Tuesday, 1 August 2023

Hon. Thomas William Roper

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop) (12:05): I move:

That this house expresses its sincere sorrow at the death of the Honourable Thomas William Roper and places on record its acknowledgement of the valuable services rendered by him to the Parliament and the people of Victoria as member of the Legislative Assembly for the districts of Brunswick West from 1973 to 1976, Brunswick from 1976 to 1992 and Coburg from 1992 to 1994, and Minister of Health from 1982 to 1985, Minister for Transport from 1985 to 1987, Minister for Planning and Environment and Minister for Consumer Affairs from 1987 to 1990, Treasurer from 1990 to 1992, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs from 1987 to 1990 and from 1991 to 1992, and Minister for Employment, Post-Secondary Education and Training and Minister for Gaming from January to October 1992, and Leader of the House from 1989 to 1992.

Living your values is not always easy. It can mean agitating when others accept the status quo, and doing the right thing is not always the same as doing the popular thing. Tom Roper was a man who lived his values: no matter the circumstance, no matter the challenge, he would always fight for what was right.

Tom was born in New South Wales, and even in his youth he showed the trademark determination we all came to know. At around 12 years old Tom decided to hitchhike from Sydney to Tenterfield. That effort got him on the cover of the Sydney Morning Herald. It was his first media appearance, but it most certainly was not his last. Over his long ministerial career in the Cain and Kirner governments, as we have noted already, he held eight different portfolios, and in every single one of them he stuck to his values.

Tom’s passion and advocacy for the environment shone throughout his 21 years in Parliament. Even before climate change was something we all knew and understood, Tom was working to combat its devastating impact. He fought for stronger protection for the ozone layer and warned against greenhouse gases. At that time it was a concept which may as well have been science fiction to most, but Tom knew just how important it was. Not only did he help start the conversations about climate change, he considered how Victoria could grow and grow sustainably.

Tom took a long-term view – a 40-year view – on urban development. He helped to identify Victoria’s growth corridors to ensure families had a proper place to settle down. He wanted these families to have good hospitals to care for their loved ones and schools that gave every Victorian kid the best start in life. He knew too that Victorians wanted that fairness and deserved that equality no matter their postcode. But that was not the only issue Tom was ahead of the times on.

He was disgusted by the unfair, racist and brutal treatment of Australia’s First Nations people. He supported the 1965 Freedom Ride that shone a light on this segregation. At a time when some Australians felt it acceptable to exclude, his values pushed him to include, so he stood shoulder to shoulder with those who needed him most. He brought that passion and those unwavering values to Victoria. As Aboriginal affairs minister, he was among the first to introduce cultural heritage arrangements protecting sacred sites. His work laid the foundations for the path we now walk on here in this state to reconcile with Victoria’s First Nations people. Reconciliation may not have been popular at the time, but that did not matter to Tom because he knew what was right.

He approached the role of health minister like he approached all portfolios – with his values in tow. Some of those involved in running the health system at the time were comfortable with the old ways, but Tom was all about the new ways, the better ways. For example, his work on tobacco was groundbreaking, leading to smoke-free areas and better support for prevention and those suffering from disease. At a time when smoking was still very common and accepted, he took it on. He stuck to what he knew was right.

It was this dedication to making our health services better that arguably led to his greatest achievement: Tom brought together the former Queen Victoria Medical Centre, Prince Henry’s Hospital and Moorabbin Hospital, creating the Monash Medical Centre, a legacy that has saved countless Victorian lives and will keep on saving lives. The Australian Medical Association spoke fondly of Tom, describing him as particularly hardworking and well informed. In other words, Tom got things done.

Those that knew Tom well also knew that he was a lover of sport, a passionate supporter of Carlton and a wily spin bowler for an indoor cricket team. He liked golf, although he was not quite sure where he hit the ball some of the time. This is according to Tom’s colleague John Harrowfield, who said, as a golfing companion he was a determined, relentless searcher for lost golf balls.

Whilst Tom’s reputation with a golf ball was not the greatest, his reputation as a member of this place and throughout Victoria was of the highest standard. If you needed to find him here late on a sitting day, your better bet was in the library than across in the Strangers bar. He preferred a book in hand rather than a beer. Policy – he was fascinated by policy, policy that made Victoria a better place, policy that gave a fair go to all Victorians, policy that reflected his values. It was that inquisitive and curious nature that made him such a force, and indeed this was reinforced last week when I spoke to David Kennedy, the former both federal member for Bendigo in the federal Parliament and state member for Bendigo who served in this place with Tom. David said that Tom took a committed and intellectual approach to politics. He got hold of issues, he mastered them and then he acted. David firmly stated he was an outstanding minister who was also a wonderful bloke. Tom’s standards were high, and he always held himself to account. So too he expected that of others, and some found that difficult. But a person driven by their values tends to make those known to everyone no matter where you sit in this place. A quote arose after Tom’s passing that sums it up well: ‘It was possible to disagree with the minister, but we’d usually be proven wrong.’ That was Tom. He was focused on doing what was right. If what he was doing was not going to help a Victorian, then he was not particularly interested. He was always approachable to listen to and debate ideas.

Tom too continued his fight long past his career in this place, particularly with Greenfleet. They are establishing a forest previously cleared on a site called Ngulambarra. That means ‘meeting place’, and this forest will help restore an important ecosystem and give refuge to endangered species. It will be known as Tom’s forest. This is where Tom’s ashes will be spread. To his wife Anita, to his children Annabelle, Bronwen and Peter and to his grandchildren Lily, Mackenzie, Primrose, Tuppence, Harry, Gabriel and Molly: Tom was a Labor giant. He fought for what was right, he fought for Victorians and, most importantly, he lived his values. While he may be at peace, that work and that fight still continue, and we will do him proud, just as he did us proud. Vale, Tom Roper.

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (12:13): I am pleased to join in support of this condolence motion on behalf of this side of the house. The passing of the Honourable Thomas Roper this year at the age of 78 marks the loss of a committed former member of this Parliament and minister. Tom served his local community in the inner north with great pride and the Victorian community more generally too. He was a dedicated minister and someone who made a significant contribution to our state and our community’s fabric. Amongst Liberal circles he was known for his approachable and respectful manner. He never shied away from engaging in spirited debates, but he was always willing to listen and weigh up opposing views. Ultimately this approach was designed to produce better outcomes for all Victorians.

Born in the Sydney suburb of Chatswood in 1945, he completed school at North Sydney Boys High School and then went to Sydney University, where he graduated with honours in arts, majoring in history. At Sydney University he became involved in politics and Indigenous issues. He supported the 1965 Freedom Ride to expose and change racial segregation in rural New South Wales, working with the late Charles Perkins, former New South Wales Chief Justice James Spigelman and others. He went on to become an education adviser for the then federal Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Gordon Bryant.

In 1973 Tom was elected to this Parliament. Over the next 21 years he held the seats of Brunswick West, Brunswick and Coburg, reflecting changes in electoral boundaries. He served the Victorian people in this Parliament for 21 years with a ministerial career that spanned many portfolios across 10 years in the Cain and Kirner Labor governments, including treasury, health, transport, planning and the environment, consumer affairs, employment, post-secondary education, gaming and Aboriginal affairs.

Tom considered the creation of the Monash Medical Centre as one of his most significant reforms and achievements. The centre, opened in 1975, brought together the former Queen Victoria Medical Centre, Prince Henry’s Hospital and Moorabbin Hospital to provide integrated state-of-the-art health services. As Minister for Planning and Environment he advanced policies to address the protection of the ozone layer, amongst many other environmentally focused objectives.

After retiring from politics in 1994, Tom Roper went to work in environmental policy. In 2001 he was appointed to the board of Greenfleet, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to protecting the climate by restoring native forests. He was also president of the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council from 2009 to 2015. Tom spent significant time abroad after leaving politics, with his wife Anita, where they continued to promote environmental sustainability. In Washington Tom joined the board of the Climate Institute. He became a conduit linking Australian policymakers with US leaders on environmental issues.

Tom had many interests outside of his work, including history, cooking and most notably sport. In his younger days his chosen sport was Rugby League, but as we have heard, he grew to become a passionate supporter of AFL, including Carlton, something I can readily identify with. He was a proud father and grandfather. On behalf of this side of the house I convey our appreciation for the Honourable Tom Roper’s service to the Victorian Parliament, the Victorian people and the community of which we are all a part, and we extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends. May Tom Roper rest in peace.

Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Health Infrastructure, Minister for Medical Research) (12:17): If you read any eulogy or account of the life of the Honourable Tom Roper and his time in office, it is clear that he used his intellectual weight with real purpose. It is clear he never forgot his reason for entering politics in the first place: to use that intellect, to use his drive to understand the detail of an issue in order to deliver policy and outcomes with purpose for those people who have always relied on Labor governments to do the right thing – that is, working people and those who are disadvantaged in our community.

While I know that throughout his career Tom spent time in a wide range of roles, I would like to focus of course on his time as health minister and his longstanding relationship with Victoria’s health system. Tom spent almost a decade as either the Shadow Minister of Health or as the Minister of Health advocating for a system that works in the best interests of all Victorian people, a task which by all accounts he took to with the same ferocity of purpose that he took to any endeavour throughout his very rich and fulfilled life.

I reflect on the fact that when the Cain government was elected Tom was appointed Minister of Health with two staff members. You can reflect then on how significant his achievements have been. In reflecting on the parallels between Tom’s achievements and the work of the Andrews government I want to take this time to commit to Hansard just how ahead of its time the health agenda of the Cain government was under Tom. As minister Tom oversaw, as we have heard, the creation of the Monash Medical Centre, an amalgamation of the Queen Victoria Medical Centre, Prince Henry’s Hospital and Moorabbin Hospital, with the centre opening on 1 July 1987. Today of course we take for granted the existence of these health services serving Melbourne’s rapidly growing south-eastern population. The Monash Medical Centre is and remains the centrepiece of Monash Health facilities, which now include the children’s hospital and the Victorian Heart Hospital.

It is hard to fathom a Victorian health system without Monash Health and the Monash Medical Centre at its heart. Monash Health today is the largest health service in this state, with over 40 locations catering for more than 20 per cent of metropolitan Melbourne’s population. Wait for it – 3.24 million episodes of care are delivered annually through Monash Health, and of course the Medical Centre has one of the busiest emergency departments in the state. Monash Health also employs more than 14,000 full-time equivalent staff.

Today I want to take this opportunity to reflect on the decisions that Tom Roper made as minister and the enormous impact that those decisions had and continue to have today. The Deputy Premier has already spoken about the important foundational role that Tom played in the Cain government’s leading tobacco reforms, which of course saw the abolition of tobacco sponsorship of sports and arts and the establishment of VicHealth, but Tom did other very progressive things in his time as well. He prepared and negotiated through the Parliament the world’s first comprehensive legislation on IVF, on donation and surrogacy. Just take a moment to think what a job that would have been. I reflect on how important this legislation is, how life changing it has been, and the foundation that it lays for our government’s – the Andrews government’s – work on expanding in-vitro fertilisation, or IVF, as we now call it, making it public here in this state and establishing our first public egg and sperm bank. Public IVF will make the joy of starting a family a reality for so many more Victorians: single parents, couples with fertility challenges and members of our LGBTIQ+ community.

Tom chaired the health ministers conference for some time. That is a role that I have now just taken on, so I can empathise with some of the challenges. However, at the time Tom was chairing it the HIV/AIDS pandemic was sweeping the world, and people were still coming to grips with what this disease meant. I am pleased to be able to report that as a Victorian minister Tom was a leader in our nation’s response to HIV/AIDS through challenging the stigma and discrimination that were very much a part of the initial response to HIV. Tom worked to deliver a response that was informed both by innovation and, most importantly, by compassion. Under Tom’s watch Victoria helped shape the Commonwealth response, including working with community organisations to lead a grassroots response to listen to those people who were most impacted by HIV/AIDS and respond to their needs. This reflected Tom’s approach to policy more broadly, making sure that those who were most impacted or affected by change were brought along in the policy response. We know that it is that groundbreaking response to HIV/AIDS which has informed the way in which we have dealt with so many other communicable diseases, most recently our very successful response to an outbreak of mpox.

Tom also oversaw the first ever long-term health capital works program, foreshadowing the massive $15 billion infrastructure pipeline that we have today. Amongst these big headline achievements, though, I think it is also the more discreet and compassionate side of Tom’s work that shines through in any reflections on his life. When his work program included overhauling mental health services in the state and closing down outdated hospitals for people with disabilities, he ensured that residents of St Nicholas Hospital were afforded community-based accommodation before its closure. It was this kind of eagle-eyed attention to detail and to social justice that weaves through everything Tom achieved in his ministerial career.

On his return to Melbourne in 2008, Tom became a regular visitor to Melbourne’s major hospitals, including Peter Mac, St V’s and the Royal Melbourne Hospital. His complex health issues meant that he interacted with so many aspects of our health system and its services. It was the many health professionals he met along the way who supported him in his endeavours to continue to live life to the fullest. His treatment experience confirmed the quality of Victoria’s health system for Tom. He felt fortunate to be in the best place to receive first-class treatment. He felt privileged to have met many exceptional professionals who treated his immediate health issues and then supported him through programs of rehabilitation.

There are two particular people that I have been asked by Anita to acknowledge, who delivered care to Tom over the long term and for that reason deserve special mention. The first is Professor John Seymour AM from Peter Mac. Professor Seymour oversaw Tom’s cancer treatment for the last 10 years. His wealth of knowledge and experience was invaluable as he navigated the complexity of Tom’s condition. He took the time to thoroughly explain every step of the treatment process, patiently addressing Tom’s concerns and ensuring that he fully understood all the options of care that were available to him. His clear communication style empowered Tom and Anita to make informed decisions together as a team.

The second is Dr Simon Andrade, Tom’s GP, together with the practice nurses from the Collins Street Medical Centre. We all know how important it is to have a great GP, and Dr Andrade and the Collins Street Medical Centre provided personalised care during Tom’s frequent visits as a patient. Dr Andrade’s commitment to Tom’s wellbeing extended beyond the walls of the clinic in providing not only medical care but also emotional support to both Tom and Anita during such a challenging time. He promptly followed up on every aspect of the treatment plan, and his dedication did not waver even during evenings and on weekends, always being just a phone call away for any emergencies or concerns. It is with heartfelt gratitude that Anita expresses her deepest appreciation to both Professor Seymour and Dr Andrade for their exceptional care and support for Tom. The Roper family will always be grateful for the tireless efforts of these health professionals, which they are in no doubt helped prolong the time that they spent together as a family and embody the true definition of remarkable health care.

Tom’s approach to a decade of serious health issues while living overseas and back here in Melbourne was characterised by his resilience. Tom would not let his health setbacks stall his love of life. Tom became wheelchair-bound after a stroke in 2017. Despite this he approached rehab with his usual determination and the often-said motto of ‘There is nothing I can’t do; I just may have to do it differently’. With this mindset Tom continued to actively participate in all aspects of his life with his wife Anita. He refused to let his disability hinder his adventures and his determination.

In this vein it would be remiss of me not to address Tom’s passionate climate sustainability advocacy in his post-ministerial career. As we have heard, in 2001 Tom was appointed to the board of Greenfleet, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to protecting the climate by restoring native forests. Tom was also president of the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council from 2009 to 2015. ASBEC brought together the property and construction sectors across government, industry and academia to improve the sustainability of the built environment, and ASBEC awarded Tom an honorary life fellowship in 2016.

The reason why I wanted to focus on this of course is that the principles that Tom championed throughout his life and that so many of those organisations like ASBEC have also championed are now in place in some of our biggest infrastructure projects. Proudly we are on track to deliver the first all-electric hospital at Melton, which I know is something that Tom would be extraordinarily proud of, and Footscray is also being significantly electrified to ensure that it is a sustainable hospital into the future. Passive design at the heart hospital and water conservation systems at Frankston all owe their design to the legacy of people such as Tom. It is in these projects that Tom’s tenacity to deliver, his attention to detail and his commitment to reform will live on in our health system for years to come, and generations of all Victorians from all walks of life will be better for the life and work of Tom Roper. As our current Labor health minister, it is an honour to be able to continue the legacy of Tom’s work for all Victorians in this chamber. Vale, Tom Roper.

Emma KEALY (Lowan) (12:30): I am pleased to join my parliamentary colleagues in this condolence motion to pay my respects to the late Tom Roper and recognise his contribution to Victoria as a member of this place for over 20 years. I would from the outset like to pay my respects in particular to Tom’s family and friends who are in the gallery today. As someone who did not meet Tom, it has been wonderful to hear the reflections upon his contribution to this place, and not just about him in terms of being an MP over certain periods but about how he did his job. It is very, very clear that Tom was always a passionate advocate for doing what was right for the things that he believed in.

Born in Sydney to a truck-driving father who was later an oil company clerk and a beloved and very proud mother, it was clear from the outset that Tom was a very intelligent man. He was dux at Hunters Hill High School and went on to study at Sydney University, earning a bachelor of arts honours degree in history and government. It was here that Tom’s journey into politics and advocacy really began. Tom was a self-described student activist, seeking changes in attitudes on Australia’s role in Vietnam, around Aboriginal rights and on equality in education.

It was these exact same issues that Tom highlighted in his inaugural speech as an MP. He highlighted the inefficient education systems, our inadequate health facilities and inefficient low-cost housing. It seems that some things do not change over time. He also raised concerns about limited educational support for migrant children, looking at those first-generation Australians who simply were not achieving the same learning outcomes as people who spoke English as a first language. He spoke about his concerns around changes regarding cost shifting to local government and the burden that that put on councils, and he raised that perennial issue of green wedges in the northern suburbs. Of course Tom continued to push all of these key issues that he believed in in every single thing that he did in Parliament. As we have heard today, Tom held a number of ministerial portfolios, most notably the health and transport portfolios, and he was so enormously proud of his most significant legacy, the Monash Medical Centre.

But it is not always what you do, it is how you go about it, and reading through some newspaper articles shows what a character Tom was and his ability to capture a media headline. I was very intrigued to see that he had been photographed with giant toothbrushes, dead possums, powerboats, power drills, tractors, curly drinking straws and of course babies, but he even took time out when he was Minister for Transport to don a stationmaster outfit and feature in a cameo in a TV series for children, Kaboodle. He was always looking at doing things a little bit differently, but most importantly humanising and engaging with the wider community.

Tom will be remembered as an active local member in Brunswick who worked hard for his electorate and added verve to the Labor seats in this chamber. Upon his retirement he did make note and commented to the media that the pressure for all politicians on families is enormous, and it is especially the kids who suffer. After retirement Tom dedicated so much of his time to his family and spent a lot of time by his lovely wife Anita’s side, particularly looking at their shared interest in improving advocacy around climate change through his role in the Climate Institute and Greenfleet but also through the work of the Stroke Foundation. I do thank both Tom and Anita for that ongoing advocacy right until Tom’s last days, and I am sure Anita will continue that work. I extend my sincere condolences to Peter, Annabelle and Bronwen and of course Tom’s beloved wife Anita. Vale, Tom Roper.

Lily D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park – Minister for Climate Action, Minister for Energy and Resources, Minister for the State Electricity Commission) (12:35): I rise to contribute to the condolence motion for the Honourable Tom Roper. Many have said that he is a giant of the labour movement, and he certainly had a major, profound impact on our state in many, many different ways, and for the most of it I think he left a legacy that was well ahead of its time in terms of his dedication to particular causes that really served to carve a pathway for many of us even decades later. We know of his well-loved care for the environment, and he was a very early champion of climate action. He was a force of nature who very much dedicated his life in this house, within his community and of course in retirement to serving the Victorian people and the broader goal of environmental improvement. I certainly do take this opportunity to pass on my heartfelt condolences to his family – his wife Anita, his three children, Peter, Annabelle and Bronwen, and his grandchildren.

Tom of course will be remembered as a very tireless, passionate, smart, kind person who left an impression on everyone who met him. No-one who ever met Tom Roper would forget Tom Roper. I think that is a fair thing to say, and it speaks to the calibre of his person but also of the purpose with which he grabbed life and squeezed every moment out of it – and he absolutely did that. You always understood where you stood with Tom – always – and even though he and I were in different factions and probably different generations, I would say that if there was a Tom Roper around today, he would probably be a member of the left. Others in the audience might suggest differently, but that is more a mark of how the left has changed, I might add, over the last couple of decades. But Tom Roper as he was then would be very much the same Tom Roper if he had started his career today. That is the point that I am making.

He was first elected in 1973 to the seat of Brunswick West. He had a very long and distinguished ministerial career spanning eight portfolios across the Cain and Kirner governments. There were many upheavals during that period, but he performed every role to his utmost and really shone. We do need to remember the fact that, whilst he served in those governments, he also spent a long time in opposition in the very, very lonely days of Labor before 1982, when Labor had been in opposition for many, many years – many decades, I should say. But he was just the person, stepping into opposition at the time that he did, in the early 1970s, to steer and work through a very, very difficult and bumpy period for the Labor Party in terms of its refocus – some people could say ‘refocus’, others could say very fundamental changes in the way that the Labor Party was organised. He was part of that change, and he went along for the journey because he understood and valued the need for the Labor Party to be in government to do the very, very good things that he wasted not a single day in doing when Labor was finally elected in 1982.

Certainly he was a wonderful Minister of Health and also transport; planning and environment; consumer affairs; employment and post-secondary education; and gaming over his decade of service in the cabinet. He also served as Treasurer from 1990 to 1992 and twice as Minister for Aboriginal Affairs between 1987 and 1990 and then from 1991 to 1992. Obviously there were very tumultuous periods towards the end of the Cain–Kirner period, but he was a stand-out in every sense and in every portfolio that he had. Once labelled ‘tenacious Tom’ by the Herald Sun, Tom spent every day as a minister working for the Victorian people and delivering the state-changing ambition which those Labor governments were known for. When I became an adult the first Victorian election that I got to vote in was – I actually missed out on the first Cain government in 1982; I had not quite turned 18, so everyone can work out my age, and that is fine, but I can tell you how happy I was.

They certainly do not make people like Tom anymore, and I think that is very important for us to remember. It was a lifetime commitment, dedicating his life to being an activist. We know of his many writings, his many history lessons that he shared with people, reluctantly or otherwise, certainly on his holidays overseas – and at the memorial we heard a lot of great stories of Tom having planned many of the routes to tourist destinations for Anita and friends, who are here also. He was a historian basically during that whole period. He loved to learn, and he loved to share that knowledge and make the rest of us much wiser for that. Certainly he had a very passionate and steadfast commitment to justice for Aboriginal people in this state, and I can talk at length about that work. He always backed the right causes. He had a knack for understanding what was right and what was wrong, and that is one thing that I think, again, serves us very well to reflect on.

Tom was also of course Minister for Planning and Environment. He very much took a long view on Melbourne, what it could look like and what it should look like. He commenced working on a 40-year urban development plan, identifying growth corridors to accommodate future population growth – and it has served us well for a number of decades, but this is always an evolving area. He taught us so much about how to do those things well. He understood much earlier, more than most people, the risks of climate change. Again, he had a knack of understanding the emerging issues, either for people in their communities, whether it was health or other matters to do with planning – that foresight that he had, but also his sheer application to doing things with them and about them.

He very much advanced protections to the ozone layer with the EPA that were adopted nationally, and that is something that we need to remember him for. I did indicate that he was a forward thinker. He saw the need for dramatic action on climate, and he did something about it. Some of Victoria’s earliest understanding of the implications and the risks of greenhouse gases was initiated under Tom’s guidance, and decades before some caught up – and still some are catching up; they are not quite there. We are much wiser for him. When you have a think about the progress that has been made in this state, across the country and globally – and I would say definitely for this country – the path that he laid the foundations for in terms of our understanding and the tangible things that we could do in government really has served us very, very well. I think today Victoria is very much a leader in a lot of the work that needs to be done in terms of climate and protecting the environment, and that early work was done by Tom Roper, absolutely.

We know that past retirement, he did not finish there; his commitment to climate action followed him into retirement. He was appointed as a board member of the Climate Institute in Washington, DC in 1994, where he was the head of a team that was looking to rescue small islands from rising sea levels. Who would have thought? That was 30 years ago, almost. And in 1999 he became the project director of the Global Sustainable Energy Islands Initiative, which, importantly, aided small island states to introduce renewable energy. In 2001 Tom was appointed to the board of Greenfleet, and that has been mentioned a couple of times. You think you know what it is like, but it is not what it sounds like. But it is very much green, and it is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to protecting the climate by restoring native forests. He was also president of the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council, ASBEC, from 2009 to 2015. Through his drive, ASBEC brought together the property and construction sectors across government, industry and academia to improve the sustainability of the built environment. ASBEC awarded him an honorary life fellowship in 2016.

I had the pleasure during that period to become reacquainted with Tom and had many meetings with him on a number of occasions during that period. He was as steadfast, committed and purpose driven as he ever was when he was in his career in politics – such was the person who would never let go. I think at some point someone described him as a dog with a bone, and he certainly was that, and we were lucky that he was because he did so much.

At his memorial I joined with hundreds of others who gathered to remember him in all of the parts of his life that people were happy to share with us, including his personal life – spending a lot of time with grandchildren and becoming connected to a son that he never understood that he had until late in life and the great love that came from that for everyone, I think, that shared in that discovery. At the end of the day, the most fitting way to have really marked the measure of Tom Roper and everything that he was able to achieve was the creation of Tom’s forest, as the Deputy Premier referred to it earlier, a lasting legacy created through Greenfleet within Ngulambarra in his memory. Certainly that really talks to his commitment around sustainability and climate and the role that the natural environment can play when we nurture it to be able to help mitigate against the worst aspects of climate change.

Robert Fordham also shared at the time, and Robert was a contemporary member of Parliament, but he was, I think, Deputy Premier at one point – I am looking at Anita, definitely – and was a very firm friend of Tom’s during that period. He shared at the memorial that he was ‘bloody brave’, ‘a legend in his time’ and ‘a fair taskmaster’. Now, I would argue that you cannot be one without the other; I do not think you can. I do not think you can be bloody brave or a legend in your time unless you are a fair taskmaster, because a fair taskmaster is someone who demands a lot of themselves but also others who go along for the journey. That is a mark of a really true leader and someone who gets things done. He never wasted a day, as I said earlier, squeezing every drop out of life with the drive to do good things for his community and the environment.

I could go on, but I will not. I will finally say that my condolences go to Anita and his children and grandchildren. He was a remarkable man who lived a remarkable life and one who always said, ‘Why can’t we do something? Why can’t I do something?’ I think if we each ask ourselves that very same question in everything we do in life, not only will we be better people but we will make the community a much better place to live.

Tim READ (Brunswick) (12:48): As the member for Brunswick, I am going to make a couple of brief observations and share some reflections of Tom Roper – Mr Roper, as he was to us back in the 1980s when I first heard of him. We were medical students paying attention to what was happening in tobacco control. I think I first heard his name in connection with Victoria’s first Quit program, which was established in about the mid-1980s, and also the Quit organisation which has a longer name but is the tobacco control arm. He became famous, at least in the circles in which I mixed, for those achievements. So I already knew about him when I moved into a house not far from his electorate office, which, if memory serves me, was on the corner of Lygon Street and Glenlyon Road. It became a massage parlour after that, but we will not go there.

I was reading a history by Margie Winstanley from the Cancer Council Victoria from years gone by, and she said that the idea of buying out sports and cultural sponsorship actually originated with Tom Roper. It came from him. That was the genesis of what became the Victorian Tobacco Act 1987, which he introduced to this house, and which – again according to her, I have not gone back through Hansard – passed with the support of both sides of the house. Tom Roper, the health minister David White and I think the opposition health spokesperson – it might have been Mark Birrell at the time – all collaborated to get the Victorian Tobacco Act through in a remarkable display.

It is important to remember that back in the mid-1980s there was a Marlboro ad or a Winfield ad on every second street corner. The tennis and the cricket were sponsored by Benson & Hedges – I am really showing my age here, folks – and the opera and the ballet. People alleged that our sporting and cultural life would collapse if we got rid of tobacco sponsorship. It was the work of Tom Roper and his colleagues here and at the Anti-Cancer Council, as it was then called, in creating the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, which is now known as VicHealth, using a hypothecated tax on smoking to fund arts and sports and so on which removed that as an argument. It just nullified that argument. I will not go into any more detail except to reflect, after the excellent speech from the Minster for Climate Action, on her comment that he had a real knack for picking issues that would stand the test of time. Whether it was climate action or health promotion, we all owe him a lot. Condolences not just to Mr Roper’s family but also to all Victorians. We have really lost a visionary.

Gabrielle WILLIAMS (Dandenong – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Treaty and First Peoples) (12:52): I rise today to join colleagues in offering my condolences on the passing of the Honourable Tom Roper and to acknowledge the significant contribution he made to the state of Victoria. As news of Tom’s passing filtered through the community, my office and our department began to receive a barrage of messages fondly recounting and noting his important contributions, especially in the advancement of Aboriginal rights.

In preparing for this it struck me that his contribution pretty much spans all of my portfolios, and his reformist hands and enormous brain touched all of the work that I currently have the great privilege of carrying forward. But more than that, his influence and his contribution have touched my personal life, as they will have for many in this place and outside of it, particularly his work on IVF, in regulating IVF services, and of course his work in the establishment of Monash Medical Centre. My son is one of the thousands and thousands of IVF children who represent the legacy of just one part of Tom’s work and he also happened to be born at Monash Medical Centre, so two intersections there of extreme importance and two small signs, I guess, or legacies of Tom’s enormous contribution.

Tom achieved, as we have already heard, much in his time across numerous senior portfolios throughout a 21-year parliamentary career and a very significant, it should be said, post-parliamentary contribution as well. It shows not only a man who cared deeply about his job but a man for whom that work was much more than a job. It was a passion and a lifelong dedication, which I think points to exactly why he has the legacy that he has, because it was a heart job. It was something that he cared about long before he entered politics and long after he left politics.

It was his career-long dedication to advancing Aboriginal rights in Victoria and across Australia that I want to spend some time recounting today. Tom’s advocacy began during his time studying arts at Sydney University, where he majored in history. During this time he became involved in student action for Aborigines, which had been set up at the university by prominent Aboriginal activist Charlie Perkins and others. Tom supported the 1965 Freedom Ride, which we heard about in the Deputy Premier’s remarks, an event that exposed and looked to change racial segregation in rural New South Wales, and he worked with Perkins and former New South Wales Chief Justice James Spigelman to that end. He was also involved in significant advocacy action around the 1965 New South Wales state election, where he helped stage a 100-hour vigil outside both party headquarters in a bid to draw attention to Aboriginal rights.

After this experience Tom and several others decided to take their action to the national level, joining Abschol, the Aboriginal affairs department of the National Union of Australian University Students, and in 1967 Tom went to Melbourne and became its national Aboriginal director. During Tom’s leadership he set up a national structure with active committees in all Australian universities. Tom played a really key part in broadening the agenda at this time beyond just a focus on raising funds for educational scholarships to really shining a light on broader issues of systemic injustice affecting Aboriginal people and communities. This included an agenda committed to improving educational opportunities for Aboriginal students and giving practical support to the Gurindji people in their uprising at Wattie Creek.

After three years with the national union, Tom moved to the school of education at La Trobe University, where he was to undertake in-depth research in the area of Aboriginal education and educational inequality. During this time he published a number of books, including The Myth of Equality, which outlined the structural disadvantages experienced between large numbers of students in the public and private sectors, and he also edited the book, Aboriginal Education: The Teacher’s Role. His expertise in the area was noticed at the highest levels, and in 1973 Tom was asked to be the educational adviser for the then federal Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Gordon Bryant, and in the short period in the role before joining the Victorian Parliament in the 1973 election, Tom again had a very significant impact. He helped shift the focus of the Commonwealth department, who would start for the first time an Aboriginal education program, and using the insights from his travels to First Nations reservations in the US, particularly the Navajo, he supported Whitlam to begin the now much-celebrated bilingual educational movement that allowed Aboriginal children to learn in their first languages, something that we continue to talk about and want to drive further even today.

Tom’s focus then turned to Victoria, where he twice held the portfolio of what was then called Aboriginal affairs, firstly in the Cain government and later in the Kirner government. As minister, Tom was amongst the first in Australia to introduce cultural heritage arrangements that codified the protection of Aboriginal historical and sacred sites. In 1987 he worked with the Commonwealth to amend federal legislation to allow Victorian traditional owners to have for the first time a say over cultural heritage decision-making on their country. This principle of self-determination finds its legacy in the strong traditional-owner-led protections that remain in place to this very day and a proud process for ongoing strengthening for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage protections to this day. We have to a very significant degree built on Tom’s work and on the principles that underpinned that work. There is still much more work to do to that end, but he paved the way for Victoria to have the strongest cultural heritage protections in this country, and it is a mantle that we are very proud of.

Tom was to have a particularly deep concern, following the release of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody report, for outcomes for our First Nations people and communities, and he chaired the first ministerial conference that was to engage with the issues that that report outlined. He also oversaw the development of a project funding initiative to enable local Aboriginal co-ops to invest in projects with Indigenous economic and employment outcomes. Throughout his state parliamentary career Tom would continue to keep an eye on federal matters, recounting the pressure he put on the Commonwealth at ministerial council meetings to take responsibility for Aboriginal affairs, helping to instigate pivotal land rights reform.

His lifetime of dedication and advocacy for First Peoples rights is something that has not been lost on community here in Victoria. Outgoing co-chair of the First Peoples Assembly of Victoria Aunty Geraldine Atkinson remembered Tom fondly as a warm man who was great to work with and with whom you could discuss difficult issues freely without him ever becoming defensive or offended. Similarly, at Tom’s state funeral senior Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin told a packed room that he was:

… a man well, well before his time and such a strong campaigner for us.

She went on to say:

All our community is exceptionally proud of you, and we’re sorry [to have lost you].

As we remember Tom today and bid him farewell, we do so as our state embarks upon a process of negotiating treaty, which will commence later this year. In this place we often have cause to reflect on the fact that we all stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. As a man who passionately worked throughout his career to further the rights of First Peoples in this state and across our country, Tom had very sturdy shoulders on which people like me have had the great privilege of standing.

To Anita, to Tom’s children Annabelle, Bronwen and Peter and to his grandchildren, thank you for giving Tom to the service of our state for so long. Our pain can never match yours, but his contribution continues to guide and shape us and will for many, many generations to come. Vale, Tom Roper.

Danny PEARSON (Essendon – Minister for Government Services, Assistant Treasurer, Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC, Minister for Consumer Affairs) (13:01): I join the condolence motion to remember the life of Tom Roper. As mentioned, he was the son of a truck driver. It was an interesting time, those post-war years, when we saw the rollout and expansion of tertiary education that enabled people who would previously have been denied the opportunity for an education to get that education. It was a time when more and more young people from diverse backgrounds started studying at university, and it was a time of great ideas – a way of rethinking the world, a way in which ideas were being influenced by what was happening on university campuses across America and was imported here in terms of the rise of the SDS, Students for a Democratic Society, and the civil rights movement in the US. It must have been an incredibly exciting time for Tom to have been the national Aboriginal affairs officer in that period of 1968 to 1970, right after the 1967 referendum.

As has been mentioned, Tom came to Melbourne from Sydney with that purpose of setting up a scholarship system for Aboriginal children, at the very young age of 22. It obviously was that background that had that profound influence that reverberated down the decades of his life and through the different experiences he had. It led to him being appointed as a ministerial adviser to Gordon Bryant. Gordon Bryant was the member for Wills in that period of time, who was succeeded by Bob Hawke.

When Tom came to this place it was a very difficult time. I often tell people I had a very traumatic childhood because when I was growing up in the 1970s Collingwood always came second in the grand final and the Labor Party always came second in the state election. It was always quite difficult. Tom was clearly a Carlton supporter, and I would probably say on that point nobody is perfect. I did make the observation once to Martin Pakula that if Tony Abbott was a Victorian, he would have barracked for Carlton. Martin had no response to that observation.

When Tom came here in 1973 Labor only had 18 seats in this place and we had lost seven elections in a row. The Liberal Party had 46 seats. The National Party, or the Country Party then, had eight seats and there was one independent. That 1973 election was a real attempt by the Liberal Party to Whitlamise Hamer, and that is talked about in Tim Colebatch’s great biography of Hamer – the fact that the Liberal Party were very adept at that stage at recognising that Hamer was a very, very different leader to Sir Henry Bolte. There were similarities with which Dick could portray his new government, even though it was a government that had been in power since 1955, as being quite different.

In terms of Tom’s work ethic – we have heard about his work ethic as a minister – in that 1973 election he doorknocked half the electorate and personally visited 3000 homes. In terms of being up and about and being out there – and this was a very safe seat – he posed a significant challenge and he worked incredibly hard. That was when he arrived. You would think that maybe things were going to start getting better, but 1976 was probably just as bad, if not worse. The chamber increased in size from 73 seats to 81 seats, but Labor only increased its seats to 21.

I have always been fascinated by the 1976 election. People might think there is something wrong with me, but I will just run you through the roll card. 1976 represented a change in the guard in this place and in the other place. Members who were elected in 1976 included John Cain, Ian Cathie, Steve Crabb, Bill Landeryou, Pauline Toner – who became the first female cabinet minister in the state of Victoria – Evan Walker, Peter Spyker, Jack Simpson, Jeff Kennett, Geoff Coleman, Phil Gude, Graeme Weideman and Rob Knowles. I understand that a Bruce Atkinson stood in Melbourne against Barry Jones for the Liberal Party but lost – I am not sure whether it was the Bruce that we know. Also, Ken Jasper and Pat McNamara. David White was elected at the by-election following the death of Jack Tripovich, who was a member for Doutta Galla.

I say that because of the fact that those members who were elected at that time completely redefined this state over the next 25 years. All of them made significant contributions in their own way, either on this side of the house as ministers of the Crown or in their local communities. John Brumby said at the time that Tom retired that he was a part of the rebirth of Labor in the 1970s. It was a really different time. I do note that in 1979, which was Hamer’s last election, there was a very large swing away from the Liberal Party. Interestingly, as an aside, Tom was opposed by two candidates at that election: the Liberal Party stood a candidate as well as the Communist Party. The Communist Party’s candidate was Philip Herington, who, as many on this side of the house would know, was Andrew Herington’s brother and the last secretary of the Communist Party of Australia. Interestingly, Philip would talk about the fact that as a member of the Community Party he had to host Nicu Ceaușescu, who was Ceaușescu’s son, on a visit here to Monash University. Ceaușescu was, I think by all accounts, according to Philip, a rampaging alcoholic and kleptomaniac. But Philip went on to serve with distinction as a ministerial adviser working with the member for Northcote’s father when it came down to the co-investment of Edison Mission.

When you look at the election of the Cain government, there was a 1982 headline about a ‘Government of graduates’. I think that reflected the fact that Labor in power represented that passage of time when we were a more diverse cohort and a more diverse government. Yes, there were trade union leaders, and yes, there were people who had left school very young – Paul Keating being the epitome of that. But there were people who had the great privilege and experience of going to university, who diversified their skills and were able to make a really significant contribution. At the time there was an argument that this was technocratic labourism. I remember asking a question of Gough Whitlam about that in a letter – I said, ‘Are you familiar with this term?’ – and he rang me at home one night to talk to me about technocratic labourism. It was very interesting living in a shared household in the 1990s when you found that Gough Whitlam was on the other line for you. But it was about recognising the fact that we were trying to professionalise the way in which we could govern and we could administer and that you needed to have more people with more diverse experiences and backgrounds, because diverse organisations make for stronger and better organisations.

It was interesting to note too that Tom made a great contribution in terms of preventative health. I know my colleague the Leader of the House talked to this in her contribution. He specifically talked about the importance of having good recreational facilities in inner urban Melbourne and the importance of public open spaces. I think that certainly this is something that, as we have seen population growth occur at a greater rate in inner Melbourne, still remains a real issue. But the work that Tom did in identifying this as an issue has stood us well. As minister he said he would like to be the minister for health rather than minister for illnesses. I think that that is something that is incredibly important as well.

He also discussed the importance of making sure there were appropriate facilities for people with a mental illness – and the Minister for Mental Health touched on this – as well as for those with an intellectual disability. It was that early recognition that there was a need to make sure that we start embarking on a process of deinstitutionalisation to shift that. That was obviously accelerated when David White became Minister of Health in the second Cain government, but these were important steps.

Tom’s achievements in the capital works area in health included the construction of the Monash Medical Centre, which is just such a fantastic facility that services the south-east of Melbourne. He established a new north wing at Geelong Hospital, he refurbished Box Hill Hospital and he looked at that process of making sure that we decanted the Queen Victoria Hospital to the Monash. He also recognised the importance of community health, and again I think that comes back to the importance of having that level of engagement and focus on the ground at the grassroots level in that preventative space. Interestingly, after the election of the Kennett government, he remained on the front bench briefly, but he handed over the shadow health portfolio to John Thwaites.

After the election, he worked as the Manager of Opposition Business, and I think those of us that are of a certain age remember that the then Labor opposition sought to make a number of points against the Kennett agenda at that time. And this place, as I understand it, had very, very late night sittings to try and identify some of the deficiencies, as the Labor Party saw it, from an opposition’s point of view in relation to the Kennett government’s agenda. But he also acknowledged the fact that his time had passed, and when he indicated that he was retiring before the election, he said that he would train up the class of 1992 and it was right to move on – people like John Brumby, who came down to this place from Doutta Galla, or Peter Batchelor or John Thwaites, that cohort of individuals who worked really hard throughout that period of time.

As Minister for Transport, Jeff Kennett once said that ‘His arrogance knows no bounds’, which I found quite amusing, but also as transport minister he pioneered Port Melbourne and St Kilda light rail and allowed the Sandridge Bridge over the Yarra to remain. I think those of us who celebrate our richness and our diversity, who celebrate multiculturalism, will walk across the Sandridge Bridge and look at the contribution that so many people from all corners of the globe have made to our great city and our great state, and it is a lasting tribute.

As Minister for Planning and Environment he provided heritage protections for over 300 buildings, and it is interesting because if you look at some of the challenges that Dick Hamer got himself into in relation to the Rialto, that represented that changing of the guard, where we started to try to preserve the remnants of Marvellous Melbourne. Looking at the fact that we had this cultural cringe that started really in the 1950s and led up until right through the 70s, where anything that was old was seen as being decrepit and fit to be destroyed despite its innate beauty, because of the time it represented, when we were a truly global city up until the 1890s, he looked at making sure that those protections were in place, and indeed he used innovative techniques to try and deal with that.

A great classic case in point would be if you look at 333 Collins Street, which was the building that broke the bank of South Australia at the time of the recession in the 1990s but was the old Commercial Bank of Australia. He tried to make sure that you keep the facade but you are allowed to build behind it and build up, and that is why we have got some of the great heritage buildings that still exist now. It is for that very reason.

Again recognising the fact that not everyone was as fortunate, as privileged, as others, he looked at making sure there was funding for a special school at the site of the old Coburg North tech school, which I think was a really important contribution. It is interesting when you think back to his times. When he left he was quite concerned and felt that he had not done enough to protect the Upfield line. He was worried that the Upfield line was going to be closed. Thankfully that important corridor services the north to this day, and I note that along its route there have now been further investments made, significant investments made, to make it far more accessible and usable to people in the north.

My colleague the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples talked about the contribution he made as Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and the fact that when he had the great privilege of serving in that portfolio for a second time while also Treasurer of Victoria he handed over a cemetery near Healesville to the Wurundjeri people. I think that if you think about that for a moment, that would have been probably at that stage one of the largest land transfers that existed to First Nations people, and he did that. Again it spoke to his values and the influence he had. As a young student he recognised that this was a challenging issue, and when he had the power to do something about it he did it. He did it because he knew that it was the right thing to do.

In the end he was one of only four cabinet ministers to serve end to end for those 10½ years – Trezise, White, Crabb and Tom – and we are now left only with David White and Steve Crabb. But he made such a huge and profound contribution with the things that he did, the way in which he lived his life and the way in which he went above and beyond to try and make sure that those reforms were done in a very systematic way to make sure that he made a real, rich and meaningful contribution over an extended period of time.

As has been said recently, the environment became something that he was incredibly passionate about. Again, when I read the material that was provided by the parliamentary library – and I want to thank the library for their work and their contribution – I am struck by the fact that what he was talking about 30 years ago really is so germane to today’s debate. I think the Minister for Energy and Resources and Minister for Climate Action has talked to that – the fact that he was able to really identify this as something that needed to be done, and the challenges that he could clearly articulate and identify right back in the mid-1990s are the very issues that we are continuing to confront and challenge today.

He also, I note, after his very sad stroke, which made him lose his mobility – he was required to use a wheelchair – became an advocate for disability on our tram network. He talked about that lived experience of the real challenges of being stuck on a tram and not being able to get off because there were no platforms available. I think that talks to the way in which he was able to use the skills he had acquired as a member of this place to be able, in a very meaningful way, to identify practical measures by which he could to try to effect change. Using his public profile to recognise that this was a very real challenge was something that he was able to do to great effect.

I note that he and Anita both had strokes and were active in relation to providing more research into strokes. They were able to really go out there and highlight this, with Tom again using his public profile in a very public way to highlight the devastating consequences that strokes can have on individuals, and he was able to really put this to great effect in a really public way.

Tom’s legacy lives long and lives large. He worked tirelessly on behalf of his community. He was a great local member who was incredibly connected and engaged. He was a tireless advocate. He lived his values large. He recognised the fact that he needed to really use the great opportunity that political power provided him to give effect to change, and he was a very successful minister. The fact that he managed to serve those 10½ years and served this state with distinction and served his community with distinction I think speaks widely to that.

I really wanted to get up today and speak on this motion because I recognise that times have changed, and that Tom put himself forward. I think the Leader of the House talked about the consequences that public life has on families. He put himself forward. He put himself into the fray at a time when Labor governments were seen in Victoria as abnormal, as like a rare sort of interlude, something infrequent. But he marks that time between the old and the new, and the contribution he made played such a huge role in terms of making Labor relevant to the community and making sure that we were able to embark upon a whole range of reforms and initiatives that still stand this state so well to this day.

When he was asked to talk about his contribution at the end when he retired, he said that:

I’ve always been driven by the fact that my voters don’t just want to elect a member for Coburg, they want to elect a Labor Government.

I think that when he came in and then he was supported by the class of 76, those members wanted that. They wanted the opportunity to lead the state. They wanted the opportunity to govern and to start to implement real, meaningful, legislative reforms that would profoundly impact the lives of ordinary Victorians. That is what motivated him. That is what drove him.

Now, it is easy to some extent to put yourself forward when you think you are going to win, when you think there is a chance. It is very difficult when you think that you have got very little chance of doing that, but he put himself forward at a time of almost like the Labor Party’s darkest hour here in this state, and he stayed the course. He stayed true to his values; he lived his values. He pushed it hard. He worked so incredibly hard and he made such a huge contribution to the state in different ways. He touched the state in so many ways, whether it was in terms of architecture or Indigenous affairs, whether it was about the environment, whether it was about transport, whether it was about the fact that we have now got fantastic light rail that runs right through the southern suburbs of Melbourne, yet we managed to keep the Sandridge Bridge, which really embodies that north–south linkage and celebrates multiculturalism and diversity in our community.

To Anita, his children and his grandchildren, I thank you for sharing Tom with us. Thank you for everything that Tom gave to our state and gave to our community. We are so much richer, we are so much better, for his contribution. Vale, Tom Roper.

Anthony CIANFLONE (Pascoe Vale) (13:19): I rise to convey the sorrow and condolences of the people of Pascoe Vale, Coburg and parts of Brunswick West at the passing of the Honourable Tom Roper and to place on the record my community’s gratitude and sincere thanks for the valuable contribution rendered by Tom through his 20 years of service as the member for Brunswick West from 1973 to 1976, as the member for Brunswick from 1976 to 1992 and as the member for Coburg from 1992 to 1994.

There really is no other way to describe it: Tom Roper genuinely was a Labor giant. In making my first speech to this chamber just in February I paid tribute to Tom as a former local member for much of the area I now humbly represent. In doing so, however, I am sad to say that I never got the chance to meet Tom before his passing, but my family and I, who were his long-time constituents while I was growing up, certainly were aware of who Tom Roper was, as humble beneficiaries of his advocacy and commitment to improving the lives of local working people.

While today’s contributions have highlighted much of Tom’s service as a senior minister in the Cain and Kirner Labor governments over a 10-year period, I would like to draw the house’s attention to some of the influential advocacy Tom undertook on behalf of his constituents locally. In this respect we do not need to go any further than Tom’s first speech to Parliament of 11 September 1973 to see just where his priorities lay as a parliamentarian – where the local community was always at the centre of his work – where he said:

… my main duty … to take whatever steps are necessary to safeguard the interests of my electors … it is my aim that the electorate of Brunswick West should get an equal share in present development programmes. In fact it should receive a better deal to compensate for past difficulties it has suffered.

… My theme really is why can’t “it happen” in Brunswick West and similar less affluent areas?

Hear, hear to that. Over the course of his parliamentary career Tom advocated on a wide number of local issues but mainly on the need to improve local schools, support migrant communities and improve local parklands, sport and recreational facilities. Tom’s insights and conviction around the importance of lifting educational resources and outcomes particularly were striking and remain relevant today for many communities across the northern suburbs when compared to other areas. I quote from his first speech:

… the number of migrant children attending schools in my electorate … are quite staggering … At the Brunswick West Primary School –

for example –

there are 249 students of whom 200 are classified as students for whom English is not the mother language … These students suffer a particular difficulty …

Results from two schools, Brunswick North and Malvern East primary schools, showed that the Brunswick North Primary grade 6 students’:

… average reading ability compared badly with that of the grade 4 children at Malvern East Primary … even though the children at Malvern East Primary … were two years younger.

Many of these children Tom was advocating on behalf of at the time would have been largely from Italian migrant backgrounds as well as Greek, Cypriot, Lebanese, Turkish, Maltese and many other southern European and Mediterranean backgrounds – children of migrant parents who arrived here with nothing but a suitcase on their backs, migrant families who came here with very little in their pockets but a whole lot in their hearts to give to their new country, migrant families such as mine and children such as me and my siblings, who were the beneficiaries of being educated in the very local public schools Tom Roper was advocating on behalf of during his time as the local MP.

I am grateful to have had Tom Roper as my local MP in the early 1990s as I attended Coburg West Primary School, which along with all of our local schools he diligently represented to help lift local educational investment, resourcing and outcomes but particularly for culturally and linguistically diverse children.

When it came to local parklands and open space and sport and recreational facilities Tom was just as fierce an advocate on local issues, as shown in his first speech on these issues, much of which I believe is still actually pretty relevant, particularly given that we as a state government are now increasingly turning our minds towards reforming the planning system and the provision of infrastructure in local communities. Tom said back in 1973:

The paucity of recreational space and facilities in the inner suburban areas of Melbourne is a scandal. In Brunswick, there are 80 acres of park for 50,000 people. If there were enough … space to satisfy the requirements of the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works it would total 350 acres. Coburg is somewhat better off as it has 250 acres of parks and gardens. However, it should have more than 400 acres. The same situation applies in most … inner areas of Melbourne …

He continued by saying:

To make matters worse, Brunswick and Coburg … have lost land to freeways. If Freeway F2 …

was completed along the Merri Creek, which thankfully it was not, thanks to the efforts of Tom Roper and many others at the time such as Ann McGregor, Brunswick would have lost a further 21 acres of parkland, as would Coburg:

There seems to have been no great effort by the Board of Works or the Government to replace the 15 acres of parkland lost to Brunswick in 1967 for the Tullamarine Freeway. That … has still not been fully made up.

Tom would be pleased to know that since then of course the state Labor government has increasingly continued to invest and improve many of our local parks and open spaces through Brunswick and Coburg. However, legacy issues still remain from that era that Tom referred to and that I as a local member am keen to continue working on.

On Saturday 22 July, just recently, I had the pleasure to attend and celebrate the Brunswick Hockey Club’s centenary evening. As part of this evening the 500 or so guests were treated to a video presentation on the long and rich history of the club, which was a victim, sadly, of the Tullamarine Freeway construction referred to by Tom through the loss of the Holbrook Reserve in Brunswick West, which was the club’s original and spiritual home.

Fast-forward to today, and while the club operates from the synthetic pitch it now shares with Brunswick Secondary College, it continues on its quest to find its true home, where it can consolidate its clubrooms, playing field and amenities in the one location, which I look forward to working with the club to help achieve one day in Tom’s honour. Of course, as touched on by the member for Essendon, there are many other landmarks across the electorate – such as the Coburg Special Development School on the old Coburg Tech site and the Upfield rail line, which continues to operate and be enhanced to this very day – which are there because of Tom’s advocacy and efforts.

In preparing my remarks today, I did also speak to many other local Labor people about Tom’s contributions to our community. As described by the Honourable Kelvin Thomson, the former state Labor member for Pascoe Vale:

Tom Roper was a great Member of Parliament and a great human being. His working life started as National Aboriginal Affairs Officer with the National Union of Australian University Students in 1967, quite some time before such work was fashionable.

Originally from Sydney, he moved to Melbourne and managed to secure Labor Party pre-selection … and election to the Victorian Parliament as Member for … Brunswick West at the ripe old age of 28.

On being elected to Parliament, Tom worked with new Labor MPs such as David White, John Cain, Steve Crabb and Rob Jolly, a lot of whom believed, according to Kelvin, that the older MPs ‘had become too comfortable and resigned to Opposition’. Tom Roper and the new MPs created the climate for the change in government in 1982. Kelvin described to me how he served with Tom from 1988 to 1994, and that Tom:

… had two outstanding qualities as a Parliamentarian, which were recognized when he was made Leader of the House. First, he had a remarkable capacity to absorb and remember information. The only person I ever came across –

according to Kelvin –

who carried more information in his head was Gough Whitlam …

Secondly, he was very adept at putting together and communicating an argument, and producing a one liner that got to the heart of the matter. He didn’t have formal legal training, but he prosecuted a case like a barrister, and was rarely bested in an argument.

He wasn’t a soft touch, and he didn’t particularly court popularity.

Kelvin and Tom’s electorates were adjoining. In the run-up to the 1992 election, Kelvin told me, he arranged for Tom to visit and meet with residents of Newlands and East Coburg who were anxious to see a shopping centre retained in the development proposal of the Ministry of Housing project on the corner of Murray Road and Elizabeth Street in East Coburg. Kelvin brought Tom out to hear the arguments of locals, and Kelvin was very keen to do what he could to keep these residents happy.

Murray Road was the shared electoral boundary at that time, and some of the people who came along were also Tom’s constituents, but Kelvin told me that this did not stop Tom from telling them, much to Kelvin’s dismay, that he did not think the government had any business in building shops. Fortunately, Tom later relented, Kelvin told me. I can report to the house today that the shops are still there, thanks to Tom’s efforts at the time, and the member for Preston and I both continue to share that boundary.

Kelvin later stated that Tom was an integral part of the Cain–Kirner Labor years, which transformed Victoria and Victorian politics and showed that government could be used positively and constructively to make people’s lives better in areas such as health, housing, transport and the environment. Labor has now been in power for 20 of the last 24 years in Victoria, and Kelvin believes ‘this is in significant measure due to the legacy and foundations left behind’ by Tom Roper and his ministerial colleagues of that era.

Tom Roper’s successor as the member for Coburg, Carlo Carli, described Tom to me as someone who was a ‘major supporter and advocate of the Brunswick and Coburg area’ and said Tom was especially committed to wanting working-class schools adequately resourced, as I touched on earlier. Tom was a very active local member, a loyal Labor member and a big supporter of Carlo as his successor. Tom was a strong supporter of greenhouse action, carbon reduction and the environment. Locally, Tom supported the establishment of what is the CERES environmental and renewable energy park in East Brunswick, an initiative that was years ahead of popular opinion.

To echo the words of Tom Roper, ‘Why can’t it happen in Brunswick West as well as Coburg and Pascoe Vale?’ I reckon this will be my new mantra in his honour and in his legacy. I seek to do justice to his local contributions now and into the future, so that the children of today in my community can also be the beneficiaries of my service tomorrow – the same legacy he created for me in my area for young people growing up. On behalf of the people of Pascoe Vale, Coburg and parts of Brunswick West, I do extend our deepest condolences to Tom Roper’s family – Anita and his children Annabelle, Bronwen and Peter – and I do thank him for his outstanding local service, which I am honoured to follow in the footsteps of. Vale, Tom Roper.

Michaela SETTLE (Eureka) (13:29): I stand to pay tribute to a great member of Parliament, a son of the labour movement and a good man, Tom Roper. Tom was a legendary member of this Parliament, serving as the member for Brunswick West, Brunswick and finally Coburg from 1973 until 1994, as well as being a minister across eight portfolios over 10 years, including as Treasurer from 1990 to 1992. There have only been 12 different Labor treasurers in the rich history of this state. Tom served in a difficult job at a difficult time, serving with distinction and passion for reform.

Tom was a New South Welshman in his early life, the son of a truck driver. He attended North Sydney Boys High School and later the University of Sydney, where he was a student leader and activist. Like many working-class kids at that time, Tom was the first in his family to go to university, and it is clear that his education and his witnessing of the disparity in education across the wealth divide had a formative impact on his values and his priorities. Tom’s landmark book, The Myth of Equality, was released in 1971 and outlined the disadvantages experienced by a large number of students, in particular in public education. It was well received and became a text in a number of universities across the nation.

Tom won preselection for the seat of Brunswick West and joined this Parliament in 1973, after the election of that year saw the Labor Party reduced to an opposition with fewer than 20 seats. At just 28 years of age and in the aftermath of the Whitlam government’s election, it must have been sobering arriving in this place with such a mountain to climb. In his inaugural speech Tom spoke of his passion for education and his shock at visiting a Brunswick primary school, at a time when Brunswick was well and truly a lower socio-economic suburb, and learning that children in year 6 at the school were performing at the level of year 4 students from the more affluent Malvern East primary just across the Yarra. Tom was never motivated by self-interest or self-gain. He was what is now called a ‘values politician’ who made the wellbeing of Victorians, and especially struggling and vulnerable Victorians, his top priority whenever he was in a position to make or influence decisions. Everything he did, he did wholeheartedly, with his trademark integrity, dedication and respect. Everything he did was with a view to making Victoria a better place for all.

Tom was a scholar, a true student of history with a wide range of interests and passions. When Labor was finally returned to government in 1982 Tom was appointed Minister of Health, where he oversaw landmark reforms that benefit Victorians even today, including the establishment of the Monash Medical Centre. In 1987 he was one of Australia’s first ministers to consider and make First Nations affairs a top-tier issue when, as Aboriginal affairs minister, Tom oversaw arrangements to codify the protection of Aboriginal historical and sacred sites. In this role he was also integral in chairing the ministerial conference to address issues in the Aboriginal deaths in custody royal commission reports. I understand from someone who worked with him during this period, Megan Stoyles, that these were really some of his proudest achievements. Megan talked about the great inspiration he was to work with and for.

Another of Tom’s great passions was the environment, again, back before it was widely considered a top-tier issue. He wisely saw the risks of climate change much earlier than others, and it was through this portfolio and this passion that my mother Christine Forster came to know Tom. I am delighted to say that in more recent years Tom, Anita and Megan have been great friends to my parents and have shared some really wonderful social times. I know that my parents would want Anita and her family to know what great respect they held Tom in and how much they enjoyed the company of both of you.

After Parliament Tom served variously as president of the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council and as a board member of the Climate Institute in Washington, DC. He was Greenfleet’s longest serving board member, during which time over 10 million trees were planted. As has been mentioned, John Thwaites said in his eulogy that in recognition of Tom’s long-term contribution, Greenfleet is establishing a forest on previously cleared land in central Victoria, which will be known as ‘Tom’s forest’. Tom would have been humbled and perhaps even a bit embarrassed by such an honour, but he well and truly deserves that recognition.

As Treasurer of Victoria, Tom always tried to make the economy work for the community, to shield vulnerable Victorians from economic backlash and to invest in the things that matter for working Victorians, like good jobs, schools, hospitals and community services. His investments in making life easier for disabled Victorians, like modifying public transport to make it accessible, were groundbreaking and led the way for other states and other governments to follow. He introduced three-year budget forward estimates as part of the annual state budget process, established the Treasury Corporation of Victoria to ensure the coordination of state borrowing activities and chaired a group made up of members of government and the private sector that developed guidelines for private investment in public infrastructure.

In recent years, when Tom has had numerous health challenges, he was still there to offer advice and to help. I was honoured, along with my good friend and colleague the member for Wendouree, to meet with Tom and Anita in Ballarat in 2021 as they continued to advocate for survivors of stroke. He was that kind of a man: always ready to chip in for the cause.

Tom was a great Victorian, a man who wore his values on his sleeve and an example of someone who selflessly dedicated their life to causes that they believed in. In many ways Tom’s passions were before their time. But history has shown that his early work on environmental causes, support of First Nations Victorians and policies to reduce inequality and protect vulnerable Victorians led the movements that followed, and they place him firmly on the right side of history.

A great man, a great scholar, a soldier of the labour movement, Tom will be dearly missed. I give my heartfelt condolences to Tom’s wife Anita and to his three children, Annabelle, Bronwen and Peter. Thank you for the sacrifices that you must have made to share Tom with all of us. Vale, Tom Roper.

Motion agreed to in silence; members showing unanimous agreement by standing in their places.

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop) (13:38): I move:

That, as a further mark of respect to the memory of the late Honourable Thomas William Roper, the house now adjourns until 2:45 pm today.

Motion agreed to.

House adjourned 1:38 pm.

The SPEAKER took the chair at 2:47 pm.