Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Settlement) Share this | Hansard source

He liked a good drink of wine, as the member for Bowman has pointed out. He was greatly known to my family. He was widely respected, not only in the time he was in politics but also in the time before politics, in both the tourism and media industries. He had an incredible knowledge of a lot of things. He had an incredible knowledge of tourism. He had an incredible knowledge of cultures. He had a photographic memory, which I will deal with in a little while. His knowledge of Australia and the world was very impressive and expansive.

He was elected to parliament in 1984. He was a shadow minister. He is also known for his work on the security committees of the parliament, particularly the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation from 1997 to 2002 and its successor the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. He presided over the performance of the Australian intelligence services, particularly in relation to the Iraq weapons of mass destruction issues.

I might talk about these things as a highlight of David's career, but there was much more depth to him than can be encapsulated in my brief outline of his career. I met him when I first came into parliament in 1996, when I was the member for Petrie. He was a very seasoned politician at that stage. He was a man who was always very generous with his time and his advice. I remember that he was someone I could turn to for a laugh. He had lots of stories to tell from his political battles and from life in general—the celebrities he had met and the tourism operators. As a newly elected member of this place I found him very humorous, witty and intelligent. It is no secret that he had friends from both sides of the House and was respected. If he gave you advice, it was frank, it was fearless and it was done with a great deal of sincerity.

The man had a voice for the media, and didn't he have an incredible voice! When he used that voice in speeches in the parliament, boy did we listen. Many people in Brisbane were very privileged to be able to again listen to that wonderful voice when he went back on air on community radio after he left this place. I, like David, have represented two electorates. I was the member for Petrie, and the Jull family name is very well known in Redcliffe. Jull Street is named after the family—Jull Street runs off Victoria Avenue in Margate. His father was a rector and was very well respected in the area for many years.

Many people have spoken about David's photographic memory in terms of aircraft serial numbers, incidents and collisions—on any aircraft, whether it was Qantas, or at that time Ansett. When I was flying to Canberra on a Sunday night, disturbingly, he would tell me the history of each aircraft and how many incidents they had been involved in—not something that you want to hear, particularly when you are in the air as often as we are.

I last saw David a couple of months ago at a private lunch that I organised with some former colleagues. We were really happy to spend some time with him at Gambaro's, again enjoying a seafood lunch. He was obviously in a great deal of discomfort but, as the member for Bowman just said, he never spoke about what he was going through. He never spoke about his pain. He never complained. In fact, it was quite the opposite; with his legendary and ever-present sense of humour he said to me: 'I am fine Gambaro. Don't you start organising a state funeral now,' and, with his good natured humour, he got into me.

His state funeral is indeed this Friday. It is at St. John's Cathedral in Brisbane. This good man deserves to be honoured greatly for the contribution that he has made to the nation. David Jull, you will be sadly missed.

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