Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on indulgence: I wish to make some remarks about two men who died within days of each other—and both died too soon. The first, of course, is the journalist Matt Price. Matt Price was one of those amazing characters. As the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition have said, he certainly made a mark on this place. He was the purple-shirted, colourful Western Australian larrikin who changed journalism in this country with his unique writing style. He would put a humorous label on everybody’s head and use his former sports journalist’s eye to call the play of the day. If it was just funny, that would have been good enough. But, beneath the humour, Matt Price always had penetrating insights. He always knew what was moving and what was important in Australian politics and he made sure, through humour, that it was read. If it were just us who rushed to read ‘the Sketch’ every day, that would make Matt Price a good journalist. But what made him a great journalist was that he was the interpreter of political events for Australians right around the country, the person they relied on to get an insight into what was happening in this place.

This was reinforced for me when the Prime Minister and I attended Matt Price’s funeral in Perth on 30 November last year and when the current Manager of Opposition Business, Joe Hockey, and I attended and spoke at Matt’s memorial at Parliament House on 13 December. At each event there were Australians who had never met Matt Price. They came because they felt like they knew him from reading what he wrote in the newspaper. They felt like he was a friend, and they mourned his loss. That Matt Price loved politics is known to all of us. It is particularly known to me because on election night I received a text message from him congratulating me on our victory in winning that election. Matt died the next day. That is a man who loved politics. But, beyond that, he was a man who loved life and had a generous and bounding spirit to go with it. At the memorial at Parliament House his family friend the Sunday Telegraph editor Neil Breen said the following—and it is just so true of Matt:

“Whenever your phone rang and you saw it was Matt calling, you’d laugh because you knew the world’s happiest man was on the other end of the line. You’d answer and his favourite greeting was, ‘Great man, mate, you’re the greatest.’ All phone calls would finish with, ‘OK, great man, got  to go, you’re the greatest.’ And off he would go to ring someone else and tell them they were the greatest.”

That was Matt Price—boundless energy, boundless love of life—and that was what made his succumbing to cancer so quickly and so young so difficult to take. Matt Price was born in 1961. He died on 25 November 2007. As someone also born in 1961 can I say with some emotion that it is too young to die. Of all the things Matt valued in life, the thing he valued and loved the most was his family. Our condolences go to his wife, Susie, and his children Jack, Matilda and Harry. We had the privilege of sharing the funeral with them in Perth, and it was tremendous to see them at the memorial service here in Canberra. But, of course, they are the ones who would most keenly be feeling the loss of Matt.

I would also like to briefly make some remarks about Bernie Banton. I do not claim to have known Bernie Banton well. I am looking forward to a speech which I am sure will be made at some point by the member for Charlton, Greg Combet, a man who knew Bernie Banton well and stood shoulder to shoulder with him in his fight for a modicum of justice for the victims of James Hardie. Can I say this about Bernie Banton, a man who, at the age of 61, also died too young: to face your own death with dignity is an accomplishment, but to face your own death with dignity and use your last days to fight for others is truly a heroic act. Bernie Banton was a hero. Our condolences go to his wife, Karen, and to his children, Dean, Melinda, Adam, Brent and Chris, who knew that about their husband and father.

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