Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Sunday, 13 November, Australian journalism lost one of its best. Seumas Phelan died at his home in Bundeena, surrounded by his loving family, just as he would have chosen. Seumas was a Walkley-award-winning journalist, a headline writer and a subeditor of the old school. He came from a long line of storytellers, and as a young child joined his genius vagabond-writer father tramping around the Irish countryside. As a child he met George Orwell, Paul Robeson, Dylan Thomas and other political and artistic figures. Seumas worked on newspapers around the world for more than 30 years. He came to Australia originally for two years, but he fell in love with the place and he became a dual citizen. He taught generations of journalism students at the University of Technology, Sydney. He kept an eye on former students throughout their careers. In fact, the last time I saw him was during the last federal election campaign, at an ALP function in Caringbah. It was typical of this beautiful man that, despite his illness, he was still deeply engaged in current affairs and eager to offer a former student a word of encouragement. He will be deeply missed by his partner, Lizzie; son, Liam; daughter, Amanda; daughter-in-law, Dani Cooper; and grandchildren, Grace, Ruairi, Conor and Rosa.