Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with deep regret that I inform the Senate of the death on 30 March 2022 of the Hon. Robert James Bob Brown, a former minister and member of the House of Representative for the divisions of Hunter and Charlton in New South Wales from 1982 1998. I call the Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Wong.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate records its sorrow at the death, on 30 March 2022, of the Honourable Robert James Brown AM, former Minister for Land Transport and Shipping Support and former Member for Hunter and Charlton, places on record its appreciation of his service to the Parliament and the nation and tenders its sympathy to his family in their bereavement.

President and fellow senators, I rise to express condolences on behalf of the Labor government following the passing of a Labor comrade, the Hon. Robert James Brown, AM, better known as Bob Brown, a former minister and member of the House of Representatives, at the age of 88. I wish to convey at the outset our collective deepest sympathies to his family and his friends.

Bob Brown was an economics teacher who would go on to be part of the government that is defined by the reforms it made to the Australian economy. A true Labor man from the Hunter, he served in all three levels of government. At its pinnacle, his career took him into ministerial service under two prime ministers. Bob Brown grew up in the Hunter. It was where he would spend most of his life, and it was the area and community he would go on to represent. His was a quintessential Labor background: mother from a mining family and his dad drove a coal truck. He took up a teaching position at Kurri Kurri in 1966 and served in local government from 1968 to 1980 in the city of Greater Cessnock as mayor and alderman. For a time, he served concurrently as the local state member of the parliament in the New South Wales legislative assembly. But the call to Canberra would come just two years later.

Until the election of Mr Dan Repacholi just a few months ago, Bob Brown was the last person to represent the federal electorate of Hunter who was not a Fitzgibbon. He won in 1980 and was returned in 1983. Boundary changes meant that he transferred to the seat of Charlton and was elected seven times before retiring at the 1998 election. He would, in fact, be succeeded by his daughter in that seat.

Bob Brown was a powerful voice for a key constituency that was at the coalface, quite literally, of economic change. For anyone who thinks commentary about changing economic circumstances and voting habits in the Hunter is only a recent turn of events, it pays to look at this history. Bob Brown had the task of representing an electorate that was grappling then with changes in the economy that saw communities facing higher than average unemployment as coal mines closed and other industries were under threat. He had to grapple with the impact of change and attempt to explain its economic imperative in the face of political disenfranchisement and disenchantment. He described it as: 'Resentment, frustration, alienation, disillusion—a mix of everything. People don't comprehend really what's happening.

I draw upon these comments to illustrate the challenges and responsibilities that fall to local parliamentarians in those communities in electorates where heavy industry has dominated, and where structural economic change is changing people's opportunities. It is easy for politicians who don't represent such electorates to be blithe about change. But we all have a role in helping Australians across this country dealing with shifting economic conditions.

Bob Brown's voice rose to a more senior level in 1988 when he was appointed a minister for the first time, with responsibility for land transport and shipping. At the time, key participants in the transport economy such as the Australian National Line—or ANL—in shipping and Australian National in rail were still wholly government owned, which gave the minister a much more direct involvement than that which we see today. His contribution was recognised with the leader of the EL class of locomotive, built for Australian National in 1990, being named after him. These portfolios gave him a role in furthering the government's microeconomic reform agenda. This included initiatives to codify uniform road transport regulations across the country, bringing states and territories together to streamline technical requirements that relieved the trucking industry of the burden of different standards in different parts of the country. Initiatives in this space included measures that we all now take for granted, such as the 0.05 blood alcohol limit and compulsory bicycle helmet wearing.

Following the 1993 election, Bob Brown advised he would step aside from the ministry in order to provide for renewal. However, after the change of government in 1996, he assailed the Howard government's antiworker and antiunion agenda—so much and so often the hallmark of the federal coalition. After politics Bob Brown continued to be active in his local community, with involvement including the local Lyons and rugby league clubs as well as the community museum. He published a three-volume series about the first 100 years of Australia's federal parliament in 2007, called Governing Australia, and that year he was also made a Member of the Order of Australia.

Bob Brown gave a lifetime of service to the advancement of Labor's cause and the cause of democracy. He ensured that the working people of the Hunter had a voice in the halls of power, and he did not waver from his cause. As his son, Brad, was quoted in the eulogy he delivered for his father: 'He always related to the working class, identified with it and defended it and the trade union movement. To have represented coalminers and their families at three levels of government was a source of great satisfaction to him.'

I close by saying: on behalf of the government, I again express our condolences following the passing of the Hon. Bob Brown, and we again convey sympathies to his family and friends.

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of the opposition to support the condolence motion moved by Senator Wong and to associate ourselves with the sentiments of Senator Wong in relation to this motion.

Robert, or Bob, Brown was clearly devoted to the service of his community. Bob served the people of his hometown of Pelaw Main, just a few kilometres outside of Kurri Kurri, not only as a member of federal parliament but, as Senator Wong has acknowledged, also in the New South Wales parliament and in local government. Much of Bob's service through local government was concurrent with his service in the New South Wales state parliament, including terms as the mayor of Cessnock.

Beginning his professional life as a teacher, having won a scholarship to the University of Sydney, where he completed a Bachelor of Economics and a Diploma of Education, he first took up a teaching post in Broken Hill. It was there in Broken Hill that Bob met his wife, Joy, who he married in 1960 and who predeceased him by just under a year in May last year. For Bob's family, the loss of Bob on 30 March this year so soon after the loss of Joy is no doubt deeply felt.

In 1966, after other teaching roles, Bob returned to his hometown to take up a teaching position at Kurri Kurri High School, later becoming deputy principal. It was here that Bob focused his passion for history. He founded a memorial museum at the school in order to preserve the region's heritage. Only last year the museum relocated, and a room was named in his honour. Bob was there to receive that honour. History was certainly an important part of Bob's life. In 2007, into his 70s, he published Governing Australia, a three-volume series about the first 100 years of Australia's parliament. He also wrote a number of economics textbooks, including some co-authored with Joy.

It was soon after returning home to Kurri Kurri that the determination to serve his community came to the fore, although it's clear it had always been a burning passion. In 1961, he unsuccessfully ran for the then safe federal Liberal seat of Paterson. Though he didn't win, up against a sitting member and Menzies government minister, he did secure a significant 6½ per cent swing. Bob then won election to Cessnock council in 1968, where he served as mayor for his first two years on the council and again between 1974 and 1980. This was concurrent with his period as the state member for Cessnock, a seat he held in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for two years. Bob's drive to represent his local community in the federal parliament saw him win the seat of Hunter in 1980 and later the newly formed seat of Charlton, a seat he held until his retirement at the 1998 election.

Bob Brown had a very long career of public service and a long and significant parliamentary career in this parliament, which included serving as a minister, primarily in the Hawke government as minister for land transport, between 1998 and 1993. His passion for his community was reflected in his dedication to his role as a minister, where he championed and indeed achieved important steps in achieving uniform road transport regulations for Australia's trucking industry. As Senator Wong has mentioned, he was also a champion of random breath testing, encouraging states that were slow to finally introduce this important road safety initiative. That RBTs have saved so many lives cannot be doubted, and Bob Brown can take some credit for that important outcome.

But it was certainly passion for his hometown and local area that was Bob's driving force: the support for his local communities, the industries and jobs of his local communities, and his understanding—as Senator Wong referenced—of the impacts of economic transformation on those industries and jobs. He also engaged very significantly at a local level. He was president of the Kurri Kurri Lions Club and the Kurri Kurri rugby league club. In 2007, his service was recognised when he was named a member of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday honours. The citation for this honour notes his 'service to the Australian parliament, particularly in the area of transport policy; to the community of the Hunter Region through local government, heritage and sporting organisations; and to economics education.' It is a broad citation reflecting his broad endeavours.

And, of course, it should be noted that Mr Brown's passion for community service was reflected in his family, his daughter, Kelly, having succeeded him as the member for Charlton from 1998 until 2007. Kelly would be known to a number of people across this parliament. On behalf of the opposition and in concurrence with the government and the Senate, to Bob's loved ones, including Kelly; her brother, Brad; and Bob and Joy's five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, I send our gratitude for his service to our beautiful nation and our sincerest condolences.

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