Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Canecutter, bush lawyer, pioneering unionist, local councillor, Medal of the Order of Australia recipient, Kuku Djungan elder, great-great-grandfather—Mr Alfred Neal was all of these things and more. Alf Neal—or Pop, as he was known to many—passed away last month in Yarrabah in Far North Queensland, and yesterday his family and community mourned this loss. I'd like to convey my condolences to the Neal family and to all of those who knew and loved him. At 101 years old he most certainly saw a lot in his lifetime. Undoubtedly there were things throughout his life that were tough. He was taken from his mother at age two, raised in dormitories and worked hard in the cane fields as a young man. It was on those sugarcane paddocks that he fought for better pay and rights for fellow Indigenous cutters, negotiating with farmowners. This theme would continue throughout his life.

In the 1958 Yarrabah strike, when Aboriginal workers sought equal pay and equal living conditions, people naturally approached Alf for help. He was ultimately arrested for coordinating a meeting, but this did not deter his fighting spirit. In 1960 Alf was one of the founding members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advancement League, and, of course, he was instrumental in achieving the momentous 1967 referendum result, an effort for which he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2019. Alf was involved in setting up the Yarrabah Cooperative Society to develop business and encourage self-sustainability for his people. There is a long list of Alf Neal's achievements and advocacy, but just last year, on Gunggandji country in Yarrabah, Alfred Neal joined with First Nations delegates to deliver the Yarrabah Affirmation, a request of the 47th Parliament that First Nations people be heard constitutionally through a voice to parliament. To the very end, Alf Neal fought for Aboriginal people. Rest well, Pop. (Time expired)