Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The first time I went surfing with Richard at Bells Beach he lent me a surfboard. I remember we paddled out and it was actually a pretty big day. Bells is a bit like a giant football field. You've got to paddle out about 100 meters to get out to where you catch a wave. I remember we were about three-quarters of the way out and this giant set of waves started appearing on the horizon. I didn't known if Richard could surf. I remember seeing him scrape over this giant wave, trying to get over it as quickly as possible. I thought, 'Right oh, I'm in the right spot here,' so I turned my board around and I paddled really hard. I remember dropping down the face of this giant wave and just out of the corner of my eye I spotted this blurred motion. I thought, 'Crikey, here goes. I'm going to kill someone,' because I just dropped in on someone else's wave. As it turned out, I didn't hit this person, but I don't know how I didn't. When I popped up I got thrown around for a couple of minutes and paddled out the back and it was Richard. He wasn't scraping over the wave. He had turned around in a better spot than me and had taken off, and I'd nearly committed a homicide of my fellow party room member.

That is quite symbolic for me because the day Richard started as leader I gave him my favourite picture of a surfer on a wave and it was Bells Beach. I think it was one of the biggest waves ever recorded at Bells Beach. I said, 'Here, mate, you keep this. Stick it on your desk and every time you feel like this job is overwhelming you just have a look at that wave and have a think about what's going through that surfer's mind.' I know there are lot of parallels: just stay in front of that white water, stay on the face, go really fast and make sure it doesn't catch up to you.

Mate, I know it's been a really tough few years. I would say this has probably been the most turbulent period in our nation's parliament, and you've had your hand on the rudder for our party in some really, really big storms, and you got us through those rough years. Thank you for talking about some of the things in the Senate today, mate. It's been a pleasure working with you. We've achieved a lot. I think Sarah's point is a really important one. Sometimes we do have to focus on that mixture between pragmatism and politics and get outcomes. I'm looking forward to surfing a lot more with you at Bells Beach and spending more time with you on the farm. I hope you bring your kids and Lucy down to Tassie. I'm sure our friendship is going to endure for some time to come. All the best, mate.