STATEMENTS ON INDULGENCE
Mr TAYLOR (Hume—Leader of the Opposition) (15:12): I join with the Prime Minister in acknowledging and commending Tony Wright. More than 50 years in journalism is a thoroughly fine innings. It's a tough innings too, especially so many years in the Canberra press gallery.
Tony has been professionally scribing since 1970. As he himself acknowledged, he started on a beaten-up typewriter in the age of ink. Some of you may have seen a quite iconic black-and-white photograph of Tony from the 1970s.
Everyone in seeing that photo would be drawn in not only by the young man's inquisitive, journalistic gaze as he peers into and beyond the camera but also by his striking, flowing flock of hair befitting both the times and his profession. Tony, from that young man in his early career to the seasoned journalist we salute in the gallery today, you've seen so much, done so much and written so much.
You've gone from a school holiday freelancer for your small country paper to working for the Albury-Wodonga Border Mail and as associate editor and special writer for the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, covering stories from the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union—iconic events in my lifetime and the lifetimes of so many here—to the fallout of Pol Pot's regime in Cambodia, from the genocide in Rwanda to the ups and downs of Australian politics and elections.
As many have acknowledged, the pieces you've penned have been vivid, informative and a hallmark of clarity. But, more than that, you have a deep appreciation of history. As you've said, if something has happened before, it most likely will happen again.
History is often so surprising that it will capture the reader. A reader captured is a reader looking for meaning. You also had wise words for budding journalists in your observation that everyone has a story; you simply have to know the questions to ask, and usually they'll tell you.
Tony, we commend you for more than 50 years of words and stories that have stayed in people's heads and touched people's hearts. In acknowledging your retirement today, we know that no writer ever truly retires, so we wish you well for what's to come.