Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

Last Friday I attended the funeral of former senator Bruce Childs. It was a large event and a joyful event for a man who lived a long, rich and full life. It was followed by a reception at the home of his wife, Yola Lucire, and that reception was characteristic of the many social events held in their family home. There was terrific food, lively conversation and a lot of people. I first met Bruce in 1996. I was young then and had recently arrived in Sydney, and Bruce was enormously kind to me and continued to offer kindness and support for many, many years until he became ill. That, of course, was around the time when Bruce was coming to the end of his time here in the Senate.

So, in 1997, this chamber was full—if we review the Hansardof senators who lined up to offer their respects and their reflections on the contribution that Bruce made to this place. It's a pretty interesting list, actually. It doesn't do to speculate who might turn up to each of our valedictory speeches, but the speeches for Bruce included the following contributors: Senators Faulkner; Hill; Boswell; Bourne; Harradine; Carr; Watson; O'Brien, from Tasmania; Kemp, whose speech included an exchange about think tanks and their role; Forshaw; Mackay; Chapman; Lundy; Ellison; McKiernan; Calvert; Margetts; Ian Macdonald; and West. It's a long list, and every one of them spoke about their respect for him and about his character.

There are common themes that shine through in those contributions that are very familiar to those of us who knew Bruce and loved him. The contributions speak of patience, as did Senator Ayres. They speak of his trustworthy nature and his respect for the confidences placed in him by others in this place. They speak of his courtesy, his gentleness and also his modesty. Fame didn't motivate Bruce. He wasn't here to be famous. He was here to pursue his principles and to represent the people that he believed were owed our representation. No less a contributor than Senator Hill said this in his comments:

A high public profile does not necessarily mean that you are making the greatest contribution; sometimes to the contrary.

Senator Hill went on to also speak about the contribution Bruce made to the institutions here, including Bruce's contribution to the Privileges Committee.

As I said, my interactions with Bruce were not in this place; they were in New South Wales, in the New South Wales branch of the Labor Party and in the New South Wales left. Senator Ayres and I were both young and acting around the time of the Walk Against the War, a time when Bruce leveraged all of the connections and relationships that he had built over decades in the peace movement to mobilise one of the largest demonstrations, if not the largest demonstration, ever seen in Sydney. There were 250,000 people on the street in a democratic expression of the concern, anger and fear that Australians held about the decision to go to war in Iraq. As a senator has said, it required some patience, because the coalition of organisations and people that was necessary to bring out quite so many Australians onto the street was diverse indeed. It was only Bruce and his deep belief that through listening, through consulting, through talking he could bring people together in a common purpose and build something much, much bigger than ourselves. It was only Bruce's belief in those ideas that made that possible.

It's the final thing that I do want to remark upon—that is Bruce's commitment to the world of ideas. Others so far have spoken about his commitment to his principles, but those principles weren't merely slogans or merely feelings. They were well articulated ideas born of deep breeding and discussion and the lived experience of political organisation and activity that led him to a particular theory about our world, about what was fair and unfair and about what was required to change it. Bruce didn't believe that all of the answers would be found in a chamber like this; he believed very deeply that the answers lay in engaging ordinary people in politics, that the broadest possible group of people should be engaged in the decisions about our country, whether that was through their involvement in their union or their involvement in a march like the Walk Against the War.

Bruce was determined that the spirit of those ideas and the commitment to ideas and the development of ideas were absolutely essential for the ongoing success of any political organisation. In seeking to cultivate those characteristics, he was enormously generous in his time with young people. I am not unique; I am one of many people who was very fortunate to receive the time that Bruce was willing to offer. When I first came here, I spoke in my first speech about how proud I was to join in the tradition that included Bruce amongst its earliest representatives. With his passing we have lost a man of great principle and of ideas. Today I offer my condolences to Yola and to Bruce's children, and I join with others in honouring the life of our friend former senator Bruce Childs.

Question agreed to, honourable senators joining in a moment of silence.