Gary Hardgrave (Moreton, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

There we go—the member for Hinkler might have a few stories too. But when Keith Hooper died suddenly on an operating table, Tom Burns took over the job of being the man who would try to expose a lot of the conspiracies. I remember climbing through all sorts of amazing places at Tom Burns’s direction, with a camera crew in tow and with a radio microphone, to dig out a lot of the dirt that became the basis of the Fitzgerald inquiry. I look back on the times of the Fitzgerald inquiry in the late eighties and I wonder why on earth I was not taken out and dealt with, with concrete boots, because I was inadvertently in the Bellino and the Hapeta places of ill repute, digging out that dirt at Tom’s suggestion.

In more recent years I have seen Tom a lot in my electorate because his affection and love for China has been continuing and the Chinese-born community in my electorate would be very sad at the passing of the Hon. Tom Burns. He of course I think made a deal of money, which is to his credit, from his involvement with China, but he helped to make a deal of money for Queensland and Australia as well. He was highly regarded in China and in Australia. To Angela, his wife, and their family—the children, the grandchildren and, indeed, the great grandchildren: we thank you for Tom. I know that many people today would be stopping and thinking about the great contributions of Tom Burns.

See this speech in context