Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I want to draw to the attention of the House a tragedy that befell one of our former colleagues, Alan Cadman, when on Saturday, 10 May his son Phillip Manning Cadman passed away. This was a tragedy for the Cadman family, for Alan and Judy. It has always been said and I think very much understood that with the passing of time we may see the passing of our parents but it is a great tragedy when parents lose one of their children. Phillip was 44 years of age, single, active and worked widely around Australia. He worked extremely long hours and had many skills. He was a pilot. He worked in mining developments. He had an artistic side to him and was particularly popular amongst family and friends.

On 16 May, a funeral was held for him at the Uniting Church, Galston. Attending that service were numbers of Alan’s former colleagues—John Howard, Leader of the Opposition Brendan Nelson, Bronwyn Bishop, Louise Markus and Kerry Bartlett. Amongst the many hundreds of mourners, I also attended. It was a very moving occasion because there were eulogies from Stephen and Andrew Cadman. Alan and Judy spoke as well. Reports were included in our local press of what the family members had to say:

Phil was the most unexpected, exciting and generous person and most of all he was special,’ his old brother Stephen said with a smile. ‘Phil was such a great guy, both inside and out.’

... Andrew broke down as he remembered the wonderful uncle Phillip had been to his own children.

He called him ‘a loving and tender brother, uncle, son and man.’

They spoke of his love of the bush. Judy Cadman, a very brave lady, spoke of all the gifts Phillip had given her, including a silver-plated gumnut pendant which she clutched as she spoke to us all. She said:

‘Phil might have undervalued his own attributes and worth but everybody around him knew how special he was ...

‘He was caring, generous, thoughtful, kind ... amazing and his quick wit and intelligence always had us on our toes.’

Alan said he was:

... overwhelmed by the support his family had received.

‘Everybody has touched our hearts with their support, but nobody has touched us like our Phil.’

‘Phil had told me of his sleepless nights as he feared for the future of Australia. He took everyone’s problems as his own and worried about the drought, climate change and becoming over-populated. His anxiety of our future had become too much and although no-one detected it, we know now that he is free. Phil is safe and is happy once again.’

Occasions like this are very emotionally draining on all of us, but one could not help greatly admire Judy and Alan for the loving way in which they came to this occasion, understood the burdens that their son had borne but also had great faith that he was taken to his god. The faith of Alan and Judy is something I must say I greatly respected and appreciated on this occasion. It gave them great strength. I spoke to Alan last week. I saw him again in my own electorate on Sunday at a service at the Midway Christian Centre. He feels great loss, but he is managing it well. I wanted to report that his colleagues feel for him and Judy at a time like this. I hope others will have the opportunity to send him a message of goodwill.