Laurie Ferguson (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last weekend at the Indo-China Chinese Association, I briefly raised the very Australian story of Anoulack Chanthivong, the son of Laotian boat refugees. His family went on to establish a greengrocery business and he eventually became mayor of Campbelltown. He studied at the London School of Economics and is currently a candidate for the state parliament.

Today, in a similar vein, I want to speak of Tony Perich, who in late 2014 became the Urban Taskforce Property Person of the Year. In being awarded that honour, a comment was made that he was 'one of the main drivers of residential development on Sydney's south-west fringe and was, indeed, a hands-on person'. He is involved heavily in his own development company with his brother, as well as in joint ventures with Landcom at Oran Park and elsewhere in Sydney.

This is, again, a very Australian story of migration, hard work and success. His parents Kolombo and Julia migrated from Croatia in 1948 and initially established a tomato-growing operation before diversifying into dairy at a later stage. He himself was educated at Liverpool High School and left at an early stage to enter the company's dairy business. He said of his father Kolombo that in Croatia he worked with his bare hands on the vineyards and that his family had been dirt poor.

By 2014 he was the 39th wealthiest person in this country—a billionaire. Interestingly enough, he did not build that wealth in IT or in mining operations, the usual industries that we see wealthy Australians involved with. As I said earlier, his is a company that grew out of tomato farming. It is currently concentrating heavily on the dairy sector, diversifying into foodstuffs, and is also heavily involved in development in south-west Sydney.

He has indeed had a very wide corporate experience: Leppington Pastoral Company, the Oran Park raceway, greenfields development, Perich Property et cetera. But he has found time to play a larger role in the community. Charitable endeavours include the University of Western Sydney, the Cancer Health Research Foundation, the bushfire brigades in the Luddenham and Bringelly areas and prostate cancer research. He has also been heavily involved in a variety of community ventures such as local Rotary, the Regional Development Council of Sydney and the Urban Development Institute of Australia. As you might expect, he is also a member of the Property Council of Australia.

However, what is interesting also about him besides his business success, diversification and acumen are some of the attitudes he displays. Damon Kitney quoted him in an article in The Australian on 25 October 25. On the question of development, he had this to say:

I see a lot of people making mistakes in the development industry. They don't work with council. They just believe that what they're doing is right instead of listening. You have to listen to other people—the council has views, the state government has views. Don't be pig-headed and just do what you want.

So that is an attitude which I think is very refreshing. I have this phenomenon in my own electorate. People purchase properties—religious groups and other groups. They purchase properties at a low price because they know that there are difficulties with the development, and then they start to politically organise the change of development rules afterwards. So I think that, from a person so successful in Australian corporate life who has grown from a poverty-stricken migrant family, that is very refreshing.

The article makes the comment that despite this huge wealth, it is not displayed in ostentation in regard to private planes or the kinds of vehicles he drives. He says:

Why would I want to move into Sydney when I have the Blue Mountains out there, I've made my money out there, the people have been good to us. I will never move to Sydney—

because he lives in the outer suburban fringes.

Ever. Ever. I don't believe in it.

Living in the west also helps continue the family's farming tradition:

One thing you can always say, we will be farmers all our lives. Never forget your grassroots

So I want to put on the record my appreciation of his endeavours. There is a great sense of community consciousness in the Macarthur region, covering my own and Russell Matheson's seats, and it is indicated in this individual. It is once again Australia's construction after the Second World War by mass migration when the country needed infrastructure, when it needed people. That is what the governments of the time decided, and that is a good indication of what the outcome is.