Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to pay tribute to the life of a good friend of mine who passed away last week, Councillor Mike Downie, mayor of the Central Coast Council in the north-west of Tasmania. Mike was born in 1945 and spent his formative years in Victoria. He worked as a plumber around the Collingwood area of Melbourne where, unfortunately, he came into contact with asbestos, and it was that which finally took Mike’s life last week.

Mike and his wife, Kath, came to Tasmania from Victoria in the early 1970s and took over the store at South Riana. They fell in love with that district and, as I understand it, never sought to reside anywhere else. In fact, one of Mike’s last wishes was that he be able to die at home, and fortunately that wish was able to be facilitated. Mike and Kath settled in the district, raised a family, and Mike became a significant identity in that community.

He first ran for local government in 1979 and went on to represent his community for 29½ years in local government—making a significant contribution over many years to that community. When the Penguin municipality was combined with Ulverstone, he went on to maintain a position on what became the Central Coast Council. So he was a councillor for the Penguin Municipal Council from 1979 to 1991, including three years as treasurer, and he was a councillor on the Central Coast Council from 1993 until 2010. He was deputy mayor from 1996 to 1998 and he was mayor from 1998 until 2010. He made a huge contribution over that time to his local community and he was obviously respected by that community, because they continued to elect him as their leader for 12 years.

He was also a founding council representative on the Cradle Coast Authority, an organisation which was formed in 1999 to take over from the then north-west municipal councils association. It was an organisation that was set up with a very different structure: one where the councillors formed a council representatives group and set the policy for the region. A board appointed by that group made the local decisions. It has proved to be a very insightful structure for the region, because it took a lot of the local politics and the parochial politics out of the decision making for the region.

Mike, I think, was the chair of the council representatives group from the outset of that organisation until quite recently, but he is regarded quite rightly as one of the founding fathers of the Cradle Coast Authority. Roger Jaensch, the executive chairman, said last week:

We are going to miss him terribly … He was one of the people who worked very hard to get the idea up and get it right. … And once the authority was formed he held it to account at every turn.

And that was very much the way of Mike. Even though he was part of setting something up, he was always prepared to ask the hard questions and he was always prepared to ensure that an organisation was operating in line with community expectations.

He was a member of many local government bodies—including, the Premier’s Local Government Council from May 2002 to June 2008 and from May this year until September this year, when he passed away. He was a member of the general management committee of the Local Government Association of Tasmania and Cradle Coast Authority representatives group. He was also a council owner representative on the board of the newly created Cradle Mountain Water.

Obviously Mike’s passing has drawn tributes from a number of identities. I know that the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition in Tasmania paid tribute to his family on his passing. But I think Jan Bonde—Mike’s fellow councillor and the acting mayor at the moment—got it right when she made some very poignant comments in our local paper in the last couple of days. She wrote:

Mike will be missed around the council table for his unsurpassed knowledge of local government affairs, his ability to ask the hard questions and stand up for his community, his strong leadership and great sense of humour. In the office, Mike loved to chat with staff, especially when Collingwood had a win, and his easy and friendly manner will be sadly missed …

Mike was a mayor for the people. He loved talking to people, whether in the street helping ratepayers resolve issues or attending the many community functions and events where he always had a joke to share and a positive word. He led by example, wearing his ‘Hello’ badge proudly and believing that our community would be a better place if we lifted our heads, smiled and said ‘Hello’.

I have to say I can only agree with Jan, particularly with regard to Mike and his hello badge. It was a feature. He always wore it on his lapel. In fact, he appeared in national media on a couple of occasions promoting the concept that, if we were all prepared to say hello to each other, the place would be a much warmer place to live in and we would all get on so much better. That was very much a mark of Mike and what he was about. He was about being a warm and friendly face within his community.

He was also known for his love of sport. His sons were very adept athletes and were a feature of the coastal carnivals and you would see Mike at those sorts of events. He took up lawn bowls in the eighties and played division 1 pennant. He also involved himself in the administrative side of local sporting clubs, and as a councillor he worked really hard to see that the Central Coast region had the very best of facilities for the region’s sports. I know that one of the things he was really proud of was the new showgrounds facility that was recently opened at Ulverstone. He did an enormous amount of work with his council to bring the local community together and to actually bring that facility into being. It required a lot of work. There were a lot of groups that had very different perspectives and views on what they wanted as a regional facility, and he managed to bring them all together. He really did work hard to pull those things together.

Mike was also a candidate for state political office in 2002 for the Liberal Party. Unfortunately he was unsuccessful, by virtue of the vagaries of the Hare-Clark system in Tasmania; Mike got quite a good vote but was not elected. It is just one of those things. He maintained his relationships with all sides of politics and was respected by all sides of politics. I know Bryan Green, the Labor member for Braddon in Tasmania, paid significant tribute to Mike after his passing last week. Mike was prepared to give either side a bit of stick if he felt they deserved it—if it was in the interests of his communities. By the same token, if there were accolades to be handed out, they were handed out in equal measure. He was interested in the best interests of his community. And I think that says a lot about the man.

As I said, he had a number of wishes. One was to pass away at home, and I am delighted that he was able to do that. Another was to die in office, and again it is a mark of the kind of person Mike was that his council facilitated that—he was highly respected. He did not want his illness to be prolonged, and, thankfully, it was not; but he was expected to have more time. Unfortunately that was not the case, and we were all a bit surprised when Mike passed away last week. I suspect too that he wanted to see Collingwood win a flag—he was a great Collingwood supporter—but unfortunately he was taken a little bit too soon to see that happen.

I pass my condolences on to his wife, Kath, who was always at Mike’s side at community events and continues to work for her community, and to their children, Andrew, David, Michelle and Vanessa. Mike was a significant contributor and character within our community, and he was taken from us much too soon.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to 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.