Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today I stand here to honour the memory of a very dear friend of mine and a wonderful South Australian, Ian Smith, who passed away in July this year. In doing so, my thoughts are with Ian's wife, Sue; his daughter, Maddie; and the many family and friends who loved him and miss him.

Ian was an absolute giant of the labour movement in South Australia, with his work over many years not just changing lives but saving lives when it came to transport reform. He joined the Transport Workers Union 30 years ago, and in making that decision he changed the course of history, although he never would have thought it at the time. Ian went on to become a lead delegate at TNT and then a TWU official before being elected branch assistant secretary and then branch secretary, until he stepped down earlier this year because of his health.

Ian refused to settle for injustice, and he fought against it relentlessly, and so many lives are the better for his actions and his work. Often, he took up these fights when he was in an extraordinary amount of pain, but this work was so important to Ian, and he knew that he had such a powerful role as an advocate to change people's lives for the better. He believed that transport workers deserved better, and he dedicated his entire career to making that so.

I was so proud to work with him on the closing loopholes legislation, which has set up the architecture for a complete reform of the gig economy—something Ian fought so hard for. He campaigned for those laws, for those protections and for the election of a Labor government to enact them.

I am so proud to have fought with him in that reform work. It is just one way in which Ian Smith's life and his work changed our world for the better and changed the industry to be safer. His legacy is vast. It lives on in the work that we carry forward. Ian, I will miss you so much.