Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to make a few remarks about Senator Gordon Douglas McIntosh, and in doing so I pay my respects and send my condolences and love to his family and friends. As many have observed today, Senator McIntosh, or Gordon McIntosh, as I knew him, was a principled man. In the mid-eighties, I joined the Labor Party as a very young and naive person, and one of the first members I met at that time was Gordon McIntosh. What I knew about Gordon was he was fierce and he was passionate. I have to say when I met him on committees I was a little afraid of him because he was always a fierce advocate.

Senator Farrell has outlined some of the passions of Gordon Douglas McIntosh, and those values align with mine. He was a fierce advocate for nuclear disarmament, and at that time in the eighties it was a very big issue. It was a big issue confronting Australia and the world. It was a time when we had many visits from American nuclear-powered ships. It was one of the things that I protested about, and it was one of the shared values that I had with Gordon.

He was also a committed unionist. He was a member of the Amalgamated Metal Workers' Union. Not only was he a proud member of the Labor Party but he was a very proud metal worker. You knew that about Gordon, and, as others have said, he had a very strong Scottish accent. He and I would often be on various committees together, and, even though our values aligned and he was a member of the left, as I am, he was someone to be feared and he was someone to be respected.

We also shared Scottish heritage. My grandmother was Scottish, and I'm sure that was one of the things that Gordon tolerated about me as a young, naive person who would ask all sorts of questions that had probably been asked of Gordon a million times before. He was a member of the Manning branch, and that branch still exists today. On East Timor, he was a very strong advocate at a time when Labor's position was probably not as good as it should have been.

So I remember Gordon. I thank him for those early lessons that he afforded me and for the generosity that he allowed those of us who were new to the party. He accepted us with open arms, although I'm sure he often wondered where we came from and why we asked so many silly questions. But he was a man of principle. He was a great mentor. He was someone that you looked up to at a committee meeting or a party meeting because you always knew that Gordon had the line that you wished to aspire to.

So I offer my deep condolences on the passing of Gordon. Let there be many more Gordons who join the Labor Party and represent us with such great honour.