Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to associate myself with most of the remarks that have preceded me—perhaps not the end of Senator Canavan's contribution—on the sense of the great life of an amazing Australian, a man who lived life large, who was a proud man who led this great Labor Party for the benefit of this nation. This week, as we commence the 46th Parliament, it's important, I think, that we do this today—that we take time to reflect on this great leader of our country, Robert James Lee Hawke.

I want to, at the outset, offer my sincere personal condolences to Bob's family—those who survive him and, of course, his wife Hazel and the amazing contribution that she made to enable him to live the life that he lived—particularly to Blanche d'Alpuget and Bob's surviving children and grandchildren, who were so prominent and such a joy to witness at the memorial event that we had in Sydney to honour Bob's life. Their delight in his life was palpable. Their joy in the celebration of Bob's life conveyed a sense of positivity to the entire occasion.

Bob's impact on this great country has been vast, and his legacy will continue for decades to come. His was a period of major and challenging reform in a time when it was desperately needed. In past days and weeks, we've seen Australians far and wide mourn and pay tribute to Labor's longest-serving Prime Minister and one of the absolute giants of this Australian labour movement. We've been reminded of the breadth of his reform agenda, based in sincere love for his fellow Australians. In his partnership with his old friend Paul Keating, he modernised the Australian economy and ensured the unprecedented economic growth that followed in Australia was shared, because he knew that the foundation of a good society is laid where its fruits are shared and that those most vulnerable should benefit and be looked after in this great nation. He truly entrenched the importance of a social wage through reforms in access to education and universal health insurance in the form of a little green Medicare card, and he was the man who gave Australians superannuation, which was a word that was not spoken in households like mine. It was a concept not understood by many Australians, and it has transformed life in this country for all of us and for the better.

The impact of Bob's leadership is truly immeasurable. At Sydney Opera House, our country paid a formal tribute to Hawke and his unifying effect on our country. Another great former leader of the Australian Labor Party, Kim Beazley, was actually able to capture in his speech the essence of Bob's contribution. I thought it was a remarkable oration. He said:

… at the heart of his ability to persuade was trust. Most people believed … that whether you agreed or not, your happiness was his motive.

That capacity to convey a genuine care for people, as the leader of a nation, is something we have never seen in my lifetime in any Prime Minister other than Bob Hawke—that ebullience and joy.

I do want to reflect on the first time that I met Bob Hawke. Unlike Bob, I don't come from a long line of political activists in this country; I'm the daughter of Irish immigrants. Bob made me feel welcome in a party that I'd joined only a few years before I ended up running as a candidate. The very first time I met him was in the lead-up to the 2010 election, where he supported me in fundraising, as he has done for so many people in our movement who've stood for parliament, and I spoke to him as a character from television, really—I hadn't seen him up close and personal at Labor Party events; I'd seen him at a distance—but he was so warm and friendly immediately. I said to him, 'You've met my father.' He looked at me and I said, 'Yes, he's argued with you many times through the television.' That is how Australians knew Bob. They could talk to him through a screen, because he talked Australian. He talked in a language that was generous, a language of care, and it changed the way a conversation was able to happen in this country.

Bob was supposed to be at this dinner, with several people who were giving me support in my campaign, for a short time. About three hours later we were still there having a fantastic conversation. Bob loved people and people loved Bob. In the course of that evening Bob pulled out two important things from a small black dossier file that he was carrying. The first was a single-page document where he had summarised some of the key arguments of Joseph Stiglitz, that amazing international economist. He spoke with intellectual passion and rich understanding, knowledge and reflection about the economic reality facing Australia. He had us all spellbound.

A little later in the evening I spoke to him about the journey of his life to come to be the Prime Minister and to believe that that was a role he would be able to undertake. We heard from Senator Wong about the strategic decisions Bob made. To actually determine at some point of time that you are called to the prime ministership is a remarkable thing. I asked Bob: 'What was it? At what moment in your life did you figure out that you could and should be the Prime Minister of Australia?' At that moment something truly remarkable happened, which I and those in that room will always remember. Bob reached into his little black bag for the second time in the evening and pulled out a picture of his mother. I don't know about you but I don't know too many people who carry around a little black bag with a summary of key points from Joseph Stiglitz and a picture of their mother beside it. It was quite a remarkable thing.

I say that because I think there is such power in what Bob's mother did in enabling him to believe that that was part of his destiny. I wonder how many mothers and fathers across this country can transcend the cynicism, so powerful in our time, that dissuades people from participating in public life. How many mothers and fathers should look at the life of Bob Hawke, which we're celebrating today, and see that a great Australian, born into a family anywhere around the country, can think about becoming Prime Minister as making a contribution to the national public good, as a benefit, as a great way to live your life? Certainly that belief in himself, which his mother engendered, that he could do that job, is part of the journey of all of those people who formed the man who became our Prime Minister, Bob Hawke.

Bob cared not just about the economy but the economy as part of society, an economy concerned with the opportunities available to all Australians. As a former teacher myself, I've spent much of my professional life in classrooms and lecture theatres across this great country. I have seen firsthand the transformative power of education and its capacity to be a great equaliser. Bob had an acute awareness of the impact of a good education on one's ability to fulfil their potential, and he knew that this was something that was vital to help shape our clever country. We know that the three in 10 kids finishing school—that was the reality—before Bob became Prime Minister had turned into eight in 10 children finishing year 12 by the time he left his prime ministership. This is a truly remarkable social change to bring about in a period of government.

His understanding of the power of education is captured best, I think, in his own words: 'I think that one of the monstrosities of the Australian society is this fact—and it's an indisputable fact—that the child of a low-income parent, simply because of that fact that he is a child of a low-income parent, has in this country a significantly lesser chance of having the opportunity of an education and going to the institutions which will enable him to give full expression to the native talents of which he is possessed. I think it's absolutely unbelievable that, at this stage of our emergence as a so-called civilised society, we should still be asked to tolerate that situation.' Bob's insight, Bob's articulation and Bob's determination to do something about that reality that he so aptly described made him an amazing Prime Minister, just on that one policy area of education.

I had an opportunity, with other Labor attendees, at a national conference to hear Bob speak about his time as Prime Minister. There were many wonderful things to take from it. One of the stories that he conveyed was of his practice, on a Sunday afternoon, of reading his papers for cabinet very carefully. He conveyed the story about, on one Sunday afternoon, reading through reams and reams of documentation about Antarctica. He got to a line that indicated there would be mining approved in Antarctica. Bob's reaction, he said as he was recounting this story, was: 'I read that line. I read it once. I couldn't believe it. I read it twice. I thought, "That's not going to happen while I'm the Prime Minister. While I'm the Prime Minister, that will never happen."' That dedication to actually doing the work and to reading the brief carefully—and then, in addition to that, determining he would take a course of action that would transform forever what was going on in Antarctica to preserve it—was the will and good hard work of one man, who then went about deliberately making sure that mining in Antarctica did not happen. The power of one good man or one good woman—that is what Bob can teach us with his life.

In this time of difficulty for our great party, it's important to remember that things weren't always easy for Bob either. All of us here in the 46th Parliament today have been blessed with the gift and the responsibility of representing people across this great land. As a party we know that we will continue doing what is right, in Bob's memory. Bob and his capable team didn't always choose what was easy; in fact, the course that they charted was often difficult. We can go forward in solidarity with Bob as our guiding light. I worry, though, that perhaps on some days like this we turn men with feet of clay into saints. I think the last thing that Bob Hawke would want to be recalled as is a saint. We should remember that he was an ordinary Australian who went to school like us and lived in this community, in this great country, like us. There is no political Messiah out there waiting for any party. People who are going to come to politics are people like us—flawed, but perhaps with a great vision and certainly with a great capacity to tell a story that will lift us. That is exactly who Bob was.

I want to close with these final words from Bill Kelty's contribution at the memorial for Bob Hawke at the amazing Sydney Opera House building. I want to acknowledge what a fine celebration of a great life it was, and to thank the musicians for the way they lifted our spirits. For those who didn't see it and didn't hear it, it was that wonderful Men at Work song 'Down Under', which finished in a rousing way—a popular song, a complex song, transformed by the way it was played by the orchestra on that day. Bill Kelty said these words:

Bob was no saint. Bob had his faults. But he did a power of good for this country, a power of good for all of us. He made the country and helped make the country what it is. And he made a part for making this country play a better part in the rest of the world.

Vale Bob Hawke. May he rest in peace. I acknowledge his amazing contribution to this great nation. I feel so privileged as an Australian to have met him and to be part of the tradition that he served.