Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to add some words to the contribution of my colleagues to acknowledge the service and pay condolences to the family of Gary Nairn AO, who has just been described very effectively. He was a very considered, sound, calm, not-always-quiet-but-mostly-quiet contributor. One who, when he spoke, people stopped to take notice.

Gary made a significant contribution to this place during his service from 1996 to 2007, and those of us who continued to serve on post 2007 were very sad to lose someone of Gary's calibre. Of course, Gary continued on with his public service. He continued to work in the public interest. That was a feature of who he was. I was looking through some of the notes earlier and saw that he was appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia for his contribution to spatial sciences. That brings an interesting connotation. But, of course, Gary was a surveyor. He was a practical guy. I suppose that's one of the reasons that I related to him quite well, having worked in the building industry and having used the services of the surveying profession during my time in that industry before coming into this place. He was a practical guy who brought practical solutions to the problems that his electorate raised with him. And he had an enormously diverse electorate, as those who have made contributions to this debate already include, from the southern end of New South Wales to the outskirts of the ACT and everything in between, with fishing, forestry, farming and a whole range of industries supporting those communities and, of course, this community here in Canberra.

Gary always brought a very practical and respectful approach to his work. He indicated his engagement and acknowledgement of Howard's battlers in his first speech. It was quite evident from his contributions that he had empathy and understanding of those people, making him such a valuable local member. His service as the parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister and as Special Minister of State have already been mentioned by my colleagues and so have his recognitions in the work he did post his time in this place. It was extremely well deserved to have been acknowledged in the way that he was. It was humbly received by Gary too, I might say, because he was that sort of person—not necessarily one for much fuss but one about doing the job and getting it done properly and effectively, and, as has been indicated, not necessarily about being flashy but about understanding things properly and getting the job done. It's already been mentioned that that was the approach that he brought to his inquiry into the 2003 Canberra bushfires, which was an extraordinary event to be close to at the time, but Gary did an extraordinary job in his assessment of that very, very difficult event for people in this community.

Can I add my condolences to his wife, Rose, and his children, Ben and Deborah. He talked in his first speech about how important his family was to him and how his first wife, Kerrie, was such an important part of his campaign to get here in the first place. I think there are plenty of us who would understand those sentiments and would probably express them ourselves, but it was a clear demonstration of the importance of his family to him. So can I extend to them my sincerest condolences as a part of this debate and express my sadness that we have lost someone of the calibre of Gary Nairn AO at the age of 73, which is way too soon.

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