Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I wish to pay tribute to two men whose passing in recent times has left a void that cannot be filled but whose legacies live on. The first is Les Twentyman, a Victorian to his core, a son of the west and a fierce youth advocate. Les made it his business to tear away the veil, to speak to the human cost of disadvantage, addiction, poverty and hardship.

Les was irreverent and self-deprecating. He had a dogged determination that was forged in the furnace of his old footy coaching days and growing up in Braybrook. He was an AFL fan and a Western Bulldogs tragic. He was as much a part of the great city of Melbourne as our mighty MCG, and the people whose lives were changed by Les could fill that famous ground five times over. He was not bothered about looking good but on doing good. He became an icon, but he was never an ornament. We've lost a great Melburnian; a great Australian. Our thoughts are with his wife, Cherie; his family; and his colleagues at the Les Twentyman Foundation.

The other great Australian I honour today is Ian Cuttler, a stalwart of my old union, the Australian Workers Union; and a life member of the Australian Labor Party. He was one of nature's gentleman: kind, friendly, charismatic and compassionate. He started his career as a shearer, taught the art by his father, Bob Cuttler, who was one of the AWU's longest-serving members. With a deep understanding of the stresses and strains of the shearing shed, Ian worked to bring dignity and respect to the calling. He had a knack of bringing people together, of making even the quietest voice felt heard. He got on with everyone. He was a unifying force amongst the diverse membership, a skill he called upon through the tumultuous years of the divisive wide-comb dispute.

Ian was one of my mentors, teaching me how to organise in shearing sheds, and, as part of the grassroots movement later on that drove the establishment of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, bringing with him the lived experience of caring for his much-loved son Jonathan. When Ian developed Parkinson's disease, he was forced to slow down a bit. It gave him time to pursue his passion for writing bush poetry, even producing a book to raise money for Parkinson's research; thinking of others to the last. Indeed, Ian wrote a poem, which I will briefly share with members. He writes:

A shearer caught a chill

when he showered in Broken Hill

After which he vowed he'd never shower again

To a man his peers did curse

as his stench went from bad to worse

Then the team resolved to formally complain.

With desperation reached

Those mates of his beseeched

"What do you know about Cashmere Bouquet?"

He answered, "Nought, of course,

Never heard of such a horse

And I don't believe in betting anyway."

Ian was a laconic character of the sheds and a leader of the union. Ian Cuttler is survived by his beloved wife, Judy; his children, Jonathan, Paul and Sally; and his grandchildren, Harry and Jack.

Ian Cuttler and Les Twentyman, two men who represent the great and timeless Aussie tradition of showing kindness in another's troubles and courage in their own. Profoundly missed but never forgotten.