CONDOLENCES

Mr KENNEDY (Cook) (10:44): Bruce Baird was far more than just a Liberal Party politician. He was a giant of a man, a man with a compassionate heart. I want to start by reading a text message I got from a constituent, which I think tells a lot about the measure of the man.

Here it is: 'I'd only just arrived in Australia, and everything felt new and uncertain. Bruce had never met me. He didn't know me at all, yet he made the time to sit down with me over coffee.

He asked me questions about my life, just to get to know this stranger. What touched me the most was the full attention and genuine love with which he listened. My English wasn't what it is today, French and Kirundi as my background, but he never made me feel that mattered.

I will never forget what he said when I finished speaking. He looked at me and said, "You are welcome here." Those four words lifted a weight from my heart. For the first time, I felt truly welcomed.

After that, we would often meet on Sundays after the service at our local church. He would always come over to me with a warm smile and ask how things went and offer his encouragement. He even opened his home to me at Christmas, inviting me to sing carols with his friends and neighbours.

He also asked me to sing the national anthem at a local surf club, an honour I will carry with me always.' I think that's the measure of the man in how he treated people who weren't dignitaries, weren't important—how he treated people who had no voice and how he treated the least fortunate. What a upstanding man of morals who really dedicated himself to other people.

He spent a lifetime in public service, dedicating himself to the people of New South Wales and then of Australia, as the member for Cook. There were many he helped. At his funeral, you saw people from all walks of life and all areas of the Liberal Party.

It reminded us what a broad church it was with John Howard and with Julie Bishop there and people from all walks of life. There was Afghani and Iraqi refugees there. It was full, and it represented the fullness of Bruce's life.

There were people he helped and the family he loved. On 2 October we lost the Hon. Bruce Baird AM.

I feel that loss particularly deeply, because I hear stories from constituents like the one I just read out—many who swam round Shark Island with him every morning as he would get out there. He was a fantastic swimmer. I still meet people who remember swimming with Bruce and remember the stories he would tell or him holding court, having coffee afterwards, sharing local Shire gossip.

It was funny. He always recounted to me that they had all the Liberal Party members sign an open letter, and they published it on page 1 or 2 of the Daily Telegraph, calling him a 'blow in' to the Shire, something they try and refer to me as, as well. But Bruce had grown up in Cronulla.

His dad owned a shoe shop there. He went to school there. He did leave for the Northern Beaches and later retired on the Northern Beaches—he loved the coast and loved the ocean—but he was born and brought up in the Shire.

He loved the Sutherland Shire, and it was a huge part of his identity with that sandy blonde hair, those blue eyes and being a fantastic swimmer. And the people of the Sutherland Shire loved Bruce. He gave so much for other people, even the Sutherland Sharks.

He gave them their last upgrade, which shows how much they're in need of more. There was a stand there colloquially known as the Bruce Baird stand. That was the last upgrade they received, and it was Bruce who fought for that funding.

He fought for our community. He fought for the less privileged and the less established. When I think about the example Bruce leaves behind, it's of a man who never forgot that public office is all about people.

Before parliament, he studied at the universities of Sydney and Melbourne. He worked in international trade. He loved tourism.

He was still the chair of Tourism Australia until the time of his passing. It was almost apt that he passed on an international trip, a junket—Bruce loved a good junket—over in Singapore, still fulfilling that role, a man so full of life. He was elected to the New South Wales parliament in 1984, served as the Minister for Transport, Minister for Tourism and Minister for Roads and as deputy leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party.

One of his most memorable moments was actually as the Minister for Sydney's Olympic Bid. We would not have had the Sydney Olympics without Bruce Baird. I still remember, as a primary school child, watching that announcement live on TV, Bruce in the front row, with that sandy blonde hair that I'm very jealous of combed across, jumping for joy, embracing those around him with a big hug when they called out, 'The winner is Sydney!' Without Bruce, we would never have had that moment and never have had those Olympics that shaped our city, that led to all the infrastructure upgrades, that led to the Homebush precinct, that inspired hundreds of thousands of children in sport and that gave us those moments with Cathy Freeman.

Bruce was the architect of that, but he never gloated about any of this. He was very humble. He was a huge family man—the love he had for his three kids; his wife, Judy; and his grandkids.

And, at his funeral, you heard his three children and his grandkids speak so affectionately about him. Many people who devote themselves as much as to their work as Bruce did are unable to foster such impressive and close connections with their children. You often say the measure of a man is his children, and you look at Bruce's children and grandchildren, stunning examples of human beings, and the affection with which they talk about their father, talking about how he both metaphorically and physically would put them on his shoulders, growing up.

I think each of them talked about memories of that—not only physically, on holidays and in pools, but metaphorically, and what it felt like to be one of Bruce's kids. I think, just like that refugee whose note I read out, his kids felt that same sense of importance as well, as did all his constituents. Now, Bruce in 1998 became the federal member for Cook and served to 2007.

And there's a story not often told where Bruce was one vote short—he was very short of becoming the Premier of New South Wales, and there's a bit of intrigue to that story which I won't tell today. But he came to federal parliament and he didn't rise to where he should have. Bruce was a man of immense capability and could have been a very senior minister, even a leader of the Liberal Party.

But he had something that you can't print on a resume. He had warmth. He had humour.

He had time for people. He had a love of gossip. He had extraordinary energy.

And he had a love of conversation, where he could make any stranger feel like a friend. He showed conviction even when politically inconvenient. He spoke up for asylum seekers and refugees at a time where it was not popular in Australian society nor in the Liberal Party.

He was on a parliamentary committee, and they were about to do a report on detention and it got pointed out that they hadn't actually visited the detention centres. So Bruce as the chair said: 'We should go. We should go and visit those detention centres and meet those people.' And it was after he did that—he met those people and looked them in the eye and heard their stories firsthand.

I've heard how he recounted to his family, 'After what I've seen and heard, I cannot support that,' and he went on to continue to do this politically difficult work. After leaving parliament, he chaired the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council. Bruce's faith was also very central to his life.

He was a long-time member of St Matthews Manly. As his son Mike said, they were planning the service at St Matthews when St Andrew's in the city offered, and he said, 'Dad would have wanted us to take this one last upgrade,' because Bruce always liked a good upgrade—which he did. He was very fond of his travel and his travel upgrade!

We heard in that church, St Andrew's, on Monday this week about his love of his Christian faith and his love of his wife, Judy. Bruce and Judy met at 21. I think they met on a church cruise, a Christian cruise.

They spoke about, at that funeral, his enduring bond with Judy, and his kids said, 'Dad's now finally at home.' It never felt right—the two of them being together, having married at 21, and him living to 84. So, to Mike, Julia and Steve: I understand he was more than just a minister, more than a larger-than-life figure; he was your dad. I respect the beautiful connection you had with him, and I just hope I can make my kids as proud of me as your dad has done for you.