Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to express my condolences on the passing of former Senator Harradine and especially to pass on my condolences to his wife Marian, their 13 children, and their children. I had the privilege of attending Brian's funeral a couple of weeks ago at the cathedral in Hobart. It was an absolutely terrific send-off for a very great Australian.

He is best known as a Tasmanian, but of course, he was not in fact a Tasmanian; he was a South Australian. He grew up in the mid-north of South Australia, some of the most austere parts of the country. He left that part of the world, that dry and arid region in the mid-north of South Australia, to go down to Tasmania, a very verdant and lush environment. So it was quite different world. As Senator McEwan would recall, he went down there as an official of the Federated Clerks Union. From that position, he eventually became the Secretary of the Trades and Labour Council down in Tasmania. As a number of people have referred to, he was expelled from the Labor Party in 1975, but then ran as an Independent and won successive elections for the next 30 years.

He did hold the balance of power at a number of crucial times. We have heard about the role that he played in rejecting the GST. He understood the regressive nature of that tax. He was under enormous pressure from the Howard government to back the introduction of the tax, and of course, he very correctly and courageously rejected that tax. We subsequently saw the consequences for the Australian Democrats when they did support that tax. We saw what happened to them. I think there is no doubt in my mind that Senator Harradine made the correct decision.

But there was one other issue that he played a crucial role in. Although he started out as an official of the Federated Clerks Union, he ended up as the President of the Tasmanian branch of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association—that great union. Not only did he serve as president, but he was also on the national council of that organisation for many decades. In 1975, that union was under great challenge by the New South Wales branch of the union. A fellow called Barry Egan had amalgamated the shop assistants' union in that state with the Building Workers Industrial Union, and was in the process of devouring each of the branches of the union. Brian used his position in the balance of power in the Fraser government to ensure that the New South Wales branch could not achieve that takeover of that union. One can imagine how different the Labor movement would be had Brian not stepped in and intervened at that time.

It was very sad occasion to see Brian pass away. I was at the funeral as were his sister Joan and her daughterChrista. It was a sad occasion, but I think Brian would have absolutely loved the celebration afterwards at the Glenorchy racetrack. It was terrific to be there with all of his friends, including Paul Griffin, the current Secretary of the Tasmanian branch of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employee's Union, and with all of his family. I want to pass on my deepest condolences to his wife Marian and all of his children.