Mrs GALLUS (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs) (7:35 PM) —I would like to take the opportunity in this adjournment debate to mention—following yesterday's condolences motions—my own condolences for two people who preceded me in my seat. Neither of them were actually the member for Hindmarsh but both of them held seats that now take over part of the electorate of Hindmarsh. The first was Kay Brownbill, who took over the seat of Kingston in 1967. At that time, Kay Brownbill had the distinction of being the third woman in Australia to sit in this House and the first woman from South Australia to do so. At that time, at the age of 52, she was the youngest woman to sit in this House, and the headlines said: `One woman with 123 men'. The odds have improved, but not that much.

On her election—it was not absolutely auspicious—she was reported in the paper as saying that the first thing she wanted to do was to buy a new hat. I do not think we would hear many of the women today saying that. Having said that, she turned out to be a formidable member of this House and refused to be labelled as a spokesman for women. She was a member of this House and represented all Australians. She did not see that the men only represented the men, and therefore she refused to be seen as only representing the women.

She had a particular interest in tourism, especially in relation to South Australia, and in her speeches she was wont to mention such things as the Hills Hoist factory, which was then in the electorate of Kingston and is now in my electorate of Hindmarsh. She unfortunately was defeated in 1969, which brings me to the second person I wish to pay tribute to tonight, and that is Ralph Jacobi.

Ralph Jacobi came into parliament in 1969 and he left in 1987. He was the first member for Hawker. As I have said, he held that seat from 1969 until 1987, when it was taken over for one term by Elizabeth Harvey, and I succeeded Elizabeth Harvey in that seat. When I took over the seat of Hawker, Ralph Jacobi's presence was everywhere. People talked about Ralph Jacobi. At every meeting I went to, whether it was Rotary, Lions or anything else, people talked about Ralph Jacobi, as did the senior citizens groups. I learnt a lot from following what Ralph Jacobi had done, which was to work out when the elderly groups had their afternoon teas. He would drop in to say hello and therefore would sit down and have a cup of tea and a piece of cake. He got the reputation of being a very approachable, good local member. But more than that, he was a very distinguished member of this House.

The other day I had the pleasure, quite accidentally, of coming back from Melbourne to Adelaide with Barry Jones, another former member of this House. We talked about Ralph Jacobi. Barry had already sent to me an obituary he had written on Ralph Jacobi. I am sorry I do not have it here, but it did get the essence of the man: without a formal education, he was nonetheless an erudite man. He knew his subjects—whether it was the Murray River or communications—back to front and often much better than the experts knew them.

A particular story that appealed to me is about a leadership disagreement or a fight between Hayden and Whitlam. Whitlam, then leader, saw that Jacobi was sitting alone, so he went to him to try to talk him into voting his way. Jacobi said, `What are you doing up here? You've never been up here before. Go away.' Hayden's people, seeing that as an opportunity, went up and said, `If you would like to come into the ministry and support Hayden, we will certainly give you a ministerial position,' to which Mr Barry Jones reported Jacobi as saying, `Well, go away then; I'm going to vote for Whitlam.' That sums up the essence of the man as somebody who was not what politicians are accused of being. He was a great man. It is unfortunate that his seat of Hawker was abolished in my first year in that seat and that it disappeared, to be eaten up by Boothby at that stage and by Hindmarsh. All the people in my electorate who were served by Ralph Jacobi would like to put on the record their condolences to his wife and children.