Senate debates

Tuesday, 8 May 2012

Condolences

Bowen, Hon. Lionel Frost, AC

4:37 pm

Photo of John HoggJohn Hogg (President) Share this | | Hansard source

It is with deep regret that I inform the Senate of the death, on 1 April 2012, of Hon. Lionel Frost Bowen, a former Deputy Prime Minister, minister and member of the House of Representatives for the division of Kingsford Smith, New South Wales, from 1969 to 1990.

4:38 pm

Photo of John FaulknerJohn Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

by leave—At the request of the Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Evans, I move:

That the Senate records its deep regret at the death, on 1 April 2012, of the Honourable Lionel Frost Bowen, AC, former member for Kingsford-Smith, places on record its appreciation of his long and meritorious public service, and tenders its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement.

This afternoon I want to acknowledge Lionel Bowen's years of public service, his dedication to the Australian Labor Party and his commitment to faith and family. Lionel Bowen was born in Sydney's working-class suburb of Ultimo during the depth of the Depression. In his early life he came to know hardship firsthand. His mother worked day and night as a cleaner to support Lionel. She supported Lionel, his invalid brother and also his grandmother. Lionel himself left school at 14 to help support the family, working first as a messenger and later as a law clerk while attending night school.

In one of those extraordinary coinciden­ces, another Lionel, also in the Labor Party, also a lawyer, also a minister in the Whitlam government and also an Attorney-General of the Commonwealth of Australia—Lionel Murphy—attended the same kindergarten and school as Lionel Bowen. The two Lionels lived just four doors from each other and played together as children. The hardship of Lionel Bowen's youth was disrupted by World War II. He was conscripted and served with the AIF from 1941 to 1945, rising to the rank of corporal. After the war he took advantage of the Chifley government's postwar rehabilitation scheme to study law at the University of Sydney, graduating in 1946. I am sure that these modest beginnings helped shape Lionel Bowen's commitment to Labor. His early struggles ensured that he remained forever conscious of the plight of those on the margins of society. His firsthand experience of retraining after the war showed him the positive role government can play in improving people's lives.

While working as a solicitor, Lionel Bowen stood for Randwick Council in 1948, and so began 42 years in public life. He would serve as Mayor of Randwick twice, first in 1950, at just 27 years of age, and then again in 1955. On council he oversaw the opening of the Windgap School for the Intellectually Disabled at Coogee—a very proud achievement of his time in local government. He would also serve greater Sydney as a member of Sydney County Council from 1957 to 1962.

In 1962 Lionel stepped up to state politics, contesting the then marginal state seat of Randwick, which he won. He became a leading caucus critic as the Heffron and Renshaw Labor governments limped towards defeat in 1965. As a state MP he advocated reforms to the then notorious New South Wales prison system, to liquor licensing laws, to the constraints applying to the issu­ing of taxi plates, and he strongly opposed rent rises for Housing Commission tenants.

Historian David Clune was told by Reg Downing, the eminence grise of the state parliamentary Labor Party of the time, that Lionel Bowen would have been leader if he had stayed in state politics. And Jack Ferguson, from the left, is reported to have approached Lionel to run against Pat Hills for leader, and promised to deliver him the left's votes. But it was not to be, and in 1969 Lionel Bowen left Macquarie Street to succeed Dan Curtin as the federal member for Kingsford Smith. He came to Canberra at a time of transition for the ALP. Party reforms driven by Labor's leader Gough Whitlam were resulting in the ALP broadening its base.

As well as Lionel Bowen, the federal Labor caucus class of 1969 included, amongst others, four doctors—Moss Cass, Doug Everingham, Dick Klugman and Richie Gun; a diplomat, Bill Morrison; a pharmacist, Joe Berinson; an economist, Rex Patterson; an accountant, Chris Hurford; a small businessman, Barry Cohen; and a future Prime Minister, Paul Keating. Bowen shared a cramped office in Old Parliament House with the last of those new arrivals. He was immediately struck by Keating's incredible intensity. From this time onward he would be a confidant and mentor to Keating, who was a man more than 20 years his junior.

Lionel Bowen served as the member for Kingsford Smith for 21 tumultuous years. He was a constant for the party during those years—years of despair and of triumph for the ALP. When Gough Whitlam came to power in 1972 Lionel was elected by caucus to serve in the ministry. Initially underwhelmed, Whitlam offered his congratulations with the dismissive: 'Well, Bowen, you've made it,' to which Lionel tersely replied, 'No bloody thanks to you.' Much is revealed about Lionel Bowen's character in this early exchange. Lionel was never overwhelmed by anyone. He remained unaffected by high office and was never intimidated by those who held it. In the words of close friend 'Johnno' Johnson, he was at home with the kings and the peasants.

Despite Whitlam's initial reticence, his estimation of Bowen would change with Bowen's effective stewardship of the portfolios of Postmaster-General, Special Minister of State and Minister for Manufacturing and Industry in Whitlam's cabinet. In 1973, as acting Minister for Education he oversaw the passage of the Schools Commission Bill by getting a reluctant Country Party to cross the floor under the threat of an early election This legislation, for the first time, saw funding allocated to non-government schools based on need. On hearing that the bill had passed Whitlam is reported to have said, `Comrade, this is terrific. Perhaps you can be my successor.' For Bowen this achievement was more than just a personal triumph. In his own words, it represented 'the most fundamental gain for the cause of equality in Australia.'

My favourite story about Lionel's time as a minister in the Whitlam government is one he told me over a cup of tea in his lounge room five years ago. Lionel, who was a great raconteur, reminisced about a trade mission to the Kremlin in 1975 when, along with Gough, he met with Alexei Kosygin and other Soviet leaders. The meeting dragged. With the aid of a translator, apparently Kosygin said 'I'm delighted to have this meeting. This is the first occasion an Australian Prime Minister has visited the Kremlin, despite the fact we have fought alongside each other in two world wars. Now, let's do something big to honour this occasion, like a major trade announcement. The Soviet Union could take a substantial amount of your wheat and your wool, and you, from Australia, could reciprocate with landing rights for Aeroflot, and take minerals and cargo ships from the Soviet Union.' Gough responded, I am told, to a speechless Kosygin and certainly a stunned Lionel Bowen: 'I don't want to talk with you about mundane things like trade. I want to know what happened to the Grand Duchess Anastasia in 1918.' There was no trade announcement.

Despite Gough's musings after the success of the Schools Commission Bill, Lionel Bowen would not be his successor, but he would challenge for the ALP leadership on two occasions. The first time was against Whitlam himself after Labor's election defeat in 1975. In the ballot, Whitlam received the official endorsement of the dominant right-wing faction of the New South Wales branch of the ALP, including the support of its supremo, John Ducker. Lionel Bowen refused the entreaties of his own New South Wales right-wing power base to withdraw from that contest. The result: Whitlam received 36 votes to Bowen's 14 and Frank Crean's 13. The second leadership ballot occurred after Labor's defeat in the 1977 election, when Lionel was defeated by Bill Hayden more narrowly: 35 votes to 22. After that setback, Lionel Bowen immediately contested and won the next ballot, for deputy leadership of the federal parliamentary Labor Party, defeating the incumbent, Tom Uren, Mick Young and Ralph Willis.

Perhaps in those dark years after the defeat of the Whitlam government, a less committed, less dedicated man may have been content with a quarter of a century of meritorious public service across four tiers of government. But Lionel Bowen would continue to serve for more than seven years of opposition during the Fraser government. In his biography of Bill Hayden, John Stubbs reflected on those years of opposition:

Relations between Fraser and the Opposition remained acrimonious throughout Hayden's term as leader. Within weeks of Hayden becoming Opposition Leader, Fraser summoned him and his deputy Lionel Bowen to his office to inform them of some matters connected with security. Hayden nodded his head occasionally as Fraser spoke, but there was no response at all from Bowen. Eventually Fraser asked Bowen what was wrong with him. Bowen answered; 'I'm listening. It's just that I don't trust you, you bastard.' As they left Hayden congratulated Bowen for being so direct with the Prime Minister.

After Bill Hayden's replacement by Bob Hawke as Labor leader and Hawke's victory in the 1983 election a little over a month later, Lionel Bowen was to serve again in cabinet as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Trade and Attorney-General in the Hawke government. As Attorney-General, Bowen convinced a sceptical cabinet to back a comprehensive review of the Constitution. The subsequent referendum in 1988 propo­sed four constitutional reforms: to 'extend the right to trial by jury, to extend freedom of religion, and to ensure fair terms for persons whose property is acquired by any government'; to provide for four-year federal terms; 'to alter the Constitution to provide for fair and democratic parliament­ary elections throughout Australia'; and to give constitu­tional recognition to local government. All four questions were defeated—in fact, so badly that no question received a majority of votes in any state. Despite this, these reforms remain important ambitions for many on the progressive side of politics.

Lionel Bowen would remain Attorney-General and Deputy Prime Minister until his retirement in 1990. He remains the longest serving Deputy Prime Minister in Labor's history. I am pleased that I had the pleasure of serving in caucus with Lionel Bowen—albeit for just a short time—at the end of Lionel's parliamentary career and at the beginning of mine. In retirement, Lionel Bowen served as chairman of the National Gallery of Australia and was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1991 for his contribution to politics and the arts. Through all his years of high office he remained in the same modest Kensington home with his wife Claire. It suited Lionel. It was close to Randwick racecourse and to Maroubra Beach. Horseracing and bodysurf­ing were two of his great passions. The house was simply extended from time to time to accommodate the couple's eight children. Lionel Bowen passed away in this home. He ended life as he lived it: unbowed and with dignity, surrounded by family.

Lionel Bowen saw public service not as a vehicle for personal advancement but as a vocation with the purpose of improving the lives of others and serving in the nation's interest. His time on the national stage never diminished his deep commitment to his local community. As my colleague Senator Bob Carr said—and Bob, of course, knew him so well: 'He knew suburban politics like the back of his hand.'

Lionel Bowen's service to the ALP was not an opportunistic folly based on personal ambition. It was a calling, based on deeply held beliefs and an unremitting dedication to the cause of Labor. Lionel was one who put this cause before his personal interests. He is an example to us all. I offer my sincere sympathy to Lionel's family and friends.

4:56 pm

Photo of Eric AbetzEric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | | Hansard source

Family, church and ALP were Lionel Bowen's three 'great loves'. That was how the Catholic Weekly succinctly eulogised former Deputy Prime Minister Lionel Frost Bowen AC. A Labor mate of his, Johno Johnson, mentioned the same three loves and added a fourth. He said:

Lionel had a number of loves. First was for his family, his Church and God, his political party and his Irish heritage.

Johno Johnson observed that he was 'a man whose integrity shone forth as clear as the noonday sun.'

Objectively, those descriptions are true. Lionel Bowen's political career spanned over four decades—42 years, to be exact—at a local, state and federal level. Everyone who met Lionel Bowen was struck by his essential goodness, his sincerity, his self-effacing nature, his loyalty, his good judgment and his humour. His life is an essay on what is achievable in Australia, this great country of equal opportunity. He rose from a messenger boy to become Deputy Prime Minister—a real-life example of the cream of the Labor movement genuinely rising to the top.

Lionel Bowen was born in the inner Sydney suburb of Ultimo in 1922. His father, Samuel, was a soap maker. His mother was deserted when Lionel was only 10 and was left to tend to her son, her invalid brother and her elderly mother while working as a cleaner—circumstances that forced the young Lionel to leave school at age 14. He became a messenger and a legal clerk and continued to study at night school. During the war he served in the Army, rising to the rank of corporal during his four years of service. Afterwards he studied law at Sydney University under a postwar rehabilitation scheme. Shortly after working as a solicitor he became an alderman of Randwick Council, becoming mayor at age 27. By 39 he was a state member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing the seat of Randwick. In 1969 he was elected to federal parliament as the member for Kingsford Smith.

A speech from 1970 gave an early guide to his character. Touching on the war in Vietnam, he said:

People who are now concerned about their sons are interested in the fact that there should have been a mandate from the Australian people. It is no use saying, as was said in the defence statement, that we cannot confront that Soviet Union. I think the Australian national spirit is such that we should be prepared and in fact would be prepared to confront anybody if the need so arose.

Here was a man who got straight to the essential issue and whose moral convictions led him to the right conclusions.

From 1972 to 1975 Lionel Bowen served as Minister for Manufacturing Industry, Special Minister of State and Postmaster-General in the Whitlam government. In 1975 he was elected deputy opposition leader by the Labor caucus. From 1983 to 1990 he served as Minister for Trade then as Attorney-General and Deputy Prime Minister under Prime Minister Hawke. In 1991 he was deservedly appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia. And it is in his role as Deputy Prime Minister that he is most remembered.

As a minister Lionel Bowen has been described as 'delightful', 'a great minister', 'one of the best'—'he showed courtesy and consideration', was 'playful', was 'even-tempered' and 'full of good humour'. A former public servant shared this anecdote. Lionel Bowen had asked him to fix a problem with Telecom, so the public servant dutifully carried out the instruction. He went back to report to Mr Bowen and, during the time he had taken to carry out the instructions, Mr Bowen had been visited by another minister and had done a 180-degree turn on his original instruction. When the public servant asked Mr Bowen why he replied, 'Ah, champ—never trust a pollie; the double-cross is always on.'

Lionel Bowen was responsible for the Remuneration Tribunal. He asked for draft legislation in the morning and it was done by that evening. It just goes to show that the Public Service, when ably instructed, can move quickly! In 1989 Lionel Bowen became the longest-serving minister from the ranks of the Australian Labor Party in the history of the Australian parliament. At the time Prime Minister Hawke said:

It adds lustre to that achievement, and for honourable members on this side of the House a very special significance, when I say that that record of service will then surpass that of our great and beloved leader Ben Chifley.

After retiring Lionel Bowen spent much of his time as Chairman of the Australian National Gallery in Canberra. This continued an interest foreshadowed by his announce­ment as Special Minister of State in 1974 of a Committee of Inquiry on Museums and National Collections. Mr Bowen was responsible for the beginnings of the Australian National Museum, with a friend of his—Peter Pigott, who was appointed to chair the inquiry and report. He followed through with the idea and made it happen. At the time he noted that the development of museums and collections had been piecemeal, that there was no institution committed to telling the story of Australia to Australians. That is now the role of the National Museum. Bowen followed through with ideas and made things happen.

In the days since Lionel Bowen has left this place, the reputation of politicians as a class has not necessarily risen. In contrast, Lionel Bowen was a man who, if I might say, gave the Labor Party a good name and also gave politics a good name. The parliament could do with more political figures of the ilk of Lionel Bowen—inspired and informed, as he was, by his faith to improve our society. The Daily Telegrapheditorial noted that 'Lionel Bowen was a civilised and dignified presence in Australian politics for more than four decades'. It went on to say that 'Lionel Bowen was from a different era of Australian public life. In many ways it was a better era thanks to politicians of Mr Bowen's style and substance.'

The coalition extends its deepest sympathy to Lionel Bowen's widow, Claire, their five sons, three daughters, 18 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. We thank them for lending him to the service of his nation. We on this side salute Lionel Bowen's distinguished, lengthy and exemplary service to our nation.

5:04 pm

Photo of Bob CarrBob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | | Hansard source

It is a real privilege for me to stand in this chamber and pay tribute to Lionel Bowen. I can remember as a teenager—I must have been 16—going into the New South Wales parliament once, in the school holidays, besotted with politics, and Lionel Bowen, elected member for Randwick in 1962, was there on his feet, talking about a range of things. The issue of state aid was very big. He was saying, 'Menzies is getting credit for state aid to non-state schools, but I was at the last state ALP conference and a bloke in his shirt-sleeves got up and said we ought to be helping these local schools build their science blocks; that's where the idea came from—a bloke at the state ALP conference, not from Bob Menzies.' There was sectarian politics that swirled around both sides in those days. Someone on the other side of the chamber said, 'Yeah, and when it comes you'll be right behind it.' It was a real nasty, narky sectarian interjection. And I remember that later in his speech, a wide-ranging speech, Lionel got on to rent control. Can you believe that rent control prevailed in Sydney's suburbs at the time? Someone from the Liberal side said what a disaster it was—and they were entirely correct—and Lionel said, 'There have been a lot of elections in New South Wales fought on rent control'. It is just a nostalgic thought that comes back to me over all these years. Here was I, a teenager at Matraville High School, besotted with politics, turning up in the gallery of the state parliament to hear the bloke we are memorialising today.

I was honoured to be his campaign director for 18 years and chairman of his federal electoral council for 18 years. I read a lot of his reports in those days. In ways that might even shock Senator Cameron, Lionel was an unabashed protectionist. I would always hear him say, at least at every second FEC meeting, 'Why, in this country we can produce anything; we can manufacture anything.' He was a deep-dyed protectionist. All the standard issues of the time were aired by Lionel, reporting in Randwick Labor Club or Redfern Town Hall, to his federal electoral council. I was lucky enough to be in the chair and hear his wisdom. I backed him in the 1968 preselection, taking him around the members of the Malabar branch, so fondly regarded by Senator Thistlethwaite, right through to today, to see that he got a share of the votes in the Malabar-South Matraville branch, as it then was.

I loved the Bowen stories, such as the story that Senator Faulkner recalled about Lionel Bowen and Gough Whitlam visiting the Kremlin. I tweak my version slightly from the one Senator Faulkner retailed. The Soviet leadership was there to talk about big barter arrangements. They wanted to send us their tractors and get our wheat in return. They would be big trade deals. But Lionel was hugely amused that Gough allegedly said, 'I want to talk about Nicholas II.' He wanted to talk about the last of the Romanovs.

Lionel loved that story and also the one about being appointed Postmaster-General in the Whitlam government—that was his first portfolio. He turned up at the old GPO, where there was a minister's office. The head of the department showed him the office he would use, and Lionel said to him, 'No, I think I will take the office down the corridor,' which was the public servants' area and far more grand, more spacious, more elegant and more of a heritage item.

From that morning he won the heroic battle with the bureaucracy, with the public service. He showed them all the cunning and the strength he had accumulated from his time in local politics in the Eastern Suburbs—those years on Randwick Council, the years fighting for the numbers in the ALP and the years getting elected and campaigning at street corner meetings to hold the seat of Randwick and get into Kingsford Smith. In those days we did have street corner meetings. They were a total waste of time. They would not have shifted one vote. And there was Lionel in those baggy pants of his, his white shirt hanging out over them, with a defective microphone and broadcasting equipment, pounding out a message to uncomprehending shoppers on a Saturday morning at Kingsford or Randwick or Maroubra Junction. But we seemed to endure it; it was good for us.

I remember as his campaign director getting on the phone to him on 12 November 1975, after the dismissal of the Whitlam government. Lionel said, 'Ah, champ, what people seem to want on these campaigns is meetings. They like meetings.' On the Labor side of politics we had become very fond of meetings in the one month during which the budget was blocked in the Senate. So we organised meetings in Botany Town Hall and all the rest. The only people who came were Labor Party loyalists. The rest of the community was not even remotely interested. We received a thumping in Kingsford Smith as well as elsewhere on polling day.

But that was the local politics in which I was able to imbibe, I hope, some of the wisdom of Lionel, delivered in that 'oh, champ' wry, laconic manner that spoke of the racecourse at Randwick, of his life in the suburbs, of his background in the army as a very young man, and of his lone parent mother looking after him. I remember how he was very sad in 1968, I think, when his dear old mum died.

I remember his work for prison reform when he was in the state parliament, which Senator Faulkner referred to. I remember the performance of a play called Fortune and Men's Eyes at the Ensemble Theatre. After the play, which was about savage conditions in an American prison, they turned it over to Lionel Bowen. His work on the state parliamentary committee had illuminated a strong case for prison reform. He spoke about the things he saw in the prisons of New South Wales in the 1960s. He spoke about the shocking sanitary conditions and overcrowding and about the people with severe mental problems—what we call developmental disability today—stranded in the prison system without support or training or education. He spoke about the hopelessness of it. The report he was associated with was a very strong one, and it was the basis for prison reform delivered by Attorney-General Maddison, in the Askin government. But they are very much matters that are on the agenda to this day.

As have other senators, I extend my condolences to the Bowen family, to Claire, to Anne and the seven other children. They can be very proud of their husband's and father's contribution to public life in Australia. He was very proud to be a member of the state parliament and to have in his background the fact of having been Mayor of Randwick and of having served in this national parliament. In 1995, the morning after the night on which I was elected Premier after the votes had finally come in and it had been broadcast on the TV news that my team had been elected to government in New South Wales, I was standing in the Parliament House office, packing cases all around me. It was a shambles. It was very early in the morning and the rest of the staff had not arrived to participate in this happy transition from opposition to government. Out of nowhere appeared this somewhat diminished figure of Lionel Bowen—he had been in retirement and he was beginning at last to look his age, because he had always looked preternaturally young—in the baggy suit and with the wry lopsided smile. It was a measure of our friendship over the decades—our engagement in local politics, me helping him as his campaign director, as someone helping him get preselection votes—that he turned up to say to me, in effect, 'Well, you never succeeded me in my seat as we sort of planned, but I am here as one pro to another to say, "It is nice to see you become Premier."' He shook my hand and his smile and the light in his eyes meant a great deal to me.

5:14 pm

Photo of Scott LudlamScott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | | Hansard source

I would like to add some words on behalf of the Australian Greens team and add our condolences on the passing of former Deputy Prime Minister Lionel Bowen. I have enjoyed listening to the words of Senators Faulkner and Carr in describing the friendships that have lasted through this extraordinary political career. Looking back at the words used to describe Mr Bowen, they are not words often associated with politics. Apart from being described as dyed-in-the-wool Labor he is described as being unassuming, as self-effacing, as modest. These are qualities that are rare for people in our line of work. So modest in fact, the man who apparently once said that charisma was a brand of cheese was barely known outside of politics and outside of the Randwick area. But I think you can say, particularly going back to read some of his comments in his inaugural speech in parliament, that he gave effect to the idea that politics, while being local, can still be pursued on the national stage. He had a long association with a particular beloved part of Sydney but, as he noted in his inaugural speech:

It follows, therefore, that the problems of Kingsford Smith

this is just after he had been elected—

are virtually the problems of the nation, whether they relate to health, housing, pollution or any other matter.

He pursued before it became political jargon the cause of the battler, the cause of people who are disadvantaged in society, and took their cause all the way through to very senior cabinet positions.

Lionel Bowen had an extraordinary career of 42 years in public life, having served in four tiers of Australian political life between 1948 and 1990. It was particularly interesting to see the work he had done, which Senator Faulkner touched on, on proposed constitutional reforms when as Prime Minister Hawke's Attorney he persuaded an apparently sceptical cabinet to back a commission to review the Constitution. It is interesting to note 24 years later how many of these issues are still live, in particular the proposal for constitutional recognition of local government, which is a cause that I took up as local government spokesperson. One day we will get there, but it is remarkable to review how long some of these issues can be on the cards. Four-year terms for federal parliament is an idea that, although I think it would create some real complexities for this place, nonetheless would do the House of Representatives the world of good. Another issue was entrenchment of a range of civil rights. And apparently as Mayor of Randwick in the 1950s he was investigating recycling schemes well ahead of his time. He is described by friends and former colleagues in terms such as this from fellow minister Michael Duffy:

If all politicians, particularly ministers, had such a lack of pretension and conducted themselves as well as Lionel, politicians would be thought a lot more of in the community.

These are words we could all contemplate. There are some beautiful descriptions by Richard Carleton from an interview in 1987 while Mr Bowen was Australia's Attorney-General. Mr Carleton noted:

Mr Bowen is very, very low profile, so low profile in fact he almost shuns publicity.

How extraordinarily times have changed.

Sure, he'll come on television and talk about this or that if you ask him nicely, but he's just as happy not to. He lives in a very unpretentious home in his lower middle-class electorate of Kingsford Smith and when he is here in Canberra it is not the flash Lodge or the first-class hotels for him. No, he lives in a converted garage in the backyard of one of his relatives.

He was, as noted, from a different era of Australian public life. It was an era that I think we can perhaps recall with fondness and with regret at its passing but we can recall why those values were cherished in public life. I am pleased to be able to add the condolences of the Australian Greens to the words of my colleagues, to his widow Claire and his large family.

5:18 pm

Photo of Matt ThistlethwaiteMatt Thistlethwaite (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

It is a humbling honour to pay tribute to Lionel Frost Bowen, a true gentleman, a working-class hero who rose from adversity to become our nation's Deputy Prime Minister. He was my local member for many years. Lionel was a role model for any young person in Labor politics. I was just old enough to remember his time as our nation's Deputy Prime Minister and Attorney-General. When I first met him I was struck by his warm, likeable character and of course his wonderful intelligence. Upon meeting him I read much more about his career and his time in the parliament. The more I read the more I came to admire him: intelligent, hard-working and principled, a man of the people, just as much at home in the betting ring at his beloved Randwick racecourse as he would be meeting the leaders of other nations.

Like many Labor leaders of that time, he was born and raised in difficult circum­stances, in tough financial conditions. As Senator Faulkner pointed out, he was born in the very working class suburb of Ultimo. His mother, Elsie, raised him in tough circum­stances. His father had left the family when he was 10 years old and his mother was forced to care for her invalid brother and her elderly mother and of course raise her son. She did this by working as a cleaner at the local school in the evenings, and as a consequence Lionel saw very little of his mother during his formative years. Despite that, Lionel's character was shaped by his mother's determination to give her son a good education and a pathway out of poverty. Lionel was eternally grateful for his mother's guts and hard work in ensuring that her son grew up to a better life. Lionel never forgot the role his mother played in his advancement.

In 1939 his family moved to a new family home in Mooramie Avenue in Kensington, and that was to become his family home for the rest of his life until his passing on 1 April this year in that very home. I have very fond memories as a child growing up in the eastern suburbs when my family would go for a Chinese meal in Kensington and we would often drive home past Lionel's house in Mooramie Avenue. My father would always say to me when we drove past the Bowen family home how lucky we were to have such a wonderful man, a wonderful Australian, as our local member. Lionel was educated at the local Catholic college, Marcellin, in Randwick. Although he left school at age 14, he served in the Second Australian Imperial Force in World War II and on return studied law, graduating with an LLB in 1946. He then set up a local practice as a solicitor, Bowen and Gerathy Lawyers, and that firm is still in existence today, rather appropriately with his daughter Ann as now one of the managing partners of that practice.

He served for many years on Randwick Council as an alderman and as the mayor. He became the mayor in 1948. It is interesting that at the age of 27, as the mayor, he attended his first mayoral ball with his lady mayoress—none other than his mother, Elsie. His contribution to the city of Randwick was recognised in the 1990s when the local library, in Anzac Parade at Maroubra, was named in his honour.

He served in the New South Wales parliament as a member of the Legislative Assembly from 1962 to 1969 as the member for Randwick. Interestingly, in his first election, at the scrutineering which took place at Randwick Town Hall, a young Liberal Party member by the name of John Howard was to meet his future wife, Janette, then a resident of Daceyville in the local area.

In 1969 he stood for and was successful in the seat of Kingsford Smith and succeeded the former local member, Danny Curtin. At that time Kingsford Smith was a marginal constituency with an electoral margin of less than two per cent. When Lionel retired in 1990, it was well and truly a safe Labor seat, a true reflection of the regard in which Lionel was held by the local residents.

He of course served in the Whitlam and Hawke governments in a number of portfolios already outlined. As Senator Faulkner has noted, he was the sponsor of four unsuccessful referendums, including one advocating four-year terms for this place and the House of Representatives and amendments to recognise local government in our Constitution. But he is probably most remembered, in terms of policy achieve­ments, for his reforms to introduce needs based funding for non-government schools.

Writing in Online Catholics on 13 October 2004, he rather amusingly outlined the process by which he would come to sponsor this bill in the House of Representa­tives. He said:

Gough Whitlam said, "Listen Bowen, you're a Catholic aren't you? This schools report legislation has come back. Beazley is in hospital but I don't know whether I can trust you with this legislation". He said, "I've got Grassby here". I said, "Give it to Grassby, that's the best thing to do".

Whitlam replied:

"No … I want you to have it. I want to get this bill through".

Bowen went on to state:

So I made a speech … I talked about the advantages the Catholic Education system has given to Australia, about the dedication of those who work in it, about the parents who support it. Are you going to deny these children a fair chance to compete on the same basis? … I said the best thing we could do was have a double dissolution on this. We'll take it to the people.

Ralph Hunt and Peter Nixon, two of the Country Party fellows, came round to me afterwards and said, Lionel, you don't really mean that. Of course we do, I said. We'll wipe the floor with you on this issue, you know that.

Some days later, the two chaps from the Country Party came back and said:

There are a couple of schools in our electorates that need a little topping up … Could you help us? …

So when the bill comes back on, I've increased their subsidy. There is a vote. The whole of the Country Party came across the floor and voted with us.

That is an amusing but factual account of that very important reform introduced and successfully passed through this parliament by Lionel Bowen.

In 2008 I had the honour of organising a tribute dinner for Lionel Bowen on behalf of the New South Wales branch, and I met with him and Claire at his home in Kensington. Although his Alzheimer's at the time was visible, I sat and had a cup of tea with him and we talked for an hour about local politics and national politics and despaired about our beloved South Sydney Rabbitohs. The function that occurred was an instant sell-out. Former prime ministers Paul Keating and Bob Hawke made tributes. It was the last occasion on which Lionel Bowen spoke publicly, and he received a standing ovation, a fitting tribute to his service to our party and to this parliament.

On 1 April of this year, Lionel Bowen passed away in the morning. That afternoon the Rabbitohs played the Tigers at the Sydney Football Stadium in the heritage round of the rugby league. With five minutes to go, Lionel's beloved Rabbitohs were down 16-four and all looked lost. At full-time the score was 16-all and the game went into extra time. Amazingly, the Rabbitohs kicked a field goal to secure an unlikely win over the Tigers. I sat and had a beer and watched that game with my brother-in-law. At the conclusion of the game, he turned to me and said, 'How the hell did we win that one?' I simply replied that in my view Lionel Bowen had a hand in that field goal.

I pay tribute to a man who served the people of Kingsford Smith, Randwick and Randwick City Council with distinction and I offer condolences to Claire and his family.

Question agreed to, honourable senators standing in their places.