Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I was saddened very much by the passing of Rick Farley. When he first fell ill in the new year, one hoped that he would recover very quickly, but the nature of his illness meant that he would not and, ultimately, in a very tragic way, he left us. But what he left us with is what we need to celebrate. We need to recall this unique person whose life traversed so much of Australian society, from the urban centres of Brisbane to the heady days of Nimbin, to work for the cattlemen’s association and the NFF and to reconciliation and to be an advocate for native title. There are not too many Australians who would traverse that country. I think it is a tribute to him. It shows a person who was magnanimous.

At the ceremony in Sydney on Monday, his niece Erin recalled that he was also flawed. But he was also loved. At that ceremony on Monday what struck me was the celebration of his life, which was unique, but also the people who were there to celebrate it and to recall—to see in his family this great love for him. Yes, they could be critics, but central to them was his love for them and their love for him. As we travel along life’s journey, how many of us will be lucky enough to say at the end of that journey that we have shared that family love?

So to Linda, his wife, and especially his children, Cailin and Jeremy, I want to express my heartfelt condolences. I also want to express my condolences to his mother, Joan, who was clearly a very strong woman to have raised two young children having lost her husband, when the eldest child was very young, and to have watched them follow their respective paths in life. In the case of her son she has seen that life celebrated in such a fine way in Sydney on Monday. For his sister, Patty, who is a friend of mine and someone I have known for almost 30 years, there was always a spot for him in her heart whatever role he played, wherever it might be and despite whatever differences she, I or anyone might have had with him. There was always that love and respect. Her daughter Erin I thought gave a most insightful view of the life of this uncle of hers, who played such an important part for all of us.

We have heard already about his role in the National Landcare movement with Phillip Toyne. Of course, in the Hawke government, those events were quite momentous. But nothing was more momentous than the arrival, ultimately, of the passage of the native title legislation in this parliament. I was involved in many of those discussions with a whole range of people—my colleague over here, the member for Canberra, and others, and a lot of Indigenous leaders who were working out of my office here in Parliament House and trudging to and from meetings. Initially they were not quite sure what was going to be up with this bloke from the National Farmers Federation. But the government had made an inspired choice in 1991 when they appointed him to the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.

It was very clear that this was not a man who had a fixed view of the world but one who was amenable to argument, to understanding and to a belief that things could be different. He was able to bring a great deal of passion to that cause and to bring along with him some of the National Farmers Federation to the table to negotiate a very important piece of legislation. I have to say that I did not always agree with him, but ultimately we arrived at a piece of legislation—and he made no small contribution to it—which has provided us with the capacity to properly recognise for the first time in this nation’s history the rights of Indigenous Australians in relation to their sovereign interest in land.

To that extent I believe that Rick’s role in that was extremely vital. When we reflect upon those people who attended the ceremony on Monday, the number of Indigenous leaders from all over Australia who came to show their respect is I think commentary enough on his success in that regard. It was also a commentary to see those ex-members of the Cattlemen’s Union—Mr Andrew Robb, Mr Ian McLachlan—there to pay their respects to a man who served extremely well the industry they were then involved in, the primary industry sector.

This is a unique situation. I cannot recall another time in the parliament when we have spent such time extending condolences for a person who has not been a member of the parliament and who has not been a major political figure on either side of politics. This is a person who, as we have seen, had a very catholic view of politics ultimately but ended up in his rightful home—the Labor Party.

See this speech in context