Three Party Members that will always be rememberedSadly, three staunch Party Members passed away this month. Each were heavily involved with the Labor Party and good friends to many supporters.
Ruth Coleman
Ruth Coleman was born in Collie on 27 September 1931: the third of four children to Alice and Vincent Huckstep, a railway ganger who continually moved from camp to camp in the WA outback.
Ruth was elected to the Senate in 1974 -- a wife and mother, and just the eigth female Senator in Australia. She served in Parliament for 14 years and her feistiness remained legendary.
Ruth is famously credited for breaking the male domination of toilets at Parliament House. At the time, there were just two toilets: one marked 'Senators', and the other marked 'Officials'. To the unease of her male colleagues, Ruth used the 'Senators' toilet until the 'Officials' toilet eventually became the Ladies. She later said that using the Senator toilet cubicles let her overhear some useful conversations!
Throughout her lifetime, Ruth was a tireless crusador for a range of social, environmental and economic issues -- she was never one to give in lightly. In one case, she took to the streets of Perth in 1979 against the Court Liberal government’s use of Section 54B of the Police Act, which banned meetings of more than three people in a public place without police permission. She was subsequently arrested alongside 40 others but Ruth risked being sent to jail rather than paying the $20 fine. Someone later anonymously paid the fine on her behalf.
But Ruth will probably be best remembered for her strong anti-nuclear campaigning. She helped form Women Against Uranium Mining in 1979, supported the Campaign Against Nuclear Energy and People for Nuclear Disarmament, campaigned against visiting US nuclear-armed ships, and on one occasion she spoke at a 10000-strong rally where people linked arms across the railway line leading to the American support ships.
Ruth also worked hard in Parliament. She filled many committee roles and towards the end of her term she occupied the Senate President's chair.
Ruth made history and she's ben a fantastic role model for all women. She left behind a son, a daughter, and three grandchildren.
John Cumbers
There has never been a more enthusiastic Branch and Party Member than John Cumbers.
He held a number of positions in the Darling Range Branch, including Membership Officer, Secretary, and delegate to the Hasluck Electorate Council. He was also a State Conference Delegate and a deligent volunteer at many conferences.
John was a wonderful Labor supporter who worked tirelessly for the Darling Range Branch and 2007 Labor Hasluck Campaign.
John was passionate about social justice and the environment. He was also passionate about the Party and he was selfless in the way he devoted so much of his time and energy.
John's dedicatation and commitment never waned regardless of what he was doing: whether he was handing out campaign material in the early morning at the Midland Train Station, compiling a picture montage on powerpoint showing all of the volunteers at work, organising a badge making for a fundraiser, or orchestrating the "battle of the balloons" competition with the Liberals at the Kalamunda and Midland markets. John always stayed until the job was done.
He was deeply committed to making the world a better place, but his great loves in his life were his three kids and his partner, Eileen. Our sympathy goes to them all.
Fred McKenzie
Fred was liked by everyone in the Party and respected by his parliamentary colleagues. Below are edited tributes recently paid by Kim Chance, Leader of the House, and Nick Griffiths, President of the House, in Parliament.
Kim Chance, Leader of the House:- When we look at the record of Fred McKenzie’s public life—that record that is now available to us all in the parliamentary biographical register—we see a record that is very much factual. The register contains brief references to what a member did in his or her time in public life, not only within the Parliament. However, when we go through these very brief references we actually get a great deal of understanding about the person that Fred McKenzie was, the events that shaped him and the passion that he had to serve his fellow human beings. We learn that Fred was born during the Great Depression. He grew up in Perth and in the goldfields during the challenging years of the Second World War and the early post-war period when, within Australia, the most significant changes in history occurred to our demographic: the huge flow of immigration from war-torn Europe and changes which led to what is the make-up of modern Australia as we know it now. We can actually read in Fred’s role in all of that just from those brief references in the record to his public life. It was a period of internationalisation of Australia such that our nation had never experienced before or even since. It was a time when our days as a far-flung British enclave in the Indian Ocean ended forever. It was also a period of immense growth, both socially and economically.
The formal role of people within the labour movement in driving that growth was probably greater than at any time in our nation’s history, and that was when Fred McKenzie made his mark in the world. Fred, quite apart from his performance in this chamber, was one of the giants of the railway industry in Western Australia. Apart from his early employment in the building industry followed by his military service, I was interested to note that he had attained the rank of sergeant; a rank that he never really lost, although I think “sergeant major” would have been more effective! However, Fred attained the rank of sergeant through both national service and later with the Citizens Military Force. Apart from those early years up to and including 1954, Fred’s whole working life was all about rail; all the way from his time as a trainee guard with Midland rail right through to being a long-term member of the executive committee of Midland Railway Company and to the leadership positions he held in the powerful Australian Railways Union, which ultimately led to his election to this place. However, Fred and railways could never be separated; they were always one and the same thing. Other honourable members who have had the privilege of serving in this place with Fred will recall that any speech could be turned into a speech about railways. I served one year with Fred in 1992. I recall coming into the chamber after dinner one evening and saying to, I think, Tom Helm, “What’s happening tonight, Tom?” He said “Fred’s got a big speech tonight.” I said, “Good; what’s it on?” He said, “Railways”. I said, “But, Tom, we are dealing with the Medical Amendment Bill.” He said, “That’s okay; Fred will get it around to railways some time”; and he did, as he always did! The amazing thing was that by the time Fred got to the end of the speech, we realised that railways, in particular the Midland railway workshops, were absolutely vital to the progress of the Medical Amendment Bill!
Fred’s commitment, though, went much broader than that. Fred, as we all know, had an immense heart and an immense sense of compassion for his fellow man. When we read through the service that Fred gave in a range of diverse community service organisations, and I suspect this record contains only a sample of Fred’s service, we begin to understand something about who the man was. He had an immense heart. He was an enormously generous man. We hear it said sometimes of people that such-and-such did not have an enemy in the world. Generally we know that that is not quite right. However, when people say it about Fred, everybody instinctively agrees with them, as Fred was one of those people who could never have had an enemy in the world because he never did the wrong thing by anyone. Somebody who served three years as the opposition Whip and 10 years as the government Whip and we still cannot find anything bad to say about him is a pretty impressive character.
Fred was in the Parliament only recently, I understand. Sadly, I did not get a chance to see him on that occasion. However, those who did reported that Fred was hale and hearty and his same old self. I guess that is the way we will always remember Fred. I certainly will always remember him in my first year in Parliament, and the way he protected me, took me under his wing and showed me what to do and what not to do. He was like that with every single member of Parliament, no matter what their time of service had been.
This record makes a very brief reference to the fact that in August 1962 Fred married Helen. It does tell us that they went on to have two children—a son, Scott, and a daughter, Terri-Ellen. What the record cannot possibly tell us is that Fred’s whole world revolved around Helen, Scott and Terri-Ellen. In my own way, I take this opportunity to express the government’s enormous sympathy and compassion to Helen, Scott, and Terri-Ellen for the loss of a giant.
Nick Griffiths, President of the House:- I have known Fred McKenzie since before he was elected to Parliament. He was a man of great principle and was very ethical, as members who have spoken have pointed out. He was a trade unionist who loved the railways. He could always say something about the railways when he spoke on any topic in the sense that he was always on track. He was the government Whip for the period leading up to the change of government in 1993 and was a member of this house for 16 years, from 1977 to 1993. In the last term, from 1989 to 1993, he was the member for East Metropolitan Region.
When Fred retired from Parliament he of course left his electorate office. I had the good fortune to take over his electorate office. Notwithstanding the fact that Fred retired, he was a frequent visitor to my electorate office. I understand he was last there on Monday. Fred never retired; he always made sure that one of his successors had plenty of constituents to see and he was always on hand to give me good advice whether I asked for it or not. However, it was consistently very good advice.
I have had the privilege of knowing him and Helen for a very long time. I knew him before he was a member of Parliament, I knew him when he was a member of Parliament, and I knew him subsequently. Since he ceased being a member of Parliament, I saw him engaged in many activities. He was very active in the Australian Labor Party. Other members who have spoken have made reference to his role as a returning officer. This was volunteer stuff. He did many things in the wider community. He was a man who loved food. Helen is one of the best cooks in Western Australia; she is an absolute legend. I know that not only because I have tasted her cooking but because Fred McKenzie told me so, and Fred, as has been said, is a man of his word. There are a couple of aspects about his love of food I should mention: first and foremost his love of Helen’s cooking; second his devotion to his community. He was someone who loved people. He was very active with the meals on wheels organisation. He used to take meals to people who could not look after themselves, notwithstanding the fact that, from time to time, he had health difficulties. The other aspect I should mention—again members have referred to this—out of respect for his relationship with parliamentary staff, he was a great customer of the parliamentary refreshment rooms. He loved coming here. He loved saying hello to the staff and to other members. He was here regularly. He was also very active in attending former members’ functions, including regular get-togethers that occurred at Parliament House.
He had many interests. One of them was that when he was a member of Parliament he would regularly leave his electorate office for a few minutes and go to the “bank”. When he went to the “bank”, he made a lot of deposits but rarely made withdrawals. The “bank”, of course, was what he used to call his local branch of the TAB. He had a tremendous love of racing, which he kept up; he continued to donate. That was his preferred method of giving money to the community. He did not have the same view of the casino, but he was very tolerant of people who went to it. In particular, he was very tolerant of Helen, because she preferred that method. Members should forgive me, but I do know Fred. He liked playing bowls, as did Helen. I last played bowls with him at the recent Parliamentary Bowling Carnival in Sydney. I felt that I should have apologised to him, but I did not. I was the skipper and Fred was on the team. There were quite a few teams playing and we got the wooden spoon. Fred was a very good bowler—I do not want to talk about my bowling—and he loved playing bowls. He particularly loved playing bowls at the local Belmont RSL. In recent years the parliamentary bowls team has attended the Belmont RSL to play bowls. I think Fred was fairly pleased with that because the last time we went there was last year, and the parliamentary teams defeated the Belmont RSL teams. That was a win for us.
When I think about Fred, I remember his sense of humour, his optimism and his smile. I extend my deepest sympathy to Helen and Scott and Terri-Ellen and their families. Members, please stand to show your respect to the late Hon Fred McKenzie.
