Stephen Charles
Tim READ (Brunswick) (16:28): On 13 June Australia lost one of its strongest, clearest and most principled voices in integrity with the death of the Honourable Stephen Charles AO KC. Stephen was a retired barrister and judge, but for a retiree he worked very hard. As a founding board member for the Centre for Public Integrity and a co-author with Catherine Williams of the influential book Keeping Them Honest, he fought tirelessly to improve transparency and integrity in Australian politics, an uphill battle if ever there was one. He was a key voice in establishing Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission as well as the federal National Anti-Corruption Commission, and he spent his last few months speaking out against the failures of the weaker version of the NACC that eventuated. It is uncommon for former judges to speak out on public affairs, and so it is to the Australian people’s benefit, and to Stephen Charles’s great credit, that he felt called upon to break that mould. All of us in this room owe Stephen a great debt of gratitude for his life of service, and we all have a duty to continue his work in improving transparency and integrity in government.