Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am honoured to stand today to talk in respect and memory of Con Sciacca. It would have been the beginning of 1991 when I first met Con and his son, Sam, was in my year at school at Nudgee college. The first time I met Con—the members opposite will probably enjoy this—I had made a speech at the start of the school year to the school community, and parents and friends must have been there, too. Having made that speech—probably being school captain, I would say, is why I had that gig—Con came up afterwards. I had never met the man and didn't know who he was. Con called out to me. I turned around and went over, as you do, and introduced myself. He didn't introduce himself. He just said, 'Mate, you need to join the Labor Party!' So they were Con's first words to me. The great thing was, when I explained, 'Well, Mr Sciacca,' once I had come to know who he was, 'I'm, actually, the other way inclined when it comes to politics,' he was brilliant. He made it very clear, when I told him I am not a Labor man, that that's okay by him; as long as I'm a good bloke, that's all right by Con. That was Con, and it was Con ever after.

I stand in this chamber today not as a person for the Labor movement. I don't stand here as a relative of Con's, nor do I stand here today as a previous parliamentary colleague of Con's. Con, later in life, whether it be by SMS, email or in person, would refer to me as 'old mate'. So maybe I stand here today as one of his many old mates—not an old mate that Con would necessarily ring up to confide in and share his deepest thoughts. Yet such was the man that when you met him you would know that he was completely open, brutally open, with his honesty, which was just so valuable. An old mate, I suppose, I may have been to Con, not in the sense that he would ring me up and we would knock around together, but once you did socialise with Con, such was the man that he would make you feel as though you were the centre of the earth. He would make you feel so special. That's who he was. He was such a generous, larger-than-life, charismatic character.

Where I think my relationship with Con developed, strangely enough, was through the tragedy of death. In 1991, when Con's son, Sam, and I were in the same year at Nudgee college, a student in our year, Adam Monahan, sadly took his own life by jumping off the Gateway Bridge in Brisbane. This had an enormous effect on the school community, not to mention the family. Con, being in this parliament and able to wield a bit of influence, went to great lengths to ensure that barriers were installed either side of that Gateway Bridge. The numbers of people who sought to jump off that bridge dropped by somewhere over 85 per cent within a year of them being installed. Thus, through the tragedy that occurred with that family and that boy, Adam, who was a friend of ours at school, Con delivered. He got a tangible outcome that has subsequently, no doubt, saved lives. When you think of the 2½ thousand or more Australians who take their lives every single year, that is nearly seven a day. Con Sciacca sought to do his bit.

A year later, in 1992, of greater personal tragedy to Con was the passing of his son, Sam, who was in my year, from a rare bone cancer. You can imagine the impact this had on Con. Con was, in my view, first and foremost a family man. Losing his boy, Sam—or, Sammy, as he would call him—had an enormous impact on Con. It was a pleasure to attend the launch of a fellowship that he started soon thereafter, with the Labor Party, in honour of his son. Sam was not unlike Con. Does anyone remember grade 12 videos? You may have done one at school yourselves. We did a video in our year 12, when Sammy was going through his treatment. As soon as the video camera came around, he had no problems with taking his hat off and showing his bald head. He was then an 18-year-old boy, one year from passing away. He knew what his limited future held. But his was a big personality. He had a big smile. He was happy for the world to see his shaved head. Before Christmas, as I sat with Con Sciacca on his patio at the top of the tower in the CBD—Con sat with his shirt off, totally relaxed, just like Sammy—he spoke very openly about looking forward to the day when he would be reunited with him.

So, I say from this side of the House, but probably more personally just from me and maybe also from those whom I went to school with, that we send our greatest sympathies to the Sciacca family. It was a privilege to attend the funeral. Con was about family. He was about friends, which I came to realise. As we saw on 30 June at St Stephen's Cathedral, he was also a man of faith. Family, faith and friends. God bless Con Sciacca and may he rest in peace. Thank you.

Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for those very heartfelt remarks.

Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to associate myself with the condolence motion. I have spoken in this parliament about the life of Con Sciacca, and today I want to read into the Hansard to put on record the beautiful words that have been written by the Hon. Stirling Hinchliffe and the Hon. Paul Lucas. It is a wonderful tribute to our dear friend, the Hon. Con Sciacca AO. As we heard from the member for McMahon and the member for Fairfax, a beautiful service was held on 30 June and was attended by the Governor of Queensland, the Queensland Premier, former prime ministers and former premiers. There were beautiful tributes by Con's dear, dear friend the Hon. Santo Santoro and the Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten.

It is often said that in Labor we make the saints, and surely with the passing of Con Sciacca we have lost one of our greatest. Con Sciacca exemplified everything about true public service: selflessness, empathy, relentless hard work and a passion to improve the lives of all citizens of this beloved country. Con Sciacca was a walking, talking example of what migrants contribute to this country. Aged four, he arrived in Australia from Sicily. He did law the hard way, the solicitor's board, while working full-time and helping to support his family. Not born to wealth or with contacts to give him a kick-start in life, Con worked hard in establishing his own law firm from scratch—a firm that ultimately became Queensland's largest local Labor law firm, where many prominent lawyers, politicians and union officials got their first start. It was also where they learned the value of hard work and an absolute commitment to customer satisfaction.

As an active member of Young Labor from the start, Con made national contacts at a very early age. His politics were always moderate, his debating style emphatic and his socialising legendary. He was the Queensland Young Labor president in 1972, the year that I was born. In these times, it is not uncommon for young operators to think their talents demand accommodation in a safe seat or, worse still, to complain, agitate or rat when things did not go their own way. Always a betting man, Con Sciacca had a number of false starts along the way. No-one is really fully baptised in Labor until they have had a kick in the guts and come up trumps. Con would cop the setbacks and defeats just as well as the victories—a lesson for those who presume their talents and skills will always be recognised by the party and endorsed by the electorate.

In 1969, he unsuccessfully contested the safe Liberal state seat of Mount Coot-tha. In 1977, 1980 and 1985, which was a by-election, he contested the marginal National Party seat of Redlands. His campaign was remarkable. He took defeats and disappointment with good grace. Alongside his life-long friend Brian Kilmartin, Con joined the Labor Forum, or the right-wing faction, in Queensland. When times were tough, they became some of the pillars of support for all who have joined ever since. Con worked hard and, together with his outstanding campaign director, Joan Budd, won a hard-fought preselection and went on to become the federal member for Bowman from 1987 to 1996 and then from 1998 to 2004.

Sciacca was an outstanding success and, no doubt, the first Queensland MP to run his office in a modern fashion. He ran his office with the productivity of his law firm—dictating letters and actioning memos on his hand-held recorder with ever-mounting piles of tapes for processing. He was accessible and media friendly. His talent and hard work paid off in a promotion to the ministerial office. He was most proud of his achievements as Minister for Veterans' Affairs in the Keating government. His work in securing a better deal for veterans was legendary, including in long-running compensation and justice issues. He's particularly remembered for his Australia Remembers campaign of recognition for those hundreds of thousands of Australians who served this country—whose service abroad and at home was acknowledged. In many respects, this was the key early factor in encouraging all of us to reflect on their sacrifices and schools and communities to attend and commemorate veteran services in ever-increasing numbers.

Such was the regard he was held in, the RSL made him an honorary life member—an extraordinary accolade for a non-service person—for his service to veterans. His work in this field and other fields was recognised via his appointment in 2006 as an Officer of the Order of Australia for service to ex-service personnel, cancer research institutions and the Australian parliament. Sciacca's service was also recognised, as we've heard, by the governments of Italy and Finland, who respectfully awarded him the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic—one of Italy's highest honours—and a Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland.

Sciacca made many friends in his time in federal politics. He was capable of playing politics very hard but always with honour and decency. This gained him friendships from all sides of politics—maybe drawing the lines at the Greens. After leaving federal parliament—if anything—he increased his political activity, if that was possible, and actively fundraised and supported Labor candidates from right across the party. But, in particular, he was a supporter and confidante to Labor Forum members and senators. His fundraising lunches were legendary. The business community clamoured to attend as they were entertaining as well as informative. His introductions of attendees around the table often had the audience in stitches. No-one was left out, and all felt important and part of the family.

Con was the founding chairman of public affairs and lobbying company SAS Group. However, he was very reluctant to lobby friends. He had a clear distinction and strong ethical boundaries that were the cornerstone to his and their continued high standing all around. Sciacca had many close long-standing personal friends—people like Bill Ludwig, Bob Hawke and Kim Beazley. He didn't desert mates when they fell on hard times. Equally, he was happy to assist around the country in fundraising, particularly at Labor Party dinners attended by the Italian community.

Con Sciacca never sought appointments post political office. His reward was to help and see success in others. He may have cultivated a persona of a tough operator, and he certainly could be one, but he was far more a friend than an enemy, a supporter than a detractor and a planner than a plotter. Con was devastated by the loss of his son Sammy, who was 19 years old. He was devastated by the loss of his mother, to whom he was devoted. He had a large and loving family. He doted on his daughter, Zina, who reciprocated in spades, and was smitten by his beautiful granddaughter Gracie. He was so happy with his wife, Karen, and her unwavering love and support, and he treated her sons, Nick and Daniel, as his own and was very proud of them.

Concetto Sciacca passed away just a week after his 70th birthday—a happy and joyous occasion surrounded by family, close friends and extraordinary amounts of Sicilian food washed down by his beautiful signature Elderton Command Shiraz. Con was an extraordinary person in my life and the lives of so many others. Rest in peace, Con.

Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I understand it is the wish of honourable members to signify at this stage their respect and sympathy by rising in their places, and I ask all present to do so.

Honourable members having stood in their places—

I thank the Federation Chamber.

Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That further proceedings be conducted in the House.

Question agreed to.