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Tuesday, 8 May 2012
Page: 2765

Senator LUDLAM (Western Australia) (17:14): I would like to add some words on behalf of the Australian Greens team and add our condolences on the passing of former Deputy Prime Minister Lionel Bowen. I have enjoyed listening to the words of Senators Faulkner and Carr in describing the friendships that have lasted through this extraordinary political career. Looking back at the words used to describe Mr Bowen, they are not words often associated with politics. Apart from being described as dyed-in-the-wool Labor he is described as being unassuming, as self-effacing, as modest. These are qualities that are rare for people in our line of work. So modest in fact, the man who apparently once said that charisma was a brand of cheese was barely known outside of politics and outside of the Randwick area. But I think you can say, particularly going back to read some of his comments in his inaugural speech in parliament, that he gave effect to the idea that politics, while being local, can still be pursued on the national stage. He had a long association with a particular beloved part of Sydney but, as he noted in his inaugural speech:

It follows, therefore, that the problems of Kingsford Smith—

this is just after he had been elected—

are virtually the problems of the nation, whether they relate to health, housing, pollution or any other matter.

He pursued before it became political jargon the cause of the battler, the cause of people who are disadvantaged in society, and took their cause all the way through to very senior cabinet positions.

Lionel Bowen had an extraordinary career of 42 years in public life, having served in four tiers of Australian political life between 1948 and 1990. It was particularly interesting to see the work he had done, which Senator Faulkner touched on, on proposed constitutional reforms when as Prime Minister Hawke's Attorney he persuaded an apparently sceptical cabinet to back a commission to review the Constitution. It is interesting to note 24 years later how many of these issues are still live, in particular the proposal for constitutional recognition of local government, which is a cause that I took up as local government spokesperson. One day we will get there, but it is remarkable to review how long some of these issues can be on the cards. Four-year terms for federal parliament is an idea that, although I think it would create some real complexities for this place, nonetheless would do the House of Representatives the world of good. Another issue was entrenchment of a range of civil rights. And apparently as Mayor of Randwick in the 1950s he was investigating recycling schemes well ahead of his time. He is described by friends and former colleagues in terms such as this from fellow minister Michael Duffy:

If all politicians, particularly ministers, had such a lack of pretension and conducted themselves as well as Lionel, politicians would be thought a lot more of in the community.

These are words we could all contemplate. There are some beautiful descriptions by Richard Carleton from an interview in 1987 while Mr Bowen was Australia's Attorney-General. Mr Carleton noted:

Mr Bowen is very, very low profile, so low profile in fact he almost shuns publicity.

How extraordinarily times have changed.

Sure, he'll come on television and talk about this or that if you ask him nicely, but he's just as happy not to. He lives in a very unpretentious home in his lower middle-class electorate of Kingsford Smith and when he is here in Canberra it is not the flash Lodge or the first-class hotels for him. No, he lives in a converted garage in the backyard of one of his relatives.

He was, as noted, from a different era of Australian public life. It was an era that I think we can perhaps recall with fondness and with regret at its passing but we can recall why those values were cherished in public life. I am pleased to be able to add the condolences of the Australian Greens to the words of my colleagues, to his widow Claire and his large family.