Thursday, 7 April 2022

Hon. Ronald William ‘Bunna’ Walsh

Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (10:01): I rise today to pay tribute to the life and contribution of a former member for Albert Park, Ronald Walsh, known to the world as ‘Bunna’. Bunna lost his long battle with Parkinson’s disease last week at the age of 88. That followed the loss of his beloved wife of 59 years, Lynette, in 2020. Bunna was loved by the Port Melbourne community, as was Lyn, and he loved it in return. He was the father of two children, Karen and Neville, and the loving grandfather of a number of grandchildren. He loved his family and his community, and it shone in all his work.

Bunna was old Port Melbourne at its best, a working-class boy from the borough, born and bred in Port, educated and lived in South. He became a wharf labourer in the 1950s, joined the Australian Labor Party in 1954, was a union official with the Waterside Workers Federation from 1964 to 1979, with a very interesting interlude in 1970 when he was the only person in the history of this Parliament refused the ability to take up his seat in the Legislative Council as a result of a childhood conviction—an ambush by the Liberal Party and a vendetta he held until his dying day, I can assure you. Bunna was an extraordinary person. He was well loved by the community. In his inaugural speech he said he would fight:

… to ensure that tenants, the elderly, the unemployed, the exploited and the working people receive a better deal and that the economy of this State and country is used for the benefit of all …

Vale, Bunna.