House debates

Thursday, 25 February 2021

Constituency Statements

Perkin, Mr Ian

10:20 am

Photo of Ted O'BrienTed O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Every now and then, someone you don't know comes into your life and they come in at the right time and make the right contribution, giving of themselves entirely. The benefit of hindsight, the lapsing of time, allows you to think of such people and realise how blessed you are as an individual. It is humbling to have those people, like angels at times, sweep in just when you need them most. I rise in this parliament of ours today to pay tribute to one such person. His name is Ian Perkin. Ian, sadly, recently passed away. He came into my life in 2012 and 2013 with such enthusiasm and support for some of my activities then. The name Ian Perkin may not be one that we, in the current crop of parliamentarians, recognise all that quickly, but I can assure you that every parliamentarian who came before, in the seventies and eighties, knew the name Ian Perkin because he was such a successful and highly regarded business and economics journalist. He ended up becoming the bureau chief at The Australian, here in the Press Gallery. He was the press secretary to Andrew Peacock at a very challenging time for the Liberal Party. He played a similar role to a captain of industry, Richard Pratt. He was a man who demonstrated loyalty, integrity and vision—forward-leaning vision about the future, no matter how old he became. I know he is going to be so dreadfully missed by his loved ones, the broader community and, indeed, the people of Buderim. In speaking with Kylie this morning, it was wonderful to at least pay my tributes to him to her, who is left behind, together with their son, Oliver, and siblings, Greg, Philip and Wendy. To Oliver I say, 'Your dad was a giant of a man.'

Comments

No comments