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

I rise to make a contribution to this condolence motion for the passing of the late Senator Alex Gallacher. I want to associate myself with the remarks of all of those who have preceded me. It has been the great telling of the breadth of a man who brought himself, everything of himself, to this chamber. The words that I would use to describe Senator Gallacher would be 'one of the hardest-working senators that I ever saw in this place'. I'm reminded of the day when we actually heard about his passing, standing here in the chamber. As much as we knew he was unwell, the shock washed over us because we don't expect, in this place, for people we work with to not show up one day. We know about life and death but we encounter it in such a profound and intense way in this chamber, being so dedicated to the work. People have spoken about the man, Alex Gallacher, today. As much as we know about one another, there was genuinely still this amazing shock amongst all of us that one of our colleagues had gone.

It is in this period of time, this time warp that we are all living, the COVID reality, where we're not sure if we're home or we're here. Can we see our friends? Can we see our family? How are we accessing health care? What sort of health care did Alex have? All of that was swirling around. But I remind senators that it was only a few months ago that Alex Gallacher was standing up in this chamber on 24 February, at two minutes to question time, when he said:

In the couple of minutes that are available to me I want to put on the record—and it's a very sombre duty—that during the 12 months until the end of December 2020, 170 people died in crashes involving heavy trucks. This includes 104 deaths in crashes involving articulated trucks and 68 deaths involving heavy rigid trucks.

I want to put to the Senate a simple proposition. There is probably no other industry in Australia, certainly none that I'm aware of, that incurs this level of death—and the injuries are not stated here today—and the level of death is through the roof. I don't know how as a government, a state government, a territory government or a council that we can put up with the fact that we're seeing 170 people die at work. That's where they're dying, at work, on the road, and we're not having an outpouring of a call for action.

There have been 170 workplace deaths in the 12 months to the end of 2020. It's a disgrace. The federal parliament should move on it, as should every other parliament in Australia.

All of us here: what can we say in two minutes? What are the snippets of our contributions that people are going to take to heart? In those two minutes, so much was said, so much of power, so much of a call for us to serve the nation.

Alex Gallacher has been eulogised today by members of the Labor Party, by friends and by colleagues who have only known him in this place as a Labor senator, by colleagues who shared the journey literally on the road with him—the TWU, unionists, brothers and sisters in arms—who have fought the good fight that still leaves us with the point he described on 24 February. Labor, Liberal, National, Greens and Independent senators are all in here with so many good words to say about a man who gave his all to this job.

I was really taken by the comments of my colleague Senator Marielle Smith—who I am pleased to see is still in the chamber—when she noted in her contribution her mentoring from Alex. He gave her great advice, but one thing stuck: people should believe every word you say. That's how I heard Alex Gallacher when he spoke in this place. There are people who make contributions and they will be applauded and we should accept that there are gifts differing amongst us. But there is something about the truth and its voice that is powerful. It is a thing that changes us, and if you're very, very lucky, people give of themselves and they come to this place and they speak with truth. Alex Gallacher did that with passion, with style, with vigour, with energy and with great talent every single time he stood up here and he opened his mouth. I don't think there would be a lot of people who we would be able to say that about—constantly speaking the truth.

I got to know Alex very slowly. I always felt that he was sort of watching what was going on. Today, Senator Sterle, you read the words of Matthew Marozzi, where Matthew said, 'He warmed to me.' I guess I'd have to say that that's the kind of experience I had—that Alex watched and he waited. We really didn't get to work together a lot, because we were on different inquiry paths for so much of our time. But I did a few hearings on the famous RRAT committee, which has a particular flavour of camaraderie that I think brings out the best in so many of the senators who were on it. It was on the multi-jurisdictional management of the Murray Darling Basin Plan committee when you, Mr President, were a lowly backbencher and chair of that committee. The work that we did on that committee—which I just had a look at today—was evidence of the kind of work that Alex did.

Alex was always absolutely prepared. He absolutely made sure that he knew what was going on, that he'd done all of the reading. He got to a point in the hearing on 11 December 2019 where he was asking about transparency of water markets. This is a man who can be diminished and described as just a hardworking man. Just a hardworking man is a great thing but, when you're blessed with the gift of intelligence that he had and he brought to this role, he was able to ask about the transparency of water markets, engage in an interchange with experts and allow and invite me into the questioning and recover and make a point at the end. This is what he said—one sentence—after a bit of a discussion about it: 'There is always someone who benefits from information asymmetries.' That is not the sort of language you're going to hear too much on the two-way radio. But people on the two-way radio know exactly what that feels like, and Alex not only knew what it felt like but also came in here and he knew how it would be best received in whatever context and he found the words to do that. Not everybody can do that, and I just really watched and admired that greatly. I want to proclaim him in my experience as a man of insight, a strategic thinker of intelligence, a man who made sure that he had a mastery of the information that he needed to do the job—a preparedness to undertake the tasks that fell to his lap. And there was a generosity in his leadership as a chair, able to engage and move everyone along together.

Towards the end of Alex's time here with me, he reached out and said, 'You should come and have a bottle of Australian wine with me.' We had the most remarkable and memorable evening. I felt that I was getting an incredible download of insight from a man who had a sense that his time was limited. I made notes when I left that meeting, and I have kept them because there was incredible sharp insight and truth in what he had to say.

Alex Gallacher was a loving husband. Paola, he spoke of you many, many times, and he talked about his trips to Italy with you. He also talked about all of his children and his grandchildren with smiles, joy and a genuine love that took him through the days while he was away from you. Now, in the days that you're away from him, be assured that he never, ever left you. His body might not have been with you, but his heart was always with you.

Of those trips to Italy, when I asked him if he'd been to many of the places where you go and look at the sights, he said no; he'd gone to a village and he'd put his roots down there. That tells you something about the man. He made home in places where it was appropriate to make home and he stuck to places where he could be authentic and genuine.

In closing, I want to remind us all, each one of us who valorised Senator Alex Gallacher today, those who have stayed in the chamber for the whole time, those who have made a contribution and those who might be listening and would like do something: Alex Gallacher on 24 February this year really put a challenge out to us. The work of road safety is not finished. It affects all of us. We all drive on roads. He showed us a way. If we really are going to honour him then we should definitely make a commitment in his honour to advance that cause and not lose focus.

I say to Paola and the family that, while I know your grief is great at this moment, I hope the words that we've put on the record today give you some comfort. I say to all people who loved Alex—his staff, the friends of a lifetime, all the unionists who worked with him and, by the sounds of things, against him on occasion, and his family—may they find comfort in these words today. After all your years of hard work, Alex, may you rest in peace.