CONDOLENCES

Ms ALDRED (Monash—Opposition Whip) (11:34): Can I associate myself with the very fine and, as always, eloquent remarks of the member for Riverina, the former deputy prime minister. It is an extraordinary thing to have seen the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Mitchell—who spoke in a very eloquent way—pay tribute to the Hon. Bruce George Baird AM, a fine parliamentarian, a humanitarian and a deeply devoted Christian.

Bruce Baird passed away suddenly at the age of 84 on 2 October, and I had the privilege of meeting Bruce a number of times over the years. When news of his passing came through, tributes flowed from across the political spectrum. Former prime minister Scott Morrison, who succeeded him as the member for Cook, called him 'a giant, a mentor and a friend'.

The Prime Minister described him as 'a real gentleman and a true parliamentarian'. The Leader of the Opposition said he served his party, his state and his country with commitment and style. Former Labor minister, Craig Emerson, called him a 'truly lovely and smart bloke'.

It is rare that a person can draw that kind of praise from every corner of this place. The Prime Minister said: Tellingly, the respect and admiration for Bruce knew no political boundaries. Bruce George Baird was born in Sydney on 28 February 1942.

He grew up in the Sutherland Shire, attending Cronulla Public School and Sutherland Intermediate High School. It was a community that he would one day represent in this place, and it never left him. As his daughter, Julia, a very distinguished author and journalist, put it, he was always 'the boy from Cronulla'.

Bruce Baird studied arts at the University of Sydney and later completed a Master of Business Administration at the University of Melbourne. He then went into the world to serve his country. From 1972, he was Assistant Trade Commissioner at the Australian embassy in Bonn and, from 1977, a trade commissioner at the Consulate-General in New York.

Those years spent selling Australia to the world shaped an outward-looking, forward-thinking Australian and promoted the same view of our nation. That is a view that Bruce Baird carried with him for the rest of his life. In 1984, Bruce was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the member for Northcott.

Within two years, he was on the front bench as shadow minister for transport and finance, and, when the Greiner government was elected in 1988, he became the Minister for Transport. He also served in a number of other portfolios, including tourism and the environment, and as a minister assisting the premier and the treasurer. What we've heard in many tributes about Bruce Baird's life of public service is that it was one not just of devotion to his state and his country but of a real commitment to preparation for public service—the amount of time and energy he committed to preparation and getting across detail and the exemplary way in which he executed those ministerial responsibilities.

We've heard much in the tributes since Bruce's death of his work as the minister responsible for Sydney's bid to host the 2000 Olympic Games. We heard from the member for Mitchell, who put it so eloquently and beautifully in his tribute, about what a success the Sydney Games were and the vibrant and joyful way in which the whole of New South Wales, the whole of Sydney, came together as one community to celebrate humanity and to celebrate this great sporting event.

Many Australians will remember that night when the words 'the city of Sydney' were read out in Monte Carlo, but fewer will know about the groundwork and the very hard work of Bruce Baird in leading that team to achieve that moment. After leaving state politics in 1995, Bruce led the Tourism Council of Australia before returning to public life in 1998, as the federal member for Cook.

He served the people of the shire in this place for nine years. He was never a federal minister, but he was something that I think matters even more in this place—he was a parliamentarian of conviction. Bruce was a man of deep Christian faith, and that faith shaped his politics.

He believed that how we treat the most vulnerable says something about who we are as a nation. Among the tributes, we've heard of his work around changes to the Migration Act, the excision of the Australian mainland from that act, and, most proudly, we've heard of his work along with his colleagues—my predecessor Russell Broadbent; former senator Judith Troeth; the former member for Pearce, Judi Moylan; and the late Petro Georgiou, a former member for Kooyong—about their shared willingness to stand up for what they believed in with courage and grace, and the fact that they were able to have the release of children from long-term detention is an enduring testament to their work which will remain forevermore.

Former prime minister John Howard has said that he and Bruce did not always agree, and yet Mr Howard has described Bruce as a personal friend. Mr Howard said he always argued his position with great integrity and in a manner designed to preserve and not disrupt the unity of the government. That says a great deal about both of them.

Bruce's friendships in this place crossed every line. He co-chaired a number of parliamentary friendship groups. He was particularly passionate about tourism, and, when he retired from this place in 2007, he carried on that dedication and commitment to public life through tourism, through the various tourism organisations and transport organisations he was part of, and as patron of the Asylum Seekers Centre in Sydney, his national review of international education and many more things.

As someone who served as a very junior staffer in the Howard government for my predecessor, who was then the member for McMillan, I saw firsthand the work that Bruce and his colleagues put into their advocacy efforts on behalf of refugees and asylum seekers. With so many enduring legacies, I think that may be his finest achievement. To Mike Baird, who I have the pleasure of knowing, to Julia and Steve, his children; to his late wife Judy; and to his grandchildren, his deep, deep love for his family is perhaps his most enduring life achievement.

Bruce Baird: a great Australian, a great Liberal and I think the testaments to his life and legacy in this place and beyond speak volumes about the milestones he has left behind. Vale, Bruce Baird.