Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to pay tribute to the extraordinary life of Graham Richardson, a stalwart of the New South Wales Labor Party and someone many, from all sides of politics and the commentariat, regarded as a mentor and friend. I pay my condolences to his family, particularly his wife Amanda and their son D'Arcy.

However, I do want to spend the balance of my contribution today reading into Hansard a tribute by someone who knew Graham for more than four decades. The following are the reflections of Mr David Tierney on the life of Graham Richardson:

I, David Tierney, have known Graham Frederick Richardson, or 'Richo' for over 42 years. In 1983, when Graham first got elected to the Senate, he hired me as his researcher. I was 21 and it was my first time in a suit.

Later, I served as his chief-of-staff and for decades was the behind-the-scenes "number cruncher" or scrutineer on those election night coverages from 1984 onward.

We pioneered election night coverages—well before the AEC did two party counts on the night.

And it is those coverages that first exposed the public to the young brash senator with the bouffant hair.

While we are very different people—with different personalities and priorities, we immediately clicked from day one.

And so, it was from boss to mentor, election guru to lunch and footy buddy, to a dear friend.

Even though we disagreed on many things, we only ever had one argument in 42 years.

I apologised, even though I was right, and we moved on.

Although I formally stopped working for him in 1990, at times over the years I think Graham never accepted that resignation. At times, I felt I was still his chief-of-staff in perpetuity.

…   …   …

It has been well documented that Graham was the consummate, and sometimes, ruthless political dealmaker. He often forged those lasting friendships over a meal. Many deals, friendships and plots were forged over meals, the most famous being "the night of the long prawns," where he brokered a deal between Michael Knight and John Coates to end an AOC/Government financial stalemate.

So, when it came to fighting political battles—Graham's weapon of choice was the Chopsticks!

He was a master of the dark art of "lazy Susan diplomacy".

Nothing much got past Graham and certainly not the lazy Susan at Sydney's Golden Century.

…   …   …

Graham—of course—had a reputation for being a hard political operator and tough negotiator.

When it came to negotiating, there was often a nuance to Graham's tactics, taught to him by his political mentor, the legendary Bruvver John Ducker.

A nuance but not subtle: you just openly tell the person what you would actually do, and then just do it.

…   …   …

Whenever there is discussion about Richo's ministerial career and legacy—a great legacy—the commentary often reflects the day that he, along with fellow staffer Simon Balderstone and myself, got manhandled a little in Ravenshoe, North QLD.

We were there prosecuting the case to World Heritage List the Wet Tropics—often shorthanded to—"the Daintree".

As it is well reported, I won't recount the story (suffice to say it was a bit scary), but rather describe its instructive postscript.

At the airport on the return from the rainforests, we reflected on how we had been ambushed and roughed up by outside timber workers.

Graham said that was not a fair hearing for himself NOR for the people of Ravenshoe. They weren't heard either. So, Graham said "we're going back!"

And two weeks to the day that we were bashed, we were all back in Ravenshoe in the Town Hall. Although this time we had four federal police with us. We still got booed and they ended up turning their backs on us.

But it reinforced the message that Graham repeatedly told his staff: "you must always show up".

That is, if you make decisions that directly impact people's lives and livelihoods, they have a right to hear from you, and you have a duty to explain your decision to them 'face-to-face'.

And so, in all his portfolios, and party roles, he always showed up to defend his position, argue his case and often cop a return serve.

…   …   …

Graham's most recognised Ministerial achievements focus on his work protecting Australia's most precious natural environmental assets like the Daintree, Tasmanian Forests, more of Kakadu and the Great Barrier Reef.

But, he made some other major significant contributions to public policy.

He drove through the largest funding package for initiatives to improve health outcomes for Indigenous peoples; programs that made a real difference to people's lives.

He rewrote the model of sports funding and super charged sports funding in Australia. He reformed the AIS; directly funding coaches for the first time and reorganising funding priorities to focus on the 10 key sports. All those measures significantly improved Australia's overall sports scene and our Olympic Games results then, and in the decades that have followed.

Australians have long held a fascination and love for the Antarctic. It conjures up images of adventures and wilderness. But, our Antarctic expeditions had been poorly serviced. Graham developed the business model to build Australia's first, and only, icebreaker supply and scientific vessel to service our Antarctic bases.

And he convinced his colleagues to spend a little extra so that the icebreaker—the Aurora Australis—was built by Carrington Slipways in Newcastle. Launched by Hazel Hawke, it dutifully served Australia from Hobart for more than 30 years.

…   …   …

Graham served at a time when there were great orators.

Wran in NSW. Hawke and Keating, a young Kim Beazley, and a long list of very impressive and articulate Federal Ministers.

Graham was not quite in the same league as those. While Graham spoke very well, especially to the Party faithful—he COULD sell a message.

People could, and did, relate to him.

He would walk down the street and people would yell 'give it to them Richo'.

I'm not sure today of the exact reasons why people identified with him. Maybe a factor was that people got to know him through his election night coverages, where he would cut through the white noise—even chiding his own side sometimes. But I think of greater importance was that he used simple language to explain complex things. He cut through political spin and called a spade a spade.

Because as he often said: "the mob will always work you out".

…   …   …

While Graham had humble beginnings, it has been a long time since he could be considered a battler. Killara, Paddington and finally Dover Heights are not exactly worker enclaves. Not many worker cottages in the Heights and certainly no revolution is ever going to start from there.

However, no description of Graham is complete, without reference to his life-long commitment to helping those that struggle. As he told us and his son D'arcy as well… "When you are someone, remember always look out for the little people".

And he did. Both in office and his private life.

The best example is told by my fellow staffer, Morris Iemma. He recalls how a group of young sole-parent mums came to visit Graham with their kids when he was the Social Security Minister.

As they told their story of how hard life was, with many of them not having proper meals, Graham noticed that the kids just wore sandals and had blisters on their feet from ill-fitting shoes.

Graham then picked up the phone to the PM, Bob Hawke, and said 'Mate, what are you doing for lunch?'

Richo didn't wait for a reply, he said 'You are now having lunch with a group of young women and their kids as they haven't had a decent feed in a while and you need to hear what they've got to say. And then you are going to fix it.'

Again, not your regular Senator. And this was not an isolated case.

So contrary to his image, Graham championed the causes of those that were doing it tough—a trait best summed up by the ever-astute John Della Bosca who said, 'Graham's reputation suffered from a misinterpretation of his well-known "whateverittakes" motto. But in reality, he was a compassionate, public-spirited man whose sympathy was always with the underdogs.'

…   …   …

It surprises many that Graham was actually a 'details' man. His reputation was sometimes shortened to being just a short-term political opportunist. The reality was, as most insiders and the more astute journalists, and certainly all staffers knew, he worked hard to get across the details. He also had the inquisitive mind—always asking the right questions.

For instance, on the decisions to protect Tasmania's South West Forests, he was up against some powerful forces. The major economic and resource departments of the Government were monstering the much smaller Environment Department throughout the assessment process. They were pro-industry.

Graham read the draft and final cabinet papers and studied the maps four or five times. So, when he went into the detailed Cabinet discussions he knew the names, numbers and values of every forest coope in South West Tasmania.

That's why over 20% of Tasmania is now world heritage-listed.

Ditto the protection of the Daintree and the Wet Tropics.

Ditto Kakadu.

…   …   …

No reflection on Graham Richardson would be complete without mentioning that he was a devoted Head Office loyalist. All his life he supported the machine he helped create—sometimes to his own detriment.

He believed in the role of Head Office in campaigning, in managing party affairs, managing the factions and in advising governments.

He was close to every General-Secretary except one, since he left the role in 1983.

He provided counsel and advice to all party officials—whether they wanted it or not!

For Party Secretaries taking a call from Richo was often like mowing the lawn. Something you didn't want to do, but you knew you had to.

I think that even up to the day he died, he would consider himself the General Secretary in absentia.

…   …   …

Finally, one last reflection. No matter what your opinion of Richo was—Graham actually got to live the life he wanted.

He wanted to be involved in politics.

He wanted to be a player in government.

He wanted to make changes to society and above all, he wanted to help people.

So, for someone to be able to actually live the life they wanted is a good thing.

' So, m ate, my last duty is , for one last time , I doff my hat ( my titfer ) to you. Well played, son. Rest in peace. '

Vale Graham Frederick Richardson.

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