Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was unable to be in the chamber at the time appointed for the condolence motion for Peter Morris and I seek to make a contribution this evening.

Peter Morris was one of Newcastle's great Labor figures, representing the people of Shortland from 1972 to 1998 and serving as a cabinet minister in the Hawke government from 1983 to 1990. When Peter Morris came into the parliament, Newcastle was a big industrial city, BHP was at the centre of it, and its streets were filled with steelworkers, stevedores, seamen, skilled tradespeople and their families. Newcastle has always been a union town and a Labor town but, during the 1970s, Labor politics in Newcastle was something else. Its political culture was genuinely unique, and everything was hard-fought.

Peter Morris came to the parliament with the support of Newcastle's rank and file Labor leadership, and they backed him relentlessly through a very hard battle, a preselection with ballot after ballot that went all the way to the federal executive, an epic battle in the history of the New South Wales branch. But having entered in that way, he then had the privilege of serving for some 30 years, representing the people of Shortland and serving the country as a cabinet minister who delivered the upgrade of 16,000 kilometres of national highway which, at the time, was the largest civil works program in Australian history. He was a big player during the major program of reform which took place during the Hawke period. He led reform of the interstate trucking industry, revitalised the railways and opened up commercial aviation by terminating the two-airline agreement.

For Peter Morris, these reforms weren't about the infrastructure or about the lines on a spreadsheet; they were always about creating a better standard of living for ordinary people right across the country. After his time as transport minister, he put together the Ships of Shame report, a piece of work that shone a light on the outrageous conditions faced by seafarers in international shipping ,and that report changed people's lives for the better too, not just for Australian seafarers but for maritime workers all around the world.

I should say that the city of Newcastle also had a great privilege of being served by two Morris's in the House of Representatives at the same time, with Peter's brother Allan serving as the member for Newcastle from 1983 to 2001.

As a parliamentarian, Peter Morris was a person who had a reputation for being incredibly proper. He was always in a suit and, no matter the intensity of the debate or some of the more robust internal struggles that Labor went through in that era, he was unfailingly polite and courteous to all. As a result, he was someone very well respected across the parliament and in his community. That is something he shares with his niece Julia Morris, a good friend to me, and someone many senators and members will know due to her extensive work in the parliamentary committee system over the years. So from the bottom of my heart, I wish to pay my respects to Peter Morris and to the whole Morris family. Peter Morris served Newcastle, Novocastrians and the Australian people with great distinction. Vale, Peter Morris.