John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Frank Walker was an unforgettable and inescapable feature of the New South Wales Labor landscape for those of us whose political involvement began in the 1970s. He was widely known in the party as a prominent left winger whose youth and energy were a real contribution to the Wran government's air of freshness; whose advocacy of the causes of environmental protection, civil liberties and Indigenous rights appealed to the growing community concern of the time on those issues; whose enthusiastic reform agenda changed much about the state of New South Wales and whose skill and drive as a campaigner shored up marginal seats at a state and federal level. Frank was driven by his ideals—ideals first shaped in childhood by watching his father hold steadfastly to his political convictions, no matter the cost. He found his home in the left wing of the Australian Labor Party, where he found people who shared a commitment to the causes he cared about.

Since his death, Frank has frequently been described as a factional warrior, closely involved in the internal struggles of his party and his faction no matter where he was—from state backbencher to federal minister. Internal politics in New South Wales Labor was played hard. Frank Walker fought hard to promote the values and causes important to him and to protect his interests and the interests of those close to him—as did we all. More than once Frank challenged the leadership of the Left in New South Wales. In 1971, as a member of a small dissident left factional grouping, he nominated against Arthur Gietzelt for the then federal executive of the ALP. In the early 1980s he moved to formalise the Left in the New South Wales state parliamentary Labor Party where the Labor Right had a natural majority. In the late 1980s he was instrumental in the New South Wales left faction, the old Combined Unions' and Branches' Steering Committee, rebadging itself as the Socialist Left. And in 1993 he was suspended from the Left for 12 months after nominating against the Left's ticket for the first Keating ministry—and winning.

It was not always so. Many of Frank's interventions in internal party matters did not end in triumph. Whether in the party or in the public arena, Frank Walker played his politics hard. He played to win and he did have wins to his name as well as losses. At the end of his career he could point to a long list of significant legislative achievements, from the repeal of the Summary Offences Act, as Neville Wran's Attorney General at the beginning of his ministerial career, to his groundbreaking work on implementing Mabo. Repealing then Liberal Party Premier Askin's 1970 Summary Offences Act—the act that made it literally a crime to be poor, to have less than $15 in your pocket, the act that made it a crime for two or more people to assemble without the authorisation of the Commissioner of Police—earned him the hostility of the New South Wales Police Force. His work on native title, in the Keating government, earned him the hostility of Liberal state premiers and plenty of mining magnates. I think he would have seen both as a sign that he was doing his job.

Frank was considered by many to be abrasive and combative. The stories of many of his successes are inevitably the stories of triumph over the implacable opposition of enemies, some within his own faction, in part because Frank did have a knack of making enemies. He pursued his goals single-mindedly. The dedication that made him an excellent campaigner in a preselection or a marginal seat led to more than a few ruffled feathers among those who dealt with him. But he would not be swayed from what he thought was the right course of action—not by threats, not by hostility, and not, as I found on the odd occasion, by persuasion or logic either. But none of us in the Labor Party should ever forget Frank's heroic by-election victory in 1970. The seat of Georges River had been a safe Liberal seat where the ALP was given virtually no chance of winning. Frank's victory changed politics in New South Wales. He was a breath of fresh air. He knew it was a very difficult seat to hold.

Frank gave a lot of attention to why Labor continually lost postal votes in election after election, state and federal. He broke new ground for the Labor Party by developing a postal vote register. This might not seem like much now but at the time it was revolutionary. It transformed Labor's performance in campaigning and postal voting. He and his campaign team would keep a record of those who had asked to be assisted with postal voting, for whatever reason, be they ill, infirm, disabled, housebound, travelling or overseas. And those electors did not have to ask for a postal vote application again; Frank's campaign team would always offer the service and the service was appreciated.

In 1976, when Labor won the seats of Gosford and Hurstville by literally just a handful of votes—and hence the 1976 state election which installed Neville Wran as premier—the postal vote campaign techniques that Frank developed made the difference. Labor would not have won the 1976 New South Wales state election without the campaign techniques developed by Frank Walker. Before Frank Walker, Labor lost the close results; after Frank Walker, Labor won the close ones. This will always be a lasting legacy.

Frank and I were not close, but we did have a cordial and professional relationship. We served together in the Keating ministry from 1993 to 1996. But I will never forget one great act of solidarity from Frank. In 1981, when I was persona non grata and sent to Coventry as the then left wing Assistant General Secretary of the New South Wales branch of the ALP, I was uninvited to the head office staff Christmas party. In fact, I was not invited to anything. So the leadership of the Left at the time held its own Christmas party for me—in my office! The then New South Wales Attorney-General, Minister of Justice and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Frank Walker, arrived in my office at Sussex Street with his Christmas present—a New South Wales branch ALP rule book with every page blank because, as Frank's annotation read, the Sussex Street machine just ignored the party rules anyway! I appreciated his gift and his solidarity, and I have lodged Frank's Christmas present in the National Archives of Australia.

Frank Walker carried a terrible burden with his tragic family circumstances and, typically, was driven by his own tragedy to fight to make the circumstances of others better. His work as the Vice-President of the Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia, the Deputy President of the New South Wales Mental Health Review Tribunal and the President of the Schizophrenia Fellowship of New South Wales was characterised by the same determination and dedication that he had brought to the state and federal parliaments. He remained, to the end of his life, in his own words, 'committed to democracy, human rights, civil liberties and a tolerant and inclusive society'. And he continued to work until the end of his life for those causes. I join with other senators in extending my sincere sympathy to Frank's family and friends.

Question agreed to, honourable senators standing in their places.