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

I'll take that interjection from the member for Nicholls just to get it on the Hansard. But I'll tell you what. While he might not have been large in stature, he was large in life, and he had a presence. He had a big heart. He had a big heart for people, and I think that's important.

He was old country Labor. He was old Labor, but he understood the benefits of the regions. Being somebody from Shortland, being somebody from outside a capital city, he understood the importance of connectivity, what regional Australia meant to this nation and the fact that people in the regions keep the lights on and keep us fed. He extolled those virtues in what he did as not only the aviation minister, but also, as I said earlier, the minister for transport, both important portfolios and both portfolios that I've held, so I feel a certain connection to him.

He said:

Obviously, the old system has to be improved.

He was talking about how planes using Wagga Wagga had been operating on a see-and-be-seen basis since 1962 and the fact that the new control tower had put Wagga into the new age of radar, picking up the planes before they'd actually arrived. The article said:

"I feel the new airport is warranted and appropriate."

Mr Morris said the old terminal was to be handed back to the Defence Department for use as a terminal for RAAF personnel coming through Wagga.

RAAF Wagga officer commanding group captain John McNaughton attended the opening.

Mr Morris said it was now up to Wagga Wagga to "markets its attractions."

Indeed, I think that was part of the tourism boost for Wagga Wagga as well.

But what I want to do get on to is how he summed up his comments. I think this shows the measure of the man. This is a special politician because not all politicians would do this. A lot of politicians just want to take credit for everything. He wasn't a local, but he found out and attributed much of the work to those people who were getting in and doing the hard yards. He mentioned Martha and Nobby Lamprey and he said:

It's easy for a politician to stand here and deliver the words, but they helped to make it possible.

That couple helped to make it possible. Now, he didn't have to say that, but he did, and I think that shows the humility of the man and the stature of the man. When a person of such high office who'd held any number of portfolios is willing to thank two local people who'd done so much to make that to make that airport terminal opening and control tower possible and at the same time also acknowledge and respect the work that had been done by his political adversary of sorts in Wal Fife, I think that that goes to show—and I think we could learn a bit from that. I do. I don't think that grace is always forthcoming in this day and age of hurly burly. I mean, I always try to get on with the Labor Party members as best I can. I remember when I was a minister, I invited them, including the member for Newcastle, when we actually took Newcastle Airport and we got a link with Auckland with some international aviation. I certainly made sure that she and the member for Paterson were part and parcel of the ceremony because it is important. You know what? People respect bipartisanship. They do. I'll tell you what, when you're not in that six week madness of an election cycle, I think people give you more points when you actually acknowledge the work done by those on the other side, and I'm always happy to do that.

Peter Morris did that. He was an outstanding human being, a brilliant politician and obviously very credentialed, otherwise he wouldn't have had as many of those ministries as he was afforded. But he never forgot the little person. He never forgot the man and woman in the street, and the fact that he then served the Labor Party at the branch and FEC levels for so many years shows how much he loved the Australian Labor Party, how much he believed in old Labor, and how much he believed in party.

Vale, Peter Morris. He was a fine man, somebody who contributed mightily to this nation and certainly to regional Australia. We will miss him. I pass on my deepest respects to his family. They have given so much to the betterment and improvement of this nation. We need more of the ilk of Peter Morris in this world today.

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