Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Fine words by the Deputy Prime Minister from another, former deputy prime minister. I love Richo. I really did, and he was so good to me. You can only take people as you find them. You can only take people as you see them, as you have experiences with them, and Graham Frederick Richardson AO was so very, very good to me—unusually so, because, as you just heard from the Deputy Prime Minister, the member for Corio, Richo was a Labor man through and through. He loved the Labor Party—he did—but he loved his politics more, and he wanted Australia to be the best possible place it could be. I think he also loved the fact that he could help and defend somebody who was being kicked, somebody who was down.

I have to say during my time as DPM there were times when there was a pile-on, and you knew that when there was a pile-on most of the media, most of those in politics, would also pile on. They would kick and they would kick hard. Richo was somebody who would come across and put his hand out. He would defend you. And, when I met Richo the first time in a political sense, he was there defending me. He came to my wife Catherine's and my house, our home, and he had Amanda with him. He had D'Arcy with him—what an impressive young man D'Arcy was and is. You could tell there was this deep bond between those three, that close-knit family.

Richo interviewed me for Sky, and he did a special on me which was cut short by one Alan Jones. Richo was horrified at the fact that Alan Jones—it was his show—stepped in and, you know, nipped the interview in the bud. But, whilst the show was on air, you could sense this friendship that was forming between Graham and I, and it was a friendship that endured and endured to the day that he passed.

I was very, very upset when I learnt that he had died, not just because I didn't get to experience that long lunch that we'd been promising to do for some time but because I'd lost a very true and dear friend, and Catherine had too. I wasn't aware of how close Catherine and Amanda were, but they were texting on the day. I saw Amanda in the corridor the other day. I know she was in the parliament this week for the Prime Minister's and the Leader of the Opposition's fine eulogies and fine memories of Graham. But I have to say Australia has lost one of its brightest beacons with the death of Graham Richardson. He was always so very supportive and encouraging. He happily gave his wise counsel. I'm from the National Party—go figure this. You've got a Labor doyen, somebody who is entrenched in—call it for what it is—the union movement, the labour movement, who reaches out across the aisle, across the political divide, and wants to help and support a National Party person at a time when that National Party person was having a pile-on against them.

I'll tell you the other person who did this as well—it was Simon Crean. Simon Crean and I were very, very close, and I cried the day I learnt that he had passed, and I don't cry very easily. But when my wife, Catherine, just after Easter last year had open-heart surgery, Richo reached out. He sent a beautiful bunch of flowers. That was special. He would be the first on the phone to ring and to offer his advice but also to pep you up when he thought you needed it, and that's rare in politics. I know the Deputy Prime Minister and I have a good relationship, and I admire the job that he's doing, although I'd never admit it publicly—I think I just did!—and I know the Attorney-General and I have a very close relationship. You form these friendships across the aisle, and you do it because you want the best for our nation. I hope the member for Dickson and I can, eventually in the future, as well. We're only custodians of the job for as long as the people who get to vote us in decide that we are still the person for the job.

Richo gave his all when he was the health minister and other portfolios as well. Yes, it was whatever it took. Yes, he was a rogue. Let's call it for what it was. He was a bit of a rogue in his younger years, but who isn't? None of us are perfect—absolutely none of us are perfect. But he gave so much to this nation. He gave so much to politics and to the Labor movement. He wore his heart on his sleeve, and I understand and know full well that he was one of Labor's powerbrokers, numbers men. He was ruthless when he needed to be, but he got on well with people across the political spectrum, and that's the important thing. He loved his country—there's no doubt about it.

You didn't have to second guess Richo, because he was a plain talker. He was upfront and he was honest. He was straight to the point. He meant what he said and he said what he meant each and every time. I know that he gave that promise to D'Arcy—lovely, smart, intelligent, beautiful, young D'Arcy—that he would live until D'Arcy had completed his Higher School Certificate, and he did. He kept his word. You know why he kept his word, Deputy Speaker? It's because he was a man of his word, and he was. If he said he was going to do something, then he jolly well did it.

As the Deputy Prime Minister has just said, he had so many surgical procedures. He had so much going wrong with his health, but he didn't complain. You didn't know about it; he just got on with the job. He was mortified as to his inability to do the normal daily everyday things that most of us just take for granted, but he was mortified as to what he was doing to Amanda or asking her to help him in every possible way of life. That was the Richo we know and loved. His articulate thoughts in the media—and they were articulate—always cut through. Even when Scott Morrison went on his little overseas trip—and I know; I was the DPM at the time!—and the whole nation was on top of Scott for doing that, Richo defended him. Richo was in there, and he was saying: 'Well, prime ministers need holidays too. They need a break.' The one thing that he fell upon in that argument defending the then prime minister was the fact that it was about family. Richo believed in family. He believed in core values.

I'll be a little bit political here. Even though he was a former environment minister and we can thank him for what he did to preserve, save and protect the Daintree rainforest, he also believed in—wait for this—coal. He did! I remember he texted me one day, and he said, 'Only idiots think we can do without that black stuff.' He was sensible, and he was pragmatic—unusually so for this place. I say 'this place' across the aisle because he didn't always go with what you would expect him to go with. He didn't always just go with the grain and fall into line because that was the party political position. And that's what I liked about him most. He was a little bit maverick. But when Graham Richardson spoke, not only did the parliament listen, but the nation did as well. And, as I say, I loved the bloke. He was so, so good, and for somebody from the National Party to be saying this in a condolence motion about somebody from the Labor Party—it boils down to the fact that we're all just human. We all just have the same desires, the same hopes, the same ambitions and the same aspirations.

The thing that Richo and I shared was a love of this nation. And I know we all do, but I will never forget the support and encouragement that he gave me. It was when you were at your lowest ebb—and I'm sure that goes for other people too—that you could always expect a call out of the blue from Richo. I say 'always expect', but it was out of the blue. He'd send a text, he'd give you a call and he'd say, 'Keep on going.' He would be there to support you when the party political way would be, 'Let's get stuck into him, and let's ruin this bloke forever.' No—that wasn't the Richo way, and that shows the deep love that he had for this nation, for his fellow human beings. Yes, we have lost a combative person from the halls of parliament, but we've also lost a beautiful man who had so much more to give. And I know he gave all he had.

To Amanda and D'Arcy, and to the Labor Party, the Labor family: my and Catherine's deepest condolences. I will miss him greatly. I loved him dearly. Vale, Graham Richardson.

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