Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition joins the government in supporting the motion of condolence saluting the service of Bill Morrison to our nation. His personal antecedents have been well covered and canvassed by Senator Faulkner. Suffice it to note that his was a story of opportunity and advancement courtesy of sound policy settings of the time.

As the son of a country butcher, he went on to matriculate at North Sydney tech and won a scholarship to study economics at the University of Sydney. After attaining his degree with honours as a Commonwealth scholarship student, Bill Morrison joined the Commonwealth Public Service as a cadet with the then Department of External Affairs.

His diplomatic service made me realise that he was someone that the coalition could warm to. You see, he was expelled from Russia not once but twice. The first time it was in relation to the defection of Vladimir Petrov. The second time it was in retaliation for Australia's expulsion of Soviet agent Ivan Skripov, who had been cultivating an Australian woman for the purposes of espionage. On this occasion, the KGB tried to recruit Morrison as a spy by ham-fistedly attempting to frame him. It is understood that Morrison had been visiting a Russian friend's house in Moscow when KGB officials barged in and told him that, unless he cooperated, the Soviet media would announce the next day his expulsion for the heinous crime of selling used clothing to his maid, something that was supposed to be illegal at the time—a heinous crime, no doubt, under the regime that some of those opposite were known to actually support. But Morrison famously told the KGB—one assumes he may have made this up himself, but if he did I salute him—to 'jump in the lake'.

History tells us that in 1969 Morrison was approached in Singapore by the then opposition leader Gough Whitlam, asking him to stand for federal parliament. As captains' picks go, it was one of the more inspired ones—I will not talk about later captains' picks—but his electoral success was mixed by virtue of the seat in which he ran. He voluntarily retired prior to the 1984 election.

Before that, the Parliamentary Library records some amazing things about Mr Morrison. He warned against the buying of coloured TVs because certain plastic elements might explode. He gave cyclones masculine names, overcoming that long-term gender discrimination against men—so he was a trailblazer in that regard. He did a number of other good things as well, but I thought that, on a lighter note, those two were worth noting.

I refer to his appointment after his retirement from parliament as Ambassador to Indonesia, where he served for 3½ years. There is one anecdote about how Mr Morrison used all his diplomatic skills to cover off the diplomatic fallout following the Sydney Morning Herald's publication of a story on the Suharto family's wealth. Mr Morrison had the bright idea of inviting Rebecca Gilling, the star of the truly improbable but highly popular Australian soap opera television export Return to Eden, to his next Australia Day garden party. Never was this event attended by so many Indonesian generals. The next day the Indonesian newspaper Kompas ran a cartoon saying that diplomacy between the two countries had 'returned to Eden'.

Mr Morrison's life was a life of service to the Australian people, and the coalition will always recognise that, even if that person happens to come from the other side of politics. The coalition extends its condolences to his widow, Marty; his daughters, Tanya and Melanie; his son, Kim; and his seven grandchildren.

Question agreed to, honourable senators standing in their places.