Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Thursday, I had the very unpleasant duty of attending the funeral of Mr Ernest William ‘Grumpy’ Evans, NX176692, who served in the 58th and 59th Battalion in Bougainville and also in the occupying forces in Japan. Grumpy, as he was known to his family—that was the name that his grandchildren gave him before they were able to pronounce ‘grandpa’—was a true and great Australian. He was a very ordinary man, a very humble man. It was a great privilege to attend his funeral. You could see in the life of Grumpy the lives of many Australians. He shared a very similar experience to that of many Australians. He enjoyed a loving relationship with his wife, Una. They had three children, who they raised together—Garry, Bob and Jennifer—and they had wonderful grandchildren, who paid such moving tributes to him.

The reason I particularly refer to Grumpy today is that Grumpy’s passing was a very unfortunate event. He was the victim of a cowardly and callous attack outside our local St Vincent de Paul shop in Caringbah, and that matter is currently before the courts. At his funeral, there was no mention of this attack because the family wanted to honour and remember Grumpy himself, the man and the great Australian, a veteran and someone who has loved and served his family. Grumpy worked at the Kurnell oil refinery for many years and he was also a butcher.

The funeral was a celebration of his life. It was great to be part of that with the family and the community in the Sutherland shire and to honour a man who, in his passing days, experienced some terrible violence which brought back many horrific memories of his time in Bougainville. It is an absolute disgrace that a man such as this should have to go though such a horrible period in his last remaining days. It was just so moving to see the family, in a real act of grace, being able to see beyond that terrible violence and focus on the true essence of Grumpy. He was a man who loved his grandchildren deeply. He was a man with a great sense of humour, who was known for many practical jokes—mainly at his grandchildren’s expense! They all gathered together on that day and shared in that and laughed about it and at the same time were able subdue the very real rage that I am sure they had for the incident that sadly and most probably ended up taking his life.

To Una and to Garry, Bob and Jennifer, I offer my sincere condolences here in this place, and I honour Ernest William ‘Grumpy’ Evans for his great service to our country. We thank him for that, and we wish his family, particularly the children and grandchildren, all the best.