Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today on behalf of the National Party to acknowledge the passing of Graham Frederick Richardson, a formidable figure in Australian politics, and, for many of us in this chamber, a reminder of a different era of parliamentary life. Much has been said about Graham Richardson, the Labor warrior, factional operator, powerbroker, fixer and colourful Labor identity. He understood his role in the labour movement, as evidenced by his autobiography, with the title Whatever It Takes, a book that became a must-read text for a generation of political aspirants. But today I want to reflect on the Richardson who does not always appear in the official biographies, one I came to know personally.

When I was a young senator, particularly as Deputy Leader of the National Party, many years ago, Graham was unexpectedly generous with his time and advice, despite coming from opposite sides of politics. When others on your own side are telling you to bide your time, Graham was encouraging, enthusiastic and, of course, unfailingly direct about not wasting a moment in this place.

Born in Sydney in 1949, the son of a respected union official and a mother who worked as his father's office manager, Richardson was shaped early by the Labor movement and the realities of working-class life. His parents were not Labor Party members, but they were fiercely anti-Communist, a sentiment that informed his later ruthless and absolutely single-minded determination to keep the New South Wales Left at bay, including stomping on the early career of our now prime minister.

Richardson joined the Labor Party as a teenager and, after a brief period at university, plunged straight into the world of political organising. He was a fast learner. By his 20s, he was already a key operative in the New South Wales Labor machine, and, by the late seventies, he was the party's state secretary, navigating the brutal factional battles of the era. He entered the Senate in 1983, beginning a parliamentary career that saw him serve as minister, negotiator, tactician and political lightning rod. Graham Richardson was undeniably a senator to his core. Those of us who've been here for a long time know when we meet a senator's senator, as opposed to other people here who aren't senators' senators.

He understood the importance of this chamber—