Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with great sadness that I stand today to pay tribute to Lewis Kent, a man who, in partnership with his wonderful wife, Vera, served the electorate of Hotham for 10 years between 1980 and 1990. He was a representative of our community in the truest sense of the word.

Lewis lived in Hotham, and he passed away there—to his last day, a contributor to and a constituent of the area I now represent.

He served the people of Hotham with integrity and passion. And in return, the people of Hotham loved him. And that is how we will remember him.

We hear commentators debate today a concern that parliamentarians don't have enough life experience. Well, Lewis brought more life experience to this parliament than just about anyone else I can think of.

He faced an early life of incredible disruption. As a child, he escaped war, and persecution by the Nazis. He fled from his native home in the former Yugoslavia to Hungary, where he was captured by the Russians. He was mistaken for a Hungarian national, and marched in midwinter for 11 days, without food or water, to a Russian labour camp.

Many around him died. But Lewis survived.

He was able to find a way to Israel, and then finally, later, to Australia. He worked in the railways for 26 years before being elected to parliament.

When Lewis entered the parliament, he entered as one of the first non-English-speaking members. He remarked in his inaugural speech:

Since I have been through the trauma of migration and as I have lived here a long time … my ability to understand the problems of both the ethnic and the Anglo-Australian population will enable me to make a useful contribution to this House.

And what a magnificent contribution he was able to make.

International engagement and justice were passions of his in this parliament. Lewis worked within the Labor Party to formulate policy, his areas of interest again reflecting both his interest and experience in social justice and international affairs.

His work on defence policy for the Labor Party in the 1980s placed human rights in the centre of the discussion that we have in this place about defence. He was one of the first people to make this link, which is now, today, very commonplace.

Lewis travelled to Nicaragua in 1987 as a member of the Australian delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union conference, and this was, of course, an incredibly volatile period in that nation's history, during which they suffered instability and revolution. Nevertheless, the visit was successful, and reports back indicate a friendship struck between the two nations.

Human rights and a respect for culture is a thread that runs through Lewis Kent's party and parliamentary career.

It is a huge privilege to be a member of parliament, and a special privilege, I believe, to serve the people of Hotham. There are but a few of us on the Labor side who have had the chance to share this special experience: Lewis, then Simon Crean, and now me. Lewis led a strong tradition of the Labor representative for Hotham being one that fights for justice, through Labor, and through this parliament. And I feel a great responsibility to continue the work that he began.

My deepest condolences go to Lewis's children, Alex and Elizabeth, and his many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. On behalf of the electorate he represented so well, thank you, Lewis, and vale. You served our community proudly and with integrity, and you will be forever missed.