Download Fragment

Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Page: 3679

Mr HUNT (Flinders) (21:22): How do we define the life well lived? How do we explain a life so well loved as that of this particular man, Jim Stynes? I think the answer can be found in a simple proposition: generosity of spirit and enthusiasm of purpose. There have been of course many great footballers and many people in our society who have given of themselves, but it is hard to identify almost any other who has combined that sense of enthusiasm on the field with a generosity of spirit and passion for life off the field. That is what makes this story such a great Australian story, because it is the immigrant, the adventurer in the sense of somebody willing to participate in all the elements of life. It is the truly generous heart which defines, for me as an observer, the Jim Stynes story. I think that that is why there is such an extraordinary sense of empathy amongst Australians from all walks of life, Victorians in particular and, unusually, the young. This is a story which has gripped the young. The question is, how can a generation which is often dismissed as being so cynical, I think unfairly, be so engaged by such a story? I think it is because they cut through the silliness. They can see authenticity. They can see generosity. They can see a sense of bigness of purpose, which is beyond merely the self. That is what defined this person.

Of course Jim Stynes was best known as a footballer but in the hierarchy of things, in my view, first and foremost he was a father, a dad, a husband. He was a great family man with Samantha, Matisse and Tiernan—his wife, his daughter and his son. That is the greatest loss, as it would be in any of our circumstances. Beyond that, beyond the familial relationships Jim had with those closest to him, he was a figure who gave to those most in need within our community. That is his most profound contribution to our society. Sure, he was a great footballer—a Brownlow medallist, a grand finalist, a four-times club champion, and an All Australian team member. He is the game's record holder for the most consecutive games—244. It was as a social worker who came from the privilege of having been one of the leading AFL players that he really won his stripes with the community. He was much loved for what occurred on the field but he was even more loved for the fact that he did not seek the great prizes which came with fame and with privilege—he took the opportunity and he turned it into a platform for converting young lives.

This was not some sort of dilettante; this was a person who was generous to the extreme and whose greatest joy in his post-football career was working in Indigenous communities, working with disadvantaged youth, working with each young person to give them the sense that their lives mattered, that each life had a sense of majestic possibility. The public knew that. The public got this guy. They could see that he was able to give of himself in a way which lifted others. That was the essence of what made this a special person who was elevated in the public's mind not out of a sense of flair, not out of a sense of talent but out of a sense of true generosity of spirit and the ability to transform the lives of others. It is the Reach Foundation, it is the personal engagement, it is the work with Indigenous communities that mean that this is not the mere passing of a person who had achieved fame or sporting prowess but the passing of somebody who has transformed individual lives through his sheer sense that he could give to others his own sense of purpose. Because of that we recognise a life which transcended what was possible for a young boy growing up in Dublin.

On the field Jim is the game's record holder for consecutive games. To me, that is a great achievement—to play for 11 years through broken ribs and extraordinary injuries. It is the sense of Tennyson's Ulysses—to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. It was a great life. We all are here in this place engaged with young people who look to move beyond the ordinary, who look to see something that is genuinely inspiring. In this case they found. There are a lot of disappointments out there when young people look around at the lives of the older citizens of society, and then there are moments that glisten—and this is what makes the Jim Stynes story so great. For that we are thankful. We give our thanks to his family for the time they allowed him to be with the broader community. We are proud of what he achieved and he will live on in the Australian Rules game. His name will be remembered long after many of the others, and many of us, have faded.