Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today will be a very sad day for many Australians as we commemorate the life and the tragic death of cricketer Phillip Hughes. Phillip Hughes was not a soldier who died in service for his country nor was he a hero who died trying to save others, but his death has greatly affected our nation and touched something within many, many Australians. It is appropriate that we acknowledge this grief in this chamber.

All loss of life is tragic. Family and friends will mourn the loss of loved ones deeply, regardless of whether the nation and the media spotlight accompanies them. But in this case the Australian public, and particularly the Australian cricketing community, are in mourning with Phil Hughes's family, friends and teammates because we feel a shared loss. The public loss of such an enormous talent and such enormous potential feels especially bitter to us all. We all know how much more Phillip Hughes had to offer Australian cricket.

It will be small consolation for his family and friends, but Phillip Hughes will long live on in Australian cricketing folklore. Like Archie Jackson, another cricketing prodigy—who died of tuberculosis at just 23 years of age 80 years ago and who still lives on in the imagination of the cricket obsessed 10-year-olds across our country—Phillip Hughes will hold a special place in Australia's collective cricketing memory. I will tell my children how, at just 20 years of age, Hughes scored centuries in both innings of just his second test match in South Africa—becoming the youngest player in history to achieve this feat—punching the South African pace attack through the offside again and again. I will tell them how I sat glued to the television throughout the night watching Hughes and another brilliant young Australian cricketer—Ashton Agar—compile a world-record last-wicket stand of 163 runs, with Hughes giving Ashton Agar every opportunity to score a century on debut, which would have been magical for a number 11, and falling just two runs short. It was truly one of the most extraordinary cricketing partnerships I have ever seen.

And I will tell my children that if Hughes had lived long enough to receive another act, another chance as a test cricketer, he would have surely followed in the footsteps of other brilliant young talents like Steve Waugh, Matthew Hayden and Damien Martin, who came back from periods outside the test team to achieve even greater feats in the baggy green.

The fact that this public loss of Phillip Hughes—and the loss of his great potential and talent—occurred in the most prosaic circumstances, while he was doing something that so many thousands of cricket-playing Australians have done many times over, makes it that much more personally affecting for us all. The way in which the 'put out your bats' phenomenon has taken hold in the days following his death is a testament to this feeling of shared loss in the Australian community. Since Sydney father Paul Taylor placed his cricket bat at his front door and tweeted the image in Hughes's honour, thousands of Australians and sports lovers from all around the world have joined in in this act of respect to demonstrate their appreciation for Phillip Hughes in a tangible way. As Taylor explained: We've all played cricket in one way or another …We've all grown up with a bat and ball. This is our way to connect and show our sadness.'

We find our sense of community as Australians both when we want to celebrate and when we need to mourn, and in this way it is pleasing to see how the Australian cricketing community has embraced Sean Abbott, the bowler who had the pure bad luck to have delivered the fateful ball. We all know that Sean Abbott bears no responsibility for what has occurred, but we also know that he will be suffering more than we can imagine at this point, wondering the little things that he may have changed on the day. Our thoughts are with him at this time. He bears no responsibility and he has our this full support.

I also want to note the way that the Australian cricket captain, Michael Clarke, and Cricket Australia have managed this extraordinarily traumatic event. The deferral of the first test match showed appropriate consideration for the welfare of the Australian players dealing with the loss of a friend and work colleague. The decision to adjust Phillip Hughes's final scorecard to record him as being 63 not out forevermore is an especially apt, symbolic gesture. Symbols matter at times like this, and that little asterisk beside his name will be a potent symbol and a reminder for the generations of cricketing Australians to come of what the Australian cricket community has lost in the tragic death of Phillip Hughes.

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