Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

As the House would know, along with the Leader of the Opposition I had the honour of travelling to South Africa to represent our country at the memorial service for Nelson Mandela. I have to say that it had, as is fitting, the air of a celebration much more than the air of a funeral. While we were sorry to see him leave us, we were thrilled that he had had such a long life full of such splendid example. Nelson Mandela was not only the father of modern South Africa but also one of the giants of the 20th century. He taught the world how to forgive and he taught the leaders of Africa how to leave office peacefully. These are very substantial lessons indeed.

As President Barack Obama said in his splendid panegyric, what seems obvious and inevitable to us now seemed impossible when Nelson Mandela began his long campaign. To us, a democratic, multiracial South Africa seems the natural order of things but in the mid-1960s it must have seemed an impossible dream. But it was achieved because one man had the guts, the decency and the idealism to fix on this and to see it through to the very end. Whatever the hardship, whatever the risk, whatever the difficulty, he was determined to see it through.

All the people of modern South Africa, all the people of Africa and indeed all of us everywhere are the better off for his life. He was a man in form—he was a person who achieved extraordinary things although he was always at pains to point out he was just an ordinary man. The lesson that we take from his life is that we can all do extraordinary things if we have the courage to dream, if we strive constantly to be not just what we want to be but to be always our best selves. He will be missed, not just by the people of South Africa but by the people of Australia too.

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