Mrs MOYLAN (Minister for Family Services)(5.40 p.m.) —I was deeply saddened to hear the news of the passing of my colleague John Panizza. Indeed, he was a man who managed a very rare combination of humility, confidence and commitment to the causes that he felt passionate about, and he did feel passionate about many causes.

I had the opportunity to read through his first speech to the parliament. That indicates his wide-ranging concerns about his constituency. He was a great advocate for mining, for the pastoral region and for the fishing industry, and he recognised the importance of a strong economic base and the role that those industries played, particularly those from his own state of Western Australia. He was a man who knew and always remembered where he came from. In his maiden speech he said:

One thing I will always remember is where I came from. I am the son of Italian migrants. One must put on record the important contribution made to this country by such people.

Not only was he passionate and committed about the role of industry, the pastoral industry in particular, to this country, but he also had great compassion. He understood the importance of the contribution that migrants made to this country. He also acknowledged not only the hard work of his father and those who came around the time of his father to this country but also the women who followed the men into the harsh conditions. I suppose I have some understanding of some of those conditions Senator Panizza's family had to deal with because my uncle had a farm in the same farming region that John Panizza's father farmed in and that he no doubt spent a great deal of time in as a child. I used to spend holidays there and I know how tough it was on my aunty and on the other women in that region. I also recognised the hard work done by the men.

His humility was always demonstrated in his compassion, his sympathy and his understanding for his fellow man. Clearly, as a migrant he had from time to time encountered discrimination. He makes a point, in fact, that there was a lot of discrimination and that migrants to this country had met with hostility. In his maiden speech he made a point of saying `if the Aboriginal people feel that they are still discriminated against—I know they are—they have my sympathy, because I know what it is like'. So he was also a man of great compassion and, as I said, a man of humility. I think the thing that touched me the most in his first speech to the Senate was that he said:

As we move to the celebration of Australia's 200th anniversary—

this, of course, was given in October 1987—

I express the hope that we can at last be one nation, whether our skin happens to be green, yellow, black or white and whether we are descended from the convicts, the aristocracy, the Aboriginals or European migrants. Hopefully we can be one people under the same flag which, amongst other things, carries the emblem of the Southern Cross. That is my home town.

I think he is an inspiration for all of us to remember—to remember where we came from, whom we serve and our responsibility and our role not only to forward the economic progress of this country but also to continue to address the human issues. I know that I will personally miss the association I have enjoyed with the senator and I think, indeed, the world is worse for his passing. I extend my deepest sympathy to Coral and to his family on this sad occasion.