CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS
Mr HAMILTON (Groom) (10:22): I rise today to speak on the passing of a great man and a great friend, Vince Lester. Vince's public service began well before he entered parliament. He was a master baker in Claremont, served on the Belyando shire council and on the Clermont Hospital board.
He worked in regional tourism and was part of the committee involved in establishing the new town of Moranbah. In 1974, he was elected to the Queensland Parliament and what followed was an extraordinary 30 years of parliamentary service representing three electorates: Belyando, Peak Downs and finally Keppel. Vince served as a minister through much of the 1980s with responsibility for employment, industrial affairs, training and small business, and briefly as police minister.
Later, in opposition, he was the chair of the parliamentary criminal justice committee, served as opposition whip and, towards the end of his career, as the shadow minister for seniors and volunteers. But titles simply don't do Vince justice; his elections do. When Peak Downs disappeared in a redistribution, Vince moved to the newly created seat of Keppel—notionally, Labor territory.
He went in and he won it. He then held it through the One Nation surge of '98 and, remarkably, through the Beattie landslide of 2001. You don't survive political tides like that just because you're riding the party brand.
He was a good man and people knew it. He survived those things because people know you, they trust you and they believe that you'll fight for them. Sorry, I'm going to get emotional.
We come to this place to do good. We come to this place to look after people, to represent our communities. We come to this place to hopefully to take their words and put them into these green books so that they're there forever so Australia can take a reflection of where it wants to go and make a better version of itself.
In every way, Vince Lester was a representation of that. He encouraged young politicians like me to get out and doorknock, to get out and talk to people, to listen. He had this line that he gave me: 'Ask people what they want to change about Australia and just let them talk to you and take it all in.' It's a great way to start a career, having someone like that, who just puts their hand on your shoulder and says: 'It's alright, mate.
This is how you're going to do it—door by door. Just get out there and talk to people.' Goodness me! I look at the state of Australian politics and I think that's something we need more of: good politicians—and there are great politicians on both sides; I'm not making a statement to the contrary.
Vince believed that as well. We're all Australians here, and there's something good about that. But getting out there and listening to people is what Vince Lester did.
To his wife, Mary, his daughters Veronica and Mary-Ann—God, my heart breaks. He was such a good man. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Lawrence ): Vale, Vince Lester.