Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of the opposition to express our condolences following the passing of Gordon Douglas McIntosh, former Labor senator, at the age of 93. At the outset, I convey the opposition's most sincere sympathy to his family and friends. Gordon McIntosh was a Scottish metalworker who made his way to the Australian Senate. Migrating to Australia, like so many others in the postwar period, he was an office bearer in his union before being elected to represent his state of Western Australia in the nation's parliament. There he became a fierce advocate for human rights, particularly for the people of East Timor.

Gordon McIntosh was born in Scotland, beginning his working life in the Glasgow shipyards. He was a fitter and turner and later a maintenance engineer. He also served in the Royal Air Force as a technician from 1945 to 1948. Gordon McIntosh was proud of his Scottish heritage. Like another current Labor senator, this was not easily disguised, as his accent became immediately apparent as soon as he opened his mouth. He was also a proud Western Australian, emigrating in 1950 with his new wife, Elizabeth. He became a die maker at the Perth Mint, where he was employed for 22 years.

Always a member of a union, both in Scotland and Australia, he became an officer in the branch of the Amalgamated Engineering Union in his home state from the early 1950s. This culminated in service as state president from 1968 to 1972. The union joined with others to become the Amalgamated Metal Workers' Union, and he was the state vice-president of this body from 1972 until 1974.

Concurrently with his union involvement, Mr McIntosh joined the Australian Labor Party. He quickly rose to prominence, taking a seat on the state executive in 1952 and holding office continuously until 1978. At the time, he worked hard to energise its branches, and, in 1972, he was preselected for the Senate. Gordon McIntosh was first elected as a Labor senator for Western Australia in 1974. The prevalence of simultaneous dissolution elections at this time meant that he faced the people more than the average senator, winning re-election three times before his retirement prior to the 1987 poll.

Mr McIntosh was immediately concerned to emphasise that he represented the whole of his vast home state. In his first speech, he drew to the attention of the Senate the disparity in service delivery between metropolitan Perth and regional areas. In particular, he cited disadvantage in the fields of education, cultural activities, social activities and community amenities. He saw a role for national government to ensure that the whole of a state like Western Australia was treated as an equal party with the rest of the nation, including through bearing in mind the specific challenges of remoteness and vastness.

During his tenure in the Senate, he served the federal parliamentary Labor Party as deputy whip in the Senate in the opposition and in government from 1976 to 1980 and 1983 to 1987. Unsurprisingly, for a lifelong unionist, issues of industrial relations were prominent in his contributions in the Senate, especially in response to the Fraser government's policies in this area. However, as a demonstration that those of his generation were broad in outlook, the most continuous theme of his time as a senator was on the wider world.

Mr McIntosh had an abiding interest in foreign affairs and human rights. He served on the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence for the entirety of his Senate career, something that was quite unusual for a senator who served for over a decade. He was also the chair of this committee from 1983 until 1987. In addition, he was a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence from 1974 to 1975 and again from 1980 to 1983.

He was able to travel overseas on parliamentary delegations on multiple occasions. These delegations took him to East Asia and South-East Asia, in particular to Indonesia and East Timor, as well as to Vanuatu, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Poland. For three months in 1983, he was the parliamentary adviser to the Australian delegation at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Mr McIntosh campaigned on matters including nuclear testing in the Pacific, aid to Vietnam, refugees from Irian Jaya in Papua New Guinea and human rights in Chile under the Pinochet regime.

If there is one international cause for which Mr McIntosh is most associated, it's East Timor. He was described in 1983 as:

… an implacable Labor campaigner for East Timor self-determination.

Following his first visit to East Timor in 1975, he never tired in his advocacy for the cause or in holding successive Australian governments to account for their actions. A review of the Hansard record demonstrates how frequently he asked questions and made speeches on the rights of the East Timorese, the Indonesian occupation and the role of the Australian government.

In 1983, he tabled a report for the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence into human rights abuses and the conditions of the people of East Timor. This report was highly contentious for the way in which it:

… declared the Indonesian invasion and occupation to be 'an illegal act', described gross violations of human rights and called for an internationally recognised act of self-determination.

Mr McIntosh's campaigning for the rights of the East Timorese during his Senate career and after he retired was recognised in 2004 when he was invested with the Order of Timor-Leste. At the time he was described as:

… the conscience of the Federal Parliament on the matter of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor and the repression of the Timorese people.

On the occasion of Mr McIntosh's retirement from the Senate, the then Labor leader in the Senate, John Button, described what he called his characteristic good humour. In doing so he cited Mr McIntosh's suggestion to Labor minister and former Attorney-General Gareth Evans that Senator Evans would be an ideal candidate to fill the vacancy on the High Court. Mr McIntosh continued, 'After all, you're not going anywhere in politics,' and the rest is history. The Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Fred Chaney, farewelled his fellow West Australian from the chamber by lamenting the loss of a political representative whose background and experience was that of a skilled tradesman.

Gordon McIntosh was a man of commitment and principles. He committed his life to the Labor movement, to his union and to the Australian Labor Party. His commitment was rewarded by the people of Western Australia with a place in the Senate. He was also committed to principles, in particular to equality, fairness and human rights at home and abroad. Whether it be on the factory floor or the international stage, Gordon McIntosh was a ceaseless advocate for the rights of others. His death is a loss for our movement. Again, I express the opposition's condolences to his family and friends.