Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today, I would like to mark the passing of the Hon. Bill Grayden AM, who died on 28 April at the extraordinary age of 105. Bill Grayden held the federal seat of Swan for the Liberal Party from 1949 to 1954. Bill lived a full life of service to his local community, to Western Australia and to the nation. He enlisted as a young man and served through the Second World War in Syria, the Middle East and Papua New Guinea. He went on to a political career spanning both state and federal parliaments from 1946 to 1993. He has the remarkable record of the longest-serving parliamentarian in Western Australia's history. Of course, his service did not end when he left parliament. For more than 30 years, he was the President of the South Perth Senior Citizens Centre, and he played a key role in establishing a volunteer meals service that still delivers food to older residents today. Bill Grayden leaves a legacy of outstanding and selfless public service. On behalf of the people of Swan, I would like to express my gratitude. To his children, grandchildren and his great grandchildren: what an incredible man. I offer my sincere condolences. His state funeral will be on 2 June in St George's Cathedral in Perth. We'll be thinking of him from Canberra.