Tuesday, 2 May 2023

Condolences

Hon. Graeme Weideman

Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:04): I move:

That this house expresses its sincere sorrow at the death, on 13 April 2023, of the Honourable Graeme Weideman and places on record its acknowledgement of the valuable services rendered by him to the Parliament and the people of Victoria as a member of the Legislative Assembly for the electorate of Frankston from 1976 to 1982 and 1992 to 1996, member of the Legislative Assembly for the electorate of Frankston South from 1985 to 1992 and as Minister for Tourism from 1981 to 1982.

On behalf of the government I wish to make a brief contribution to this condolence motion. Mr Weideman’s contributions to the Parliament were many. He served, as we have heard, as the member for Frankston for over 17 years. I understand also during this time he had a range of appointments, including Minister for Tourism, as the motion reflects on, but also Assistant Minister of Health, chair of the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee and member of the Public Bodies Review Committee.

On examination of some of Mr Weideman’s interests, he was a former pharmacist so had a strong interest in public health. He was interested in tobacco reform and the syringe exchange program and certainly contributed to debate passionately in relation to issues that went to the wellbeing of Victorians. I have got to say: I think all of us can be impressed by anybody that has had many years on PAEC, and this gentleman served four years as chair. I think that is quite an achievement, which he, I am sure, was extremely proud of. Not many people would want that role, so he was obviously a special person to be able to do it for that long.

I do thank Mr Weideman for his contribution to the Victorian Parliament and extend my condolences on behalf of the government to his family on his passing, including his wife Barbara. I am sure members of the opposition who knew Mr Graeme Weideman slightly better than I will also provide some words for the chamber to mark his passing.

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:06): I am pleased to be able to rise and join with the government on this condolence motion, and speak to it, regarding the Honourable Graeme Weideman. As the Leader of the Government has said, he had a very distinguished career both inside and outside of this place in terms of his contributions to the Victorian community. As has been identified, he did represent the seat of Frankston from 1976 to 1982, Frankston South from 1985 to 1992 and then Frankston from 1992 to 1996, before he retired.

During the first term after he was elected, he served with my father. When I spoke to my father about him just over the weekend, I said, ‘Can you tell me a little bit about Graeme Weideman?’. He said, ‘Look, I didn’t know him terribly well, but he was well liked amongst his parliamentary colleagues and he was very well respected for the work that he did inside the Parliament and also in the community.’ I think that work that he did in the community and his experience before he entered the Parliament demonstrated that commitment to reform that the Leader of the Government spoke about.

Graeme Weideman, prior to entering the Parliament, as has been said, was a pharmacist and ran a pharmacy in Frankston. He was actually born in Ballarat on 6 November 1934, was married to Barbara for 63 years and was a father of three and a grandfather and great-grandfather. He settled in Frankston with his wife when they married in 1960. That is where he set up his business. I understand that he became a member of the Liberal Party in 1966. He ran various campaigns for Phillip Lynch, who held the seat of Flinders. It was then that he decided that he too wanted to stand for the Liberal Party and enter Parliament.

In a report that I read he said the reason for doing this was that as a small business man he identified with the party’s free enterprise philosophy. He believed the Liberal Party represents the ‘middle ground’ and that:

It caters for all groups in the community and allows everyone to develop to the best of their ability, without Government interference.

That, I think, is true of the values that we on this side hold very dear. It is true that that did give him knowledge and experience when he was advocating so strongly on behalf of the seat of Frankston and the people within the community that he served.

He was on various boards. He served on the Frankston Community Hospital board. He also served on various other boards. He was on the Pharmacy Board of Victoria and the Toorak College council, Frankston TAFE council and Baxter Technical School council. He was an executive member of the Peninsula Unemployed Action Group and the Peninsula Road Trauma and Safety Committee and president of the Peninsula Drug and Alcohol Committee. He had this tremendous depth of experience, and he really brought that to the fore when he served in this place.

He was greatly concerned about the health impact of alcohol and drug use in the Victorian community. He recognised that in his first speech to the Parliament, where he raised the need for more investment in education, treatment and rehabilitation to tackle the increasing rates of addiction and dependency. When you think back, we are talking about the very same things now. During his time at the Frankston community hospital he was concerned about the expenditure, the running costs of $10 million – if only we could go back to those days. That is a true testament to his experience and what he brought to this place but, more importantly, to the Victorian community and the Frankston community. Not taking anything away from him, but for those Collingwood supporters in this place he was also the older brother of the late Collingwood Football Club legend Murray Weideman.

With those few words I pass on, on behalf of the Liberals and Nationals, our condolences to all of the Weideman family, and I thank Graeme for his service to this place and to the broader Victorian community.

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (12:11): I am pleased to join this motion and to say a few words about Graeme Weideman. I knew Graeme and knew him quite well. I did not serve with him – he went out when I came in – but he was a really good knockabout sort of person. He was a person that you would sit down with and have a cup of coffee and a yak. He was warm. You would discuss whatever was going on. It could be football; you are right, he was a very strong Collingwood supporter. But he did have that incredible warmth.

Graeme was Mr Frankston. He was absolutely connected with his community in Frankston. Not only was he the member for Frankston before being defeated in 1982 but he came back as the member for Frankston South in 1985 and then was the member for Frankston again from 1992 to 1996. He was the Minister for Tourism and Assistant Minister of Health in 1981–82, and, as the Leader of the Government has pointed out, he spent a good deal of time on the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee. He was a pharmacist, and he was connected to the community through the local pharmacy connections. He knew everyone, and that is a remarkable point about the importance of community pharmacy and those local networks and local connections.

Graeme was also very much involved in various boards. He was on the pharmacy board for a number of years and the boards of Toorak College and the Frankston TAFE. He was very well connected with the Frankston community hospital board and indeed was made a life governor of that board. He was very active in advocating for additional resources and additional focus for the Frankston community hospital. It is interesting. As Ms Crozier pointed out, the cost structures in health have grown enormously, but he was at the forefront of advancing that hospital at his local level. Even when I was health minister he occasionally did contact me with points about the Frankston hospital – his fondness for that centre was so great.

It is interesting to go back and read his inaugural speech. He said in that inaugural speech in May 1976 that Frankston:

… is the centre of the peninsula for health, education and transport, and is the capital of the peninsula for commerce, the professions and the small business community.

Interestingly, he advocated for a third line for fast passenger rail to Melbourne, something we still have not been able to deliver. He talked about the Frankston community hospital and, importantly, he talked about small business. He was a great small business advocate. He said:

I remind the House that the backbone of Australia is the many thousands of small businesses …

He went on to talk about their independent spirit and how that was a factor that resulted in lack of support and assistance from government. He went on to talk also about how small business could be helped with their job generation and innovation, saying:

The answer to this problem is complex, but with Government guidance in areas of planning, management, assistance in raising capital and above all, the control of inflation …

It is interesting that in the 1970s inflation was a great problem and we see that re-emerging. It is a challenge for businesses and for families. Graeme talked about:

The maintenance of a free enterprise economy must be based on a thriving small business community with incentive, a competitive spirit and reward for effort …

These are great and timeless values that should never be underestimated. He did swear loyalty, I might say, to Queen Elizabeth. He was a great Frankston person, a person who would always step forward to advocate for his local area and do so with enthusiasm but also cleverness and nimbleness, and he delivered massively for Frankston.

Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:15): I rise today to also pay my respects. I did not have the privilege of knowing the Honourable Graeme Weideman, but I do want to pay tribute to him on behalf of the people of Frankston as an upper house member for the South-Eastern Region. As I pay my respects I, like my colleagues and like the Attorney-General, would like to acknowledge that Graeme Weideman represented Frankston as a Liberal MP from 1976 to 1982 and from 1992 to 1996 and was the member for Frankston South from 1985 to 1992. A father, a grandfather, he lived and worked in the electorate that he represented.

He served as the Minister for Tourism and Assistant Minister of Health from 1981 to 1982, when the Liberal government lost that election. Graeme dedicated his life to serving the residents of Frankston and Frankston South not just as a politician but also as a pharmacist and community leader. As the member for Frankston, Graeme saw his appointment as recognition by the government of Frankston’s importance to the growth of Victoria and that his position would consolidate the electoral prospects of the citizens of Frankston and Frankston South. I understand Graeme was elected to the Lindsay Thompson state cabinet after five years in Parliament. He said at the time that he was happy to take on any portfolio that would be given to him by the Premier-elect.

He then became a member, as has been mentioned by the minister, of the powerful Public Accounts and Estimates Committee, PAEC, which promotes public sector reform and accountability. I think this shows something about the character of Graeme. With PAEC, he felt that it gave him a great insight into the workings of government authorities. It provided him with a wealth of knowledge that could not only benefit him but also benefit his community, where he had been a small business man who believed in the Liberal Party principle of free enterprise and its middle ground philosophy. Also, he was very strong on the fact that he did not want government to be completely interfering with small business but actually to be supporting it. Graeme was a humble man. He was genuinely surprised and excited to be given the portfolios of tourism and health and subsequently was made a life governor of the Frankston Community Hospital.

For those of you who are football lovers, as my colleague Georgie has said, Graeme Weideman was the older brother of the Collingwood footballer Murray Weideman and was an ardent Collingwood fan, describing himself as a two-eyed Collingwood supporter – with one eye black and the other white.

Frankston was very dear to Graeme’s heart. He was a strong advocate of law enforcement and alleviating community welfare problems. He rallied against the effects of alcohol and drugs and wanted to see reform and support. He was particularly concerned about what was going on in Frankston. As has been mentioned, Frankston was considered by him to be the centre of the peninsula. It is 41 kilometres south-east of Melbourne’s CBD. It is now a contemporary suburb which offers a great coastal scenery experience amongst its bushland. Between 2021 and 2024 the forecasted increase – and who knows how that will have been impacted by recent events like COVID – is expected to be nearly 21,000. That is a huge increase. On his behalf I would like to advocate for small businesses in Frankston, which are doing it tough; for the fast-track line, which has not yet been built; and for the health services of Frankston and the support of them. Because of his work as a pharmacist and his concerns about drugs and alcohol, Graeme was a board member of VicHealth and chairman at the time of the Victorian committee on drugs and sport. After Graeme left Parliament, he continued his management and consultancy work in the Frankston community, chairing drug and road safety committee forums and serving as first chairman of the Frankston College of TAFE.

On behalf of the people of Frankston and my colleagues in the Liberal Party, I offer my condolences to the Weideman family and thank Graeme for his enormous contribution to the community of Frankston and the Parliament of Victoria.

The PRESIDENT: I ask members to signify their assent to the condolence motion for the Honourable Graeme Weideman by rising in their places for 1 minute.

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

The PRESIDENT: As a further mark of respect proceedings will be suspended for 1 hour and will return with the ringing of the bells.

Sitting suspended 12:22 pm until 1:28 pm.