better selves.

The resilience and the capacity to never give up even in the face of oppression are enduring qualities and values that can achieve change everywhere, including in our wonderful nation of Australia. To see something that is wrong and to take action is to take responsibility for that situation. To never give up, to remain determined in the face of adversity and to ultimately triumph are lessons that every generation can learn from. I believe they are the fundamental lessons that Nelson Mandela taught his nation and the world.

Many quotes from Mandela have appeared in the press over the last few days and they have been inspirational. I have taken perhaps greatest inspiration from two of them, and I would like to quote them now. One is: 'What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is the difference we have made to the lives of others.' And another is: 'There is no passion to be found playing small—in settling for a life that is less than the one that you are capable of living.' I was taken by those quotes because they are the types of messages that I try to convey to school students when I visit them in my electorate of Gippsland—when I meet them to discuss civics or citizenship or their future and the opportunities that might lie ahead for them. I must say that Mandela put them far more eloquently than I ever could, but the intent is the same.

Mandela demonstrated through his life the values and principles behind the words 'respect' and 'responsibility'. It is the same message that I like to give to students in my community when I meet with them. It is about respecting others and treating them in the same way you expect to be treated. As MPs, we have a long way to go in that regard. We can do better on the lesson of respect and the way we treat each other in this place. It is also about self-respect, and in his quote, 'There is no passion to be found playing small,' Mandela is saying to me: 'Let yourself achieve your absolute best with the skills and the abilities and the lessons you have learnt in life. You owe it to yourself to achieve whatever you possibly can in your life, and there is folly in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.'

The lessons for all of us in Nelson Mandela's life are the values of hard work, of determination, of humility, of respect and of taking responsibility when you see something is wrong and trying to make it right. I know that taking responsibility these days is not always a popular course of action—it may not be so fashionable—and there always seems to be someone else to blame when we do make mistakes. And we do make mistakes as members in this place—we all make mistakes, some on a daily basis, some more regularly than that. When we make a mistake, we have to take responsibility. If we see a fault or if we make a mistake, we have to act in the best interest of our nation and try to correct it. They are the lessons that I have taken from Nelson Mandela's life and from reading more about his experiences over the past few days. In Mandela's example, it is to recognise what is not right and try to do something about it.

Finally, as I mentioned before, even in death Nelson Mandela has continued to achieve greatness. He has unified what is an often troubled and divided world. The speeches we have heard here today have demonstrated that unity, as members from both sides have recognised Mandela's contribution to the world. We have had tributes from world leaders, both black and white; from European leaders and Asian leaders; and from celebrities and mums and dads. We have seen people in the street crying and people in the streets celebrating. He has that enormous capacity to bring the world together to recognise a person who did in fact change the world. The lessons are there for us to see in his writings, in his speeches and, more importantly, in his deeds. As we in this place seek inspiration, and search for wisdom to see what is wrong and help make it right, I believe many of us would benefit from taking guidance from Mandela's struggles and his extraordinary achievements. My last words this evening are from Mandela himself: 'I learnt that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.' In years to come I think we will all do well to reflect on the words and the life of Nelson Mandela.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a time to honour all of those who fought against the evils of the apartheid regime in South Africa, from the great man whom we commemorate today all the way down to the lowly record store owner who was portrayed so beautifully in the movie Searching for Sugar Man, which came out in the last year or two. It is a great movie that shows that one of the amazing things about the anti-apartheid movement was the way that it spread through the country and made change an irresistible thing. It was a remarkable movement and I pay tribute to it today.

It is with a great deal of sadness, but with limitless admiration, that I rise to join with colleagues from all parts of this parliament to pay tribute to a man and that movement, and to the causes of antiracism, reconciliation, democracy, progress and equality, which will live on well beyond the passing of Nelson Mandela. For some people those are just words or slogans. For a lot of the leaders on that continent, unfortunately, they were easily traded away for power, but for Nelson Mandela they were causes for which, as other speakers have mentioned and he repeatedly said, he was prepared to die.

To his clan, his people and statesmen such as Bill Clinton, whom he befriended, he was known as Madiba, his clan name. That is the name they have been chanting in South African streets and around the world since the awful news broke late last week.

He once said, 'The time is always ripe to do right.' It is right to mark the extraordinary life of an extraordinary man who lived for 95 years but whose impact will be felt forever. His was a life forged in the fires of racism and imprisonment during the time of injustice imposed by South African apartheid, by the minority white population, on the majority black population.

He once wrote to his second wife, Winnie, 'Difficulties break some men but make others.' There can be no better example of that than Mandela's own life and struggle on behalf of all South Africans, but especially the poor, the oppressed and the marginalised.

He spoke simply but with immense power multiplied by his humility. I mark something that the Deputy Prime Minister said earlier today, which is the paradox that, the more humble Nelson Mandela got, the greater he became. I thought that was an excellent point raised by the Deputy Prime Minister. How Nelson Mandela maintained such amazing dignity in the face of such trials is beyond explanation. To spend more than a quarter of a very long life in prison and emerge like he did, with his optimism and vision, that straight back and a deep, reflective voice was incredible.

As they did for my colleagues who have spoken already, his struggles inspired me and helped instil in me a passion for tolerance and justice achieved through political action. In that sense he was like Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln and FDR but with one important difference: he was the only one of those who lived and worked in my time. One of my earliest political memories is from grade 7, when Nelson Mandela was released from jail and there was the amazing scene where he was walking along with a big crowd behind him. One of the things that made me start to think that I was from this side of politics was that a social studies teacher explained to me that the Left in Australia was siding with Nelson Mandela, whereas the Right had not always sided with him and had indeed at times sided with his opponents.

Mandela showed us that inspired and courageous political leadership could be contemporary and not just historical. In the mid-90s his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom became the first political book I read. I remember setting the alarm early so that I could plough through as much of it as I could before school. I suspect this week it might become the most re-read book in the world—that is a great thing. I also mark what the previous speaker and also my colleague the member for Canberra said about the Richard Stengel book. Stengel collaborated with Mandela on Long Walk to Freedom and more recently wrote his own book, which laid out 15 lessons from Mandela's life, taken from the thousands of hours they spent together talking about life and leadership while they worked on the first book. Stengel did us a tremendous service by showing Mandela, warts and all: a hero but also a human.

Our greatest debt to Stengel is for familiarising us with the African term Ubuntu. In an introduction to Stengel's book Mandela describes Ubuntu as the profound sense that we are human only through the humanity of others; that if we are to accomplish anything in this world it will be due in equal measure to the work and achievements of others. What a tremendous sentiment that is.

This humility and selflessness is embodied by the man we pay tribute to now, the man who wrote in a famous essay that 'to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others' and who later said in a letter to his famous ally Walter Sisulu:

What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.

So the Australian parliament unites to thank and honour Madiba today. There is surely no better way to mark his passing than with his own words on mortality:

Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace. I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore, why I will sleep for the eternity.

He will be remembered for eternity as well.

Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Many of my colleagues have already spoken on the condolence motion before the House, and I would like to associate myself with the words and the remarks of the Acting Prime Minister in particular. Today I would like to pay my respects on the passing of one of the world's greatest leaders, Nelson Mandela, and to offer the condolences of the people of McPherson. Our thoughts are with his wife, his children, his grandchildren, his great-grandchildren and the entire family, as well as his friends and colleagues, those who struggled alongside him.

Nelson Mandela's legacy is more than just ending apartheid and greater than bringing forth a new era for South Africa. Nelson Mandela's legacy is of bringing change and humanity to a nation and to the world and bringing about change peacefully. As he famously said in his 1964 address at the opening of the defence case in the Rivonia trial:

During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to see realised.

People around the world this week will be looking at all that Nelson Mandela achieved in his lifetime, and, although his achievements were great, we should also be looking to the future, learning from all that he did and expanding to create a better world. Nelson Mandela believed in the power of humanity, and we should too. Sitting in this parliament are a group of diverse people with diverse backgrounds and ideals, but what we all have in common is the desire to create a better Australia and a better world. I think we can all look to Nelson Mandela as an inspiration to come together and to do just that.

Most people believe that one person cannot make a difference, but Nelson Mandela went to show us that it is possible. One person can make a change that affects the lives of millions of people around the world. His actions have inspired many and will continue to inspire people into the future. He has taught us to respond to injustice and stand up for the equality of all people. The world has lost a great man and a great leader, but his memory will live on through his work and those that work in his vision. May he rest in peace.

Pat Conroy (Charlton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very proud to be able to join colleagues in paying tribute to a true giant of humanity, Nelson Mandela. Mandela's story is well known all around the world: the freedom fighter against the apartheid regime who became the most famous prisoner in the world and who subsequently was able to unite his nation as the first democratically elected President of South Africa.

Over the last few days, so many people have recognised his enormous and total commitment to reconciliation in post-apartheid South Africa. A shining example of this was his meeting with Percy Yutar upon his election as President. Yutar had been the state prosecutor at the trial which resulted in Mandela's 27-year imprisonment and had demanded during that trial the death penalty for Mandela and his comrades, and yet here was the newly elected President not exerting retribution or punishment but meeting the gentleman who had sent him to prison.

As a Labor member of parliament I am very proud that the Australian Labor Party was one of the few political parties that provided assistance to Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress in the first democratic election in South Africa, in 1994. This assistance had a broader base than just the parliamentary Labor Party; the combined trade union movement was also involved. I remember working in a building in Granville which had framed in its foyer a reproduction—I hope it was a reproduction—of a ballot paper, with a note of thanks from the ANC written on it, from the first democratic election in 1994.

I pay tribute to the remarks of people from across the chamber. The passing of Mandela is the passing of a giant who unites everyone, and I think many countries can learn from his approach to power. I was very interested in the comments from the member for Berowra, the Chief Government Whip, on the contrast between South Africa and other countries in its region, and I think that is very important. Being from an Irish background, I know that Northern Ireland is also dealing with reconciliation. So it is a good time to pause and reflect on the passing of a true giant.

It is also important at this stage to recognise the efforts of people in Australia who supported Nelson's activities and those of the ANC in general. It is widely acknowledged that economic sanctions imposed by the international community, led in part by Australia, played a significant role in ending apartheid. Australians should be very proud of the role we played and grateful that we were led by successive prime ministers who were vocal advocates of ending apartheid. History shows that Whitlam, Fraser, Hawke and Keating were right. I pay tribute in particular to former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser for his efforts in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which were continued by Prime Minister Hawke.

Of course, not all former leaders can lay claim to having taken part in such efforts. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, former president of the United States Ronald Reagan and Australia's very own former Prime Minister John Howard were all opposed to Australia's efforts to end apartheid in various forms. Prime Minister Howard is on the record as having opposed economic and sporting sanctions. In fact, in 1975, Prime Minister Howard rose in parliament to oppose the Whitlam Labor government's prevention of the Australian cricket team from touring South Africa. His attempt to trivialise apartheid by suggesting that Australia should only compete with countries whose sporting teams were democratically selected was shameful. Apartheid was not a joke; when John Howard made his suggestion, Mandela had been in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison for 11 years whilst the black South African population was being systemically denied its human rights.

I raise this point because, when we reflect on the passing of a giant—a statesman who was certainly on the highest tier of statespeople—we should not take it as an opportunity to rewrite history. We should acknowledge Mandela's contributions and the circumstances surrounding them. I also note that former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher labelled the ANC a terrorist organisation and vehemently opposed efforts by Commonwealth nations to end apartheid and that president Reagan used his presidential powers to veto the United States' efforts to end apartheid. We are here acknowledging the passing of a giant who was convicted of terrorism and condemned by various governments around the world in the past, and we remember Mandela as a truly unique individual whose unwavering commitment to social justice and human rights leaves a legacy which will be held up as an example for generations to come. However, in remembering him we must also remember that some share a shameful legacy of opposing efforts to end apartheid.

As a keen rugby follower I acknowledge Mandela's support of the South African national rugby team, the Springboks—once a symbol of white domination and apartheid—in the 1995 Rugby World Cup. His embrace of the Springboks is another shining example of his commitment to reconciliation. The captain of the 1995 World Cup winning team, Francois Pienaar, said over the weekend that in post-apartheid South Africa:

… where there was real tension, he gave us all hope. There will never be another like him.

I agree with him.

Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I humbly rise to offer my condolences to the people of South Africa on the death of former South African President Nelson Mandela. The world has lost a bastion of humanity with the passing of Nelson Mandela. He leaves behind a nation in mourning. They have lost the man who personified the heart and soul of South Africa—a beacon of humanity, forgiveness and national pride.

The people of the world have also lost one of their greatest. Nelson Mandela created a benchmark for the entire world in how to bring about peaceful conflict resolution. Watching Mandela and FW de Klerk standing side by side to receive the Nobel Peace Prize is one of the great moments in history. It was a scene many thought was not possible. However, as Mr Mandela himself said, 'It always seems impossible until its done.'

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 16:55 to 17:13

Nelson Mandela leaves behind a legacy that is not that of a saint and he would not want to be remembered that way. He went to prison in 1962 as an angry radical revolutionary. When he emerged from prison nearly 30 years later, in 1990, at 72 years of age and with the whole world watching, nobody really knew what to expect. If he was bitter he was not showing it. He seemed happy and at peace. This is a man who had a third of his life stolen from him. This is a man who had been spat on in the street and refused service in stores for the colour of his skin.

Yet, when he emerged from prison, he emerged as a man of peace and forgiveness. It was this journey that gave Nelson Mandela the authority to stand in front of his people as their leader and inspire them to free themselves from anger and to forgive their oppressors. He once told former US President Bill Clinton, 'You simply cannot be free without forgiveness.' He himself could not truly be a free man if he held on to his anger. Furthermore, South Africa as nation would never be able to move ahead as a peaceful democracy without its citizens forgiving the sins of the past.

This is how Nelson Mandela became the heart and soul of a multiracial, modern, democratic South Africa. And this is how, in 1994, just four years after he was released from prison, he became the South African President with a 62 per cent majority. Who can forget those long, snaking lines as millions queued in the sun for hours to vote in South Africa's first multiracial elections?

While Mr Mandela only served one term as President of South Africa, it was during this time that he laid a road map for a modern South Africa. In his inaugural speech he said:

We have, at last, achieved our political emancipation. We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination.

We enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity - a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.

He did not just speak these words; he lived them.

In a well-chosen gesture of forgiveness, Nelson Mandela appeared wearing South African colours at the Rugby World Cup Final in Johannesburg to congratulate the victorious home team, bringing the overwhelmingly white crowd of 63,000 to its feet chanting his name. Nelson Mandela used rugby to bring a nation together. He needed to find something that all South Africans could share so they could see there was something in which such a bitterly divided and rawly hurt nation could come together.

As a fellow rugby-loving nation, Australia will never forget that moment in 1995 when Mandela appeared wearing a Springbok rugby jersey with the number 6 on his back. The No. 6 jersey was that of South African captain on the day, Francois Pienaar, an Afrikaaner with whom he had become close friends. Pienaar said it was an amazing feeling when Mandela walked into the Springbok dressing room wearing his number to wish them good luck. To this day, television footage of that spectacle brings a tear to the eye of the toughest Australian rugby fan and rugby fans all around the world.

Nelson Mandela knew exactly what he was doing that day. It was a bold and risky decision, but he knew that it sent an important message to his people. As Mr Mandela was subsequently to say in a speech about that day:

Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does.

Even after his retirement, Mr Mandela continued to work against social injustice, poverty and oppression. In fact, he was working so hard in his retirement he famously had to retire from his retirement.

He became an outspoken advocate against HIV/AIDS, speaking out about the loss of his son in 2005, Makgatho Mandela who had died of an AIDS-related illness at the age of 54. This was a significant moment in Nelson's Mandela's fight against HIV/AIDS. At the time Mr Mandela said:

Let us give publicity to HIV/AIDS and not hide it, because the only way to make it appear like a normal illness like TB, like cancer, is always to come out and to say somebody has died because of HIV/AIDS—and people will stop regarding it as something extraordinary.

Despite his achievements, one can never forget that Mandela was in his heart a family man who adored his children and sacrificed so much. He was a father, a grandfather and a great-grandfather. One cannot imagine the enormous pain his family must have endured throughout those years. Family spokesperson Temba Matanzima said in a recent statement about Mr Mandela's death that the pillar of their family was gone, just as he was during the 27 painful years of his imprisonment.

Nelson Mandela's family has lost their pillar, the South African nation has lost their father and the world has lost a great man. Nelson Mandela will forever be in the hearts and minds of the world and will forever be an inspiration to those who are fighting against oppression, poverty and racism. As I said at the outset, the world has lost a bastion of humanity with the passing of Nelson Mandela. It is our responsibility now to continue his legacy.

Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I join with other members here today in expressing my condolences and those of the people of Fremantle on the passing of Nelson Mandela, a man who embodied through great suffering the greatest human qualities; a man who showed unwavering strength of purpose in the service of moral and humanitarian principle; a man who displayed courage and endurance—quite unbelievable endurance—in the face of violence and oppression; a simple, noble man who lived by the values of leadership, camaraderie, humility, forgiveness and love.

I am sure there has not been another death felt around the world like the passing of Nelson Mandela. His departure leaves hundreds of millions of people in nations across the globe feeling his loss but feeling at the same time enormous gratitude for what he gave and enormous sadness at this subtraction from the world of wisdom, goodness and the will for peace. Those of us in Australia who celebrate the life of Nelson Mandela and who mourn his death can imagine what it must be like for his nation, South Africa, for his family and for his friends. We extend our condolences to them at this time.

The West Australian newspaper said it well in its editorial on the weekend when it stated that Mandela's achievements:

… rank him alongside Mahatma Gandhi in the pantheon of statesman who have led their nations through turbulent times and whose towering moral authority helped to avoid bloodshed on a terrifying scale.

There are two precepts of Mahatma Gandhi's that come to mind when one reflects on the life of Nelson Mandela. The first is: 'Be the change that you want to see in the world.' The second is: 'Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love.'

There is no better example of the power of those ideas than in the life of Nelson Mandela. He had more than enough reason to give up his personal struggle to be and bring about the change that he knew was required in South Africa, and he had 27 years of incarceration and mistreatment in which to give himself up to the claims of hate and bitterness. Yet his commitment to justice did not falter and his capacity to forgive and to love was not overcome.

It is hard to grasp and hold the full weight of those 27 years in prison. All I can do is pick out some of the details that drive home to me the kind of suffering he experienced: the fact that when first imprisoned he was allowed one visit and one letter every six months; the fact that when his mother and then his first-born son died—in 1968 and 1969 respectively—he was not allowed to attend either funeral; the fact that his daughters were not able to visit him until 1975, 11 years after he was first taken to Robben Island; the fact that when he worked in the prison's lime quarry he was forbidden from wearing sunglasses and as a result suffered permanent eye damage. All these cruelties, punishments, denials of freedom—and many, many more—took place across a length of time that is itself hard to fathom, yet Nelson Mandela emerged from prison to both lead and heal his nation. I believe the best way of honouring a great soul like Mandela is to recognise that the way he lived and the principles he lived by are available to everyone—and, indeed, that they are exemplified, in small and large ways, by many people.

There was a time, when Mandela was beginning his journey, that he was hardly known in South Africa, let alone in the wider world. There was a time when people in Australia second-guessed the need to oppose apartheid and failed to support those in our community who did recognise and share the fight against that evil. There are forms of racial injustice now—including in this country—that require more of us to make a greater effort to say, 'That is not right', as Mandela said, and to do something about it.

As the world honours and celebrates the life and achievements of Nelson Mandela, let us not fall into the historical fiction that would regard the triumph of his cause as inevitable. It took the outside world too long to act in concert against the apartheid regime and there have been in the recent past, and there are even now, instances of tyranny and systemic inequality that the world should not ignore but does. The last thing we should do in remembering Mandela is to put his example on a pedestal where no-one can reach it. The first thing we should do is to look around us a little more keenly to see those among us who are seeking to deliver justice, to promote peace and equality and to ensure the observance of human rights for all our fellow men and women.

I love the fact that Mandela's tribal name, Rolihlahla, means troublemaker. In the pursuit of freedom and equality and in the face of structured and entrenched oppression, you need to be prepared to make a certain amount of trouble; to be a firebrand in the cause of change. Nelson Mandela lived nearly a century and in his 95 years he came to represent all that was possible and good in people, in us. That will be his legacy. Through the century that has passed, 100 years of substantial horror and darkness as well as progress, Mandela achieved the miracle of transforming an entire nation from a deeply racist, cruel and oppressive past to a free and democratic future through reconciliation without significant bloodshed. His death is a great loss but his life and his example have been the greatest gift. We will remember him and be inspired by him, and shape our conduct by the light of his leadership, humility and love.

Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There are few people who inspire us to the level that Nelson Mandela has done. The contribution that an individual makes to society and to the global community in which we all live is something he will be remembered for, but also the circumstances that built his character as a man, a leader and an individual. Last week the world community lost one of its greatest leaders, a pioneer and an advocate for peace, unity, equality and peer recognition. The death of Nelson Mandela, South Africa's President from 1994 to 1999 has struck a chord with individuals and leaders from all walks of life. In death as in life, Mandela commands the respect of the world stage.

Fifty-nine world leaders are making the trek to South Africa to pay their respects to the man, and to the unity and forgiveness that was his life's work. Occasionally in life the world gives birth to a great leader. Mandela was one of those few exceptional men who rose above the fray to transition from countryman to world elder, a unifying figure not only for South Africans but for many throughout the world. Mandela is best known for his work as a civil rights activist, a world leader and an author.

Mandela stands to be known as one of the world's most pre-eminent symbols of peace. In 1993, Mandela was jointly awarded the Nobel peace prize with the then South African President Fredrik Willem de Klerk for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime and for laying the foundation of a new democratic South Africa. In 1942, Mandela joined the African National Congress and for 20 years directed a campaign of peaceful nonviolent defiance against the South African government and its racist policies.

Mandela like Gandhi had a unique and extraordinary capacity to forgive. I am always struck by the way both men used peace and unity. They used unity in a passive sense by bringing to the fore their message in respect of seeking freedom for the nations of their people and at the same time building an ethos of forgiveness and directing people on a journey towards unity for their nations. It is a unique quality that transcends the politics and the strengths of those individuals to make a difference in blending together the vision for their nations. The way they went about that is a character of strength and something I admire. I often use their words when I deliver my addresses because they are pertinent to the way they delivered their message. They are salient and go to the crux of what their society was and what their vision was for all of those around them, the people of their nations.

In spite of the terrible atrocities levelled against him, he was able to channel his experiences into a strategy to bring together all men and women in South Africa. As Mandela was known to say, 'Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.' There were few who were as passionate as Mandela to achieve peace and freedom in South Africa. Mandela saw his life's objective as achieving unity and quality for all South Africans. He was known to say:

During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination.

I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to see realised. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

Not once did Mandela's vision for his nation falter, which is a remarkable achievement for any world leader. In total, Mandela spent 27 years in incarceration for his political offences. He was charged due to his efforts to end apartheid, particularly because of his involvement with the African National Congress. Despite the incredible hate that was thrust upon him during these years and the perceived insurmountable challenges in pursuing peace in South Africa, Mandela chose to pursue peace and reconciliation. We remember the image of him walking free into a country that had once jailed him and his first speech when he returned home. It was not about bitterness, it was not about retribution, it was not about revenge; it was about the fact that he wanted to unify a country that could become a great nation, in which people of differing opinions could walk together and deliver a future that augured well for the generations to come.

Mandela was empowered by the very process that sought to disempower him and his efforts towards reconciliation. He said after his release:

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.

He certainly achieved that. The approach towards partnership was the one that marked Mandela's presidency. His legacy and key objective was national reconciliation. He retained his integrity throughout the trials and tribulations he faced, and he did not compromise his beliefs in order to make the journey easier.

Nelson Mandela's achievements are considered all the more remarkable in the light of his previous history. When he was just nine years old his father lost his life to lung cancer, initiating a time of great change for him. Nelson Mandela's extraordinary background began long before he was incarcerated. Mandela was the first in his family to attend school and in spite of a difficult childhood he made the most of his opportunities. Mandela was given the opportunity to study at the Wesleyan mission school, the Clarkebury Boarding Institute, and the Wesleyan college where he solidified his understanding that success was achieved through hard work. Later Mandela studied at the University of Fort Hare, preparing for a career in the civil service as a clerk. After working in law firms and passing exams to become a qualified attorney at law, Mandela, together with his university peer and friend Oliver Tambo, opened the first solely African-run law firm in South Africa, where he provided legal advice and support to those who could not afford to access the legal systems of South Africa. In an interview this morning the grandson of his friend spoke openly of the friendship that the two had and the work that they did together to bring about the changes required to move from an oppressive regime to the Africa we see today.

The impact of education on Mandela's own life is no doubt where his passion for education came from. Mandela believed that education was 'the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world'—and in fact to change the society in which you live. He credited much of what was achieved in South Africa and elsewhere around the world to education. Nelson Mandela identified that the key to all change was education. It unlocks our ability to achieve our destiny and effect lasting differences. It is a vehicle through which he was able to promote peace and unity.

Nelson Mandela did not stop with achieving democracy in South Africa. Instead, he used his experience to urge other nations to overcome conflict and internal destruction through reconciliation, democracy and diplomacy. One of Nelson Mandela's greatest achievements came after his retirement from South African politics. He used his position to bring together world leaders to effect lasting change across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Nelson Mandela convened a group appropriately titled The Elders, which included such individuals as Desmond Tutu, Kofi Annan, Li Zhaoxing and Mohammed Younis. The Elders promoted peace and women's equality as well as developing initiatives to end human rights atrocities and to address the humanitarian crises that existed in various places in the world.

I am proud that leaders of both sides of Australian politics will be showing their respect by attending memorial services for Nelson Mandela. The ideological and symbolic change that Nelson Mandela achieved in South Africa is a contemporary issue that we in Australia are still reconciling. It is an issue on which we look to all sides of politics to unify in order to achieve this change. As Nelson Mandela himself said:

Success in politics demands that you must take your people into confidence about your views and state them very clearly, very politely, very calmly, but nevertheless state them openly.

These same principles are the ones that are needed in our own journey towards reconciliation. Just as Mandela took South Africans into his confidence to share his vision, so too must we as Australian leaders take all Australians into our confidence and state our vision for a united Australia. We members of the Australian parliament must bring all Australians together on a journey to better understand each other. Only by taking this journey together will we be able to achieve lasting reconciliation for Australia.

In closing, I will use Nelson Mandela's own words to encourage us in Australia's journey towards unity:

Our march to freedom is irreversible. We must not allow our fear to stand in the way.

May we never let our fear stand in the way of achieving a stronger, more united Australia. Let us hope that the vision that has been imparted to us not only by him but by leaders within Australia becomes a basis from which we take the next stage of the journey that we have, that we achieve a country of greatness and of unity—a country in which all are part of the vision for the country but where we also stand as equals in the way we integrate and accept each other's ideas. Let us hope to show the passion for the future as Mandela did for Africa, as he did for the global community, for which he gained respect and acknowledgement for having the forgiveness to forge a way where all walk as equals.

Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Infrastructure) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Friday, the world learned that Nelson Mandela had died at 95. Mandela was a towering figure of the 21st century. He transformed a resistance movement into a force for national liberation and was a leader in the true sense of the word. He served over 27 years in Robben Island prison for trying to effect multiracial political change in South Africa. Over those long years of incarceration, he became known as the father of the nation, yet his children grew up without their father. Despite a prison term that would have broken most men, Nelson Mandela did not give up on his dream. He brought to an end white minority rule in South Africa by becoming the first black, democratically elected president in 1994. When he stood in front of the Union Buildings in Pretoria 19 years ago to be sworn in, he embodied the hope of the nation.

Apartheid had been defeated, but his greatest gift to South Africa was to ensure that the sins of apartheid were dealt with through truth and reconciliation and not revenge. A wave of unforeseen optimism spread across the country and across the world. Mandela served in office for five years, but the international acclaim for his activism resonated for much longer than that. He has received more than 250 honours throughout his life, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, shared with FW de Klerk. As some have pointed out since his passing, Mandela was not a saint. He was a human and he had his flaws. That said, South Africa still faces many challenges but we cannot deny that it is a better place because of him.

I had the great honour of meeting Nelson Mandela briefly. It was 1990, just months after he had been released from prison. He came to Australia to thank our government and the community organisations that had supported the anti-apartheid movement throughout its years of struggle. I had been very active in the group on the south coast. In those years the anti-apartheid cause was not always bipartisan. The sanctions movement was very controversial. There existed apologists who gained comfort at high levels throughout the country. I am pleased to say that the south coast branch was a very strong movement that gained support, financial, moral and otherwise, from trade unions, a good friend and colleague Terry Fox and the former member for Throsby, Colin Hollis. It was a great honour to meet a great man, however brief the encounter was. I am very sad, as I am sure all members of this place are, to learn of his passing. The world is a better place for the time he spent with us. Vale, Nelson Mandela.

Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can only echo the remarks that have been made by other members. Nelson Mandela was a great individual. He will be remembered as one of the great individuals of the 20th century, someone who fought for civil rights in the same way that Gandhi and Martin Luther King did. It seems incredible, but when Nelson Mandela was released in 1990 there had been no images of him for 20 years. The photos used for stamps were taken from his trial in the 1960s. Younger people might not even remember the period when South African sporting teams did not compete internationally for 20 years. A number of Australian cricketers went on rebel tours of South Africa, but, under the Gleneagles Agreement, for 20 years South Africa was an international pariah in the sporting world.

I had the opportunity to work in South Africa in late 1989 and early 1990. I worked in a hospital in KwaZulu, then a non-independent homeland. It was an interesting time. In 1989 the previous president of South Africa, Mr Botha, had been replaced by FW de Klerk, the Berlin Wall had come down and some members of the ANC had been released but not Mandela. It was obvious that the system of apartheid was unsustainable and that South Africa had really been held back by the way that it had had sanctions imposed on it by countries around the world. Although many elements of apartheid were by then illegal, I do remember being in the Northern Transvaal and seeing the signs in banks saying 'Europeans only' at a time when that was no longer allowed. I remember staying with a family on 2 February 1990 when the news came that President de Klerk had decided to remove the remaining pillars of apartheid by unbanning the ANC. He subsequently released Nelson Mandela. This was something that this family welcomed but it took their breath away; they had not expected it so soon.

I also distinctly remember when Mandela became president in April 1994. I heard his acceptance speech on the ABC; it was absolutely electrifying. I am pretty sure that I was late for work that day; I just stopped the car and listened to Mandela's acceptance speech. When you consider how South Africa could have gone, and when you compare the path that South Africa has taken with that of Zimbabwe, you see how important Mandela's approach has been—the way he was able to forgive but not forget, the enormous grace he showed, and the way he was always prepared to build a bridge with people who had previously been violently opposed to him.

In closing I wanted to repeat the words he gave almost 50 years ago in his Rivonia trial speech: 'I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.' They were his words; they were words he always lived by. The world and South Africa are better places for him.

Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For me, it was not what put Mandela in jail or the man he was before he was arrested and it was not the 27 years he spent in jail. It wasn't the Special AKA singing Free Nelson Mandela; it wasn't Jim Kerr and the Simple Minds singing about Mandela Day; and it wasn't even Steven Van Zandt from the E Street Band singing 'I ain't gonna play Sun City' in defiance of the apartheid regime. It was not how abhorrent apartheid was. It was not the Springboks tours—I am old enough to remember them—and the state of emergency in Brisbane declared by Joh Bjelke-Petersen. He had the field ringed by police so that the game could go on. The students who protested at the time by blowing whistles and trying to get onto the field—I would have been nine or 10 at the time and they were a bunch of long-hairs creating trouble when it was just a game of football. It was far more than that. I will note that the Vice-Chancellor of Queensland University at the time was none other than Sir Zelman Cowen. If you want to talk about truly great men of peace, Sir Zelman Cowen was one of the best of them.

For me it was all about how Mandela conducted himself from the moment he was released from Robben Island Prison after 27 years. He could have been bitter. He could have gone all out for payback and we would have forgiven him. He could have evened up old scores, but he chose not to. He set to work with FW de Klerk—the forgotten man in this story, because without him it would not have happened—to dismantle apartheid. I heard a quote from FW de Klerk just recently where he said that both men walked out of their first meeting saying, 'There's a man I can deal with; there's a man I can work with.' So it was both men's ability—Mandela's and de Klerk's—to get there and say, 'We can end this; we can do the right thing.'

So they built a new nation, they got a new anthem and they got a new flag. And the symbolism of the flag, being divergent lines coming together and forging one way ahead, is I think a truly amazing thing—to the point where people, not too far from now, will not even remember the old South African flag and what it stood for and what was on it. More than all that—more than everything—was that he forgave. And that, for me, is just the most amazing thing: after what they had done to him, he was able to forgive.

A division having been called in the House—

Proceedings suspended from 17:50 to 18:05

As I was saying before the suspension, more than anything, Nelson Mandela forgave. The ability to forgive when every fibre of your being is screaming for retribution is what truly sets Nelson Mandela apart from all other people. I still hold grudges from primary school and I can walk you through them. I still hold grudges from my first marriage. But the ability to get over it, to see the bigger picture, to be able to stand back and see what is best for other people—that is what truly sets Nelson Mandela apart.

The normal thing to do these days when someone dies is to put something up on Facebook. When Nelson Mandela died, some people came back and said that he was flawed and said some negative things about him. This may come as a surprise to my wife, but no man is not flawed—not even Ghandi. Every man is flawed. Some say South Africa is a mess and that it faces huge challenges. That is true on so many levels. But, equally, to fix all the problems of South Africa is not one man's job—and certainly not Nelson Mandela's job. To right every wrong, to fix every problem, is not his role. Racism still exists—everywhere. Sadly, it probably always will. But his job is complete. His job was to forge a new nation, an inclusive nation.

No image instils the message—and other speakers have spoken about this—better than the one from the 1995 World Cup. Mandela got out of prison in 1990. Australia won the 1991 Rugby World Cup. In 1992 we played the Springboks in South Africa and we beat them. In 1993, they came to Australia. They had a new national anthem and the singing of the previous national song, Die Stem, was forbidden. I was sitting in the northern stand at Ballymore when Australia played the Springboks in 1993. We were sitting right next to a big group of South African tourists and they stood as one and sang Die Stem that day. So to see Nelson Mandela, at the 1995 Rugby World Cup, walk out with what was to many South Africans the symbol of apartheid—the green Springbok jersey with its gold collar and the jumping springbok on the breast—and embrace the team, embrace the nation, was truly a great moment for absolutely everyone. It was the moment that crystallised in everyone's mind that this was one nation. That was the last bastion of apartheid and they were very proud.

They are now one nation. They are what they want to be as one nation. They have a lot of problems to fix up, as do we all. Vale, Nelson Mandela, a truly great man.

Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Nelson Mandela—what do you say? So much has already been said over recent days. This is a man whose life, over some 95 years, has traversed some of the great challenges of his country and his continent—and, in fact, the world. He faced the struggles over apartheid and the struggles, as part of that, relating to his incarceration for some 27 years. On from that, he dealt with the challenges involved in the establishment of a democratic nation, a nation that has had a very troubled history with respect to race and, with that, violence and oppression. Mandela, it was said, would say that he was an ordinary man, a simple man. In fact it is clear that he faced, as an ordinary and simple man, many complex challenges. He dealt with those challenges in a way that was, frankly, a wonder to many in the world.

Those who have been jailed, those who have been tortured, those who have been brutalised, often as a result become changed by those circumstances. Often they become in some ways tainted by their experience. In fact, it is completely understandable how they will react in a manner that is in itself often quite brutal. One of Mandela's greatest achievements was his capacity to forgive, to understand and to move beyond that oppression and provide an example for all the world with respect to how to deal with those circumstances.

As the first black president of the new democratic nation of South Africa he faced enormous challenges, challenges in relation to poverty, exploitation, race and the aftermath of the power structures that were apartheid. He would have admitted that he was not always able to meet those challenges with solutions, but he worked hard over his five years as President to move his country forward to help establish it as a free nation and as a nation where all citizens have the opportunity and the capacity and the ability to live a decent life.

The work that he did over that time is still a work in progress. I have always thought that probably one of the greatest tragedies regarding Nelson Mandela is that if only he had been released 10 or more years earlier and been in a situation where he could have become President at a younger age, his potential to have influenced modern South Africa would have been even greater.

Often described as a man of peace, there is no doubt that he embraced peaceful means; there is also no doubt that, when he felt it was necessary, as a last resort, he was prepared to take a more violent path. It was never his first choice. It was his last resort. But it was something that he was prepared to do, and I think that is something that needs to be understood.

In terms of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and how it has been described by others—he embraced white South Africa in the context of things like the Rugby World Cup. In terms of his statements to many of those who had been a part of his oppression—that he could forgive and that they had to move forward together—it showed what a great man he was. He also recognised and acknowledged always that he was not alone in what he did, that in fact he was part of a movement and that many in that movement were less famous and less celebrated, but had suffered and given much also to the cause.

I visited Robben Island several years ago, just before I attended a delegation of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee in Africa. I managed to get there a couple of days early, so I went to Robben Island. I saw his cell. I have been to the quarry where he worked. I met with former prisoners who were working there as guides and who told us what happened with guards—about the circumstances the prisoners faced—and they gave us a bit of their personal experience about what it was like to be there at that time. There was a tremendous sense of community amongst them in terms of what they talked about and a tremendous sense of a shared experience that they saw as part of what they had suffered but also what they had to move beyond. That capacity to inspire across many of compatriots, and, through that, across the entire South African community, is another significant aspect of Nelson Mandela's achievement over the years.

His experience was horrific, but his achievements as a result should be celebrated and remembered. The challenge for modern South Africa is to build on that legacy. It is a big challenge. It is a challenge for those who were his compatriots and remain in the ANC, but also within the broader South African community. I hope and I pray that the example of Nelson Mandela in all the good things that he came to represent, for the need to move South Africa forward as a great nation of the world but also for the African continent, is something that those in South Africa will remember and will learn from for the future. I believe that is this man's legacy and I believe that it is a legacy that all should live to honour and to represent in future as being the way forward for Africa.

Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the people of Lyons it is indeed a great honour to stand here to recognise a true giant of the 20th century. Notwithstanding that some will struggle to understand why I chose to speak on this motion, he was for much of his life a controversial figure. Like all of us, he had his failings but in some way I think that all, including his detractors, could recognise the legacy that he finally left South Africa and perhaps the world with. There but for the grace of God go I, I suspect. Until you have walked in his shoes, it might be hard to judge. Nelson Mandela said:

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.

It is a philosophy that this man lived and breathed from the time of his imprisonment through a long and distinguished public life following his release. It is the kind of philosophy that shaped him as a beacon for freedom in our time.

The world mourns a great leader of his people in Nelson Mandela, a revolutionary, a politician and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 until 1999. Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser was one of our country's first leaders to meet Mr Mandela. Mr Mandela was still in prison at Pollsmoor in Cape Town, to where he had been moved. It was 1986 and Mr Mandela, aged 67, was 23 years into what would be 27 years spent in jail. Former Prime Minister Mr Fraser visited him as then chairman of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group which was charged to help South Africa to speed up the end of apartheid. As Stuart Rintoul said in The Australian newspaper at the weekend, prison 'authorities … had sent a tailor to fit him out for a pinstripe suit so he would not have to meet the former Australian prime minister in his old prison clothes'. He met Mr Fraser with a question, 'Tell me, Mr Fraser, is Donald Bradman still alive?' Mr Fraser told Rintoul that he and Mr Mandela met in the prison grounds, but even there he had a natural authority and presence. It also pleased him greatly to find out that Don Bradman was indeed still alive!

I join millions of people across the world who mourn the passing of Nelson Mandela. He will be remembered as a humble man who showed us the best of the human spirit and who fought all his life against injustice not only in his own country but internationally. His speech at the Rivonia trial in 1964 before he went to prison gave the world the first inkling that this was a man who would stand alongside India's Mahatma Gandhi as one of the generation's great leaders for peace. His words could be the mantra for those who strive for a free society in which all people are equal. He said:

I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

We live in a privileged country and I struggle to imagine personally what I or others would have been capable of doing presented with similar circumstances. Thank you for the opportunity.

John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I speak to this condolence motion on behalf of the people of Bennelong. Woollarawarre Bennelong was the first Indigenous Australian to befriend the white settlers, and so this may well be appropriate. Around the world over the past week, there has been only a very brief moment of mourning the passing of Nelson Mandela, because, in hearing this news, as one the world commenced a celebration of his life, and that is appropriate. Many people have talked a great deal about his contribution and the type of man that he was. Archbishop Desmond Tutu had a very personal and long-term relationship with Nelson Mandela, and he said:

Never before in history was one human being so universally acknowledged in his lifetime as the embodiment of magnanimity and reconciliation as Nelson Mandela was. He set aside the bitterness of enduring 27 years in apartheid prisons—and the weight of centuries of colonial division, subjugation and repression—to personify the spirit and practice of ubuntu

or human kindness—

He perfectly understood that people are dependent on other people in order for individuals and society to prosper.

…   …   …

Can you imagine what would have happened … had Mandela emerged from prison in 1990 bristling with resentment at the gross miscarriage of justice? Can you imagine where South Africa would be today had he been consumed by a lust for revenge, to want to pay back for all the humiliations and all the agony that he and his people had suffered at the hands of their white oppressors?

Instead, the world was amazed, indeed awed, by the unexpectedly peaceful transition of 1994, followed not by an orgy of revenge and retribution but by the wonder of forgiveness and reconciliation epitomized in the processes of the TRC—

the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Quoting Tom Curry from NBC News:

Mandela's biographer, Rick Stengel, said a decisive moment for South Africa came three years after his release from prison when Chris Hani, a popular leader of the African National Congress, was murdered by an apartheid supporter.

Hani’s assassination came at the moment that the ANC was negotiating with South African President Frederik Willem de Klerk's white-minority apartheid government on the terms of the transition to majority rule.

After Hani's murder, Mandela went on the state-run national television network to tell his country, "We must not permit ourselves to be provoked by people who seek to deny us the very freedom for which Chris Hani gave his life."

Mandela "went on television in South Africa that night—rather than de Klerk—and showed that he was the father of the nation," Stengel said. He was so calm in a crisis and he rose to that. And he said later that was when South Africa was on the knife edge of a civil war, right then, that was the most perilous moment in their modern history."

Fergal Keane from the BBC has written:

To the wider world he represented many things, not least an icon of freedom but also the most vivid example in modern times of the power of forgiveness and reconciliation. Back in the early 1990s, I remember then President, FW De Klerk, telling me … how he found Mandela's lack of bitterness "astonishing".

His fundamental creed was best expressed in his address to the sabotage trial in 1964. "I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination," he said.

"I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

Nelson Mandela often spoke of his human qualities and yet, if we think that his life was such an example of Christian values, understanding that it is 'human to err, divine to forgive', and that 'vengeance is mine, saith the Lord', we see that he was human, he was divine and he chose not to take any vengeance.

Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about a great man, a man who not only inspired a nation but also inspired the world. Very few people have single-handedly had as large an impact on the world than Nelson Mandela. Born in 1918, in Transkei, South Africa, into the Thembu tribe, Nelson Mandela went on to lead one of the most extraordinary lives that we have witnessed in our time. Educated at the University College of Fort Hare, Mandela completed his law degree at the University of Witwatersrand. Not long after his graduation he joined the African National Congress to combat the apartheid policies of the ruling Nationalist Party.

These policies divided a nation, oppressed a people and led to great poverty in South Africa. Mandela's political journey was not a journey without controversy. In his early years he was a supporter of violent resistance and created a splinter group within the ANC, the Umkhonto we Sizwe, that advocated for this violence.

In 1962 he was arrested and sentenced to five years hard labour. After the ANC was outlawed by the government, Nelson Mandela was charged with plotting to overthrow the government by violence and sentenced to life in prison. He spent 27 years of his 95 years on Robben Island as a political prisoner. It was there that Nelson Mandela had a life-changing experience, an epiphany, as it were: instead of advocating violence to change his country he would advocate for peace. He would do that by demonstrating that he was prepared to forgive those people who had jailed him and who had taken his freedom. Through this forgiveness and humility, he would seek to unite his nation.

His ability to eradicate the hate that once enveloped him and his embrace of long-time political opponents led to successful reconciliation in South Africa. He was supported in this journey not only by his own country but by many right around the world. We here in Australia played a special role in that, in supporting these aims to end apartheid in South Africa. Both sides of this chamber, both Liberal and Labor, then supported investment sanctions that had, I think, a very critical impact on changing the focus of many of those in South Africa and their view on apartheid.

We were also able to honour, in our own special way, the great career and achievements of Nelson Mandela when former Prime Minister John Howard presented Nelson Mandela with an Order of Australia for his courage and strong moral leadership.

Today, in this chamber we honour—and I am sure it is echoed in many parliaments around the world—a great life. It takes a supreme sense of grace, dignity and magnanimity to offer your lifelong enemy the hand of peace and friendship. And that is what Nelson Mandela did. It is also a great achievement of President FW de Klerk to take that hand of friendship as it was offered and to unite South Africa by breaking down the apartheid barriers so that it was no longer a country divided by race and, instead, to build a new South Africa together.

Upon his release from prison, Nelson Mandela won the first free election in South Africa that was open to all people. He used that opportunity to support a burgeoning new democracy and a new social order. The ANC had gone from an outlawed political organisation to the ruling party; and Nelson Mandela from a political prisoner, held in the harshest of conditions, to a political hero who was healing his nation. In 1993 Nelson Mandela was duly recognised with the Nobel Peace Prize. Although it was undoubtedly deserved, I suspect it was very little consolation for a life much of which was spent behind bars on an island, imprisoned for fighting for his political rights and the rights of his people.

While Nelson Mandela will be missed by almost everybody in this world, I think we can say, because of his huge impact, he will be most particularly missed by those closest to him—his family. He had a very large and extended family, with his wives, six children, 17 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. To conclude, I would like to quote Nelson Mandela:

For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

Nelson Mandela, you are finally free, and we hope you rest in peace.

Mal Brough (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to celebrate the life of this great man and recognise the challenge that he gives the world. It is beyond my comprehension how you can spend 27 years in jail and come out and act in the way that he has. He says he is not a saint, but I do not know of another person that could do that. The enormity of what he lived through, the persecution, and then to have the hope of the nation upon you, leaves you speechless. We see so many regimes change and we see so much hope, as we have seen in the Middle East of late, and so often that hope just dissolves because the people charged with taking their nations forward are just not up to the task. Here is a man that has gone above and beyond in every walk of life.

Whether sitting in this place or in our normal lives, we or any person can look to him for inspiration and for a role model—one that I know we will all fail. But we can at least attempt in our normal way of life to reach some of that forgiving nature that he not only espoused but lived by. It was not the words which so many other members today have repeated, though they are eloquent, they are brilliant, they are moving and they are going to go down in history through the aeons. It is the fact that he followed those through actions—actions that are quite beyond what we recognise as being not just acceptable but what mankind has been known to do.

Some have reflected upon the fact that South Africa today is not a brilliant nation, but think of what it was only a short time ago. And it has come to this point in its history largely through a movement and through a belief, but it is through the leadership of an individual. As the member for Berowra has said, he has been to the island and he has been in the prison cell. He has been able to experience that and to have that soak in; to appreciate that Mandela, for 365 days a year for 27 years through the best years of his life, not thinking there was any hope that that was ever going to end, would come out at the other end of that and then walk as tall as he has done—to walk into a community of whites and sit down and break bread with the man who wanted to see him sentenced to death—and at no stage show retribution. If all of us in this place can draw something from this man's life, then his impacts will go way beyond South Africa, and way beyond this generation. They will live on in generations to come. That is what we owe him for what he has achieved, and for the sacrifices that he and his family and his community have endured for so long. If we do that, then that is the simply the greatest honour that we can pay him. We thank him for his contribution. We acknowledge his life. We celebrate his life. And we pass on our condolences to everybody who is feeling the pain of his passing.

Fiona Scott (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Much will be said and forever pondered on the life of Nelson Mandela. Over the last few days, many eloquent words have been spoken—and will be spoken—about this remarkable man who has forever changed our world. Yesterday, I was reading the Sunday papers and reflecting on his life as I looked through the photo galleries. I was confronted by an image of Nelson Mandela finally walking free. You are always struck when you see images like this by the vulnerability and the humanity of the man—incarcerated for 27 years yet so inspired that he never lost his passion to see his vision of a free South Africa.

In historic times when these things happen, many of us think back and ask, where were you when this happened? For me, I was at school in year 7. I was only 12 years of age. My teacher was one of the most amazing men that I would ever have the privilege to meet, a gentleman by the name of Nigel Kleinveldt. Mr Kleinveldt was what would have been described under the apartheid regime as a 'coloured' man, and hence had left South Africa. This was a moment in history that he was never going to miss—having a class whilst watching Mandela finally walk free. Mr Kleinveldt booked the TV for our class, and we sat watching history unfold before us. As a 12-year-old, I did not fully understand at the time the significance of what I was viewing, but I could see and I did understand the emotion on the face of my remarkable teacher, Mr Kleinveldt, and through him I saw what it meant to so many people—the inspiration of Nelson Mandela. This is possibly one of my most striking memories from my schooldays. I doubt I will ever be able to thank Nigel Kleinveldt enough for being able to share this emotion with us.

I echo the sentiments of so many of the previous speakers today. Nelson Mandela was a remarkable man. So much more than just a political leader, he was also a moral leader, a philanthropist, an anti-apartheid revolutionary and a freedom fighter. He is one of those towering figures of the 20th century who will hold an enduring place alongside Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King as an advocate for human dignity. With the death of Mandela, the world may have lost one of our living treasures. But the legacy of his life will live on for those he has touched and inspired, not only those who are alive today but also future generations. Mandela has truly enriched the lives and the future of our world. I would like to conclude today with a quote from Nelson Mandela himself:

When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace. I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore, why I will sleep for the eternity.

Based on this philosophy, one can be assured that Nelson Mandela will rest in peace. Vale Nelson Mandela.

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In modern times words like 'iconic' or 'living legend' or dare I say 'hero' are bandied about far too often. The superlatives we use for those who have passed make it difficult to differentiate and mark appropriately the passing of someone of the calibre and standing of Nelson Mandela. How do we acknowledge the contribution this man made to the world if all the accolades we could use have been used for others whose light shone pale by comparison to his?

Instead of doing that, I want to look at the greatest of Nelson Mandela's legacies. He was a man who, like all men, had human strengths and human frailties. His greatest gift without which his legacy would have been so much less was surely that of forgiveness. How many men—or women, for that matter—would have finished a 27-year prison term of hard labour and deprivation by forgiving their jailers? How many people would have been capable of the forgiveness and generosity of spirit that Mandela showed to those who held him and other South Africans as second-class human beings? His focus on the dignity of the human spirit over its thirst for revenge is the great inspiration he left the world. In this way he ranks with Gandhi as one of the true heroes of the modern age. Both Gandhi and Mandela responded to violence with peace and to anger with understanding. How often in our modern society do we glorify anger, violence and revenge? Our movies and television heroes do not respond to attack with humble and considerate reason. Instead, we often see our community fed a diet of anger and aggression. Our heroes are those who are most aggressive. It is the Mandelas and Gandhis of this world who are our true heroes.

Nelson Mandela is a far better role model that any fake superhero or movie star. His vision for South Africa post apartheid was not to reverse the positions of power as a vengeful leader might have sought to do—and, as history shows, that has often been repeated—instead, his rainbow nation was designed to encompass all; to lift all, not to tread down some.

Of course such lofty ambition is not easily achieved and to say that there are no problems remaining in South Africa would be false. There is still much to be done in terms of standards of living, law and order and social harmony. It will fall to a new generation of leaders to finally finish the dream that Nelson Mandela began. Only time will tell if this new group of leaders is up to the task. However, such achievement would be possible only because they truly stand on the shoulders of a giant.

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I follow the very telling and moving words of my colleague and friend the member for Forrest, who has joined many people in this chamber in paying their respects following the passing of Nelson Mandela. In life most heroes are anonymous, but Nelson Mandela was a hero who was far from anonymous. His public struggle for true democracy and freedom in his country, South Africa, was a struggle that galvanised supporters around the world. He truly was a great man who, passing at the age of 95, has left the world a better place than it was when he found it.

To think that he was imprisoned for 27 years! His sole job in prison was to break rocks. He was allowed one visitor every six months. He was a man of letters, but he was only allowed to write or receive one letter every six months. His eyesight was diminished by the glare of the quarry beneath his cell. It would have been easy for a man in that position to simply give up the struggle or to negotiate his principles away so that he could get out of incarceration. But Nelson Mandela said no to such overtures. Nelson Mandela did his time till he was released in 1990, and from there he became President of South Africa. The 'from prisoner to president' story knows no better example than that told by the life and times of Nelson Mandela.

What strikes me about this man's character is his dignity, his forbearance and his ability to look beyond the hardship of his years and the nature of his imprisonment and the attacks which he had to confront throughout his whole life. He was able to rise above all these things and to reach out to the white rulers in South Africa and plot a path forward together with them. With FW de Klerk, who I believe deserves a lot of credit too, he formed a new South Africa without a bullet being fired. Democracy was awakened and a pluralistic country born which stands as an example to the world of what can be achieved through the ballot box as opposed to the end of a rifle.

I believe that Nelson Mandela is an inspiration to a generation of black, white and coloured people—and to humanity in general. I look up on my wall in my office here in parliament to a portrait of Abraham Lincoln as a man whose example stands the test of time. So too will the successors to me and my colleagues in this place be talking in 50 or 100 or 150 years' time about the achievements and the life of Nelson Mandela. There are not many people in the world who have had the impact of the same size and nature as the impact that Nelson Mandela has had.

There is a graphic example of the brilliance of this man. It is the way that he inspired his nation to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup by embracing the overwhelmingly white South African rugby team and leading the country off the battlefield while Francois Pienaar and others led it on the battlefield to victory in the World Cup. And we will never forget that picture of him wearing the cap from the Springboks, wearing the jumper of the Springboks and leading the rejoicing from the stadium.

I want to conclude by saying that we do celebrate Nelson Mandela's life. We do understand that he was a man, as my friend the member for Forrest said, who had strengths and, of course, as any person does, human frailties. We celebrate his contribution to humanity but we also understand that it is his legacy that must be protected, and we cannot be complacent about the harmony that may exist today in South Africa or indeed that exists around the world. As you know, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, not only was Nelson Mandela an honorary Companion of the Order of Australia but he was also a Nobel Prize winner. In his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in 1993 he said about the struggle against apartheid and the people who got behind that struggle against apartheid the following:

These countless human beings, both inside and outside our country, had the nobility of spirit to stand in the path of tyranny and injustice, without seeking selfish gain. They recognised that an injury to one is an injury to all and therefore acted together in defense of justice and a common human decency.

I say to you, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, that that is a paragraph that can be extended far beyond its application to just South Africa and apartheid rule there.

So we remember on this day Nelson Mandela. We thank him for his service. We say to the people of South Africa that we, Australia, are with you. We are proud that we played a small but significant role in the anti-apartheid movement and we look forward to a world in which Mandela's legacy is not only strengthened but is remembered in the best possible way.

Debate adjourned.