Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

On indulgence, whilst we have been sitting here, the tragic news has broken that Phillip Hughes, the cricketer that was hit in the back of the head with a cricket ball a couple of days ago, has passed away. What a tragedy. I am not much in the mood to argue politics. It was his birthday on Sunday; he would have turned 26. I met him a few times in my former job. My family own hotels, and Carlton & United Breweries is a large company that we buy a lot of beer through, and they are major sponsor of cricket. I had the opportunity to interact with Phil on a fair few occasions.

You would not meet a better young guy. He had his whole life in front of him, and I just cannot imagine what his family must be going through this afternoon. Twenty-six on Sunday. It puts life into perspective. My heart goes out to his family. My heart goes out to his friends—his cricket friends and his friends right across the board. My heart also goes out to Sean Abbott, the young New South Welshman who was the bowler in question.

Phil played 25 tests for Australia and 26 one-day internationals. I remember when he blazed onto the scene as a youngster, on a tour, and there were centuries galore. They could not work out how to get him out. It was the South African tour. They just could not work out how to get him out. He had such an aggressive style of play. He literally lived and died by the fact that the best form of defence was attack, for him.

I would just like to take this opportunity to throw my thoughts to his family, to acknowledge his life and his passing today, and to pass on my best wishes to all involved. I cannot begin to imagine, thank goodness, what they are going through, but my heart goes to them. What I would like to do is to ask for a minute's silence of the House.

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