Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to stand on the motion of condolence in relation to Eoin Harrap Cameron, who was the member for Stirling from 1993 to 1998—a short career of about 5½ years. But he left an indelible impression in those 5½ years on the parliament, on me and on the Liberal Party. Eoin Cameron served for too short a period of time. He lost in 1998 in the election where about 16 of my colleagues did not come back—the GST election—and he got elected in the 1993 election, which was the one that supposedly could not be lost but we did lose. And in those 5½ years—I was elected in 1993—Eoin Cameron and I became very, very good friends.

Eoin Cameron had tremendous faults, and he was quite unabashed about his many faults. One of his faults was he liked to have a drink as early in the day as possible, and question time created quite a difficulty for Eoin Cameron because he could not have a drink until question time was over. His office was about three down from mine, and as a new member at the age of 25 I was easily led astray by Eoin Cameron. He would like to have a drink straight after question time. I would be able to hold off until at least five o'clock because, as a 25-year old new member of parliament, I felt it was wise to be as good as possible. It did not always turn out that way, as many of my colleagues will tell you. I was not always as good as possible. But he and I shared a lot of laughs in his office with his wonderful wife Wendy and several of his children. He had three children, I believe, and two of them were quite present here in Parliament House during various stages of his career. I am quite sure that Wendy was here to make sure that he was as good as he possibly could be in the circumstances where he was used to being a very free agent.

Politics does not encourage free agency, and Eoin Cameron was a very outgoing, exciting, amusing, larger-than-life, funny character who knew when to be serious and knew when to be fun, could see the difference between right and wrong and would call it out for what it was. It made him much loved as a radio announcer in Perth, where he had a sparkling career, always rating highly, always saying things that people were not supposed to say. I do not know how the ABC management coped with Eoin Cameron. He would have been constantly being counselled, I am sure, by the ABC management for his startling admissions. He particularly enjoyed telling stories about himself and against himself and against his family, and if you were fortunate enough to become a close confidante he would also breach all of your confidences as well. I learnt that pretty early, so I tried to be reasonably discreet, because he would repeat things that I had said to him, years afterwards, on radio—to my acute and excruciating embarrassment. And then he would email me and tell me he had just done so, which would elicit a great laugh from me, because I knew that Eoin Cameron had an absolute heart of gold.

He overcame amazing difficulties in his life. He was raped by the headmaster of the Catholic school when he was 12 years old, at Mount Gambier. Before that he had been a stellar student, and after that his academic record collapsed and his confidence collapsed. His sporting ability, which he had had in great spoonfuls, disappeared, and he left school at the age of 14 and essentially rebuilt his life over a long period of time. He also had bipolar disorder, which in politics can make for interesting moments for whoever might suffer from that particular affliction. He put his bipolar disorder down to being raped as a 12-year-old. I do not think the drinking helped, though. I think that might have added to the sometimes erratic statements he would make.

But he was such a good friend, and when he opened his office in Perth I made the crazy decision to fly to Perth and back in the same day, which I have never done since and which I did not realise at such a young age was of course a crazy plan. But I did it just because I wanted to be at Eoin Cameron's office opening, because he was such a good friend, and he was a tremendously amusing person, and I love to have people around me who make me laugh. And you were always laughing when you were in Eoin Cameron's company.

He did not stay in parliament long enough really to reach ministerial rank or even shadow ministerial rank, but he was a great member for his electorate; he was loved in his electorate. Unfortunately he lost in that swing against us in 1998, and he was as blunt with his constituents as he was with the people who would ring into his radio program for years. He would write letters back to his constituents that would peel the paint off the walls, about how well they had done in their lives and basically what we now call First World problems. He would ask them to put themselves into the shoes of people who had nothing or who were homeless or who were struggling for a particular reason, without jobs—things that we would never write to constituents. And he would show me his letters with great pride and say: 'I really gave it to this person! They wrote to me with this ridiculous complaint about something very minor.' We have all been there and felt that we would like to write those letters, but we have never actually put them in black and white and sent them to the constituent, but he would do so, because he just loved to tell people what he really thought.

He had a terrible row with Noel Crichton-Browne towards the end of his political career and decided that Noel Crichton-Browne should not be supported by the Liberal Party. And because he had such a firm belief in it, nobody could convince Eoin Cameron that this was a bad decision for his own political survival—because actually he did not care about his own political survival; he cared about representing his constituents, he cared about saying what he really believed and trying to make a difference. I think he returned happily to ABC Radio in Perth, where he worked for many, many years after that. I cannot tell some of the riotous stories he told me about being a radio announcer, because these things should not be repeated! Eoin Cameron would have repeated them, for sure, but I will not do so.

I will miss Eoin Cameron. I did stay in touch with Eoin Cameron after he left politics and as recently as this year, which in our business is not something that happens that often. Lots of people come and go through political careers and political lives and you do not necessarily stay in touch with all the people you served with. I had a great regard for Eoin Cameron and his wonderful wife, Wendy, and his whole family. He had a larger than life family. He was one of 10, and they were all big and loud like Eoin—well, the men were, anyway; I will not comment on the women. I wish his family my deepest condolences. I did want to mark the occasion of his passing by commenting on my high regard for Eoin Cameron in the House. I thank the House.

Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I very much enjoyed listening to the memories of the member for Sturt about my predecessor in the seat of Stirling, Eoin Cameron.

Unfortunately, I did not get to know him very well personally. He was my Liberal predecessor in the seat, there was a Labor member for six years between us, and by the time I ran for the seat of Stirling he was already back on ABC radio and was not available to play a big part in the campaign. Some of his family members helped me out, particularly his son, Ryan, and his wife, Wendy, who I had a very high regard for. Unfortunately, I cannot give you the sort of personal memories that the member for Sturt has and I am sure the member for McMillan will also be able to share with the House.

I think that the member for Sturt captured a lot of what I know about Eoin, which is that he was a man who was absolutely larger than life. Certainly, some of those stories about his interactions with constituents have come back to me as the member for Stirling some six years after he left parliament, because they are enormously entertaining. Clearly he was somebody who really broke the mould for politicians. I think the member for Sturt was correct in saying that he was not that fussed about being a good politician in that sense. He wanted to represent his constituents, but he would do things that most of us, I think, would look askance at.

He was true to himself whilst he was here, and he is remembered as a man who had enormous integrity whilst he was here and the fact that he stuck to his independent views and was very much his own man. Of course, that happened at a time when there was a lot of internal division within the Western Australian division of the Liberal Party. It is a very happy family now. It is hard to remember when we look back, but the battles there were, quite frankly, vicious, and it was a very difficult time for members of parliament who essentially were dividing on one side or the other. Eoin did spend a lot of time in his final couple of years engaged in that, particularly with what was known as the anti-Noel Crichton-Browne forces. It is hard to remember what they were arguing about now, but at the time it was certainly a very vicious battle.

John Howard, who was Prime Minister at the time, remembered him as somebody who was his own man in every respect. He said that he was a strong Liberal who was loyal to the party but he was not a person who could be taken for granted and he always brought an independent view. The opposition leader at the time, Kim Beazley, said that he was a good politician who did not like being one much.

As the member for Sturt has mentioned, Eoin left school at the age of 14. The member for Sturt mentioned something that Eoin spoke about publicly, quite recently and very movingly, and that was the sexual abuse that he suffered as a young person. Anybody who listened to those stories when he was on the radio would have found it absolutely harrowing, but he used what must have been an incredibly painful and difficult period of his life for good. He was very strong supporter of the work of beyondblue. As the member for Sturt mentioned, Eoin suffered from bipolar disorder himself, and others in his family subsequently suffered from bipolar disorder. He was a great advocate of the causes of mental health, and he did not mind sharing his own intensely personal and painful experiences in pursuit of that goal of advocating for mental health. I have great regard for him for that. I listened, not as a friend of his but as somebody who has listened to his radio program, and he was very up-front about the horrible things that had occurred to him. He was trying to use that terrible experience as a force for good. He did overcome many challenges in his life, including sexual abuse and the subsequent depression and bipolar disorder than came along with that.

He was a very passionate person, and he shared those painful aspects of his life—all aspects of his life—on the radio. He was very much a personality in Perth. He was very well known for the way that he conducted himself on the radio and for the sorts of relatively outrageously things that he would do on radio, but, of course, that endeared him to his listeners very heavily. His listeners thought that he was straight talking and honest. He was renowned for his awful taste in music, including an enduring love for Dusty Springfield.

Mr Pyne interjecting—

Shared apparently with the member for Sturt. He was never short of an opinion on his radio show. Of course, he was absolutely never afraid of speaking his mind, and he was not remotely concerned about who he would offend in doing that.

He will be sadly missed. I am sorry that I did not get to know him better. Unfortunately, it was just not the way that it was. We did not cross paths as often as I would have liked, but I do wish his family all the best. I offer them my sincere condolences, particularly to Ryan and Wendy, who I got to know a little bit, but also to his daughters, Jane and Jacinta. He was grandfather to Jeorgia, Cameron, Sophie, Lachlan, Eugenie, Flynn, Milla and Sadie and, of course, to his surviving siblings as well. We send them our deepest condolences for somebody who, unfortunately, left us far too soon.

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

Well, Wendy, if you are watching, this is for you. I appreciate the words of both our ministers speaking on Eoin Cameron. I have most recently had contact with Eoin, and Christopher is right. We were both defeated in 1998, Eoin and I, and out of that forum I do not think we carried on a relationship. But once you have loved somebody—and when I first met Eoin and his wife I loved them on the spot, both of them, just loved them. We met in a street in Perth, and I was with Bruce Baird, and I recognised Eoin. I jumped to my feet, I hugged him and I sat down, and he was gone. Bruce said to me, 'Who is that?' and I said, 'What are you on about? That is Eoin Cameron.' To me, he was larger than life but to others—you are right, Christopher—they come into this place, they speak and they are gone.

My first moment of Eoin Cameron was when I was in my office and this voice came on to speak in the parliament. I was just stopped in my tracks—this beautiful voice. I thought, 'Who is that?' There have been three voices in this parliament—David Jull, Ian Sinclair and Eoin Cameron—and whenever they spoke you just had to listen to the depth and melody of the voice that just commanded the room. Unbelievable.

There was another very unusual thing about Eoin Cameron, and it was that Petro liked him. Petro did not like many people, Petro Georgiou. I thought that if Petro likes this guy and he is a friend of the member for Sturt, he cannot be all that bad. I was included, then, in their get-togethers and dinners. He was just amazing to be around. I have read his book Rolling into the world, Wendy. The first time I read it, I cried and laughed and cried, and I would have killed this kid. If I had been his father, I would literally have killed this kid and everybody who travelled with him. What they did to their father—I have electric fences at home; you have to be careful with electric fences. One of the stories told was that their boys turned it off, wrapped it around the bumper bar of the Vanguard, which was the family car the time, flooded the whole area around the Vanguard with water, and then turned it back on for their father to walk across to the car, hit the car and be thrown back.

Another time, you know how delicate dairy cows are—you know, Kevin. They got four penny bungers stuck above the driveway. They planned to wait until the cows, which their father was herding up, were in the driveway and then blow them up in the middle—I was trying to read this last night, coming in, and I was just so embarrassed because I was in tears laughing at what this fellow got up to as a youth. Yet he achieved so much in his life—his compassion for issues, for people, for little people particularly, for people who could not speak for themselves, his love for his wife and his family. The whole issue of family was played out in every moment of his life.

We hear people say, 'I'm retiring to go home to my family.' You think yeah, yeah, yeah. You have just been fired or thrown out or lost your preselection or dudded or something. This guy actually lived his life in regard to his family. Throughout his book he talks about the importance of family and how he revered his elder brother, and how he tormented his younger sisters and what he did to them. One day, they were throwing stones at their baby sister as they were going to school—disgrace!—and she cut her lip on one of the stones they threw at her. This got back to the father at the house. She ran back to the house and told Dad. Dad came up to the bus, got the two boys off the bus, belted the living daylights out of them and then put them back on the bus, which did not do their egos much good. In the book, he touches on what happened to him at the school that was inappropriate, but he goes further later on.

I did not know he was bipolar. I saw a parliamentarian actually doing what a parliamentarian should do and representing his constituents in a manner that had a lot to emulate. He was a member of parliament and I have read a couple of his speeches, especially about his near accidents flying in and out of Perth and what he did with aircraft controllers and the issues surrounding that. It did not matter what the issue was, he was passionate about it. I am only sad that I was not a participant in hearing his radio programs or seeing some of the things that the minister knows about but will not tell us. I think he has done a disservice to me, to those gathered in this room and to Wendy and the family by not telling those stories, but I have worked it out. It may bring the minister into disrepute, because he was probably naughty enough to be a participant in some of the pranks that were played or some of the things that happened in Eoin's career!

In reading Mr Cameron's maiden speech, he had a great dream for the nation to be the nation he wanted it to be. He wanted us to ensure that we handed on to the next generation greater opportunities than they had been given themselves. The member for Sturt mentioned that Eoin's grades went from very good grades to crashing and then him leaving school at 14, but that did not seem to be an impediment. He describes his first job, which he decided really was not for him. It goes on to say how many jobs he had before he settled and got into radio and did the things that he did.

But this is the most important thing. If we measured our lives in laughter and fun, I would have to say that Eoin Cameron lived six lifetimes in one. If life were measured in laughter and fun, this man lived six lifetimes in one. We have a lot to learn from that. I was absolutely saddened to hear of his death because he was my age, and I have a long way to go. I am sure he had a long way to go too. I have to say to you, Wendy: do not think we are not sad, because we are. I think this is a very sad time, especially when you read the obituary. '"Great shambling ratbag" changed lives' is the headline of his ABC obituary. We are sad. This is a sad time—a sad time for you and your family and, as the minister pointed out, for all your children and grandchildren—but you will have memories that other, lesser mortals will never have because of who he was, what he was and the things that he did.

You know, one of the hardest things you could possibly do in life is to be courageous enough and brave enough with your own experience to share it with an audience of hundreds of thousands around Perth and millions around the world, where you actually change the lives of people. He did it in the House, because he changed my attitude—and Petro's and Christopher's and probably lots of others—just from that short time we spent with him.

Wendy, to you and all yours, thank you for the very short time you gave him to this nation as a parliamentarian. Thank you for the way that you offered him to the public through his radio program—great memories. Thank you, Wendy. Thank you, family. Vale Eoin Cameron.

Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I associate myself with this motion and with the heartfelt comments of my colleagues in relation to the sad death of Eoin Cameron. I had the great pleasure of serving in this place with Eoin whilst he was here. He was both a larrikin and a caring, committed and passionate representative of his electorate. He was also a wonderful member of a family whom he cared about so much.

I remember some years ago reading his biography, which the member for McMillan referred to, Rolling into the World,and learning so much about his earlier life, which I had not known whilst he was here in the parliament.

To his wife, Wendy, and to all the other family members, I offer my condolences as well and join in this motion.

Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too would like to add my condolences to Wendy and the family. I met Eoin back in the early 1980s. He was a constituent of mine as well. He lived very close by. As we all know, he was larger than life. He managed to take out the most prominent fence within South Perth a couple of years ago, and everyone knew Eoin Cameron had done it.

I met him in the eighties through the famous North Cott family, the Russells. He taught me quite a few things on the one night that I spent with him. He also taught me the art of imbibing. He was very good at that. My condolences to Wendy and the Cameron family.