Gary Gray (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in this condolence motion on the life of Tom Uren. Tom Uren was simply a great man. It sounds easy to say but a simple contemplation of his life leads you to no other conclusion. I think it is instructive in looking at Tom's life to reflect that we are all in this place and all of us in our lives patterned by our experiences as children and by our families. For Tom, the major shaping influence on his life was the Depression. One would normally think that growing up in Depression affected Sydney and Balmain would be enough to shape a life, but for Tom it also became his life in the Australian Army and the work that he did thereafter.

It takes lots of different characters to make up this place, but in the life of Tom Uren you can speak of a father; you can speak of a fighter, a boxer; you can speak of a prisoner of war; you can speak of a great legislator; you can speak of a man whose passions and loves led his life. You cannot really speak of an economist. You cannot really speak of an economic rationalist. Tom spoke too often from the heart.

Tom died at the age of 93. He was born in Balmain. He had a life which became in many ways almost the stuff of a Russell Crowe movie. He became a lifesaver, a rugby league player and a boxer until he joined the Army. I will just quote here from the obituary that Tony Stephens wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald. After Tom had arrived in Darwin, he went to Timor and then further north. Tony writes on what Tom went through in World War II, as follows:

As the Australian force was being overrun in February 1942, Uren volunteered to go forward in a vehicle armed with a single Bren gun to support a Tasmanian battalion, the 2/40th, which was making what has been described as the last bayonet charge in Australian military history. Witnessing the Australian advance up Oesaoe ridge under machine-gun fire marked the 20-year-old for life.

Forced to surrender, the prisoners were taken early in 1943 to Singapore, from where Uren was loaded into a railway goods truck which ended up at Konyu River camp, where the surgeon Lieutenant Colonel Edward 'Weary' Dunlop was commanding officer of the men slaving to build the Burma-Thailand railway for the Japanese.

It is a remarkable thing, and many speakers have spoken of Tom's love of life and of his fellow man and woman, and his ability to raise himself and those around him from the horror that he saw and faced down at that time. Our parliament is made better by people like Tom Uren; our lives are made better by the contributions of people like Tom Uren.

But when Tom entered the federal parliament there blossomed a view of our urban environment, of urban design, of the character of our cities and of the importance of our heritage. There blossomed of view of what our cities can be—not in the simple built fabric, but in the art of those cities: in great walkable cities, in cities where people enjoy to live, and in cities that are our living and our built heritage. Tom saw that, in so many ways, before any of us did—before any of his contemporaries did. God bless Tom for doing that.

With great passion, he built government instruments, such as The Department of Urban and Regional Development, to help aid in that cause. Friends of mine who worked with Tom in the 1970s recalled that whenever the Fraser government brought down a budget he would look with great passion to see where DURD was in the scheme of things.

I can recall the staff that Tom had on board. In this place, you can often tell a good parliamentarian and a good politician—they attract good staff. Tom attracted a fellow called Professor Rolf Gerritsen to work with him. Professor Gerritsen became one of the eminent professors in public policy at the Australian National University, and now at Charles Darwin University. Tom attracted Anthony Albanese to work for him, who was, and remains, one of the great powering intellects and drivers of the Australian Labor Party. He had wonderful people working for him all of his professional working life, when I knew him in my role as a national organiser and then assistant national secretary of the Australian Labor Party. Tom had a young and enthusiastic media adviser, Kathy Collier, who was filled with passion and pride at working with and for Tom, and with and for the great mission that Tom had—which, for a while in the middle-1980s, seemed as if it was simply rebuilding the old Department of Urban and Regional Development. Tom had passions that he did not let go of, and God bless him for that good heart.

He was the Labor Party's first spokesperson for the environment, and what a terrific shaping of Labor's approach to the environment we enjoyed while Tom was in that role. Labor in government went on to create a number of enduring institutions, but, more than those institutions, they created for Tom a great public service, a great public dedication. A man whose early life was shaped by the depression became a man whose life and contribution was shaped by his love for his fellow man.

I can recall a story of my father-in-law making reflections in the Senate about a Liberal senator. Tom took a deep dislike to Peter Walsh's reflections and went to see Peter to set him right about the things that bind us in this place, and the things that divide us. Only a man as passionate as Tom, as understanding as Tom, with as big a heart as Tom, could have done that in that environment.

Tom was a great man. Tom made a wonderful contribution, and at 93 he made a contribution that I am sure his entire family would be proud of, as we should be in this place.

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

It was a great privilege to represent the Prime Minister at the funeral for the Hon. Thomas Uren AC. I did so in the Town Hall in Sydney last week.

He was remembered with great fondness, as we have heard from the member for Brand, who has just spoken. I was pleased to see former prime ministers present—Paul Keating, Bob Hawke and John Howard. I was particularly pleased to see, seated with John Howard, Sir John Carrick. Sir John Carrick had served in the military with Tom Uren. He was one who was also in Singapore and later on the Burma railway.

Tom joined the army at 20. He served in Timor, and he was a prisoner of war, suffering that great brutality on the Thai-Burma railway. I think it was very special to be able to see Sir John Carrick there to remember Tom Uren. They were people of different political persuasions but served Australia, in Australia's interests, together.

Tom was born in Balmain in May 1921 and elected to the House of Representatives as the member for Reid in 1958. He served for some 31 years. I had the great privilege of being elected to this parliament in September 1973. I thus served with Tom Uren for some 17 years in the parliament. I saw him as a minister in both the Whitlam and Hawke governments. I saw him as the Deputy Leader of the Labor Party. I saw him as the Minister for Urban and Regional Development, the Minister for Territories and Local Government, the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Community Development and Regional Affairs and also the Minister for Local Government and Administrative Services. But there was far more to the man.

I am reminded of my own maiden speech. Many of you will not recognise me, but I spoke about Parramatta and its heritage. I spoke about the Parramatta River and the need for it to be cleaned up. For me, these issues were important, but they were of even greater importance to Tom Uren. He was the chair of the Parramatta Park Trust from 1997 to 2013. He was named as an Australian National Living Treasure in that same year, 1997. He was a strong supporter of the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust. More importantly, he played a particularly important role in emphasising the importance of the creation of the National Estate, protecting large areas of Sydney—Glebe and Woolloomooloo—for future generations. He presided over decentralisation and the establishment of those unique areas of Albury-Wodonga and Bathurst-Orange. He was about sewering the suburbs of our great cities. He was about public transport. He had a view that our city skylines should not look like Manhattan. Interestingly, he said he was:

… not promising miracles or even instant answers. The problems are too big.

But he promised 'a new direction'.

I did speak recently on the condolence motion in relation to the late Gough Whitlam, Prime Minister of Australia. I lauded Prime Minister Whitlam for his many achievements, but I have to say that I also noted the budgetary circumstances in which they were implemented and the high levels of inflation and unemployment that arose too soon from so much that was sought to be achieved. Equally, with Tom Uren, I greatly admired what he sought to achieve, but it came at a cost. It may have been pursued over time in a more successful way. Nevertheless, I think he will be fondly remembered for his great achievements.

Even more, I think he will be remembered because I will remind people of his comments about Sydney's second airport needs. Speaking in Parramatta in 1985, Tom said, 'I have been a strong environmentalist all my life,' adding particularly that he hated noise pollution. 'But we need industry and we really need jobs,' he said, explaining that he believed residents of the west and south-west would benefit from having an airport in the region. 'Whether it's Wilton or Badgerys Creek,' he said, 'we can only benefit.' I will look forward with pleasure to continuing to cite Tom Uren and his support for a western Sydney airport.

But I do fondly remember him. I served with him for over 17 years. He was a very special person, a very likeable person. He treated me like a son, as he did so many others. To his wife, Christine, his daughter, Ruby, and his adopted children, Michael and Heather, I extend my personal commiserations on his passing.

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

It is a pleasure to follow the Father of the House in speaking on this motion. One of the most brutal tests of national identity was described by Gavan Daws in his study of prisoners of war. Looking at men who had been starved and beaten down to what he called 'barely functioning skeletons' weighing less than 40 kilograms and surviving on less than 1,000 calories a day, Daws imagined that perhaps the national characteristics would all disappear, but it was not so, he found. He wrote:

The Americans were the great individualists of the camps, the capitalists, the cowboys, the gangsters. The British hung on to their class structure like bulldogs, for grim death. The Australians kept trying to construct little male-bonded welfare states … Within little tribes of Australian enlisted men, rice went back and forth all the time, but this was not trading in commodities futures, it was sharing, it was Australian tribalism.

In his first speech in this place, Tom Uren spoke about his experience as a prisoner of war under Edward 'Weary' Dunlop. He said that the Japanese paid their officers and medical orderlies an allowance, but the non-commissioned officers and men who worked on the railway were paid a smaller wage. In the Australian camp, the officers and the medical orderlies paid the greater proportion of their allowance into a central fund, and the men who worked did likewise. As Tom Uren said:

We were living by the principle of the fit looking after the sick, the young looking after the old, the rich looking after the poor.

And he contrasted it with what happened when a British force arrived:

The officers selected the best—

tents—

the noncommissioned officers the next best, and the men got the dregs.

Soon after the British arrived, 'the wet season set in, bringing cholera and dysentery'. Six weeks later, only 25 of the 400 British who had marched in were alive. As Tom Uren put it, only a creek separated the two camps, but on one side the law of the jungle prevailed, and on the other the principles of collective sharing. Egalitarianism is a powerful force in Australian national identity. Anyone who has read Richard Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North will recognise not just the quality of the writing but the ability to tap the national character.

But sharing and looking after the most vulnerable are not just Labor values—they are Australian values. Tom Uren pursued them vigorously and with a wonderful sense of humour. I think my favourite point in his maiden speech is not so much the 'Weary' Dunlop sharing story but a little sideline where he says: 'I lived in Asia for quite a long time'—not going on to labour the point that under much of that period he was a guest of his Japanese captors.

Tom Uren did not harbour bitterness. He managed to speak so happily about love and about peace. He phoned me completely out of the blue last year to talk about egalitarianism and about what Labor was doing. I asked him how he felt about his time as a boxer and having been close to the pinnacle of Australian boxing. He said he always felt a bit funny about it, as though it did not quite fit with the rest of who he was. His principles had been to stand up for the most vulnerable, and boxing did not encapsulate that.

His was a big life lived large on the Australian stage. He was involved in conversations over whether Australians should be involved in the Vietnam War and, more than just conversations, he charged a constable who he said had assaulted him in an anti-war demonstration in 1970. He was vital in building the role of cities in Australia, speaking about the protection of the environment and in recognising the vital role of looking after the most vulnerable. And he always carried a great sense of who he was—a sense of self.

Bruce Childs told me the other day that Tom Uren would often come along and join them at Labor Party meetings that were held in Sydney pubs. He said that Tom did not drink much, but he felt he needed to consume something—so he frequently turned up with an ice cream in his hand. Bruce Childs said it was quite a spectacle to see a tough Sydney pub, everyone with a schooner in their hands, and in the corner a tall, ex-boxer, ex-minister was licking on a little ice cream.

Tom Uren is a part of the great Labor story which recognises that our purpose is the purpose of the Australian story—because Australian history is, in so many fundamentals, Labor history. Whether it was bringing our troops back to defend the homeland in World War II or the establishment of Medicare and universal superannuation, Tom Uren was there at so many points in our history.

He did not practice bitterness. He recognised that hate hurts the hater more than the hated. He taught so many of us about the Labor story. In 1994, when I was just a whippersnapper doing my honours thesis on trade liberalisation in the Labor Party, he had just put out his autobiography, Straight Left. But he was happy to invite me over to his home to talk about Labor history, about his achievements and about how he saw the role of Labor in the world.

He was an instinctive internationalist, not just because of those days spent in Asia, but because he knew deep in his bones that if being a social democrat means anything it is to engage with the world and to recognise the challenges of the vulnerable around the world are not someone else's problem—they are our challenge too. Tom Uren believed in foreign aid. He believed in Australia engaging in the councils of the world. He did not see us as a little nation that had to resile from speaking our values, but as a proud, bold nation that could step up on the world stage and speak out on behalf of the vulnerable wherever they were.

He lived a great life. I think of his life as similar to that of my maternal grandfather, Roly Stebbins, who was born just a year after Tom. That generation, born in the early 1920s, saw a transformation of Australia from a country where horses plied the streets to a nation of the internet. We owe them so much. They were a generation forged through the Depression and World War II and came back not crushed but bigger in spirit and wanting to generate a better Australia. My condolences go to Tom Uren's family, and I pay tribute to a truly great Australian.

Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to join with my colleagues on both sides of the House, as the current member for Reid, to acknowledge the outstanding service and life of a former member for Reid. It is a pleasure to support this condolence motion for the Hon. Tom Uren, AC.

I, some 16 months ago, made my maiden speech in this place. In talking about the honour and the humility of which I accepted the trust of the people of Reid, I mentioned some previous holders of the seat of Reid who I considered legends. One of them, of course, was Tom Uren. The status and gravitas of Tom is not lost on me. I mentioned in the maiden speech that I actually come from a Labor family. In the time when Tom was growing up in Balmain, my grandparents bought their first hotel—the first lease of their hotel—at Rozelle. And I know from stories that my father told me that Tom in those days, post World War II, was larger than life.

Tom was of course a Labor hero and a Balmain icon, but you do not need to move far in the inner west community for very long before you appreciate that his reputation and good work extended far beyond that Balmain peninsular. Members have noted how he spent his 21st birthday, and the following three birthdays, as a prisoner of war of the Japanese. Living through the horrors of the Burma-Thai railway, he dedicated his life to looking after others, particularly those within our community that needed a hand up.

In 1958 he entered federal parliament as the member for Reid and represented the electorate, which I have the honour of doing, for 31 years, leaving as Father of the House. I can confidently predict that I will be unable to match that record—if not by the people's hand, it will be by my wife's.

His role in preserving the heritage of Sydney is a legacy that will live on. He was a strong supporter of the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust and the preservation of much of the magnificent heritage architecture that we see today in my electorate and beyond can be in attributed in a large part to the work of Tom.

We have seen through the tributes of those on the other side, most notably that of Tom's good friend the Member for Grayndler, that Tom Uren was a great warrior for Labor, a great warrior for his community and a great Australian. However, perhaps most importantly he was a great friend and source of support to so many. People like Tom Uren do not come along often. And unfortunately in my 16 months here, we seem to be standing in this place honouring them far too often of late. Australia is the poorer for having lost him.

As the current member for Reid, I extend to his family my sincere gratitude for his service and my deepest condolences. He lived his 93 years to the absolute fullest whether fighting for his country and its sovereignty on the field of battle or in the halls of parliament, he made Australia a better place. May he rest in peace.

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

I associate myself with the fine remarks from the member for Reid; it was very generous of him. Tom Uren was many things, but to me he will always be a fighter. He fought against entrenched interests his entire life. He fought for: peace and led the opposition to the disastrous Vietnam War; free speech; democracy and the right to assemble; and democracy within the Labor Party and took on the Sussex street machine opposed to that principle.

I will not detail his personal background as the many speakers before me have detailed this brilliantly. His political philosophy is best demonstrated by his experience as a prisoner of war. I will quote from his first speech in the old chamber that so many people have returned to.

In our camp the officers and medical orderlies paid the greater proportion of their allowance into a central fund. The men who worked did likewise. We were living by the principle of the fit looking after the sick, the young looking after the old, the rich looking after the poor. A few months after we arrived at Hintock-road Camp, a part of 'H' force arrived. They were about 400 strong. As a temporary arrangement they had tents. The officers selected the best, the non-commissioned officers the next best, and the men got the dregs. Soon after they arrived the wet season set in, bringing with it cholera and dysentery. Six weeks later only 50 men marched out of that camp, and of that number only about 25 survived. Only a creek separated our two camps, but on one side the law of the jungle prevailed and on the other the principles of socialism.

That principle, as espoused in that quote from his experience as a PoW was the philosophy that was to be the foundation of the rest of Tom's life. As a former prisoner of war, ultimately, Tom fought for peace. He was the first member of parliament to oppose the Vietnam War. This was as early as 1962. This was a full four years before the 1966 election when Harold Holt rode a jingoistic wave to defeat a Labor opposition that took a principled stand., a stand that has stood the test of history, unlike the cynical, reactionary Vietnam policies of other actors at that time.

It is not well known that Tom was the organising genius behind the Vietnam moratorium marches. Jim Cairns was the public face, but Tom led the mass mobilisation that remains to this day the largest mass movement this country has seen. He also fought for nuclear disarmament and many other causes to advance world peace.

This principled stand brought him into conflict with the powerful media oligarchies who accused him of treason in the early 1960s. Let me pause for a moment. They accused Tom Uren, a man who volunteered for the Army in May 1939 as storm clouds formed, a man who fought courageously in Timor against the advancing Japanese, a man who spent four birthdays as a prisoner of war—including time on the infamous Thai-Burma Railway. This colossus of a man defamed in an attempt to silence his opposition to the Vietnam War.

Well I am proud to say that Tom took on Frank Packer and the Fairfax family. He took them on and won the largest defamation damages case in Australian history. He remarked that he named his two houses he bought with his settlement, 'Fairfax House' and 'Packer Lodge'. It has been quoted that as he berated Sir Frank Packer during his case, Sir Frank Packer came to respect Tom. I think that is a nice story.

The truth is Tom also fought oppressive governments wherever he saw them. He fought the attempts by the corrupt Bjelke-Peterson government to establish a police state in Queensland. He led the street marches against the ban on public protest. He was arrested and imprisoned for his efforts.

However, his defiance continued. For a man who survived the Thai Burma Railway, this intimidation failed. In fact he was consistent in his principles while imprisoned, refusing to salute the Queen nor call the guards 'sir'. This commitment to democracy and tolerance also dominated his activism within the Labor Party. Winning a rank and file preselection against an incumbent MP, a win he attributed to countless cups of tea with preselectors, Tom quickly became the leader of the parliamentary left.

His skills in establishing a collective approach guaranteed that the left played a large role in the post war Labor caucus and produced some great ministers and policies. Prime Minister Hawke called him the 'conscience of the Labor Party', and Tom understood that to be effective you had to combine principles with the acquisition and exercise of power. This leadership extended to leadership of the broader New South Wales left. Together with Senator Gietzelt and Bruce Child, Tom Uren shaped and mentored generations of the left, including the members for Grayndler and Sydney, who we heard speak yesterday on this motion.

I got to know Tom after 2002, when I began work for Senator George Campbell. Tom would visit our office quite often to discuss politics and talk about his various writings. A generation of young staffers such as I were his unpaid typists. We would type up his letters and his manuscripts. It was a role we were proud to perform and we learned much from this colossus of Australian politics.

Tom had many other achievements. His fight for Timor Leste independence is well known, as is his position as Labor's first environmental spokesperson and Minister for Urban and Regional Development. Tom made a massive contribution to preserving and enhancing our natural and built environment. My colleagues have explored this area thoroughly. I will simply say that his policies and his management of the Department of Urban and Regional Development were magnificent. I remember studying them at university.

So much has been said about Tom Uren. One contribution that stuck with me was the conclusion to Mungo Macallum's obituary to Tom, which stated:

He will be remembered as a model of personal political integrity. Australia has produced politicians who were cleverer, wittier, more polished and more sophisticated, but few, if any, have been more decent.

I want to acknowledge that at Tom's state memorial last week it was a great pleasure to see former Prime Minister John Howard there, along with his old sparring partner Sir John Carrick, a former POW. I think that was a great tribute. When Tom left politics the fanfare and the tributes were not just on one side of the chamber. They were from both sides. When you live in a very partisan environment it is very important to acknowledge when someone had the respect and admiration of all sides of politics.

To conclude, I return to Tom Uren's first speech in the House of Representatives. The speech is as current now as it was then. He identified as his central political objective that of the labour movement, which is the struggle to improve living standards. He called for the diversification of Australian industry and warned against the over-reliance on primary industries—something that is very relevant today.

Interestingly, as we see some in this place campaign for a higher goods and services tax, Tom railed against the regressive nature of indirect taxation. He concluded, as I conclude my contribution, with Ben Chifley's 1951 speech entitled Things Worth Fighting For. This quote, in his first speech in this place, set out the consistent, principled approach Tom Uren took in his decades of public service, an approach all Labor Party members should be guided by:

I hope that the defeat at the last elections has not discouraged members of the Labour movement from fighting for what they think is right—whether it brings victory to the party or not.

The Labour movement was not created with the objective of always thinking what is the most acceptable thing to do—whether this individual will win a seat or whether the movement will pander to some section of the community.

The Labour movement was created by the pioneers, and its objectives have been preached by disciples of the Labour movement over the years to make decisions for the best for all the people.

If, from time to time, the policy is not favoured by the majority of the people, there is no reason why the things we fight for should be put aside to curry favour with any section of the people. I believe that what we are fighting for is right and just.

We must continue and justice will prevail.

On behalf of the people of Charlton, my condolences to Tom Uren's family and friends. Rest in Peace, Tom.

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

It is a privilege to say some words in condolence for Tom Uren and to give recognition to his personal leadership in Australian politics and in Australian life more broadly. On behalf of my electorate I particularly want to remember the contribution he made to Fremantle—and I will say more about that shortly.

As everyone who knew Tom Uren has said, and as the pages of history show, he was a person who led by doing in all things, small and large; who led by his personal conviction, built on experience, and driven by his strength of purpose and his commitment to the persuasive task of politics at its best. Tom Uren was a leading light in the anti-war and anti-nuclear movements, as a man who had fought in the Second World War, been imprisoned as a POW on the Thai-Burma railway, alongside Weary Dunlop, and witnessed the afterglow of the atomic destruction of Nagasaki. It is no surprise then that his conviction on these matters went a lot further than a strongly worded radio interview or a widely shared Facebook meme.

Rather than his traumatising experience as a POW being a cause for hatred, he redirected his enormous energy and passion into love and generosity towards his fellow human beings, and for the natural and built environment. He supported the just cause of East Timor and believed in helping those less fortunate, in giving a helping hand to those who need it wherever they may be. He was the epitome of Ben Chifley's light on the hill.

Tom Uren, as a member of this place, was jailed for his part in an anti-Vietnam War march and, separately, for protesting Joh Bjelke-Petersen's ban on such demonstrations. It was only a few months ago that we farewelled the great Gough Whitlam, and as many noted it was the Whitlam government that forged new ground in shaping policy for Australian cities and for the protection of Australian history and heritage. Those two imperatives intersected to great effect in the City of Fremantle. Indeed, following from Whitlam's statement that government 'should see itself as the curator and not the liquidator of the national estate', the Prime Minister was subsequently on the record saying that 'Fremantle will receive special attention as it is one of the few towns in Australia that retains its historic character and is at the same time a thriving community'.

It seems too easy sometimes to mark a person by their achievements—their firsts. But in the case of Tom Uren, they speak to the interests and character of the man, and they certainly resonate with the community I represent in Fremantle. For example, Tom Uren opened Australia's first dedicated bike path, and he was Australia's first Minister for the Environment. More directly, as Minister for Urban and Regional Development in the Whitlam government, Tom Uren played a vital role in supporting the conservation and rehabilitation of Fremantle's West End, now regarded by many as the best preserved 19th century port cityscape in the world.

It was through his department's Hope Inquiry into the National Estate that a critical record of Fremantle's historic sites was first produced, in 1973, through the work of the newly created Cities Commission. Two key documents, Fremantle Historical Buildings—Initial Study and Fremantle: Guidelines for Development were produced, and it is no exaggeration to say that they have formed the blueprint and the protective covenant of modern Fremantle. Under the Interim National Estate Committee, the forerunner of the Australian Heritage Commission, Fremantle was the beneficiary of more than $300,000 dollars in National Estate grants, in 1973-74, which included funding to save and restore the beautiful Fremantle Markets and undertake conservation work on the Round House, Western Australia's oldest building. This absolutely crucial work, led by Tom Uren, was only possible through the local advocacy of the Fremantle Society, an organisation that continues to provide strong and constructive community input—and I acknowledge its members, past and present. I am especially grateful to Ron Davidson for his wonderful recall and storytelling when it comes to Tom Uren's Fremantle significance, and I thank Ron and his wife, Dianne, for their authorship of the recently published book, Fighting for Fremantle: the Fremantle Society Story.

I note that when Prime Minister Bob Hawke was in Fremantle in February 1987 to open the new customs building and associated Commonwealth offices within the west end, he was accompanied by Tom Uren. On that occasion, the Prime Minister said: 'I know Tom Uren will be getting tired of me saying this, but it is fitting that he who has played such an outstanding part in working with local government throughout Australia should be here today at the opening of another project that embodies the close cooperation he has built up between the local and federal tiers of government.' Labor in the 21st century has continued the productive engagement between federal and local government that Gough Whitlam and Tom Uren pioneered, not least because Labor continues to recognise the importance of well-designed, properly resourced and healthy cities and urban environments. To a large degree, we owe that to Tom Uren—just as we owe Tom for marking out the fundamental principles that should guide our opposition to war, to nuclear proliferation and to so many other good causes.

As the member for Fremantle, I express the gratitude of my electorate for the policy and program innovations that have helped save the precious and distinctive built heritage of the port city. The significant federal heritage grants that were provided by the recent Labor government to further conserve treasures like the Princess May Building and the World Heritage listed Fremantle Prison continued this work.

I join with the many contributors to this motion who have paid their respect to Tom Uren, and I thank those who knew Tom well for their heartfelt stories of his friendship, influence, force of nature, solidarity, gentleness and love. I offer my condolences and those of the Fremantle community to Tom's family and his many friends.

Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to pay tribute to a great Australian and a lion of the Labor left, Tom Uren. I associate myself with the remarks of the member for Fremantle, the member for Charlton, the member for Reid and the member for Fraser. It was a real privilege to be in the chamber to take heed of those excellent contributions.

Others have already paid tribute to Tom's contribution to serving Australia and to giving voice to a range of at times unpopular but always important issues. It is clear to me that his courage undoubtedly advanced a fairer and more decent Australia. In this regard, I particularly acknowledge the contribution of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the member for Sydney, and also that of the member for Grayndler. In the case of the member for Grayndler, I acknowledge his contributions in this place and in other forums. It is clear to me that in so many ways the member for Grayndler is the inheritor of much of what Tom Uren did and stood for.

In this contribution I want to briefly pay particular tribute to Tom's work as minister for urban and regional development. In this capacity he reminded Australians that we are an urban—indeed, suburban—nation. Tom was appointed to this ministry, the first of its kind, at the start of the Whitlam government in December 1972. The member for Charlton just described his stewardship of this portfolio as magnificent. I simply say: I agree. This was also a watershed moment in Australian politics, as it recognised the role the Commonwealth can and should play in our cities. Before I was born Minister Uren wrote:

The Australian Government believes it must be positively involved in the life of our cities and that it has a significant role to play to ensure that they are our servants rather than our masters. In doing this, we are concerned that all people will get fair access to a full range of public services and utilities such as schools, recreation, health services, public transport, adequate housing at reasonable cost, choice of employment, an adequate range of commercial and shopping facilities, community welfare services and essential services such as garbage and sewerage. These facilities need to be blended together in cities which retain a sense of human scale and a sense of belonging and liveliness. These are essential conditions ought to be available to everyone.

He reminded us that equality has a geographic overlay. Of course, it still does. Where we live determines how we live, to too great an extent. As a member of parliament representing a constituency urgently in need of a comprehensive cities policy, his words continue to carry special resonance. More than 40 years on it is, to say the very least, disappointing that his vision has been abandoned under the present government. I take heart and hope from the fact that his imagined significant role for the Commonwealth in this space was realised by such luminaries as Brian Howe and the member for Grayndler. I am sure that a future government will rectify this present neglect.

In 1988, Tom said that infrastructure and housing was one of the areas where he felt proud to have made a personal contribution. He said: 'I am what you call a William Morris socialist. I've always tried to create a more beautiful, gentle, serene world to live in. I got a tremendous amount of joy out of working with people. I felt like a bricklayer: you like to leave bricks and mortar so you can see what you've done for people.' The monuments to people which Tom felt he had left behind—and which he had—include the National Estate register; the Australian Heritage Commission; the land commission; urban transport plans; diversion of freeways out of inner Sydney and, in particular, low-income housing redevelopment; decentralisation; dozens of regional parks and botanical gardens; and, critically, the system of untied grants to local government. It is an extraordinary and transformative legacy; but of course, as we have heard from other contributors to this debate, it is only a small portion of Tom Uren's overall contribution. His character looms large over our movement and, indeed, our nation. It is hard to conceive of a more full life, and it is extraordinary to see that it was lived in such large part for others.

Tom Uren's faith in humanity is something that strikes me. His rejection of hatred continues to inspire. The example that he set, despite personal reason to think otherwise, to reject rancour, to reject bitterness, his continued confidence in what we can do together: these things continue to inspire. Others who would like to be as unwavering in our pursuit of social justice should heed his words and heed his example. On behalf of the people of Scullin, I extend my condolences to all who knew Tom: his family and his friends.

Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to be able to get up, as I think the final speaker, on this condolence motion. I have been moved by the presentations which have been made by members of both sides of the parliament, all of whom have eloquently laid out Tom's life, his achievements, his influence inside the labour movement and in the Labor Party, in particular, and his impact on the Australian community as a result of his commitment to the values which he held from his wartime service, the hell of being a prisoner of war and his respect and love for his comrades who were also prisoners of war. His ultimate goal of opposing war was marked by, as we heard earlier, his contribution to anti-Vietnam war campaigns.

I did not know Tom before I entered this parliament, but I think I am right in saying that only the Chief Government Whip and I had the privilege of serving with Tom in the House of Representatives. I came into this place in 1987—a leftie. Coming from the Northern Territory, I did not have a lot of interaction with the sorts of internecine disputes inside the left of the Labor Party or the different elements of the labour movement. It was more about me actually learning about these things when I arrived here. I do remember I was very active in the anti-uranium and anti-nuclear campaigns of the seventies. When I came to this place I readily identified with the strength of character that Tom showed in his life's work. I have to say he was an enormous influence inside the left of the Labor Party, inside the Labor Party itself and in government and indeed, as a direct result of that influence, had a dramatic impact on the lives of every Australian.

More lately I had cause to interact with Tom as Minister for Veterans' Affairs. Tom, as you know, had achieved an outcome with Prime Minister Julia Gillard about recognition of surviving prisoners of war. It was my great privilege to be the minister who had carriage of this within the government and therefore to be at Kirribilli House when we bought together these magnificent men, these great brave men, who were surviving prisoners of war—Tom of course being among them. Knowing what I now know about his service and knowing what I now know about Tom's role in this place, but most particularly about his wartime service and the sacrifices, which we can never really imagine, and to see him at Kirribilli House in concert with these other old mates from that period was extremely moving. It was moving because we saw these brave heroes, these brave men who had survived that dreadful experience, go on and make enormous contributions to the Australian community—Tom's prime among them.

As I stand here and reflect upon his life, I think of his endearing love for his fellow man, summarised in a way by that overwhelming conviction that we needed to and must finally give due recognition to these surviving prisoners of war. He achieved this with the then Prime Minister. They had a chat—well I think they met actually at Tom's place—and then had a number of conversations. I then got involved, because I got the nod from the Prime Minister's office that there was a thing I must do. 'Why am I doing this?' I say. 'I am the Minister for Veterans' Affairs. I should be initiating this stuff.' And the reply: 'Well, no, sorry mate; this is from Tom. We are doing this because of Tom and his discussions and agreement with the Prime Minister.' As a result of that we were able to do what Tom had requested.

It was a great privilege for me to serve in this parliament with Tom, even if it were only for a very short period—three years—and to learn from him and others of the left at that time. They were an incredibly interesting bunch I have to say. I was there goggle-eyed watching what went on and seeing who was belting who, in the metaphorical sense—as they did—and of course it was a vibrant community outcome that we all achieved with great love for one another.

I know we are nearing the adjournment. It has been a great honour to be able to participate in this debate and I thank all of those who have contributed. They have done a great justice to a great man in what has been said in this chamber today and previously by those who contributed yesterday.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Lingiari for his contribution. I think if I continue to thank him for a few more lengthy comments, I am sure very soon we will get to nine o'clock and we will be able to move to the adjournment. So I can simply say that I think the contributions to the debate about the Hon. Tom Uren have been very distinguished. The fact that this parliament has seen two remarkable men who have served at Changi and on the Burma railway, in Tom Uren and John Carrick, says something quite special about our parliament. The comments that have been made have reflected the fact that we are, all of us, very grateful for the service that they gave our great nation.