Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is with some sadness that I rise tonight to pay a small tribute to Neil Bessell, who was one of the Senate team. He was a colleague of us all and a friend to many of us. Neil passed away suddenly and unexpectedly by a brief but very serious illness between the last sitting of the Senate and this one. They were tragic circumstances which took a life far too early. I had the honour and privilege to attend Neil’s funeral on behalf of the government, and I acknowledge that Senators Parry and Abetz also attended on behalf of the opposition.

When we get to know people through our work and become friends with them, a lot of the knowledge we have of them has to do with our work environment—the travel we may have done together or the committee work we may have done together—and sometimes we all too easily fail to acknowledge that they have a life outside their work as well. I learned at the funeral that Neil was also a family man, a father, a great sportsman, great fun in his academic life and had lots of interests outside of this place as well as being incredibly dedicated to it. I pay tribute to his family, to Cleaver Elliott and to others who contributed to his funeral, because it was a great tribute to and a great celebration of Neil’s life. We smiled, we laughed and we were able to shed a tear as well. To all those involved, it was a tribute to Neil. I know that if there was an afterlife and he was able to look back and he was looking down at the funeral, he would have enjoyed the celebration of his life and the tribute that was paid to it.

Neil Bessell was a parliamentary officer through and through. He dedicated his professional career—a career which we can all vouch was marked by passion, enthusiasm and commitment—to serving senators and the Senate. In his own words, he was, ‘Here to please, here to serve.’ To Neil, it was a privilege and a pleasure to serve the Senate and its senators. Neil joined the Senate in Old Parliament House in 1985 to work as a researcher on the Standing Committee on Education and the Arts. After that he served as publications officer in the table office, and within two years he was assigned as secretary to the then new Select Committee on Agriculture and Veterinary Chemicals. As many may know, this committee was very successful, and it was while under his administration that it mutated into the Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport which still operates today.

After working on this committee, Neil was assigned to the Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, where he set records both for the number of reports produced in a year and for managing the first of the Senate’s mega inquiries: the inquiry into euthanasia, which received more than 12,000 submissions. Senators should remember that this occurred before the advent of the easy, push-of-a-button email submissions which we get today. It was during this time that Neil commenced serving as a clerk at the table of the Australian Senate and training under the watchful eye of the current Clerk of the Senate for a position which was to mean so much to him for the next 12 years. There in the cockpit of the Senate, in the centre of the great debates and the lawmaking history of our time, he served our needs as senators.

Soon after completing his time as secretary to the Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances, Neil took up the substantial responsibilities of Senior Clerk of Committees. It was in this position that he really blossomed. As a supervisor with a thorough knowledge of all aspects of the work which he expected of his staff, he was a great mentor, an excellent trainer, a great resolver of interpersonal difficulties between team members and at all times a compassionate supervisor. Neil was a great exponent of the art of making sure that his work met the needs of senators. He would say, ‘We are Biros for hire.’ It was his constant refrain. His personal views were never relevant; he was writing for senators and reflecting their views. He was the consummate impartial parliamentary officer.

Neil’s last assignment in the department was as Director of Journals and Notice Papers, recording the minutes of the Senate for posterity. Once again, his skill in building bridges came to the fore, and he accomplished the important work in a small department of getting teams to understand and contribute to each other’s workload to the overall benefit of senators and the Senate. During his service as a Senate officer, Neil served six presidents of the Senate: The Hons. Doug McClelland, Kerry Sibraa, Michael Beahan, Paul Calvert, Alan Ferguson and the present president, John Hogg. All six of them have personally either phoned or emailed the Senate offices to express their condolences and to remark on the contribution which Neil made in assisting them, particularly in his capacity as a delegation secretary and as secretary of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

I am happy to say that for a couple of years I was a delegate to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and Neil led us. He was incredibly well known in that environment, and to his credit Australia always punched above its weight in that forum. Australian senators in particular, and certainly Neil as a committee secretary, were sought after to lead where possible most of the working groups because of the nature of our democracy, in which senators from different political parties work together to find common ground and produce consensus reports. It is a skill that I think a lot of us here do not appreciate and a skill that not a lot of other parliaments have. It was Neil’s knowledge of the processes of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and his skill and experience as a committee secretary in that same environment which led Australians, and him in particular, to be in great demand in the IPU to assist in leading those working parties. Neil’s involvement enabled us to directly influence a lot of the policy development which that body conducts.

A lot of credit has to be paid to Neil, and that is acknowledged in a letter from the Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union to the Speaker, which I have just enough time to read and put on the record. It says:

Dear Mr Speaker,

My colleagues and I were absolutely devastated to learn of the sudden death of our dear friend and colleague Neil Bessell.

We would like to pay homage to his long and devoted service to the IPU. For many years he assisted the Australian delegations to IPU meetings, and more recently organized the meetings of Secretaries of delegations during the Assemblies. He undertook all his tasks with such energy, drive and good humour.

Neil was a truly great guy. He always had a friendly word for all. It was such a pleasure to see him at our meetings and to benefit from his advice and support, always given with a winning smile. We will miss him terribly. His loss will also be keenly felt in the inter-parliamentary community where he made so many friends throughout his long involvement with the IPU.

May I ask you to address our heartfelt condolences to the Parliament and our deepest sympathy to Neil’s family at this very sad time.

And let me pass, on behalf of all senators, our condolences to Neil’s family. The words of the Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union sum up the high esteem in which they held Neil—the high esteem in which we held Neil—and it is very sad to see a man pass away so early. I considered Neil a friend as well as a colleague. I must say it is devastating when something happens so suddenly and so unexpectedly. Again, our condolences to his family. Congratulations for the way the funeral was conducted, the great tribute and great celebration of Neil’s life and I thank them for the opportunity.