Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to pay my respects to the late John Ward OAM. John will be remembered as a rare individual and a thoroughly decent person. He was one of few who truly deserve the moniker of 'pillar of the community'. A pillar is strong, gives support and is the very foundation upon which we build healthy families, successful institutions and thriving communities, and John embodied those principles.

Born in 1939, John committed his life to the service of others. He studied to become a teacher and began teaching at Bega High School in 1958. After a long and distinguished career in education, he retired from permanent teaching in 1999, after 41 years, including over 14 years as a school principal. But his passion for educating young Australians saw him continue casual teaching well beyond his retirement. In fact, he taught students in our schools for over 65 years, such was his complete commitment to the profession. John's long and distinguished career was recognised in 2000, when he was awarded life membership of the New South Wales Teachers Federation, having earlier been recognised as a life member of the Manly-Warringah Teachers Association. Angelo Gavrielatos, the New South Wales Teachers Federation president, paid tribute to John's union activism, which dated back to the Menzies era, when he took part in lobbying efforts to secure federal funding for science education. As a committed trade unionist, John was of course also very active in the Australian Labor Party. He served as honorary treasurer, and then subsequently as president, from 1987 until the day he died in his local community—an extraordinary commitment to the values of labourism, in an area not exactly known for being a traditional Labor stronghold.

In addition to teaching, trade unionism and political activism, John's commitment to creating a better life for others extended to decades of volunteering and leadership in community and sporting organisations. He was heavily involved in the Elanora Community Centre for 30 years, holding the positions of honorary secretary, from 1989 to 1999, and honorary treasurer, from 1999 to 2019. John was also president of the 2nd Narrabeen Scout Group, a member of the Manly-Warringah Environmental Education Association, honorary treasurer of the Pittwater RSL Sub-branch, vice-president of the NSW Aboriginal Education Council and, for 60 years, a member and examiner with the Royal Life Saving Society of Australia. It's an incredible record of a lifetime of community participation, rivalled only by his involvement in sport. Over the decades, he was a referee in the New South Wales Rugby League, an umpire for the Chequers Netball Club, a state basketball referee, a secretary of the Parramatta men's basketball association, president of Sydney North Secondary School Sports Association, an honorary treasurer and president of Elanora Park Tennis Club and a director of the Sydney Academy of Sport. Between his years of service and support for the community, the Labor Party, the New South Wales Teachers Federation and the public education system, John contributed many lifetimes of service to the betterment of others.

It's difficult to do justice to the life of such a remarkable man in a speech that goes for just a short period. For many of his accomplishments, he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia on Australia Day in 2023. John is survived by his wife, Pam, an extraordinary person in her own right. John and Pam were married for 65 years, and together they raised a large and loving family, including six children—Stephen, Katherine, Peter, Helen, Kali and Rebekah—10 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter so far. John's life and legacy remain an inspiration to his family, friends, students, colleagues and the organisations and communities to which he committed his love, his work and his life. Vale, John Ward.

I'd also like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the extraordinary career and service of another dear friend, Dave Noonan, who retired as CFMEU national secretary earlier this year. Dave first joined the CFMEU's predecessor, the Builders Labourers Federation, in 1985 while working on a construction site. Over 38 years, he went from rank-and-file member to organiser to industrial advocate, later becoming president of the Victorian division, assistant secretary of the national office and finally, for the last 16 years, serving as national secretary.

Surviving 38 years in that industry is an achievement in itself, both figuratively and literally. But despite his enduring legacy in the construction industry, perhaps some of his greatest contributions were on Twitter, where he was the first person to coin the term 'Joyced'. If you're not familiar with the expression, it's become very popular in the last year. If your flight is delayed or cancelled, your flight has been 'Joyced'. If your bag has been lost or sent to the other side of the world, your bag has been 'Joyced'.

I bet that Dave has seen a hundred Alan Joyces in the construction industry, a place where there is no shortage of crooks who will put their workers lives and livelihoods at risk to make an extra buck. I dare say a lot of people in this place don't really understand how tough it is in construction either. I don't mean the back-breaking work; it's the pyramid subcontracting where payment for a day's work is never truly guaranteed. It's an industry rife with phoenixing, sham contracting, dodgy labour hire companies, wage theft and, worst of all, builders who happily put their workers' lives at risk to cut corners on costs.

Construction like road transport is the final frontier when it comes to labour and safety standards, and that's why the CFMEU's work is so damn important. And while Dave Noonan and the CFMEU have been trying to go about this work, every single day those opposite have attacked and demonised them on behalf of their paymasters at the Master Builders Association. Those opposite set up a disgraced and discredited regulator, the ABCC, to enforce rules such as taking stickers off caps, off posters and off building sites, and flags and cups of teas and women's toilets. All those important issues that the ABCC thought were essential to the High Court wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The ABCC portrayed Dave and his colleagues as thugs when anyone who has met Dave will tell you he is sharper and better read than many warming the benches opposite. Dave has dedicated his life to the welfare—