Mr GARETH EVANS (Deputy Leader of the Opposition)(9.37 a.m.) —I am very pleased to be able to associate the opposition with this motion of condolence, and to do so personally as someone who both met late President Mitterrand on several occasions and was privileged to attend his state requiem mass in January as Australia's representative. For 50 of his 79 years, Francois Mitterrand was absolutely at centre stage of French politics.

For the last 14 years he was the longest serving and only socialist President of the Fifth Republic and he will be remembered by the French people for many things—firstly, for the extraordinary political perseverance of a man who first entered government in 1944, was a minister 11 times between 1946 and 1957, and spent some years in the wilderness—twice running unsuccessfully for the presidency before finally entering the Elysee as President.

He will be remembered as the man who forged the socialists into a united and effective party in the 1970s and 1980s—moving the party away from the large accumulation of Marxist dogma it then had toward the centre. He will be remembered for a flourishing period of domestic reform in the 1980s in human rights and social policy in particular—including the abolition of the death penalty, the protection of coloured immigrants in France, the curbing of police powers, the modernising of labour laws and the doubling of the national budget devoted to the arts.

He will be remembered also by French people particularly for his extraordinary complexity—and the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Tim Fischer) has already commented on that—as the Vichy participant who became the Resistance leader; the very formal and reserved man, as I can personally testify, who was nonetheless a superb public orator; and the way in which he unpredictably changed political course from conservatism to socialism to, at the end, what could probably only be described as something in the middle. The Deputy Prime Minister referred to a judo characterisation, which is very apt. I always think of that famous quote of his: `My strategy is to have only tactics.'

He will be remembered for the way in which he blew hot and cold on so many issues, which led Regis Debray to say on one famous occasion that at least that kept the lukewarm people away. They are the ways in which he will be remembered by the French, but of course he will also be remembered by the people of Europe as a whole as one of the prime architects of European union, holding closely, even in the sceptical 1990s, to his policy vision of an integrated Europe based on close Franco-German entente.

He will also be remembered not only by the people of France and Europe but also by the people of the world in particular for two great legacies, the first of them being his cultural legacy—the series of massive building projects that changed the face, in ways that have only enhanced it, of unquestionably one of the world's loveliest cities, Paris. This included the reconstruction of the Louvre with I.M. Pei's glass pyramid as the centrepiece, the great modernistic arch at La Defence, the new Bastille Opera House and the new national library project. All are a magnificent testimony to his cultural vision.

He will be remembered by the whole world for his contribution to a saner nuclear world. There were as always some twists and turns along the way. It has to be acknowledged that he opposed de Gaulle originally in the development of France's independent nuclear program then became one of that programs staunchest defenders.

But then came his momentous decision in 1992 to impose a moratorium on French nuclear tests in the South Pacific—a decision which was absolutely crucial in developing the momentum that we are now seeing for a nuclear non-proliferation treaty consolidated and made indefinite in its scope and for a comprehensive test plan treaty which we all hope will be negotiated to its conclusion this year. Hopefully, ultimately, it will be the forerunner for the achievement of the complete elimination of nuclear weapons to which we are all in this House committed.

Francois Mitterrand's life left an extraordinary legacy for France, for Europe and for the whole world. It is entirely appropriate and fitting under those circumstances that we in this Australian parliament should mark his passing with this respectful motion of condolence.