CONDOLENCES

I move: That this house expresses its sincere sorrow at the death of the Honourable John Dyson Harrowfield and places on record its acknowledgement of the valuable services rendered by him to the Parliament and the people of Victoria as member of the Legislative Assembly for the district of Mitcham from 1982 to 1992, Minister for Small Business from 1991 to 1992 and Minister for Finance from January to October 1992.

John Harrowfield served this Parliament for more than a decade, and when you read back through his first speech in this place you get a very sincere sense of the kind of person he was. John believed in the best of Labor values: fairness, dignity, opportunity and the simple idea that government should make people’s lives better. He was just 29 when he arrived here as the new member for Mitcham, the first Labor member to represent that community in almost three decades.

From the beginning he was clear about why he was here. John said the election to Parliament was not an end in itself, it was a means to achieve something much more important: a better deal for people. And he meant it.

In that first speech he talked about three groups he thought government needed to pay particular attention to: older Victorians, young people and families, people who could too easily be overlooked. John understood that dignity in old age was about more than money. It was about being able to see a doctor when you needed one, having decent public transport, having somewhere secure to live and knowing that after a lifetime of contributing your community would be there to look after you.

As a local member John fought for better services for older people in Melbourne’s east, including the Eastern Suburbs Geriatric Centre. A few years later he was announcing major funding to get that centre staffed and operated, along with advocating and getting more support for the Maroondah Hospital. When John saw a problem, he fought for something better.

More than that, he helped deliver something better. That was his approach to public life. John brought the same outlook to economics.

He certainly knew the numbers. He was an accountant and an economics tutor, served on Parliament’s economics committees and ultimately became Minister for Small Business and Minister for Finance. But he never forgot what those numbers actually represented.

In his first speech John warned about economists who could be so absorbed in facts and figures that they forgot about the ordinary lives of the men and women of Victoria. That tells you a lot about the person John was. He understood the numbers, but he understood people mattered more.

For John, a strong economy meant jobs. It meant small businesses being able to grow. It meant families having some security and young people having a bright future.

John understood that public service was a privilege. He once described election to Parliament as the greatest honour a community could bestow upon one of its members. For more than 10 years John worked hard every day to repay that honour. [NAMES AWAITING VERIFICATION] To John’s family, his brothers Ian and Barry, their wives Gillian and Jane, and John’s niece Emma, who are in the gallery today: know that John’s work mattered.

His values mattered. John’s contribution will be remembered. On behalf of the government and this Parliament I extend our deepest condolences.

Vale, John Harrowfield.