Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday, there was a very moving state memorial at Old Parliament House for its former deputy chairman the Hon. Barry Cohen AM, 1935 to 2017. I've attended many state memorials, but the speeches, the warmth, the emotion—I've never been at a ceremony like it. I want to congratulate the organisers and say it was an honour to be part of it, along with the Prime Minister, former Prime Minister Hawke, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, Rabbi Shmueli Feldman who was the MC, and Stewart Cohen who spoke on behalf of the family. There was a very moving Welcome to Country that I want to pay tribute to in particular.

The memorial took place after Rabbi Feldman conducted a funeral—as is the Jewish custom—at the north Canberra cemetery a couple of days before Christmas, soon after Barry passed. The state memorial and the funeral were two distinct events. I want to repeat and elaborate on some of the things I said at the memorial yesterday. I particularly want to praise Rachel Baxendale, who, in the online version of The Australian, had a very good report of what the various major speakers said about the passing of such a notable former minister. The ABC ran a report too, but it's a shame that the Fairfax press in its self-indulgence didn't carry a word of it today or yesterday.

I said yesterday that all of us worked for Barry Cohen even when we were not employed by him. Even when I was elected to parliament it made no difference to Barry: he still thought I worked for him and just needed to implement his million bright ideas. Barry was, in the Australian vernacular meaning of the word, a character. He was a sports commentator for Sydney's TCN 9. That's probably because he was nearly a professional golfer. The wonderful booklet that accompanied his memorial shows a picture of him in the swing in the back. Apparently he accompanied Prime Minister Hawke many times on the golf course. He was the first small businessman I know of in North Sydney to join a union, the SDA. The legendary 'Johno' Johnson was really taken aback by Barry's interest in Labor when Barry was running his beloved fashion store at St Ives, Fashion Plate, where he insisted I attend to get my first suit when I came up to work for him as a staffer in the Hawke government.

Many years later he turned the marginal Central Coast seat of Robertson into a bastion for Labor, holding it from 1969 to 1990. I notice there are probably many good members of the opposition who've held it since. Some of the people working for prime ministers and leaders of the opposition have no understanding of what it takes to be a marginal member and what a difference individuals can make. Woe betide them for their political faith and their lack of knowledge of that.

Barry was the last opposition male to hold the position of spokesman on women's affairs, as in 1978 there were no women in the House of Reps. Barry was elected nine times between 1969 and 1990. Few will replicate that record. Phillip Ruddock, who is in the audience, is one who did. As Martin Luther King said, 'Longevity has its place.' Barry's passion for the arts, heritage and environment was fulfilled when he became minister in these portfolios. His passion for Kakadu, as I said yesterday, established it in the public imagination alongside Indigenous natural icons like Uluru and the Kimberley.

He was absolutely a visionary with road safety. In his early years in parliament he demanded that vehicles have airbags, in the 1970s. Now it's par for the course, but it was absolutely visionary then. I was sitting in the Labor Party caucus today and Senator Gallacher came up to me and said, 'Even a few years ago Barry was driving us mad about road safety.' I think it's encapsulated in a quote from one of his articles:

When I became obsessed with the subject, I was treated as an eccentric. I don't regret a minute of it, and in my twilight years I'm determined to do what I can to revive the road safety campaign. I'd like to live long enough to see the headline: No one killed on the roads this year.

That was a conversation just today with Alex Gallacher, one of the senators who remembers his campaign on this.

Barry was environment minister when they forbade mineral sands mining on Fraser Island. He was one of the Hawke government's spearheads in preserving the natural wonders of the Franklin in Tasmania. I know that other people in other political parties claim credit for that, but Barry was absolutely crucial in that. When we wander around the Franklin these days, I think about him and his role in preserving it. He had a successful life in business and, as I said, a great career in politics. He was the author of nine books between 1987 and 2011 and an immense collection of newspaper and magazine columns, which I've been re-reading in the last two weeks. Some of his columns were excoriating about topics as varied as the wit and wisdom of the New South Wales right, the perils of nouvelle cuisine and the superannuation industry, where he argued that governments should 'save seniors from racetrack touts posing as fund managers'. I think we've all had experiences with constituents who feel that. In his immense newspaper output, Cohen made unpopular forays, arguing that ministerial travel should be judged on its outcome, not on its cost—I could tell some of the people at Fairfax and the ABC about that—and that the backbenchers should resume their independence and resume their rights in question time. We could tell some of the whips, prime ministers and leaders of the opposition about that.

He was a devoted ally and advocate of Senator John Faulkner and his plans to clean up Labor. Barry's whiplash pen critiqued people on his own side as well as on the conservative side of politics. They included Peter Garrett, Graham Richardson and, most memorably, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. In the early 1980s, years before Rudd became a national figure, Cohen gave him a searing character evaluation. When you read it 20 years later, through all that happened with Rudd in opposition and Rudd as Prime Minister and Rudd as insurgent, it makes Barry Cohen sound like the oracle of Bungendore, 20 years before Rudd became a national character.

But big, brave Barry didn't simply snipe from the safety of newspaper columns. He was a fierce critic of the maladministration of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and when he attended his last gathering of that august organisation he was the subject of a two-hour harangue by Fidel Castro. With incredible courage, the next day he gave it back with both barrels to the Cuban dictator. I didn't include some of the things that he said in my memorial speech, but I'll just read a couple of them. Cohen said: 'President Castro’s harangue was one of the most nauseating, disgraceful exhibitions I have ever witnessed. What was so extraordinary was his complete omission of any of the crimes committed by his friends in the communist bloc, the Third World and the non-aligned countries. Where in his speech was there any mention of the Soviet Union's invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, of Vietnam's invasion of Kampuchea, of Syria's slaughter of Palestinians and Lebanese, and the hundreds of thousands of political prisoners and denial of human rights in dozens of countries here today?' He did that in Cuba, while he was in their maw.

Barry's gentler side was shown in his passion for the Indigenous people of this country. This began with his extreme involvement, as a non-Indigenous assistant, in the Aboriginal campaign for the successful 1967 referendum. Years later, you could see that passion and involvement, with a tribute to his mentor and Indigenous friend, Faith Bandler, on her death. It is one of the most memorable columns I've ever read, and I urge people to go back and read it. It's in The Australian and it's called 'Thanks to Faith, change won out'.

He also said incredible and valuable things about housing affordability, which I won't go into. He and I didn't always agree on the issue of 18C. Barry was in favour of the legislation, but he said, 'I've come to the conclusion that you cannot change people's minds by legislation.' Arguing people around on these important issues was something he considered to be very important. If all of that wasn't enough, Barry Cohen was the deputy chairman of Old Parliament House from 1990 to 2001. In 1999 he made an ill-advised foray back into state politics at the request of the then Labor Premier. I must admit, I took 20 Mexicans north of the border to help him with how-to-vote cards.

Throughout his parliamentary and newspaper life, Cohen shared with me an immense pride in his Jewish origins and was a subtle, well-informed advocate of Israel. He was a very strong supporter of the two-state solution. The weight of the Nazi genocide of millions, including large segments of his family, weighed very heavily on the shoulders of his memory. He and his wife, Rae, did great justice to his murdered relatives, visiting Poland and writing a searing account of the fate of the Koziwodas, that branch of the family that was utterly wiped out, in an article which was published in the now defunct Bulletinand which you can get from my office.

Lastly, let me deal with the difficult topic of Barry's last years. His courage in dealing with his dementia publicly was matched only by the devotion of his son, Adam, and his wife, Rae, to his increasing physical fragility. He even turned his suffering into a good story. It would have been in one of his books if he had been writing books in the last years. This is from a newspaper:

… When word got out that I had joined the list of dementia sufferers one of the first calls I had was from an old "friend".

"A Mr Howard calling," was the message from the nurse. 'I don't know a Mr Howard, unless it's the former prime minister.'

"That's the one," said the nurse.

I'm very proud that a group of us—his Praetorian Guard and former ministerial staff, led by Dr Sergio Sergi, Peter Conway, his son Adam and I—travelled to Goulburn to farewell Barry at his nursing home. He was compos mentis. It was a tearful farewell. He recognised all of us. He cried. We all cried. It was a great thing to do, just a few months before he passed. Barry Cohen, a big character and a big Australian. His memory is a blessing.

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise to join with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in expressing my deepest condolences of behalf of my community at the passing of the Hon. Barry Cohen AM, aged 82. I join with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in extending my thoughts to Barry Cohen's family and friends at this time, including many of those who travelled to Canberra this week for yesterday's state memorial service at Old Parliament House. I do wish to thank the member for Melbourne Ports for the incredible insight in the speech he just gave, which, I must say, filled out a whole life that perhaps I was not privy to. Barry Cohen was the member for Robertson when I first came to the Central Coast in 1984, aged 12. I suspect that, had I ever met him and known him, the old adage that I like to live by—that more things unite us than ever divide us in politics—would stand true for somebody who has been described as the member for Melbourne Ports so aptly and beautifully described him in his speech just now.

As the Prime Minister said yesterday in the House, Barry was a man known for his wit, his humour, his memorable anecdotes and his dapper dress sense. He was recognised with an Order of Australia in 2007 for service to the Australian parliament and to the community through a range of cultural and environmental roles, along with contributions to public discussion and debate through his work for The Australian, in books and in publications. Much can be spoken about Barry's legacy. I note how proudly, as a member of the Hawke government, he championed Indigenous issues, as has been raised before. One of the most enduring legacies was that the government handed back Uluru to its traditional owners, doubled the size of Kakadu National Park and extended the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. He was, indeed, a powerful advocate for the rights and the advancement of our First Australians. Mr Cohen would carve a strong parliamentary career as the Minister for Home Affairs and Environment and then as Minister for Arts, Heritage and Environment.

But, as the serving member for Robertson in this place today, I wish to pay tribute to a man who served our community with incredible passion and distinction for more than 20 years. As the member for Robertson from 1969 to 1990, Mr Cohen was a fierce advocate for our community on the Central Coast. He was the member for Robertson when one of the greatest and most essential transport links in our region was built, the Mooney Mooney Bridge, which thousands of commuters travelling to Sydney and Newcastle now take for granted when we drive across it every single day, along the F3—or, of course, as it's now known, the M1. That was part of Barry's legacy to the Central Coast. Across the Central Coast, he will probably be best remembered in our community for his passion and commitment to the environment. The environment is something that I think people on the Central Coast have a great love for. They have an instinctive great love for and a deep regard for the environment and the protection and preservation of the environment, and that's something that, in his time as the minister, he certainly reflected well.

There were several lasting policy achievements during his time as the minister, but in Barry Cohen's life after politics he continued to serve and search for ways to care for people and our world around us. In 2001, he dedicated himself to protecting wildlife, building the beautiful Calga Springs Wildlife Sanctuary on the Central Coast. When he eventually sold the sanctuary four years later to Tassin and Gerald Barnard he had, in the words of Tassin, suddenly put Calga on the national map. As Tassin told the ABC Central Coast's Scott Levi just this week: 'Calga suddenly became more than an interchange.' This passion came from hearing about the impact of feral animals on the local wildlife. Along with his son Adam, Barry then began to build the sanctuary that could be enjoyed by visitors. Now known as the Australia Walkabout Wildlife Park, it is a fantastic tourist attraction for our region.

Even when, later in life, Barry began his battle with Alzheimer's, he continued to be a tireless campaigner for the issues that mattered to him. Alzheimer's is an issue that transcends politics and that affects families on both sides of this place, and I think we can all admire the way that Barry Cohen fought for better awareness and support for Australians suffering with this insidious disease. Although a cure has not been found in his lifetime as he hoped, I know that his efforts will continue to inspire those who have followed him on both sides of politics, and I note the member for Dobell and her tireless advocacy in this particular area of dementia. As we heard in the tributes in the House yesterday, Barry Cohen's writings opened the door to what had previously been the very private pain of those who lived with Alzheimer's and dementia, and, as the current member for Robertson, I want to put on record my thanks for Barry Cohen's service to the Central Coast and to our nation and also for his incredible advocacy during that time.

May I end with a reflection from Barry's son Stuart. He described his father as a fiercely passionate individual who did nothing by half measure: 'Nothing left undone. He never took a step back.' It's a beautiful tribute to a man who cared so much and gave so much. To his wife, Rae, and to his sons, I extend my deepest sympathy and thank him for his service to our community and our nation.

Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Long before I knew the late Hon. Barry Cohen AM, I knew his books. Growing up, they lined our bookshelves in my family home in Wyong. My personal favourite was Life with Gough, and I gave it to my brother Nick for his birthday as soon as it was released. My dad had worked with Gough as a young staffer, and he was keen to relive the best of times with the great man, told of course with Barry's unique wit, humour and empathy.

Now, as the federal member for Dobell, my electorate neighbours the electorate of Robertson, which was represented solidly by Barry Cohen in the House of Representatives from 1969 to 1990. For 21 years, Mr Cohen represented the people of our community, the Central Coast, with passion, dedication, good humour and great success.

Yesterday, I was reminiscing with a former Labor member for Dobell, Michael Lee, who attended the memorial service, and he wanted me to share some of his recollections of his time working with Barry. He said to me that he remembers Barry as a strong advocate for his electorate, which originally stretched from Asquith to Swansea. He said that, in the Whitlam years, the Regional Employment Development Scheme, known as the RED Scheme, was a jobs creation program, and that Barry was famous for getting so many local projects approved. Surf clubs, senior citizens' centres, scout halls—there were many local projects that benefited from his dedicated lobbying. Another win for the Central Coast, Michael said to me, was when, in 1975, Barry organised the ALP national conference to be held at the Hotel Florida in Terrigal. The member for Melbourne Ports may have some good memories of that conference! I'm told every hotel and motel across the coast was booked out for the conference. Michael also said that, as has been mentioned by the member for Melbourne Ports, Barry was a strong advocate for road and car safety, and he invited the American political activist and author Ralph Nader, who had just written Unsafe at Any Speed, to visit Australia to pressure car companies into improving car safety.

As has been mentioned, Barry held three ministerial posts in the Hawke government between 1984 and 1987. For these three years he was the Minister assisting the Prime Minister for the Bicentennial—such a momentous occasion in our nation's history—and Minister for Arts, Heritage and Environment. In 1983 and '84, he was also the Minister for Home Affairs.

As the member for Robertson has noted, his greatest legacy must surely be that he safeguarded some of our most precious natural treasures for our future generations, from Uluru to Kakadu to the Great Barrier Reef, and more locally in our community on the Central Coast. For this work we will remain in his debt.

Barry was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2007 for his service to the Australian parliament and to the community through a range of cultural and environmental roles and contributions to public discussion and debate.

After leaving the federal realm, as the member for Melbourne Ports said, Barry had a tilt at the New South Wales state election in 1999. I fact-checked this with Michael Lee yesterday, and apparently my own dad was the one who talked him into running for the seat of Gosford against the incumbent, Chris Hartcher. Unfortunately, Barry didn't win the seat, but Bob Carr did win a second term.

Even after his time in public life had ended, Barry Cohen continued to make a contribution. When he became one of the 400,000 Australians living with dementia, he became a champion for a better deal for older Australians. Just as his written works resonated with me as a younger woman, that passionate advocacy for people living with dementia resonates with me now as I share caring duties for my own father, who lives with dementia. As the member for Robertson and the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, have said, we do not yet have a cure for dementia. As a daughter, a mental health worker and a local MP, I am doing all I can to continue Barry's work towards a cure and to improve the lives of people living with dementia and those who care for them.

When we do find this cure, and we will, some small measure of credit must go to the late Barry Cohen for speaking out about the way it affected him and the way it affects so many others living with this condition. I extend my condolences and those of my family, particularly my mum, Barbara, and my father, Grant, to Barry's wife, Ray, and to his family and honour his contribution to the Australian parliament, the Australian people and the people of the Central Coast. May he rest in peace.

Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's an honour to follow my colleagues, the members for Dobell, Robertson and Melbourne Ports, in paying tribute to Barry Cohen. Unfortunately, other commitments prevented me from attending the memorial service that was presided over by Rabbi Feldman on Monday, but I want to take the opportunity in this debate to make some reflections on the life of the Hon. Barry Cohen AM. I had the privilege of meeting Barry on only one occasion, and therefore I didn't know him as well as did my friend the member for Melbourne Ports, who worked for him in 1983 and 1984 and became a lifelong friend. But I have got to know Barry's son Adam, who's here in the chamber, a little over my time in the parliament, as we've worked together on issues of mutual interest for the Jewish community.

Barry Cohen came to this parliament as the member for Robertson in the 1969 election. A redistribution took place in 1968 that took 14,000 electors from the electorate of Robertson, comprising electors from suburbs around Hornsby, and put them in a new electorate called Berowra. The sitting member for Robertson, Bill Bridges-Maxwell, a vet, was not very happy with this—he was the Liberal member—and sought to stand for the newly created seat. Bridges-Maxwell, like my illustrious predecessor Tom Hughes QC, was a member of a group called the Mushroom Club that centred themselves around John Gorton. They were great Gorton supporters. Gorton wanted Hughes to move to Berowra, as his own seat of Parkes had been abolished, while he thought Bridges-Maxwell had the best chance of retaining Robertson, but it wasn't to be. At the Don's Party election in 1969, when there was a swing of 7.1 per cent against the Gorton government, Barry achieved a bigger swing against the Liberal Party, of 9.7 per cent, winning the seat on first preferences. He went on to hold the seat and improve his margin until retirement at the 1990 election with, as I saw, his best results in the years when the member for Melbourne Ports worked for him.

Relatives who knew I was interested in politics would invariably buy me Barry Cohen's books for birthday presents. My shelves contained books like From Whitlam to Winston, Life with Gough and Bringing the House Down. Barry had his own anecdotes, and one of the best of those was told by the Prime Minister in the House yesterday, but he was a great chronicler of Gough. One of my favourite stories of Barry's appears in Bringing Down the House. With the indulgence of the chamber, I might read it to you now:

The late Senator Ron McAuliffe, a lovable Runyonesque character, represented Labor in the Senate from 1971 to 1981 but he was better known as President of the Queensland Rugby League. He was often referred to as the 'Senator for Rugby League.'

In September 1974, at the peak of Labor's popularity—

and I think Barry probably used the word 'peak' ironically there—

he invited the Prime Minister to 'kick off' the Grand Final of the Brisbane Rugby League competition. Although not an ardent sports enthusiast he accepted.

Gough arrived at Lang Park, where a crowd of 23,000 less-than-enthusiastic football fans greeted him with boos, jeers, beer cans, meat pies and anything they could lay their hands on. It took nearly ten minutes for them to exhaust their viciousness and spleen. Finally they quietened down to the point where Gough could launch the 1974 Rugby League Grand Final. The mission accomplished, Gough walked off the ground with his senatorial host. 'McAuliffe,' Gough sniffed, 'Don't you ever invite me to a place where you are so unpopular.'

Like me, Barry Cohen was Jewish. Over the summer I read Simon Schama's second volume of The Story of the Jews 1492 to 1900. While there are moments of sunlight, in the main it doesn't tell a happy story of long-term acceptance and welcoming of the Jewish people into full citizenship. Schama, in that book, doesn't deal with Australia, but had he done so he would have observed that Australia has been one of the great exceptions to that story, even in the 19th century. From the earliest days of colonial administration, Jews have been fully accepted and taken their place in leadership positions in the nation. Behind me is the portrait of Sir Isaac Isaacs, who was one of three Jewish MPs to serve in the first Commonwealth parliament. And in this parliament there are a record six members of the House and Senate who are Jewish.

Barry Cohen was one of a significant number of Jewish MPs who've served here since Federation. As he wrote, he never suffered any anti-Semitism in politics and his religion was never an issue during his service in this place. But, as it has on all of us, the experience of being Jewish had a profound effect on him. Although some of his family had been here since the 1890s, he also had family who perished in the Holocaust. He wrote:

Australia is probably the least anti-Semitic country in the world, but what happened to my family made a deep impression on me. I became obsessive about discrimination; be it fighting for civil rights in the US, or against apartheid or the appalling treatment of our indigenous people.

Having experienced no racism growing up in Griffith until he had his bar mitzvah, when he was suddenly regarded as different, and having experienced further anti-Semitic attacks as a schoolboy and as a golfer, Cohen was determined to fight against racism and to improve the conditions of Indigenous people when he came here. Like other Jewish MPs, he had a deep and abiding interest in Aboriginal affairs. Like Jews, Aborigines have a culture which is hundreds of thousands of years old, handed down from generation to generation, with a deep and abiding sense of connection to traditional lands. The crowning glory of Barry's involvement in this particular space was handing back Uluru to its traditional owners when he was Minister for the Environment.

In his retirement, the culture of his party had shifted left and Barry Cohen found himself sometimes at odds with his own people. Barry became concerned about the direction that the Labor Party had taken on anti-Semitism in Israel, and in the wake of the 2004 election he courageously went to print to criticise what he saw as anti-Semitism creeping into his party. He wrote:

I'm sick of the calumny heaped on Israel - most of which is a pack of lies. I'm sick of Labor leaders making all the right noises to Jewish audiences while an increasing number of backbenchers launch diatribes at Israel.

How long is it since any Labor leader gave the sort of passionate and accurate defence of Israel we used to hear from Hawke or Kim Beazley?

I don't want even-handedness when it ought to be obvious to all but the blind that there is no moral equivalence between a country that seeks to defend its citizens from thousands of terrorist attacks, and the terrorists themselves. I want to hear Labor MPs stand up and be counted. I want to see an end to well-known Labor identities marching behind banners equating Israel with Nazism.

Before the Iraq war one of the most senior NSW right-wing MPs told me: "I understand and support Israel's position, but in my group, I'm the only one."

Soon after I told a Labor legend: "Anti-Semitism is now rampant in the Labor Party." I expected a vigorous denial. His response confirmed my worst fear: "I know," he said.

This was a courageous thing for Barry to have pointed out in relation to the Labor Party at the time and it became an abiding issue for him, as it was in his time in this place the defence of the state of Israel.

The second example concerns the one occasion I had the privilege of meeting Barry, which was when he launched perhaps an unlikely collection of essays, edited by two figures of the right, Gregory Melleuish and Imre Salusinszky, called Blaming Ourselves: September 11 and the Agony of the Left. The launch took place in the now defunct American Club and was followed by a good dinner and plenty of Cohen anecdotes. Some extracts from the foreword bear repeating. Barry wrote:

I imagine my emotions were no different to most people's. Disbelief preceded shock before seething rage. The nausea commenced when I started reading the anti-American diatribe in the columns and letters to the editor section of the Sydney Morning Herald. How much the world changed on 11 September is yet to be determined but for me it ended some friendships. There are many quoted in this book whom I have no wish to speak to again.

Have only one problem with this book and that is in the title, Blaming Ourselves: September 11 and the Agony of the Left. Having always regarded myself as being 'of the Left', I resent being lumped in with those who write such vile rubbish.

As he concludes:

It was long overdue for conservatives and genuine liberals to take on the intellectual thugs of the 'progressive' Left and to stop feeling guilty about supporting the United States. Never has the line between good and evil been so clearly drawn.

For too long the Left have been able to enjoy the affluence created by American capitalism and take shelter behind the American defense umbrella while at the same time reserving the right to pour out their hatred of all things American. They take the best the Americans have to offer and spit in their face.

Unlike Australians, Americans aren't perfect. They've made mistakes, but they are a decent people who believe passionately in the things the majority of Australians hold dear—freedom and democracy. Thank God that when the Cold War ended it was America who was left standing. Imagine for one minute the awful alternative.

In those extracts you get a sense of Barry's passion and his enormous gift with words and language.

Barry Cohen made an enormous contribution to his party, his community and his country, as a parliamentarian, a writer and an activist. We 're all poorer for his loss. I wish long life to his wife, Rae, and his sons, Stuart, Adam and Martin, and his broader family and to the member for Melbourne Ports, who is practically mishpocha. May his memory be a blessing.

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Cyber Security and Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with a great sense of pride and honour that I rise to honour Barry Cohen AM. Having attended his memorial service yesterday, which was also a great honour, I came away from that event wishing I had actually met him. He seemed like an extraordinary individual. Adam and your brothers and your beloved mum are so lucky to have had him in your life. He was a larger-than-life character. The tributes were flowing from former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, the current Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and also the Leader of the Opposition, who all had the most extraordinary anecdotes about a man with passion, with commitment, with a true sense of altruism, with a great love of Australia and a great commitment to advancing Australia for all Australians—not just a handful of the lucky few, but all Australians. He had a huge commitment to advancing our nation, and he did so with such bonhomie and such humour.

He was a larger-than-life character. I really wish I had met him after hearing all those fabulous stories yesterday, not just the tributes, but also the eulogy, Adam, from your brother—a beautiful eulogy—and also from David. That eulogy was very powerful; and also the acknowledgement to country from Aunty Jannette. I've seen Aunty Jannette acknowledge country and welcome to country at many events across Canberra, but the beauty about yesterday's welcome to country and acknowledgement of country was the fact that Aunty Jannette was great mates with Barry. So in the welcome to country she gave an extraordinarily unique perspective on their relationship and the work he did in advancing the Indigenous cause from when Stuart, Adam and Martin were just small children. The fact that Barry Cohen was deeply committed to ensuring the betterment of Indigenous Australians, not just in his part of the world but right throughout Australia, and the connection he had with Aunty Jannette and others from the Indigenous community was palpable. You could sense that the relationship was deep and mutually respectful, and Aunty Jannette's and also David's comments on the relationship with Barry reflected that.

Barry had a great sense of humour, a great sense of honesty, a great sense of candour, a great sense of banter but, ultimately, a great sense of love—not just in terms of commitment to better public policy, but mostly a real, genuine, deep, abiding love for the Indigenous community and a really deep commitment to advancing their lot in Australia, particularly in the 1967 referendum. He was very actively involved in that. I think that's where Aunty Jannette first had the connection with him, going right back to 1967. He was an extraordinary man. After going to the memorial service yesterday, I know I would love to have met him. I feel far lesser as a result of not meeting him.

It's lovely that Adam's here today, to hear these speeches that honour his father, and Rabbi Feldman who beautifully presided over yesterday's service. We had these beautiful tributes and eulogies, and this beautiful acknowledgement and welcome to country by Aunty Jannette. It was punctuated by a drinking song—a joyous drinking song, was it not, Rabbi Feldman? It is not in keeping with the usually sombre nature of memorial services but we were all up singing that song. Everyone knows the tune, not necessarily the words, and we were singing and clapping away at the memorial service. This highlighted the nature of Barry Cohen and his joie de vivre, his passion for life, his wanting to suck the pips out of life. Every day, every hour you're living, you're working towards improving the lives of Australians, of making a difference. That was the very strong message I got from yesterday. You and your mum and brothers are so lucky to have had him in your lives, Adam.

I was keen not just to talk about that extraordinary memorial service yesterday but also to acknowledge as the member for Canberra the contribution Barry Cohen made to Canberra, our nation's capital, and its national institutions. His legacy is quite extraordinary—and it was made in an environment that often wasn't in keeping with Barry's views on particular issues. That's particularly the case with the National Museum. There's always been a bit of ambivalence about the National Museum—whether we need it, what it should house and where it should be located. It's not just a Canberra pastime or Saturday night dinner conversation about a national museum; it's a national conversation about the fact that there has been this ambivalence and that he took the first steps towards making the museum happen. It underscores his commitment. He confronted and overcame adversity. If he believed in something, from what I can gather, he just pursued it, knowing he was on the force of right. He was fighting the good fight. He was the former minister for home affairs, the arts and the environment. His legacy here in our nation's capital, in terms of national institutions, is significant. I thank him for that.

In April 1984 Barry announced the establishment of the National Film and Sound Archive. It's back in the news, that fabulous old deco building, at the anatomy building, at the ANU. Unfortunately, the new CEO is looking for alternative digs. It's been controversial since it went to that building and it's been controversial in that there's been talk of moving it out of Canberra. Canberrans have fought back to keep that fabulous national institution here, and it all began with Barry Cohen.

The archive took over the former anatomy building and was built in the deco period of the 1930s. It was opened in 1984 and is now heritage listed. It began with 20 freshly minted staff led by Ray Edmondson, who Barry described as the persistent force behind the archive. Barry's belief in the work of the archive and Ray Edmondson was apparent as the archive built up its identity and there was a broader understanding of its role, within the national-collections institutions area, over the next 10 or 15 years. It was an extraordinary vision. Thanks to Barry's vision, the national archive was realised. It is Australia's living archive and already has more than 2.8 million items being preserved for future generations, and the collections continue to grow.

I also want to thank Barry for the legacy he left with the National Museum. As I said, it was highly controversial, over many years. There's been a lot of debate about its purpose and location.

The history of the original concept of having a National Museum of Australia is that it was first raised in the seventies, but it was Barry who initially picked it up. He kicked the tyres and got the museum moving from concept to reality in the 1980s. It took successive governments another 20 years to consult and design the museum that we're familiar with today, down on the point on Lake Burley Griffin. It was Barry who oversaw the building of the temporary visitors centre and the headquarters at Yarramundi Reach, which were the first steps towards making the National Museum of Australia a reality.

In closing, I just want to offer my condolences and the condolences of all Canberrans to Rae, Stuart, Adam, Martin and Barry's many, many friends right across Australia and throughout the world. As was said yesterday, he was a big character. He was a big presence. He created big memories. He had a big life. He was an extraordinary individual who I would have loved to have met. I look forward now to going over his writings and reading them, particularly his comments on the New South Wales Right—which I will very much look forward to—as a member of that esteemed establishment. We honour and thank Barry Cohen AM for his contribution to our nation, to our national capital and to our national institutions. Vale.

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I first associate myself with the outstanding speeches by my parliamentary colleagues. We just heard from the member for Canberra and, before her, the member for Berowra, the member for Dobell, the member for Robertson and the member for Melbourne Ports. In anticipation, we will hear from the member for Fenner.

Yesterday's memorial service at Old Parliament House, which I had the privilege to attend, was a celebration of Barry Cohen's big life—his good life. We heard speeches from former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Melbourne Ports, his son Stuart and others. What came through these speeches was a picture of a man, whom I was fortunate to have met, who was first and foremost a proud Australian. He was a proud Jew and he was a proud Labor man. In his many achievements in public life—21 years in the parliament—he was responsible for a number of significant achievements which leave a lasting legacy. As the environment minister, I can only look back in awe at what he achieved with regard to Uluru, Kakadu, the Barrier Reef and the Tasmanian wilderness. As the Minister for Arts, Heritage and Environment, we have heard about his significant contributions. Indeed, our presence in Old Parliament House in some way could be traced to his commitment to restoring that building and ensuring that it stayed for future generations.

As the member for Robertson, he turned a marginal seat—in fact, a Liberal seat, as we heard yesterday—into a safe Labor seat by door-knocking thousands of homes with his wife, Rae, and a band of loyal supporters and winning respect for his passionate defence of local interests and the local community. He also was the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Bicentennial.

Barry Cohen came to the parliament in a non-traditional way in the sense that he had been a postman and a clerk and had broader business experience. When he came to the parliament, as was said yesterday, he was not a union rep or a party hack. He was somebody who came with a determination to make a difference. In reading his maiden speech to the parliament on 5 March 1970, he talked about how the motivating factor in deciding to become a political activist was: 'I have always been concerned with the question of prejudice, whether that prejudice be based on class, religion or race.' In his maiden speech, he spent the vast majority of the time talking about Aboriginal disadvantage, health, particularly infant mortality, and housing and the need to do better on behalf of our First Australians. We heard yesterday how genuine and long-lasting his commitment was.

My colleagues the member for Berowra and the member for Melbourne Ports have referred to the fact that he cared deeply about his Jewishness. He was always prepared to wear that on his sleeve and he would speak openly about anti-Semitism where he encountered it as well as issues involving Israel. He was born and raised in Griffith, New South Wales, and he wrote about his local school that, 'There were seven Jewish children in a school of nearly a thousand, and that made us a bit of a curiosity.' He did say that he got his first taste of anti-Semitism when he was at Sydney Grammar School and that 'shocked, hurt and bewildered him'.

In the parliament, he had a fellow traveller in his support for Israel in Bob Hawke. But it is apt and timely in the presence of our fellow members of the Labor Party to remind them of what he, Barry Cohen, said about the concerns he saw with a lurch to the Left and a growing antagonism towards Israel. He said, 'I'm sick of Labor leaders and foreign affairs spokesmen making all the right noises to Jewish audiences while an increasing number of Labor backbenchers launch diatribes at Israel.' That is a very powerful statement. I only mention it because I know that my fellow Labor members in the chamber care as deeply about Israel and anti-Semitism as I do and as the member for Berowra does. I know, in the Leader of the Opposition, Israel has a staunch and loyal friend. Bob Hawke, who fought for the refuseniks in the Soviet Union, has a very proud record on that. In fact, 'Doc' Evatt, again from the Labor Party, has a very, very proud record on that. We always need to stand firm on these issues. When we stand on the shoulders of giants like Barry Cohen in this place, it pays to listen to a warning such as that. If we, in this place, can take that warning and act upon it, I will feel better for not just the Jewish community of today but the Jewish community of tomorrow.

Barry Cohen was an outstanding individual. He was decent. He was brave. He was humble. He was passionate. His causes stretched from Indigenous affairs to the environment, from the arts and culture to acting on behalf of our senior Australians and his own battle with Alzheimer's.

He is somebody who shared his views through his columns and his eight books and who has provided wisdom and insight for us here today. To his son Adam, in the chamber; to his mother, Rae; to Stuart; to Martin; to the extended family: you have so much to be proud of in Barry Cohen. I have so much to be proud of as a Jewish member of this parliament. Because we follow in his footsteps, we can learn from his example. And if we do him justice in this place, Australia will be the better for it.

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

Armando Iannucci, creator of The Thick of It and Veep, gave an interview recently where he said, 'Humourless politicians are the most dangerous ones, I think.' He was referring to oppressive regimes, but I think it applies to this place, too. In the tradition of Fred Daly and Jim Killen, Barry Cohen was a fabulous raconteur. I first knew him through his books; I grabbed three from the shelf on the way here—After the Party, The Life of the Party and From Whitlam to Winstonbut, of course, that 's merely a small component of the Cohen oeuvre. In meeting him and chatting with him, one got the sense of a man who lived a full life.

In his eulogy yesterday, the member for Melbourne Ports pointed out that Barry Cohen had a range of records—the first sports commentator for Sydney's TCN 9, the first boss to join a union in the SDA and the last opposition male to hold the position of spokesperson for women's affairs, given there were no women in the House of Reps in 1978. His achievements as environment minister were legendary: forbidding the mining of sands on Fraser Island, protecting the Franklin, and helping to safeguard Uluru, Kakadu and the Great Barrier Reef. It's a legacy which will outlive us all. His interest in the environment continued post politics, and I remember terrifically enjoyable conversations with him as he sought to persuade me to get up the great garden festival. Barry, I am sorry, we have so far failed you, but the international garden festival may yet become a reality.

There are so many fabulous stories, but, with Adam with us, I'm minded to turn to one known as 'Generation Gap', in which Barry relates the moment he heard Adam answering the phone, 'Oh, Jesus, mate, I'm sorry, I didn't realise it was you' and then saying to Barry, 'It's Gough.' Barry said he was staggered: 'You called our glorious leader "mate".' He apologises to Gough Whitlam and gets the response: 'What are you running there, a sheltered workshop? I don't mind him calling me "mate" but he doesn't even recognise the voice.'

He went on to recount his early experiences in the Labor Party, which many of us will have shared. He walked into the room, 'knowing' who the enemy were—the dreaded Liberals headed by Sir Robert Menzies—and:

I was soon disabused of that idea. The enemy were either the groupers or the coms and they were in the same room as I was, the Asquith Progress Association Hall. I found the screaming and shouting strangely at odds with the party's moto, 'Unity of Labor is the hope of the world'.

He also related a tale of a day of campaigning with Chris Hurford and Eric Fitzgibbon, the father of Joel Fitzgibbon. They spent a day visiting kindergartens and early childhood centres in the morning and an aged-care centre in the afternoon. At the event at the aged-care centre, Eric Fitzgibbon gave a speech in which he said: 'It has been a journey from the cradle to the grave.' Barry does not record whether the members of the aged-care home appreciated this description.

Then, finally, there was a wonderful anecdote, in which he related his early experiences in Mann Street, Gosford, when a constituent came in and said to Barry, 'I've got a pain here in my shoulder. I've had it for some months. I can't get to sleep at night,' and the constituent got increasingly perturbed when Barry Cohen failed to respond and then began to take his shirt off: 'My embarrassment started to turn to panic. I stood up to stop him before he was naked. "Look, I understand you've got a bad back, but what the hell do you expect me to do about it?" "What do you mean, what the hell do I expect you to do about it! You're the bloody chiropractor, aren't you?" He went out to his secretary and said, "I think this gentleman has the wrong Cohen. He may want to see John Cohen, the chiropractor, just down the hall."'

I want to close with an observation about an incident in 2011. As somebody who was a long-time fan of Barry's, my office was helping Deb O'Neill, then the member for Robertson, organise a fundraiser in which Barry would tell tales to the Labor faithful from the ACT Labor Party, and, just prior to the event, Barry Cohen wrote a piece in The Australian in which he said same-sex marriage was 'absurd'.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 18:01 to 18:19

So we were organising a fundraiser to raise money for Deb O'Neill in the Labor caucus room as the candidate for Robertson, and the star of the show was to be the former member for Robertson, Barry Cohen. But, as we prepared the event and set about publicising it among ACT Labor Party members, Barry Cohen wrote an article in The Australian in which he said that same-sex marriage was 'absurd' and compared it to his right to marry his dog. This caused some outrage among some of the activists within the party who urged me to cancel the event with Barry Cohen. I had to say to them, yes, he's wrong on marriage equality—at least in my view and theirs—but this was a man so profoundly right on so many of the social justice questions of our age. His opposition to apartheid came decades earlier than mainstream Australian opinion. His attitude to Indigenous Australians on the environment came earlier. I thought of that great John Donne line, 'Thine age asks ease' and the importance, at the end of a great life, of allowing a little sensitivity, a little forgiveness and a little understanding, and encompassing the mark of an entire career.

Barry Cohen's career was an extraordinary one. He brought wit, humour and happiness to the parliament, a cleaner environment to the nation and a sense of commitment to public life that we honour today as we honoured it yesterday at that most moving funeral service at Old Parliament House. May he rest in peace.

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I understand it is the wish of honourable members to signify at this stage their respect and sympathy by rising in their places.

Honourable members having stood in their places—

I thank the chamber.

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That further proceedings be conducted in the House.

Question agreed to.