Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, 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 former senator Tsebin Tchen at the age of 78. I convey at the outset the opposition's condolences and my personal condolences to his family and friends. In particular, I extend our sympathies to his daughter, Jacinta, and other family members who are with us in the President's gallery today and to members of the community who have joined us. I also want to express my personal gratitude for their gracious invitation to attend his funeral, which I regret I could not take up.

Bin Tchen and I came from very different political traditions, but we shared an affinity that went beyond party membership. We shared the experience of being Asians in Australia at a time when that was much less common than it is today, and we shared the experience of being the first Asian Australians elected to the Australian parliament.

That meant a great deal to both of us. I think we were always deeply conscious of the responsibility of being the first ones representing, of course, all of the community, but with the additional expectation inherent in representing the parts of the community who hadn't seen their like as political representatives before—because representation does matter: to be it, you have to be able to see it. That was something Senator Tchen understood, as do I. So we knew that, for the many Australians who had never before seen themselves represented in this place, having people in public life and having people in the parliament who looked like them or whose experience mirrored their own could have a huge impact. It could not only change people's lives but also, perhaps more importantly, their perceptions of what was possible. This was a privilege and a responsibility that Tsebin Tchen carried with dignity and with grace.

In this Senate he spoke about how important multiculturalism is to our nation. He saw its nation-building power. He built bridges and changed hearts and minds. He confronted those who were sceptical and helped them find a more understanding perspective. This was particularly important at that time in Australian political history, as my colleague and friend, Senator Cormann, has referenced. This was a period of time where Asian Australians were very much a public focus. Tchen said, in his own words: 'My preference is to build rather than to pull down.' We could do with more like him today.

That a humble man like Tsebin Tchen was able to achieve election as a senator speaks in part to the power of education. Born in China in 1941, it was education that brought the son of a diplomatic family to Australia in the late 1950s after living in several different international locations. Like my dad, who had come to Adelaide as a Colombo Plan scholar to study architecture in the 1960s, Tsebin Tchen found a place in the Australian tertiary education system, at the University of Sydney. He remained in Australia and made his first contribution to civic life in our nation as a town planner and policy analyst after graduation. Along the way, he would become an Australian citizen and join the Liberal Party in the early 1970s. I heartily endorse the former, but I am more reserved about his judgement on the latter. However, the decision he made would set him on a path to our national parliament.

Tsebin Tchen was elected to the Senate for Victoria in 1998 and served for one term, retiring with the expiration of his term on 30 June 2005. His election spoke to the power of change in our country over the previous three decades, the change in attitudes and change in laws that would dismantle the White Australia framework, a structure that had served to prevent people like us and our families from full participation in Australian society. Accompanying this was also a change in outlook, as we transformed from a monocultural outpost of the British Empire to a diverse multicultural nation engaged in our region. Tsebin Tchen recognised this in his first speech in the Senate, identifying these changes as pivotal to Australia's growth and prosperity. He also spoke about his support for reconciliation with Indigenous Australians. As a senator he served on a number of Senate committees, including community affairs, environment, communications, IT, and the arts, a committee which he was a member of for five years. He also held positions, appropriately, on the joint standing committees on migration and on treaties. In fact, his membership of the treaties committee spanned the entirety of his term of service in the Senate, and it was a time where that was a very busy committee, given the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement.

After parliament, Tsebin Tchen's unifying work continued, both formally and informally. I particularly make reference to his roles as a member of the Victorian Multicultural Commission and as a member of the ministerially appointed Australian Multicultural Council. Of this latter appointment, his friends and family should be justly proud.

The meeting of 20 November 2019 in Sydney was his last official meeting, just days before his tragic death. Tchen was also consistent in his support and encouragement of Chinese-Australian community groups.

Throughout his career as a senator and in his life, Tchen demonstrated that every Australian, regardless of cultural or ethnic background, stands equal in our society—equal in rights, equal in capability and equal in opportunities to contribute to the growth and development of the nation for prosperity and for harmony. Ensuring that this continues to be the case, now and for those who come to call Australia home in the future, from wherever they come, must be our continuing project. As we honour his legacy, it is a project all of us should recommit to. As we mourn his passing, once again, I extend my deepest sympathies to Tchen's family and friends.