Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a curious coincidence that most of the departing senators are members of the Australia-Ireland Parliamentary Friendship Group. As they say, there are only two kinds of people in the world, the Irish and those who wish they were. Tonight I would like to begin these farewells with the outgoing chair of the friendship group, my good friend Senator Michael Forshaw. Senator Forshaw has spoken about his work—mostly well out of the limelight—over his years in the Senate. Politics is to some extent a labour of love, a matter of chosen values opted for and stood for. A product of staunch Irish freedom fighters and servant of the AWU, he has served working people all his life, through brain rather than brawn. As Seamus Heaney wrote in his poem Digging:

But I've no spade to follow men like them.

Between my finger and my thumb

The squat pen rests.

I'll dig with it.

Also known for his fondness for Ireland is Senator the Hon. Alan Ferguson. Consider, if you would, Ireland's national drink, Guinness. It is, as we all know, more than a drink; it is a memorable experience, distinctive, something to be savoured. It commands our respect. When pouring a Guinness you cannot rush it. You must wait till it settles, then top it up and wait some more. In time, all those orphan bubbles unite to form a creamy top on a fine, strong base. What you end up with is—like the good senator himself—a substantial presence with a magnificent white head, the product of years of dedication, knowledge and skill: an experience like none other. A drink like that, or indeed a decent Jameson, is enough to move a man to song, and it is known that occasionally Senator Ferguson has been moved to entertain a delegation or two with a fine rendition of Carrickfergus. Thank you, Alan Ferguson, for all you have done here. Yours has been a wonderful contribution to public life.

Senator Steve Fielding, who we heard from this evening, does not come from a long line of politicians—quite the contrary. His background is, like that of so many Australians, a very modest one, and I am sure that as a young man he never imagined that he would be representing his fellow Australians in this place. I want to acknowledge that it took some courage for him to step forward to lead the Family First party. He had no way of knowing precisely what was in store for him when he embarked on this phase of his life. As Sean O'Casey so memorably remarked, 'All the world's a stage, and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.'Senator Fielding stepped up and took his place on that stage, aided by a few good props, and withstood criticism with good grace. So I thank him for his efforts and, in consideration of his sporting injuries, which we heard about tonight, want to extend his repertoire and introduce him to this Irish prayer:

May those who love us, love us;

and those who don't love us,

may God turn their hearts;

and if He doesn't turn their hearts,

may he turn their ankles

so we'll know them by their limping.

Senator Guy Barnett leaves us to pursue his commitment to improving the health outcomes of Australians. In his speech he captured all that had motivated him in public life. The Barnetts moved to County Cork in Ireland as privileged landowners, and the first Barnetts arrived in Australia in the early 1800s. It will not be lost on Guy, as a Tasmanian, that his name derives from living off the land having cleared the forest by burning! I wish him success in his new life and all that it brings.

I am also sad to say goodbye to Senator Judith Troeth, whose heritage is actually Scottish. Her Irish roots, though a bit obscure, are through the derivation of her name 'Troeth' from 'Troth', or 'truth'. When Judith stands for something, she does not count the cost, and, when the chips are down, she simply refuses to compromise. In her 17 years in the Senate she has shown what it means to be principled and compassionate. Her championing of the cause of asylum seekers made a deep mark on me, and I thank her for her steadfastness and sense of purpose and for the example of Australian womanhood that she has provided to our young people.

She may well in fact be distantly related to Senator Russell Trood—which is another variation of the Troeth family name, originally from Berkshire. They too took up land in Ireland. Russell's experience in areas of international relations and foreign policy is widely recognised, and his curiosity about the world in all its variety and wonder has inspired all his working life, not just his last six years in the Senate. So it stands to reason that he would include Ireland among his interests. I wish him lots of interesting travels in his retirement. If it is not too Irish to put it this way: he hasn't been everywhere, but it's on his list! But a busy man must take time to rest, and I would like to farewell Senator Trood with a few words from Patrick Kavanagh's Lines Written on a Seat on the Grand Canal, Dublin:

O commemorate me where there is water,

Canal water, preferably, so stilly

Greeny at the heart of summer. Brother

Commemorate me thus beautifully

Where by a lock niagarously roars

The falls for those who sit in the tremendous silence

Of mid-July.

I hope he finds himself in a very good place in mid-July. Now I come to Senator Julian McGauran. It is widely reported around Ballymagaurin in Tullyhall, County Cavan, that the McGaurans are a ferociously tenacious clan. We certainly saw that in Senator McGauran's fight for East Timor and in his adherence to his convictions through­out his career. The McGaurans are also reputed to have a great gift with horses and to be lucky at the track, so the senator's early career in the stables of Bart Cummings was formative. Certainly he is one of the very few people in this country to be given the legal right to ride a horse into St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne and, incidentally, to pardon a condemned criminal if he should meet one on the way to the gallows—courtesy of his investiture as a knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, one of the two remaining crusader orders and the oldest, formed in 1099. Well, as they say in Ireland, there's more to being a knight than a horse, a sword and a lance, and in farewelling Senator McGauran I would like to thank him for his chivalrous qualities of courage, honour and justice, and congratulate him on regaining his Irish citizenship.

We come now to Senator Steve Hutchins, heading for pastures green in Victoria. Another senator of proud Irish stock, Steve has been an amazing advocate for the bruised and the broken, as we heard tonight, through his work on the community affairs com­mittee. I know that, as a De La Salle boy, well schooled in the injustices of Irish history, he attributes his passion for egalitar­ianism to the stories he heard at his father's knee, and the glorious rebel songs that were part of his childhood, as they were of my own. For him, an Irish prayer: 'God grant me the hindsight to know where I've been, the foresight to know where I'm going, and the insight to know when I've gone too far.'

There is no question of course about Senator Kerry O'Brien's ethnic origins. O'Brien—descended from Brian Boru, the last great high king of Ireland and his home in Ballingarry. Although his deeds were legendary he was very much a real man, a man's man. Immortalised in the Battle of Clontarf in 1014, he rooted out corruption and skulduggery and unified the regional leaders of the country—a very fitting forebear for Senator O'Brien, given his forensic work in regional policy and in uncovering rural rorts in this country. So, Kerry, I thank you for your friendship and support, and the fun we had on the regional and rural affairs committee.

Senator Annette Hurley shares her surname with the national sport of Ireland. The game of 'hurley' has been played for at least 3,000 years. It is still played throughout the world, and is very popular among the members of the Irish diaspora here in Australia. There is a longstanding family tradition of parliamentary service in the Hurley line: back in 1585, Thomas Hurley attended Perrot's parliament, and this fine family has been fighting for the rights of the underdog ever since. The Hurleys in Ballinacarriga were dispossessed for siding with the rebels in the fight for Irish freedom. So the efforts that Senator Hurley has made on behalf of battlers dealing with the intricacies of immigration, superannuation and Centrelink, her work with health reform and on the Senate Economics Committee are a continuation of a fine legacy. Best wishes, Annette, and thank you for your friendship.

And although Wortley is not a name we associate with Ireland, her first name, Dana, certainly is. The people of the Goddess Dana are the famous Irish fairy folk, the Sidhe. Like Senator Fielding, she never anticipated when she was growing up that a political future awaited her; it was her sheer commitment to a truly equal society that brought her to this place, where she has made a name for herself as a champion of the disadvantaged and particularly for her work promoting cybersafety among young people.

Finally, I come to Senator Minchin. While there is no ostensible Irish connection here, I just have to look at the twinkle in his eye, and think of his ingenuity and resource­fulness, his cunning and the sheer power of his wits, and I think of the Sidhe, and in particular of the leprechaun. In my childhood, stories of leprechauns abounded. They are famously difficult to capture, and if one ever does get caught, he invariably gets away. I will admit that Senator Minchin differs from a leprechaun in stature, and he does not sport a beard anymore, but anyone who saw the photo of him in the Adelaide Advertiser will see the connection. And we should never underestimate the sheer cleverality of a leprechaun's mind: as my dad used to say, 'Give him enough rope, and he'll hang you.' His valedictory speech was witty and revealing, and I certainly wish him well as the convenor of the Friends of Carbon Dioxide Society.

I will finish now, because, as the Irish say, 'a silent mouth is sweet to hear.' Tomorrow, the current Australia-Ireland parliamentary group will meet for the last time, at the luncheon to farewell our departing Irish ambassador. I will miss them and I will miss him, and the Australia-Ireland group will not be the same. So: slainte agus saol agaibh, agus bas in Eireann!