Tuesday, 29 July 2025

Condolences

Hon Brian James Dixon

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (12:05): I move:

That this house expresses its sincere sorrow at the death of the Honourable Brian James Dixon 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 district of St Kilda from 1964 to 1982 and Minister for Employment and Training from 1981 to 1982, Minister for Youth, Sport and Recreation from 1973 to 1982, Minister of Housing from 1979 to 1981, Minister of Social Welfare from 1976 to 1979 and Assistant Minister of Education from 1973 to 1976.

Clearly Brian Dixon was one of those rare people who left a mark on all that he put his mind to – in sport, in politics and in the community – and in each of them he gave his all. Many Victorians will remember Brian for what he achieved on the football field, and they were some big achievements. He was a five-time premiership player for the Melbourne Football Club, their 1960 best and fairest, a member of their team of the century and a hall of fame inductee. With all of this, in 1964, while still playing footy, Brian was elected to this Parliament – quite a remarkable achievement. In his inaugural speech he spoke about the honour of representing the people of St Kilda and his determination to play his part in building a strong, forward-looking government. He also set out the issues that would define so much of his public life: education, housing and poverty.

Brian believed that education was one of the greatest investments a government could make and that a skilled workforce was the foundation for Victoria’s growth. He also cared deeply about housing, particularly for low-income families and older Victorians, and in that first speech he called for thoughtful, compassionate solutions to meet their needs. He also reflected on the global challenges of poverty and affluence and spoke about the need for governments to lead with principle. And then, for the next 18 years in this place, Brian worked to turn those words into action. He served under Premier Hamer in many, many portfolios, and whether it was across those portfolios of sport or housing, social welfare or employment, Brian always came back to one simple idea: that politics is all about helping people live better lives. That way of thinking led to reforms that still shape our state today.

As chair of Victoria’s Road Safety Committee, Brian helped introduce the world’s first mandatory seatbelt laws in 1970. It is something that is easy to forget today – something that we just take for granted – but at the time this was deeply controversial change. Many argued that seatbelts were indeed dangerous, that they would trap people in cars and keep them from escaping crashes. There was public anger and there was plenty of scepticism, but Brian stood firm. He stood firm by the evidence because he knew how many lives could be saved, and he was so right. In the first year alone, road deaths in Victoria fell by more than 13 per cent, and then what we saw was other states soon followed. Within two years Australia became the first country in the world with nationwide compulsory seatbelt laws, all driven out of Victoria, led by Brian Dixon.

Also, Brian understood the value of prevention in public health. We all know – well, those of us of a certain age do – the Life Be In It campaign that encouraged people of all ages at the time to get active and look after their health. It was a simple message, but one that became part of our state’s story.

Outside of Parliament too, Brian gave his time to countless community causes. He worked to take Aussie Rules to the world and continued to serve in education, sport, and community development long, long after leaving politics. He was a teacher, a sportsman, a reformer, but above all Brian Dixon was someone who believed that public life is about service.

His legacy lives on in the everyday things that we take for granted: in every seatbelt buckled, in every person inspired to get off the couch and get moving and in the many quiet contributions he made to community life. On behalf of the government and on behalf of the people of Victoria, I extend our deepest condolences to Brian’s family, his friends and to everyone who knew and loved him. Vale, Brian Dixon.

Brad BATTIN (Berwick – Leader of the Opposition) (12:10): I rise today on behalf of the opposition to pay tribute to the life of Brian James Dixon. Brian was born in 1936 and grew up in St Kilda, the area he would later represent. He went to Toorak Central state school, Melbourne High School and Melbourne University. In what must have been destiny, Brian’s football coach at Melbourne High was none other than Lindsay Thompson. Before entering Parliament, Brian was a school teacher – head of the economics department at Melbourne Grammar and a lecturer in economics at Melbourne University.

And, as we have heard, Brian played a little bit of football. During that time, between 1954 and 1968, he played 252 games for his beloved Melbourne Demons. This was a record at the time, upon his retirement. During Brian’s time with the club, they won five premierships, and Brian was awarded the club’s best and fairest in 1960, and in 1961 he was awarded the Australia’s best and fairest medal at the Australian National Football Carnival in Brisbane. On top of this, Brian received all-Australian selection in 1961 and was selected in the Melbourne Football Club Team of the Century in 2000, alongside some of the classic names of Ron Barassi Jr, Robert Flower, Norm Smith, Percy Beames, Jim Stynes and Garry Lyon. He was also inducted into the Australian Hall of Fame in 2010. Brian’s football career is all the more incredible when you consider that in 1964 he played in a premiership team at the same time he took up another job, and he continued to play football at the highest level for another four years.

Subsequently he became the coach of what was then described in reports as – sorry North Melbourne supporters – the ‘lowly’ North Melbourne Football Club, for 1971 and 1972. Brian announced his retirement as a coach the day after Henry Bolte resigned, and according to his daughter Judy, who spoke at his state funeral last week, this came after a discussion with Rupert Hamer, who told him he could choose between being a future minister or a football coach. Now, it is a fair history in football, with what he has got there, but his highlight in football came in 1974. Brian played two games at the mighty Berwick Football Club, and in his two games he played alongside Michael Voss’s grandfather, Tuck’s brother – really, Tucky’s brother and it was not a bad team. However, no matter how much we searched we could not find the results of the games. They may have been hidden because he wanted to have a perfect record at Berwick. He was also involved with our local churches and charities in the local area.

As we all know, Brian served as the member for St Kilda for 18 years, between 1964 and 1982, winning six elections and holding a number of significant portfolios, including Assistant Minister of Education, minister of social welfare, housing, employment and training, and Minister for Youth, Sport and Recreation. Very importantly and significantly, Brian was a member of the parliamentary Road Safety Committee, as mentioned, from 1967 until 1973, and was the chair of the committee when Victoria became the first jurisdiction to make wearing seatbelts compulsory and significantly reduced deaths first in Victoria and then around the world. And yes, there were those that were against it, and my father still talks about it, at the time having the protests against putting seatbelts in a Sandman. It was something that was not seen as appropriate, something they did not want, but the changes speak for themselves, and we are seeing safer people and safer roads today.

As a member of Parliament, Brian was always prepared to state his own opinions, whether they were popular with his colleagues or not, on issues such as capital punishment, the decriminalisation of prostitution and whether VFL games should be played on a Sunday. Imagine how he would feel now we have Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday games occasionally.

Brian may have been the only man in history to have held his own against two of the most powerful men of the era, Norm Smith and Henry Bolte.

In Brian’s first speech to Parliament Brian spoke about the importance of home ownership when he said:

It is with some pride that we in Victoria can claim to have the highest rate of home ownership in the world.

Obviously it is sad that it is no longer the case; we would love to see that come back to this state, where home ownership is something the Victorians can strive for in the future.

As a minister, Brian also had many accomplishments. However, his role in the creation and publicising of the worldwide impact of the iconic Life Be In It campaign cannot be overstated. According to former ad man Phillip Adams, Life Be In It became the country’s most famous popular campaign with the highest rates of awareness at the time, even more so than Coke and Marlboro. It was fitting that in our household I had a father who looked very much like Norm. Those that remember Norm – he enjoyed a beer, he did not do a lot of exercise and he wore his very colourful top that said ‘Life. Be in it’ to change. It was those campaigns that genuinely changed people’s lives – that meant people like my father got off the couch and started walking and getting about their activity. It is a campaign that could continue to run today, probably for different reasons: to encourage kids to get away from social media and say to them, ‘Don’t film life. Be in life’. I think it is a great opportunity for us to honour someone like Brian and say that will be our focus moving forward. The campaign to get people moving and keep themselves fit and healthy was a worldwide hit. At its peak it included the program in 50 US cities and 19 European countries. So committed was Brian to promoting and supporting the Life Be In It campaign that he would even turn up to media events dressed as the campaign’s star Norm. No wonder he was awarded the marketing award for Life Be In It.

Brian’s commitment to sport did not end with his impressive football record or his role in the Life Be In It campaign. He was also the founder of the Melbourne Marathon and a significant backer behind Melbourne’s bids for the Olympics in 1988, 1992 and 1996, and he advised on many other Australian bids. Following his defeat in 1982, Brian took up a number of significant roles around Australia, including executive director of the Sydney Swans from 1982 to 1983 and a sports administrator in the Northern Territory, and he was also the president of AFL South Africa.

All of us come into this place hoping to make a difference, but few of us will be able to claim a record as important and significant as that of Brian James Dixon. Brian leaves a massive legacy, and on behalf of the Liberal and National parties I extend our heartfelt thanks to Brian for what he has done in a life well lived and send our condolences to his wife Carmel and his family, friends and colleagues. Vale, Brian Dixon.

Nina TAYLOR (Albert Park) (12:17): I rise today to share my condolences at the sad passing of the Honourable Brian James Dixon, a true Victorian icon whose life was defined by service, integrity and leadership. Mr Dixon’s journey from a modest upbringing delivering newspapers and collecting wood to help support his family to becoming one of Australia’s greatest footballers epitomises the power of determination and community spirit. On the field, as has been stated, Brian played 252 games for the mighty Melbourne Football Club, winning five premierships and earning induction into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. His sporting excellence was matched by his unwavering camaraderie. He was remembered by his friends as a great teammate and by colleagues as one of the very best to grace the game.

In 1964, while still an elite athlete, Brian was elected as the Liberal member for the seat of St Kilda, serving with distinction until 1982. He held numerous ministries, including youth, sport and recreation; employment and training; social welfare; housing; and education, and he was widely regarded for his progressive social reforms and thoughtful leadership. Perhaps his most enduring legacies are in his instrumental roles in launching the Life Be In It campaign – as a gen Xer I can fondly remember that, and it was incredibly impactful; it inspired millions to embrace exercise and healthy living, so that is something to be extremely proud of – and in championing mandatory seatbelt legislation, making Victoria the first place in the world to enact such laws, measures that have undoubtedly saved countless lives. And as Dr Barry Jones fittingly noted at Brian’s state funeral, he was not only an outstanding footballer but also a courageous, dedicated and visionary parliamentarian, whose positive impact crossed political lines. ‘To his family, you have lost a hero,’ he said, and Mr Dixon’s legacy will never be forgotten.

In lieu of flowers the Dixon family asked for donations to FightMND, a cause deeply meaningful to them. Given Brian’s personal experience with motor neurone disease in his family, this is a fitting tribute to a man whose commitment to community service extended to the end. May we honour the Honourable Brian Dixon’s memory by carrying forward his spirit of courage, compassion and purposeful action. Vale, the Honourable Brian Dixon.

Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (12:20): I am pleased to rise on behalf of the Nationals to pay our condolences to the family and friends of Brian James Dixon and to honour his legacy. When preparing speech notes for these condolence motions, there is a lot of enlightenment that goes on, not only in what happened in history in this place but also in the contributions that some have made. More often than not it is quite humbling, and no more so then in reading the history of Brian Dixon.

This was a man who was, in every sense of the word, an overachiever. It is humbling to read his contribution to sporting, political and other life in our community. It has been said: 252 games across 15 seasons for the Melbourne Football Club, best and fairest in a flag-winning season in 1960, All-Australian selection, Tassie Medal in 1961, selected on the wing of Melbourne’s Team of the Century and inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2010. And if that was not enough, for anyone to then go and become a member of Parliament and a minister of the Crown for another 18 years – at the same time, I might add, as being a VFL footballer – is just an extraordinary achievement and in today’s context as well. The bit that got me is that, not content with having played VFL football and being a member of Parliament, several years later he decided to go and coach a VFL team while still being a member of Parliament. The member for Malvern and I might be called upon should Vossy get the chop this year. Deputy Premier, maybe North Melbourne needs someone to start it up again. But it is an extraordinary situation to think that just 50-odd years ago there were members in this place who were still playing at the highest level and/or coaching. It is incredible.

The Premier touched on Brian’s inaugural speech, then called a maiden speech, and no-one who read that would think this was just a footballer who had been preselected and elected to his seat because he was a footballer and he was famous. His contributions in that were eloquent, researched, passionate about education, passionate about housing, and with a fairly good grasp of economics as well. And none of this came from a background of privilege. Brian’s background was quite difficult. His father was a person with a disability who died when Brian was only 14. As the member for Albert Park indicated, Brian undertook a number of jobs as a young boy just to help keep the family going. He then went on to do amazing things.

We have mentioned that he held the seat of St Kilda, and again we might think that back in those days it must have been a much more Liberal-type seat. In fact it was not. It was very, very hard fought every time. The only bit I was a bit disappointed in when reading the history was the 1979 election, when Brian Dixon’s very narrow win in St Kilda was enough to allow the Liberal Party to continue to govern without the support of the Nationals at the time. He did an incredible job. Perhaps it is a reflection of him as a person, as a personality at the time, that in the records that we have here there is a feature piece on Brian Dixon, having been elected in 1964, which was written in 1968 by the ALP candidate that he defeated in the 1967 election. The candidate clearly did not have any concerns about Brian as an MP. He literally went out and wrote a feature piece on him and said, ‘I was the candidate he beat a year ago.’ It was extraordinary that he had done all of those things. As previous speakers have indicated, he then had such a role in the introduction of seatbelts and of course the Life Be In It campaign. Premier, only a few of us in this place can still remember it.

It is an extraordinary legacy. It was also illuminating to discover that Brian Dixon was very good friends with the great athlete Ron Clarke. In fact I think Ron was best man at his Brian’s wedding.

I would like to finish with a couple of comments that Ron made in a piece in the Sunday press in 1974. First of all, Ron Clarke met Brian Dixon as a new student at Melbourne High School. On the first day the teacher said to Ron:

If you sit next to HIM, I wouldn’t give tuppence for your chances of passing at the end of the year.

It seems that Brian was not a favourite of the teachers, but he became a favourite of many others, including Ron Clarke, who said this about him:

… No one more assiduously sought out the truth. He asked question after question – often very searching ones …

He would argue or compete with anyone or anything. Nothing daunted him.

Ron’s piece on Brian finishes with the words:

One thing I do know and know well – as a friend you’ll never find anyone more loyal or truer.

Vale, Brian Dixon.

Tim RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (12:25): It is a great pleasure and privilege to rise on the condolence motion for Brian James Dixon. I do so only really having a glancing knowledge of Brian but having had the great privilege, with a number of members of Parliament, of attending his state funeral service. I had the opportunity to attend on behalf of the Premier and read a poem for Brian and his family.

The mark of a person’s contribution, parliamentary and life contributions, is through the eyes of those that tell the story when they go. When you heard the reflections of those that gave eulogies and contributions there, you got a sense of a remarkable person who had lived lifetimes in one. You could have done a eulogy and a service just on his achievements in football as a hall of famer and five-time premiership player at Melbourne, albeit at the height of 5 foot 9. Ray Groom did a great summary of that during that time.

But it was through the eyes of his daughter Judy Dixon that I think the greatest contribution was made. We would have this through our communities: the lived experience of what your children see as your contribution and how they reflect on that in their adult lives, and how their grandkids see that legacy as something truly extraordinary. Judy’s contribution on the day – the stories of running through Queen’s Hall as kids; the late-night phone calls and visits to the home, because electorate offices were not quite the place to do business at the time; that tireless dedication; the compassion of sitting in an electorate office and hearing Brian go through a housing matter with a constituent in duress – was truly extraordinary.

Barry Jones’s eulogy was something for the ages. It was amazing to see Barry in action. Of course Brian and Barry both went to Melbourne High School. Barry sort of had a conversation with himself, and I think the spirit of Brian, during the eulogy, where he wondered why he was not in the Labor Party with his values. I think that says more about the person – I think the Nationals leader summed it up perfectly. This was someone who was universally admired and who had extreme courage under huge duress. Think of standing up to the likes of Premier Henry Bolte on capital punishment and pleading that someone not be put to death, joining people across the parliamentary divide. The cost that that would have had on your career is one window into the courage and conviction of this man and his legacy.

The seatbelt campaign – any school tour that goes through here has that story each and every day told in this chamber, of ‘Think of a moment in time when seatbelts weren’t a thing,’ and every primary school or secondary school student reflects on that. I said to Judy and Jenny, ‘That’s something that is a legacy that will live on for decades into the future,’ and that is one snippet of the work that Brian Dixon undertook. His first speech is littered with values like the notion of how we support education and build education states – Deputy Premier, if you reflect on his contribution, it is something extraordinary – and our contribution to taxation and how that builds our state and our nation. Some of those really innovative conversations and policies around housing as well were really extraordinary.

To hear those reflections and pass on, on behalf of the Premier and the people of Victoria, our condolences to Carmel Dixon, his wife; to Jamie, Jono, Judy and Jenny, his kids – their contributions were just truly extraordinary; and then to hear the Melbourne Football Club bagpipes as we went out and see the congregation, a who’s who of AFL and Melbourne Football Club luminaries, was truly extraordinary.

I just want to share one particular line that I think sums up his legacy in this place in this poem that I was asked to read – I have never been more nervous and shaking in the coldness of St Patrick’s Cathedral – about the nerves of someone who had such stature in this place as a Victorian and as an Australian. There was one line in that Rudyard Kipling poem that I think sums up Brian extraordinarily well:

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

Vale, Brian James Dixon.

Cindy McLEISH (Eildon) (12:30): Brian Dixon led a life that most people can only dream of, and he did it exceptionally well, with great success on the sporting field and in his professional life. Brian was a man of great conviction and determination. He was a man of intellect who lived and breathed his values every day. He had many passions: his six children, his beloved Melbourne Football Club, the Liberal Party, health and fitness, and MND. Whenever I spoke to Brian he reminded me about the importance of the Life Be In It campaign and how it should be policy again because it has lived on so well. He always had ideas, and a lot of these ideas were about how to combine his passions. He would speak to me about being the president of the past premiership players association and how we could use that perhaps as a fundraising opportunity for one of his causes, MND. It did not matter what he was doing, Brian had ideas. He attributed his success to a number of factors: concentration, determination and courage on and off the field.

It must be said that there were times when Brian could be a little bit difficult. As we have heard, he had humble beginnings. His father suffered poor health; at the time they were told he had a type of muscular paralysis which his family now believe to be MND, and that was a disease Brian’s late eldest son Anthony was also to suffer, hence Brian’s passion. Brian was an only child, and he had strong memories of pushing his father around in a wheelchair. His father, as we have heard, passed away when Brian was 14, and he was raised by his mother Amy. He went to Melbourne High, and this was a school he loved. He maintained a relationship with them all his life, and it was fitting that the choir sang at his state funeral on Friday.

Now we come to his politics. People may have thought that Brian might have been aligned with Labor Party values, but he took a look at them and went, ‘Yeah, nah.’ He had a look at the Liberal Party values and thought this was where he belonged: a party of aspiration, reward for effort, looking after those who needed looking after and, importantly, equality of opportunity, particularly around education. Brian was a true Liberal in Menzies’ fashion, determined to be progressive. He was moderate, socially conscious and very happy to have his opinion heard, always. Elected in 1964 – as we have heard, the same year as he won his fifth and last premiership – as the member for St Kilda. He could have won six premierships; however, he incurred the wrath of Norm Smith by playing in a game between the dentists and the commerce faculty at Melbourne University. That was something he was not supposed to have done, so he did not get selected for that grand final.

He arrived at Parliament, where his passions and values were at play. We have heard his stance on capital punishment, and if you read his speech on that debate, he could not see why you would deal with violence with violence. He worked very collaboratively with opposition members to get that bill through the Parliament in a progressive Hamer government. Remembering he was the member for St Kilda, and they have different types of activity – or they certainly had different types of activity there at the time – Brian was very keen to make a difference to the sex industry, and he did research by chatting with the sex workers to understand their safety needs. He thought that as this was the oldest profession and it was not going to go anywhere, those working in it should be safe, and he put a proposal forward to the Parliament, which you can find in the library, regarding prostitution and massage parlours. I want to read a couple of comments from here, because it was about controlling safety in prostitution and in massage parlours. This was of particular interest – the proposal followed the principles endorsed by the state Liberal Party, which in March 1979 passed the following resolution:

That this State Council –

remembering we are talking about a council moved at the state Liberal Party –

recommends that there should be legislation to the effect that premises for the purpose of prostitution be able to operate only in non-residential areas and subject to stringent controls, and that thereafter more powers be made available for the control of prostitutes soliciting from the streets and utilising illegal premises for the purpose of prostitution.

He put a very detailed paper to Parliament recommending that prostitution be permitted to function in massage parlours in the prescribed areas in Victoria subject to controls and that existing sanctions against street prostitution be retained.

He was very keen that everybody should be protected and safe in their workplace. I am sure that executive director Carolyn Gowers and her team from Project Respect would be really pleased to have seen what Brian put forward in 1979.

Combining his passion for politics and sport, Brian was able to leave Parliament or his ministerial office to scoot off to football training. As has been said, imagine if we had a minister for sport who did the same at the moment – leave this place and scoot off to football training. It was as the Minister for Youth, Sport and Recreation where Brian made his biggest impact. As I said earlier, Brian was an intellect. He was an ideas person who wanted to make a difference, and he believed his role as a minister was to make a difference. He was the Minister for Youth, Sport and Recreation from May 1973 to April 1982, and racing also came under that portfolio. His thinking was some of the best in the world; he was a leader, and he was very serious about the health of the country. Brian was fit. He was a footballer, but he did run 10 marathons – that classifies him as a Spartan. He knew a lot of the programs that the government had were aimed at already healthy, fit people, and he thought, ‘We need to do something different, a different approach to get people off the couch.’ This was the genesis of the Life Be In It campaign, which was rolled out very successfully here, interstate and overseas.

Like all good politicians – you know, kids do get rolled out occasionally – he used his kids in the ads for Life Be In It and for safety – helmets for skateboarding and biking. He had kids running up hills, as well as doing all of the regular stuff like letterboxing. I want to reflect on his role as a minister within the department. I spoke to a couple of people who worked for him at the time. The staff loved him and said he treated people very well. Perry Crosswhite, who some people may know was an Olympian, said he was fantastic – ‘Brian had ideas’, which apparently was pretty unusual for ministers. He had so many ideas and that was infectious. The staff knew that if they too had an idea it was given the light of day. No idea was bad. You could come and present an idea and it would be considered, so there was a buzz in the office and people wanted to come to work. Other department members would come in and they would notice the feeling in the office of that buzz. Perry said it was exciting to come to work. They had a lot of young people.

I want to talk also about Brian’s support for staff, because in 1980 there were the Moscow Olympics, and Malcolm Fraser had his view on what should be happening with the Moscow Olympics and whether people should boycott or not. Brian had a staff member – again, Perry Crosswhite – who was in the Australian basketball team, and it was going to be quite contentious whether Perry was given leave to go to the Olympics when Australia’s position was, ‘We’re not really sure that we want you to go.’ Brian ignored the fact that Perry was away for six weeks, and when Perry came back and asked whether he was missed, Brian said, ‘Oh, have you been away? I hadn’t noticed.’ Perry thought that was an amazing support for him.

We have heard about a number of initiatives that Brian drove, but some that we have not heard about are bicycle paths and trails. Brian had seen trails overseas and he wanted to introduce them in Victoria. He was pooh-poohed a bit in cabinet about them and it was seen as one of Brian’s crazy ideas, but he persisted, because at the time the only bike path was along the Yarra for the rowing coaches, and that was not really a way of everybody else keeping fit. He thought, again, that cycling helped people keep fit and it kept traffic off the road, so in typical Dixon style he did a publicity stunt that involved him taking some of the staff and the press through the city in some dangerous situations, detailing the need to have bike paths and trails. We have so many of these now, and this is because it is something that Brian initiated and drove. He had a lot of fights with the board of works about getting paths along the Yarra, but he persisted, and that city network of bicycle paths is here because of Brian.

We have indoor sports facilities, something that we all take for granted now. In the early 1970s there were hardly any indoor sports facilities or leisure centres, and Brian worked with local governments across the state to change this, from Poowong to Yackandandah, Croydon and across the city. I know Alexandra, not far from where I grew up, got a stadium, and I used to go up there and play basketball. It was a very big deal for country towns to have indoor facilities. These were funded through punting. Governments do not always like to hypothecate, but it was agreed that profits from racing could be diverted in this way, and indeed this is what happened. If you check out the 1979–80 annual report for youth sport and recreation, we can see that in the 1970s there were percentages of off-course turnover pumped into these facilities: 2 per cent of daily doubles, 2 per cent of trifectas and 4 per cent of quaddies were directed in this way. It was the early days of the TAB, which operated in 1961 as a state government agency, and this was under Brian’s portfolio. So not only did he pursue indoor sports facilities but he supported country racing clubs and the city.

Knowing that we needed international-standard facilities and events that were going to help Melbourne to be the sports capital and to be a destination, he began building them. International-standard state recreation facilities were well on the agenda. The state hockey centre at Parkville, with a flash new synthetic surface, opened in 1980 or 81. I remember my first game on there; it was a very big deal. I think it might have been in 1982. Brian continued to have ideas. The 1979–80 annual report also talks about a sports house to be located in the metropolitan region where the administration headquarters of parent sporting associations could be housed in one building. In association with that the establishment of a Victorian institute of sport was under consideration. Brian drove so many initiatives that get lost because we have concentrated so much on the amazing success of the Life Be In It campaign.

Later in life Brian settled in Jamieson. He had had a farm in and around Mansfield and settled in Jamieson and married Carmel, who he met at a Mansfield branch meeting. Brian put in so much locally. He donated; he taught footy at the local schools – it was something he believed in. He was really active in tennis, and in his late 70s he was still beating a lot of people on the tennis court – that competitive nature never died. He had parties. He loved his parties, and at parties the life games manual from Life Be In It would be rolled out. This saw the creation of human pyramids. There is a story of a party where he had a number of the Danihers up there as well, and they had the human pyramid, I have heard, four and five levels high.

Brian always wanted to get things done. Father George, who came down as a celebrant from Mansfield and Jamieson, said Brian would always sweep the leaves at the front of the church on a Sunday up until a year ago so it looked good. He was very keen on helping out and was not so keen on those who did the wrong thing or did not do enough to support their communities.

Brian and Carmel were the most amazing hosts. I do not know if it has been said that Brian liked parties and having a couple of drinks. At 5 o’clock every night Brian and Carmel would have a glass of bubbly and then a glass of red with their meal. As Brian’s health deteriorated the doctor advised Carmel to just water it down a little bit so he could still enjoy the glass of red, even though it was a little bit watered down. You would see Brian and Carmel power walking around town always or watching his daughter Judy, who was either playing or umpiring netball, and her daughters Amy and Jacinda as well. You would see Brian and Carmel come into the Mansfield football club and be their active supporters all the time.

Brian and Carmel had a wonderful 22 years together. My condolences certainly go to Carmel, to Brian’s children Jenny, Judy, Jaimie, Jono and Bae and to their many grandchildren. He drank well from the cup of life. Vale, Brian.

Rachel WESTAWAY (Prahran) (12:45): I rise today to pay tribute to a man whose legacy touches every corner of our community and whose service to this Parliament and to Victoria remains an inspiration to all who follow in his footsteps. The Honourable Brian Dixon OAM was in every sense a self-made man. Born without privilege, he kicked a football fashioned from bundled socks in the streets of Melbourne. He delivered newspapers and carted wood to help his widowed mother pay the bills. From these humble beginnings emerged a giant of both sport and public service, a testament to the Australian spirit that hard work, determination and character can overcome any circumstance. As the current member for Prahran, my electorate encompasses St Kilda East, which is part of the seat of St Kilda that Brian Dixon served with distinction for 18 years from 1964 to 1982. The community I represent still benefits from the foundations he laid and the battles he fought on their behalf.

Brian’s journey from the football field to his parliamentary career exemplifies the best of our democratic tradition. While still pulling on the red and blue for the Melbourne Football Club, where he would become a five-time premiership player across 252 games, he answered the call to public service. In 1964 he took his place in this very chamber, bringing with him the same dedication, teamwork, and strategic thinking that had made him a champion on the field. It was in his parliamentary service that Brian Dixon’s true greatness emerged. As Minister for Youth, Sport and Recreation he championed the revolutionary Life Be In It campaign that I remember so well from my primary school years, an initiative that encouraged countless Australians to embrace active, healthy lifestyles. Walk through any park in my electorate today, or in your own, and you will see families exercising together and children playing sport, and you will witness Brian Dixon’s enduring legacy in action.

However, it is perhaps for his pioneering work in road safety, which we have already heard about, that Brian will be remembered by history. But we should not forget the other significant contributions, including his role in contributing to the abolition of the death penalty. As chair of the Road Safety Committee he played a key role in introducing the world’s first compulsory seatbelt legislation. Think for a moment about that – the world’s first. Every life saved by a seatbelt in Australia and around the globe owes a debt to Brian Dixon’s vision and courage. In an era when such legislation was considered radical, even intrusive, Brian saw past the politics to the human cost of inaction. How many thousands of Victorian families have been spared tragedy because of his determination?

What strikes me most powerfully about Brian Dixon’s career was his ability to transcend party lines in service of the greater good. Dr Barry Jones, speaking at Brian’s state funeral and despite being on the opposite side of the political aisle, called him courageous, dedicated and visionary. This is the measure of true leadership: when your political opponents become your admirers and when respect transcends ideology. The community of St Kilda East and beyond, which I now represent, were shaped by Brian’s advocacy. His work in housing, social welfare and education touches the lives of countless families in our area. The sporting facilities our children use, the very culture of health and activity that defines our community – they all bear his fingerprints. Brian Dixon understood that true conservatism is not about preserving the status quo but about conserving what matters most: human life, family bonds, community spirit and the opportunity for every person to reach their potential. He showed us that being self-made does not mean standing alone but rather using your own struggles to better understand and serve each other.

To the entire Dixon family, please know that while I did not have the privilege of knowing Brian personally, his legacy lives on not just in the premiership cups and parliamentary records but in every life saved by a seatbelt, in every Australian leading a more active life and in every young person inspired to serve their community. He was, as his daughter so beautifully and eloquently said, a hero, and we will never forget him. Brian Dixon taught us that champions are made not just on the football field but in the chambers of Parliament, in the committee rooms where difficult decisions are made and in the quiet moments when conscience calls us to do what is right rather than what is easy. Vale, Brian Dixon.

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

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (12:51): I move:

That, as a further mark of respect to the memory of the late Honourable Brian James Dixon, the house now adjourns until 2 pm today.

Motion agreed to.

House adjourned 12:51 pm.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER took the chair at 2:03 pm.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I would like to acknowledge in the gallery a delegation from the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia: chair of Commission IV Siti Hediati Soeharto, vice-chairs Panggah Susanto and Ahmad Yohan, and all members of the commission. Welcome to all of you.