Rex Patrick (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to say something very, very briefly. Richard was a good bloke—is a good bloke.

An honourable senator: He's not dead!

No, but he is leaving this place. I didn't always like some of Richard's ideas, but I did really like the precision and the passion with which he delivered those ideas in this chamber. Life in here is a blur. It's hard to remember all the things that go on. People talked about the Senate sleepover. I was in the back rooms. People in this place may well remember Nick Xenophon wearing his pyjamas into the chamber; that might strike as one of those things that you remember. I wasn't here, but I was the person who did the very, very late-night run to Kmart to get the pyjamas from Belconnen at about two o'clock in the morning. So there are things that you remember in this place. One of the things I'm going to remember is the day that Richard was asked to leave the chamber—I say that, noting that it has been mentioned by a few other people. I say that very respectfully. I like a bit of public interest trouble being caused, and I will remember that. Good luck, and I wish you the best.