Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I pay tribute to an old friend of mine who is retiring from the New South Wales parliament at the next election. George Souris has been a friend of mine since the early 1990s. He has had a profoundly successful career in state politics, having been Leader of the National Party, Deputy Leader of the National Party and, remarkably, a minister not in one government but in three—the Greiner, Fahey and O'Farrell governments. He has served in 13 ministerial portfolios and 13 shadow ministerial portfolios over 26 years. Perhaps more than anything else, he has been proud to represent the Upper Hunter, a region that he dearly loves and that the member for Paterson, who is here, is very familiar with. George Souris has represented the Upper Hunter for 26 years since first being elected to the parliament in 1988.

George Souris is someone I worked for in the 1990s. I was seconded by Nick Greiner to George's office to work on the privatisation of the GIO, an incredibly successful transaction and unquestionably one of George's career highlights. In may ways it was a pathbreaker from a commercial perspective and it proved to be of immense commercial benefit to the people of New South Wales.

He was also very involved in a range of other areas. In land and water conservation, he established the Office of Water. He was not inherently enamoured with multicultural affairs at first, but he was the first Greek Australian MP to be elected to the New South Wales parliament and he was the first Minister for Ethnic Affairs from rural New South Wales. As Minister for Tourism, Major Events, Hospitality and Racing and Minister for the Arts, he implemented reforms for the registered clubs industry. He loved his tourism industry and established Destination New South Wales. He had a major hand in sporting events, and in the arts—perhaps something where he failed in his experiences with me—he was regarded widely as New South Wales's very best Minister for the Arts.

As a lover of rugby and a lover of the arts, he had mixed and divergent views, but nothing was more important to George than his family. He is a man who is incredibly loyal. He is a man who has great personal integrity. I want to pay tribute—a special tribute—to his wife, Vassy, who has stood by his side throughout his career; to his son Theo and his wife, Vanessa; to his two grandchildren, Eva and Jonathan; and to his other son, Ari. I think they will be proud to have their dad back, and they will be proud of George Souris's great legacy.