Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There are times in this great parliament in this great south land when there are moments that speak to the time and to the events. The death of Phil Hughes today is one of those moments from me, and my condolences go to Phil Hughes's family, the cricketing fraternity and the Australian nation that will mourn the death of this champion cricketer. To be a local grade cricketer at A-grade level you have to be pretty good; to be a cricketer a little up from that—a country side or even state cricket—you have to be absolutely fantastic; to be a test cricketer you have to be one out of the box. And he was one.

At 7 o'clock this morning I got the message that a local hero of mine, Peter Levey, had lost his battle with cancer just after 7 am. In these days of technology, I had been notified by 7:30 that he had passed away. He was having his own wake next Sunday at Port Fairy—at Port Fairy Yacht Club—and I had been asked to attend as someone who grew up with him and his family in Koo Wee Rup, played junior and senior football and cricket with Peter, his brothers Earl and Wayne and his cousin. Peter was a great competitor; he was very good at everything he did; he was academically well-qualified; he gave his life as a teacher the kids to make their lives better.

The last time I saw Peter was at the centenary of the Aswan Primary School that has now closed, sadly. He was a principal there for quite a number of years, and we enjoyed that day, that hundredth anniversary, reminiscing about who we were when we were children. In losing a battle today to a cancer he had been fighting for 10 years, I do not think that he lost the battle with his illness; I think he won the battle that he fought for 10 years. The sadness that he could not get to his own wake on Sunday shows the strength of the person who, even with the debilitating illness of cancer, was prepared to plan for the future. That was his spirit—that even knowing his last days were approaching, he planned for the future. I think that through his investment in his life's work as a teacher into all those children, he was planning for the future in the same way that he planned for his own future.

I said before he was a great competitor. He was not of great physique and not even of marvellous capacity, but played A grade in everything that he did: he was in A-grade school teacher and an A-grade principal. He was an A-grade husband, an A-grade brother, an A-grade friend.

Tonight when we stand in the quietness of this place, as the adjournment debate finishes this rowdy week, there is a pall over this place with the death of Phil Hughes. But there will be many mourning for Peter Levey today—many, many mourning—for his roots in the Jackson and the Levey families that run throughout our district. His family have contributed so greatly to everything that has happened in sport and other activities around that community—that tiny community of Koo Wee Rup, where everyone is so tight and so committed. He was a premiership player in football, in cricket and other activities. He was a premiership teacher and a premiership family member. All I can say tonight is this: if we as a nation can contribute the way he contributed and if we as members of parliament can contribute in the way he contributed, this nation is all the better. For the life of Peter Levey, may I say that the generations he has left behind will be the great legacy of his life. Vale, Peter Levey. My special condolences to his wife, family and friends.

Debate adjourned.

House adjourned at 17:00