Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to acknowledge Emeritus Professor Alan Robson AO, a citizen of Western Australia, who passed away in Perth last week. It is difficult to underestimate the influence Alan Robson had on agriculture, on science, on UWA and, indeed, on all of Western Australia. He was a great Australian.

He was a pioneer in soil science. He did his PhD at UWA. His research into plant nutrition was internationally recognised and applied widely. In 1993, Alan was appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor of UWA and then vice-chancellor in 2004, the first and only UWA graduate to achieve this position. As a university leader, he drove UWA into the top 100 universities in the world.

Alan initiated the UWA In The Zone conferences that started in 2009 and sought to drive a greater understanding, on this side of the country, of the geographic gift that Perth is. Located on the western verandah of our great continent, facing the Indian Ocean, Perth is in the same time zone as 60 per cent of the world's population, in the region promising the greatest economic growth of the 21st century. His support of the In the Zone conference and those of us who worked on it led to the creation of the highly regarded Perth USAsia Centre. He had an integral role in weaving the tapestry that tells the story of Perth and Western Australia today: modern, outward looking and a geostrategic pivot point of the Indo-Pacific.

I was fortunate enough to meet Alan in 1994, when I was a young law student and elected to the Senate of the university. I was even more fortunate to work for him as his chief of staff for a few years. His leadership continues to be an inspiration to me personally and, I'm sure, to many others as well. There is no doubt in my mind that I would not have had the opportunity to become a minister in the federal government without the learning opportunities Alan Robson provided to me in those years we worked together. He changed my life, and I thank Alan for that.

As anyone who worked at UWA when Alan was around knows, he knew everyone. He remembered the name of every person he met and would say hello to each and every one of them on any walk through the magnificent UWA Crawley campus that he loved. It might take you, on a slow walk, 20 minutes to walk across that campus from the office of the vice-chancellor to his beloved Institute of Agriculture. With Alan it would take 45 minutes. He spoke to everyone. He knew everyone and he adored them all.

My thoughts are with his wonderful wife, Gwenda; his children, Suzanne, Andrew and Nicole; his whole family; and his many, many friends across the university community and the Western Australian business community and in government. I know they're very proud of Alan Robson and the legacy he leaves the University of Western Australia, our great state of Western Australia and, of course, the nation. He was a great Australian. Vale, Alan Robson.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!