Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I join with the other senators in extending condolences to the daughters, loved ones, friends and associates of Ken Wriedt. Ken Wriedt has a special place in my 30 years of politics. I never had a cross word with him, nor did he with me. Long after we parted the same arena of politics—the Tasmanian parliament—we were able to send each other notes or make phone calls about special events that occurred. We remained very, very good friends. I greatly admired Ken Wriedt and will miss him greatly.

After I made a particularly lacklustre appearance with Margaret Throsby on ABC Classic FM, I advised her that she should get the former federal minister for agriculture Ken Wriedt on the show—someone much better acquainted with classical music than I. Ken was a great lover of 20th century European musicians and composers. He went on her program and it was a dazzling program. He had an extraordinary knowledge and remarkable love of classical music. He commented afterwards—and Margaret will not mind me saying this—that he could ‘tell that girl one or two things about classical music’. He loved going on the program.

Christine Milne, another admirer of Ken’s, is unable to be in the chamber at the moment. But I have the honour of being able to read a few of her thoughts about Ken that she was going to say in the chamber today:

I rise today to pay my deepest respect to Ken Wriedt and to offer my condolences to his daughters Paula and Sonja and to his grandchildren. He was a great Tasmanian who served this country with distinction as a Federal Minister in the Whitlam government and as Opposition Leader in the Tasmanian Parliament in the early 1980s. In 1989 I was elected to the Tasmanian Parliament and was part of the historic Labor-Green Accord in which Ken Wriedt served as a Minister. He was one of the few Labor Ministers who understood that for the Accord to succeed, cooperation between the Parties was essential.

Every time I drive to the Tasman Peninsula I remember Ken Wriedt because it was he, as Minister, who listened to my objections to the plans by the Transport Department to put a four lane highway across Eaglehawk Neck. As a student of Tasmanian history, I was horrified when I learned of plans to widen the neck. I could not believe that the government was about to destroy the integrity of the site. Ken Wriedt visited the site, where I had organised to have the Port Arthur authority join us, and the result was his decision not to proceed with the neck widening. This permanent legacy will only grow in importance now that Australia’s convict heritage has been listed as World Heritage.

In his politics, Ken Wriedt was inspired by Marx and was deeply disappointed by the fall of socialism. He was passionate about social justice and a fair go for everyone.

He was a genuine democrat who recognised the contribution of the Greens to Australian politics. He was outspoken in his rejection of the ‘majority or nothing’ mentality that dominated Tasmanian politics in the 1990s. He added his voice to those who objected to the politically expedient cutting of the numbers in the Tasmanian parliament in 1998—

a matter I may interpolate that is being now rectified by tripartisan agreement. I return to Senator Milne’s submission:

He was proud of both of his daughters and was Paula’s greatest supporter through her political career.

Beyond politics, his passion for the sea and for music was legendary. The memorial service in the Hobart Concert Hall is a fitting tribute as Ken Wriedt regarded music as his religion.

He loved the Derwent and still towards this the end of his life he was campaigning to have the port known as the Derwent Harbour to give it the status he believed it deserved.

Ken Wriedt was an intelligent and thoughtful man of integrity whose love for his family, his state and his politics set an example for us all.

Vale, Ken Wriedt.