Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's really appropriate that I'm called to speak on this—I think I'm the last of the speakers—immediately following a contribution from the member for Hotham. When I was first preselected to be the candidate for Watson, I was called shortly after. You get numbers you don't recognise on the phone coming through, and you're always worried that it's a journalist, but it was the leader of the Labor Party, Simon Crean, ringing to congratulate me on my preselection. That call was the beginning of a deep respect that I've always had for Simon Crean.

If I go through the different portfolios that I've held during our time in government, on almost every occasion—it wasn't so with the environment or immigration—Simon had been there first. When I was first made agriculture minister, I remember a whole lot of the farming organisations saying: 'We know you don't have an agricultural background, but in the past sometimes that's been good. One of the best agriculture ministers we've ever had was Simon Crean because he spent all his time out on properties learning and listening.' It's similar now in the employment and workplace relations portfolios—two portfolios that Simon held, one under Paul Keating at the time that Working Nation was put in place and later, under Julia Gillard, to be the workplace relations minister. But I don't think there's any portfolio that I've held where Simon's legacy has been so strong than as Australia's Minister for the Arts.

One of the things that a few arts ministers have had the opportunity to do is to be part of a cultural policy. Simon was a member of the Keating government when Creative Nation was launched, but then he had the chance, with Creative Australia under Prime Minister Julia Gillard, to launch his own cultural policy. If you want any evidence of how significant that cultural policy was, just think about this: 10 years later, when we were establishing what's now Revive, the cultural policy for Australia, the five pillars that Simon had chosen became the exact same structure. The principles that Simon said you needed to be able to get cultural policy right weren't just correct a decade ago but are correct now and are now being implemented in state and local government around the country: First Nations first, a place for every story, the centrality of the artist, strong cultural infrastructure and the importance of engaging with the audience. When you deal with those five principles—when you think about it—you're not only talking about what might be arts policy or entertainment or things like that; you're talking about the five building blocks of what it is to be Australia. You're talking about someone, in Simon Crean, who had a true understanding and connection to the national character, who never forgot the workers who he had represented in his early union days, all the way through to being here as a minister and a leader of the Labor Party and somebody who was always reaching out to encourage the next generation, the next big project or the next big vision.

When we launched Revive and I was talking to the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, about who we would invite, the first name on the invitation list was Simon Crean. It was the last time I saw him, but can I say: he was beaming! He was beaming partly because he loved any arts event—that's true—but he was also beaming because he saw that his legacy was going to outlive him. We didn't realise how soon that would be the case, and my deepest sympathies are with his wife, Carole, with all his family, with all those who loved him, and with all of those who grieve in different ways, who are part of the same movement, the same cause, as Simon Crean. Indeed, someone with that common touch, with that dedication to getting policy right and with the sense of purpose that Simon Crean had is exactly what you want to come through in an Australian parliament and the sort of person whose legacy was always going to outlive him, not just for years but for generations. May he rest in peace.

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I understand that it is the wish of honourable members to signify at this stage their respect and sympathy by rising in their places, and I ask all present to do so.

Honourable members having stood in their places—

I thank the Federation Chamber.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That further proceedings be conducted in the House.

Question agreed to.