CONDOLENCES

Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (18:22): We've just heard some fine and eloquent words from the member for Newcastle on behalf of the Labor Party for Peter Frederick Morris, somebody who was obviously ALP royalty. She spoke about his service to the federal electorate council after his parliamentary career, his extraordinary parliamentary service as the member for Shortland from 1972 through to 1998 and his Ships of shame report.

We will be hearing later on from the member for Adelaide, who no doubt will extol the virtues of Peter Morris, the son of a Greek migrant and an inaugural member of the World Hellenic Inter-Parliamentary Association, an organisation of which both Mr Georganas and I are members. Obviously, good Greeks give good service to the parliament. Indeed, Steve and I are very good friends.

I did not know Mr Morris personally or politically, but, having read his record, I pay a deep amount of tribute and honour to him for the fact that he was the minister for transport—a role I've also held—the minister for aviation; the minister for resources; the minister for housing and aged care; the minister assisting the prime minister; the minister assisting the treasurer; the minister for transport and communications support; a cabinet minister as the minister for industrial relations; and the minister assisting the prime minister for public service matters.

It is a truly remarkable record of achievement, accomplishment and service. The member for Newcastle spoke fondly about what he had done in and around Newcastle as the member for Shortland and as a cabinet minister. But I want to focus tonight, as a Nationals member, on the service that he did for Wagga Wagga and indeed the Riverina when it was served by a Liberal member of parliament: former member for Hume, the late great Wal Fife.

I went through my bound volumes of the Daily Advertiser. In fact I got my wife, Catherine, to do that and then send me the material because I was in parliament when I learned of this condolence motion. I wanted to speak about it, because I remembered, having been a journalist at the Daily Advertiser at the time, that we ran a special four-page wraparound, which was unusual, but it was momentous because it was an important occasion when Mr Morris came to town.

It was the opening of the new terminal and control tower at the Wagga Wagga Airport on 26 March 1986, and the bold headline screamed 'Wagga enters the jet age!' A subsequent story was 'Airport upgrade 40 years after Wagga declared a city', and there was Mr Morris. He was opening the airport terminal, which has served the city well since then, but I would suggest that it's probably in need of an upgrade now.

More's the pity. I've placed money on the table for the last two elections, but we will honour that promise eventually when we get back into government. But there was Mr Morris, with the then mayor of Wagga Wagga Alderman Ron Harris and Mr Fife, at the terminal entrance.

The plaque is still proudly on the wall. It's interesting when you read the article in my newspaper, the Wagga Daily Advertiser, as it states that he was 'embarrassingly late to officiate at the opening'. It wasn't his fault; the flight from Sydney touched down 20 minutes late.

But he spoke very, very well at that event and showed a lot of grace and a lot of humility, which I'll get to in a moment. The Daily Advertiser reported: Work on the airport, which includes a new traffic control tower, new passenger terminal and upgrading of the taxiway, took about 14 months to complete. Before opening the airport, Mr Morris told the gathering it was obvious that the old terminal had its "shortcomings".

And I think, if he were there to look at the terminal in recent years, he would have repeated the same thing. The article goes on to say: He said his Government was committed to the development of aviation. I will say good on Labor at the time for that.

The article then says: "We want to make sure that air services are as safe as possible, as cheap as possible, and as efficient as possible," Mr Morris said. As a good aviation minister, he would've recognised the importance of linking country people to capital cities and to other regional towns as well. Mr Morris then said: "When there is progress in the air with new planes, with better performance, we match that performance on the ground." On the same flight as Mr Morris were the former governor-general Sir Roden Cutler, who was the then chair of Air New South Wales, and officials from the Department of Aviation and the Department of Housing and Construction responsible for the works.

This upgrade to the airport and the introduction of F-28 flights by Air New South Wales meant that the flight time from Wagga to Sydney was cut to just 50 minutes at the time, and that's the time now. As the headline screamed and reported, Wagga Wagga had entered the jet age. At the time, Mr Morris said that 'there were more than 26,000 air movements through Wagga Wagga last year'.

He recognised that Wagga Wagga Airport was the gateway to the Riverina. Indeed it was then, and it still is now. Mr Morris wasn't a man of great height.

Some might say he was vertically challenged— Mr Birrell: Like many other parliamentarians! Mr McCORMACK: I'll take that interjection from the member for Nicholls just to get it on the Hansard. But I'll tell you what.

While he might not have been large in stature, he was large in life, and he had a presence. He had a big heart. He had a big heart for people, and I think that's important.

He was old country Labor. He was old Labor, but he understood the benefits of the regions. Being somebody from Shortland, being somebody from outside a capital city, he understood the importance of connectivity, what regional Australia meant to this nation and the fact that people in the regions keep the lights on and keep us fed.

He extolled those virtues in what he did as not only the aviation minister, but also, as I said earlier, the minister for transport, both important portfolios and both portfolios that I've held, so I feel a certain connection to him. He said: Obviously, the old system has to be improved. He was talking about how planes using Wagga Wagga had been operating on a see-and-be-seen basis since 1962 and the fact that the new control tower had put Wagga into the new age of radar, picking up the planes before they'd actually arrived.

The article said: "I feel the new airport is warranted and appropriate." Mr Morris said the old terminal was to be handed back to the Defence Department for use as a terminal for RAAF personnel coming through Wagga. RAAF Wagga officer commanding group captain John McNaughton attended the opening. Mr Morris said it was now up to Wagga Wagga to "markets its attractions." Indeed, I think that was part of the tourism boost for Wagga Wagga as well.

But what I want to do get on to is how he summed up his comments. I think this shows the measure of the man. This is a special politician because not all politicians would do this.

A lot of politicians just want to take credit for everything. He wasn't a local, but he found out and attributed much of the work to those people who were getting in and doing the hard yards. He mentioned Martha and Nobby Lamprey and he said: It's easy for a politician to stand here and deliver the words, but they helped to make it possible.

That couple helped to make it possible. Now, he didn't have to say that, but he did, and I think that shows the humility of the man and the stature of the man. When a person of such high office who'd held any number of portfolios is willing to thank two local people who'd done so much to make that to make that airport terminal opening and control tower possible and at the same time also acknowledge and respect the work that had been done by his political adversary of sorts in Wal Fife, I think that that goes to show—and I think we could learn a bit from that.

I do. I don't think that grace is always forthcoming in this day and age of hurly burly. I mean, I always try to get on with the Labor Party members as best I can.

I remember when I was a minister, I invited them, including the member for Newcastle, when we actually took Newcastle Airport and we got a link with Auckland with some international aviation. I certainly made sure that she and the member for Paterson were part and parcel of the ceremony because it is important. You know what?

People respect bipartisanship. They do. I'll tell you what, when you're not in that six week madness of an election cycle, I think people give you more points when you actually acknowledge the work done by those on the other side, and I'm always happy to do that.

Peter Morris did that. He was an outstanding human being, a brilliant politician and obviously very credentialed, otherwise he wouldn't have had as many of those ministries as he was afforded. But he never forgot the little person.

He never forgot the man and woman in the street, and the fact that he then served the Labor Party at the branch and FEC levels for so many years shows how much he loved the Australian Labor Party, how much he believed in old Labor, and how much he believed in party. Vale, Peter Morris. He was a fine man, somebody who contributed mightily to this nation and certainly to regional Australia.

We will miss him. I pass on my deepest respects to his family. They have given so much to the betterment and improvement of this nation.

We need more of the ilk of Peter Morris in this world today.