Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Hansard source

David Francis Jull reminded me very much of the character from the movie Chariots of Fire called Aubrey Montague. Aubrey Montague was described in Chariots of Fire as being the complete man. To me, David Jull was very much the complete man. He was a scholar, he was a sportsman, he was a family man, he was an enthusiast, he was interested in music, he was a good colleague, he was religious, he was a good friend and he was uncomplicated. Jully very much followed the dictum that Plutarch had written about in his life of Pericles, which was that virtue and action immediately take such hold of a man that he no sooner admires the deed than he sets out to follow in the steps of the doer. That was David Jull to a tee.

David Jull was a person who admired, over history, many great political figures and many historical figures. He set out when he was a young man to follow in their footsteps and to make a contribution to public life in the way that in this country we are so fortunate to be able to do through being a member of the House of Representatives or another parliament. He did not just choose to do that briefly, to come in and out of parliament, to make his mark and leave; he chose to make it his career and his life. He was in parliament for 30 years or more, in two groups—from 1975 to 1983 and then again from 1984 to 2007.

He made a great contribution when he was in parliament. Certainly he served in most capacities that are available to us all as members. He was a great backbencher, he was interested in policy, he was chairman of committees and he took a particular interest in issues like ASIO and ASIS and security issues as a chairman of committees and as a backbencher. He was fascinated by national security. He was also an expert on particular policies. He chose to make aviation and tourism his expertise. He served as a minister, as Minister for Administrative Services, for an all too brief period in the Howard government. He was a senior shadow minister and helped us get back into government in 1996 after he served in opposition for a very long period of time, from 1984 to 1996. He took part in every aspect of being a parliamentarian. He enjoyed the cut and thrust of political debate. He was a great debater and nobody will ever forget his marvellous radio voice, which would boom out from the parliamentary seats across the chamber and hardly needed a microphone.

As a shadow minister, he ran for deputy leader and I was pleased to vote for him. It is my recollection he might have even run for deputy leader twice, but I only got to vote for him once. He also ran for Speaker and I voted for him then as well because I felt he had the presence, the capacity and the parliamentary experience to manage a sometimes unruly chamber. He was also the kind of colleague that would have made a great deputy leader because he was tremendous at bringing colleagues together.

David Jull had a wonderful appetite for fun. He could make fun out of every situation. Who could forget how he always had to have a tag for everything? When he organised a dinner it would not just be a dinner of colleagues; it would be a 'Jull-o-rama'. The invitation would go out headed 'The Jull-o-rama'. It would bring together colleagues at whatever cheap and cheerful restaurant members could afford to go to in Canberra and it would be a night of fun and collegiality. It was not enough for David Jull to be an expert on aviation and tourism. When members were planning a family holiday or a work related trip, they would always talk to him about the best routes of travel, the best carriers to travel on and the best places to visit. It was not enough that he was an expert on those matters; he had to have a tag for it, which was 'Air Jull'.

David Jull was a figure who was larger than life in this place. He was a very good friend of mine. In 1993, when I was first elected, I defeated a sitting member in preselection, Ian Wilson. I was only 24 when I defeated him in preselection. Mr Deputy Speaker Slipper, you were here in that time and you would remember. Defeating a sitting member in your own party is never much fun and it leaves deep scars. In 1993 John Hewson, who was the Leader of the Opposition, would not come to my electorate to campaign because he had supported my predecessor, Ian Wilson. But David Jull came before the election and did fundraisers for me. He also came during the election and supported my election campaign, as did other senior shadow ministers, but David Jull was easily the most enthusiastic.

When I moved to Canberra after being elected, I moved into Kingston with David Jull and shared a house with him for 14 years from 1993 to 2007. Of course, we could not all just live together; Jully had to be the house captain because he always had to have a tag that was associated with whatever fun he was having. He was a great mentor to me. He tried to teach me to speak from my diaphragm because, as some people might remember, when I was first elected I was only 25 and I did not have quite as much timbre in my voice in those days as I hopefully do now that I am 44.

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