Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last month the Australian parliament lost a good man—there is no doubt about that—whom I was proud to call a friend and colleague. Today we stand here to acknowledge the achievements of Don Randall and the great loss to his loved ones—his wife, Julie; his daughter, Tess; his son, Elliott; and others in his extended family—and to reflect on the impact that Don had on us all. When we left the House for the winter break, there were 150 of us. Sadly, we return with 149—and Don is the one who is missing. Don served the parliament for 20 years. Before that, he was a city councillor. It is clear from his record that he was devoted to the wellbeing of his community. Don always stood up for his constituents, even if in some instances it meant taking opposite views to those held by his colleagues. It was his passion and dedication that made him a powerful local member. Our electorates may have been on opposite sides of the country, but I can feel the impact of Don Randall from my base in Queensland. He was such a loyal and honest member, and he was someone whom other members would look to for advice.

But there is more to Don Randall than a political warrior. He was admired by both sides of this House, which is very important. He had an extremely varied and interesting career before entering public life—horse training and teaching. He taught in special needs and in a mainstream school. He was listened to and he was heard. He had a keen interest in flowers, bee keeping, cigar smoking and red wine drinking, especially shiraz. He took in the finer parts of life. Only last year we went on a delegation to look at the free trade agreements with Japan and Korea. That meant talking to the parliaments of those two countries. Don was the leader of that delegation and he handled the situation so well. They had not signed the agreement at that stage, but they went on to sign a week after we left. That was thanks to Don and the delegation and the efforts they put into the free trade agreement. I recall Don's happiness at the end of the day in Japan and Korea. He would sit at the bar and have a scotch and a cigar. He loved that. He also loved having raw fish on the menu. I didn't fancy raw fish, and Don would continually rib me about that even after we got back home. He enjoyed his shiraz, cigars and cigarettes at the bar.

Don will be sorely missed by all who knew him. He was a good man, an effective member of parliament and a respected member of his community. He was my colleague and my friend. Vale Don. We will miss you a lot, mate. See you later. Bye.

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