Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and International Security) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to honour the memory of a citizen of the United States of America: Johnny Apple. He was a senior journalist of the New York Times, a legend of American journalism, a legend in American politics and, importantly, in this place—the parliament of Australia—a friend of Australia. Johnny Apple was a citizen of the world, at home equally in Saigon, in Paris, in Washington, in Sydney and at all points in between. He represented to us the very best of the liberal American spirit—blessed in everything that he wrote and did with the quality of American enlightenment, not shackled by a narrow world view or constrained by any form of ideology or any form of convention.

Johnny Apple was larger than life and he brought with him a largeness of mind. Johnny Apple had an insatiable interest in the world as it is in all its diversity, not to conquer it, not to have it conform to any particular world view but rather to savour, enjoy and explain it—that is, the diversity of the world as it was. And that very much represented the best of his tradition of American journalism.

Johnny Apple first fell in love with Australia in the 1960s when he would visit here on R and R from the Vietnam War while serving as Saigon bureau chief for the New York Times. He revived his love affair with Australia in the 1990s when he was a frequent visitor here to participate in the Australian-American Leadership Dialogue, presenting his unique insights on contemporary American politics—from the impeachment of Bill Clinton to the quagmire that has become Iraq. He covered so many American presidential campaigns that in fact it is difficult to find anyone in modern American politics who does not remember an incisive Apple commentary and analysis of a campaign they remember from their own political experience.

Johnny encountered and brought to the world, through his reporting for the New York Times, the revolution in food and wine that would make Australia globally renowned. Guided and aided by a galaxy of Australian stars, Johnny cut a culinary swathe across Australia, accompanied always by his wonderful wife Betsey—chief navigator and embellisher of zest. He became so much an ambassador for modern Australia and the richness of its cuisines, its wines and its modern way of life.

Johnny’s articles whetted the appetites of New York Times readers worldwide and his reviews became the guideposts for hungry Americans making their rounds of Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. From the simplicity and freshness of Australian ingredients to the limestone strata that refined the soil for the wines from the west, Johnny chronicled the evolution of excellence and taste in Australian cuisine. The nation is indeed indebted to Johnny Apple for the way in which he brought that story of Australian life and style to a worldwide audience.

Johnny Apple was an ambassador for all that was and all that remains the best about America. Johnny Apple was equally a friend of Australia. In his dealings with this country, he always sought to bring to us the absolute best in the American tradition. On behalf of all members of the Australian-American Leadership Dialogue, I would like to express our profound appreciation to Johnny Apple’s family for the extraordinary contribution he made to us in this country by taking our message out to the rest of the world—a message blessed with balance, truth and humour, and elegance in the way in which he reported it. Our love, our respect and our best wishes go to Johnny’s widow, Betsey, and to all of his family. This was a life well lived, a contribution well made—and, in this country, he was a person who will be dearly missed.