Tuesday, 2 June 2026

 Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Treasurer, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:04): I move:

That this house expresses its sincere sorrow at the death, on 29 April 2026, of the Honourable Robert Ian Knowles AO, 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 Council for the electoral province of Ballarat from 1976 to 1999, and as Minister for Housing from 1992 to 1996, Minister for Aged Care from 1992 to 1999, and Minister for Health from 1996 to 1999.

I would like to speak on behalf of the government on today’s motion. Robert Knowles dedicated his life to serving the Victorian community across more than two decades in Parliament and many years of public leadership thereafter. He earned a reputation as an advocate and reformer whose work improved the lives of countless Victorians. Born in Ballarat in 1947, Mr Knowles grew up in a farming family and spent much of his life connected to the land and communities of western Victoria. Before entering Parliament he worked as a farmer in Clarendon and later as a loans officer with the Rural Finance and Settlement Commission. Those experiences gave him a practical understanding of the challenges facing rural and regional communities and helped shape his approach to public service. Mr Knowles entered the Victorian Parliament in 1976 as the member for Ballarat Province in the Legislative Council, which is where we are today. He would go on to serve the people of Victoria for 23 years. During that time he built a reputation as a diligent parliamentarian who approached public policy with seriousness, compassion and a determination to achieve lasting outcomes.

As a minister Mr Knowles had responsibility for the housing, aged care and, later, health portfolios. He worked to strengthen palliative care services and improve Victoria’s health system more broadly. This work continued with significant contributions to health policy and reform at both state and national levels. He served as a commissioner of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission, chaired the Victorian Health Innovation and Reform Council and later chaired the board of the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. Through these roles he helped shape the future of health care in Victoria. Mental health was another cause to which Mr Knowles devoted considerable energy. He served on the board of Beyond Blue, later becoming deputy chair, and he was one of the inaugural commissioners of the National Mental Health Commission. Throughout these roles he advocated for reducing the stigma associated with mental illness and for ensuring that Victorians could access compassionate and effective care.

Mr Knowles’s service extended well beyond government and health policy. He gave generously of his time to education, serving on the board of Ballarat Grammar for many years and as chair for more than a decade and more recently as chair of Grampians Health. He remained connected to his local community and to the cultural life of Ballarat, supporting institutions and organisations that enriched the region that he clearly loved. In recognition of his distinguished contribution to public life he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2007. His work across health, aged care and mental health continues to make a difference in our state. On behalf of the government I extend our deepest condolences to his wife Carmel, his children and all those who had the privilege of knowing him. This Parliament records its gratitude and respect for the life of Robert Knowles and his considerable service to others.

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (12:08): I also rise to support the Leader of the Government’s speech. It is a privilege to acknowledge the passing of the Honourable Rob Knowles AO, a man who gave 23 years to this Parliament and decades more to Victoria beyond it. Last month I attended his state funeral service at the Cathedral Church of Christ the King in Ballarat, and as we waited for proceedings to begin, what struck me immediately was the congregation that had gathered to pay their respects. The cathedral was full of people from all walks of life, from all corners of Victoria and from across the political divide, united in their respect and affection for one man. It was a remarkable and appropriate tribute even before we heard a word of the service or from the speakers. Rob came to this place in 1976 at 28 years of age, representing Ballarat Province – a farmer from Clarendon. From his very first speech he demonstrated what would define his career: a serious, principled commitment to this chamber’s role as a house of review and a defender of democratic scrutiny. In that inaugural contribution he spoke with pride about Ballarat, its history and its contribution to political life and of the importance of country Victoria having confidence in its own future.

He also spoke eloquently about the particular significance of this chamber and the essential part it plays in democratic government through its functions of review and investigation. He certainly put this into practice, serving on the back bench and on countless significant committees for 16 years before taking on the shadow portfolio of aged care and housing. When the coalition won government in 1992, he became the inaugural Victorian Minister for Aged Care and later Minister for Health. By all accounts those portfolios suited him. They demanded judgement, humanity and a willingness to make difficult decisions in the interests of vulnerable people. Rob brought all those qualities. He strengthened palliative care and improved the sustainability of Victoria’s health system. The two psychiatric hospitals sat within his electorate in Ballarat and Ararat and gave him direct experience of people walking into his office facing issues of mental illness. The health portfolio was an experience which did not leave him. It shaped the rest of his life’s work.

Jeff Kennett has spoken of Rob with extraordinary warmth. He has said that Rob had more influence on him than perhaps any other colleague in government, precisely because he was calm, thoughtful and never afraid to offer frank counsel when it was needed. It was Jeff who persuaded Rob to leave his safe berth in this chamber and contest the Assembly seat of Gisborne at the 1999 election, believing the coalition would win. They did not. With that defeat Rob’s parliamentary career came to an end. Jeff has reflected that he was not sure Carmel, Rob’s wife, would ever forgive him for that. It seems she did. Jeff delivered a wonderful eulogy at that packed Ballarat church, a tribute as warm and generous as the man it honoured.

But if Jeff felt any guilt, Rob’s post-parliamentary life must surely have absolved it. What followed was, if anything, even more remarkable than what came before. Rob served as commissioner of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission. He chaired the Victorian Health Innovation and Reform Council and the Royal Children’s Hospital board. He was an inaugural commissioner of the National Mental Health Commission and served as deputy chair of Beyond Blue. He chaired Grampians Health, where he was remembered in that organisation’s own words for his ‘thoughtful leadership’, ‘strong advocacy for patient safety’ and ‘unwavering focus on improving health outcomes’ for people across the region. He gave a decade as chair of the Ballarat Grammar school board and was made a life governor. He was a patron of the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka alongside former Labor Premier Steve Bracks, because Rob was that rare thing: a figure respected and trusted by all sides of politics.

In 2007 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia. It was richly deserved. Former Labor Premier Steve Bracks called him simply ‘one of the good guys’. Jeff Kennett said he would have been his preferred successor as Premier. That two men of such different political traditions speak of Rob in the same register of admiration is so very telling. It is why that church in Ballarat was so full. Rob Knowles was a serious parliamentarian, a humane minister, a loyal colleague, a wise counsel and a servant of Victoria in the deepest sense of the word. He represented Ballarat with pride. He served this Parliament with distinction. He strengthened Victoria’s health system, advanced the cause of mental health, gave his time generously to education and civic life and earned respect far beyond the ranks of his own party. I extend my sincere condolences to his wife Carmel; to his children Edwina, Bob and George; and to his grandchildren and his many friends who so admired him. We are poorer for his passing, but Victoria is better for his service.

 David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (12:15): I am honoured to associate myself with this motion. Rob Knowles was a person I knew well. I was elected to this place in 1996, and he had been here for a number of years before that but became Minister for Health at that time. I learned a great deal from him. He was a person of great humanity, honesty and massive integrity and a person who understood the interests of the state and was prepared to advocate for those, come what may. He was a person who grew up in rural Victoria – Clarendon – as a farmer. He had had a number of other roles before coming to Parliament in 1976, but as I say, I knew him closely in this chamber. He was Deputy Leader of the Government at the time, Mark Birrell was Leader of the Government and I was a new backbencher. I watched them at that time work in government, and we would discuss things. Often this chamber used to sit very late – I can vouch for that. I would sit and talk to Rob and listen and learn. It was a remarkable way to understand the functioning of our democracy and the functioning of this chamber but much more broadly as well. He was a person who, as I said, was prepared to advocate strongly for what he believed, but he had a style and a way to do that that was not necessarily combative. But he was actually prepared to put the case firmly, honestly, and clearly, and very often he won through in that way.

Later, when I was health minister, I was honoured to appoint him to the Health Innovation and Reform Council and particularly as chair of the Royal Children’s Hospital. He was a person, in both of those positions, who was able to advance the interests of the state, utilising data and research to actually improve the functioning of our health system. In the case of the Royal Children’s that was the period when the new hospital opened. I was fortunate enough to be health minister at that time, and he was active through that period. It was an opportunity for him to shine. He did work for Kevin Rudd and the national health reform process – Christine Bennett’s committee – and the work that he did there was significant as well. He was respected in that position because he understood health from the perspective of a state health minister, having delivered significant reform in this state in his period in the role.

I want to express my condolences to Carmel and to Rob’s children, grandchildren and various friends. The church in Lydiard Street, the Cathedral Church of Christ the King in Ballarat, was packed to the rafters and beyond with people who knew Rob – and people knew Rob in a way that is unusual: they actually had a genuine engagement with him in a way that few people have on that scale. He knew people right across the state, right across country Victoria, right through the health sector. Everywhere he went he was regarded well and loved in many cases. I think we are much the poorer for his loss. I certainly personally put on record my remarkable learnings from him through my observation of him.

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:19): I also rise to lend my support to the government’s condolence motion on the Honourable Robert Ian Knowles AO. Rob was somebody that I also knew – not as well as Mr Davis, as he outlined in his contribution here today, but somebody that I knew for many years. He, as many have said, was a man of great integrity and honesty. He did transcend the political divide in many ways, working with both sides of government in roles both at a national and local state level. He contributed in many, many ways not only in the role of a local member but in those ministerial roles as Minister for Health and Minister for Aged Care and other aspects that he contributed to in the Parliament but also outside the Parliament. In those roles he had a very deep commitment to things like mental health, such as in his role on Beyond Blue.

I note that former Governor and Beyond Blue chair the Honourable Linda Dessau said:

Mr Knowles was a passionate champion of mental health reform, and a man who led with integrity and humanity.

The chief executive officer Georgie Harman also said:

Rob was a gentleman, in every sense of the word. How lucky we are to have known him.

I could not agree more with those sentiments, because he was. He was somebody that I felt did contribute extremely well to every aspect of public life. He was able to deliver in not only the roles that he did as chair of the numerous health boards that have been outlined by the Leader of the Government, Mrs McArthur and Mr Davis, but also those other roles that he played in his local community.

Rob was somebody that you could approach. I know that when he approached me in 1997 to be part of a government taskforce to work on advising government to look at guidelines in managing diabetes, that is what we did. He was incredibly approachable – terrific to deal with and work with. It was that taskforce, that work that we did, that provided guidelines to clinicians and others right around this state but also interstate, and it was work that I very much enjoyed doing.

I also want to make a point about Rob’s ability to contribute in so many other ways. It is often forgotten what governments in the past have done, and he was innovative. That Kennett government was innovative. One of the areas in health was the home recovery services, which was a bit like the current Hospital in the Home. It was a project that Rob was very passionate about launching. The outer-east post-acute care project really boosted services for people recovering at home after discharge from hospital, and this program I think went on to lead the way for a lot of the services that we are so fortunate to have now. It was for assistance with nursing, but it also went to other things: Hospital in the Home or the home and community care service in terms of meals in the home as well, providing allied health services, really getting that connection and wrapping around those services to somebody that needed that support in the home recovering from surgery.

There is a lot we can learn from somebody like Rob Knowles. I know that I certainly did. I was very fortunate to know him, as I have said, in the roles that I played, but equally in my role as Shadow Minister for Health he was somebody that you could always phone and ask for advice. I also lend my sympathies and condolences to Carmel and the family and his friends at this sad time.

 Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (12:23): I too rise to acknowledge the passing of the Honourable Rob Knowles AO, who was a giant of the Liberal Party and of course very well known in the Ballarat community. I did not know Rob as well as others did, but everyone says the same thing: he was a thoroughly decent man. Last time I saw Rob he was doing what he always did: giving back to the community that he loved. It was at the Ballarat Hospice Care AGM. Rob served as patron, and as per usual, he was pretty popular and people were lining up to say hello. One thing that characterised Rob is that he gave people the time of day. He always listened, and he was always present. Many people that I have spoken to in the last few weeks said that Rob was not your typical politician. He was quiet. He had a great, wily sense of humour and he could make people laugh. He was able to disarm anyone with his easy manner, and that was probably the reason why he was well respected across all sides of politics.

He served as a minister, most notably in health, housing and aged care, in the Kennett government, because that is where his passion was, and he continued his contribution to public life well after he left politics in 1999. Rob served as a commissioner for the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission, he was chair of the Victorian Health Innovation and Reform Council and he served as chair of the Royal Children’s Hospital. Those are just some amongst many of his contributions across health, education and community groups. Rob was passionate about improving mental health, and he put this passion into meaningful action by serving as deputy chair of Beyond Blue. Closer to home and in more recent years Rob was appointed chair of Grampians Health, and I want to read a quote from Grampians Health that they released in the last few weeks:

As Chair, Rob made a meaningful contribution to Grampians Health through his thoughtful leadership, strong advocacy for patient safety and inclusion, and his unwavering focus on improving health outcomes for the people and communities we serve. His work made a positive difference to the lives of individuals, families and communities across the region.

Rob’s impact extended well beyond Grampians Health. Through leadership roles at state and national levels across health, aged care and mental health, he leaves a lasting legacy of reform, advocacy and commitment to better systems of care. Just as importantly, he was known as a generous mentor, trusted colleague and considered voice, valued for both his wisdom and his humanity.

I thank Grampians Health for those words and for acknowledging the huge legacy Rob leaves behind.

But Rob’s biggest legacy was his family, and I want to make my condolences to Carmel, his wife; his children Edwina, Bob and George; and their extended families too. Rob will be greatly missed as a calm, measured, reassuring presence in the Ballarat community. His legacy and impact live on through his contributions to community, the people that he impacted and influenced and through the words, deeds and actions of his family, whom he was so proud of. Rest in peace, Rob Knowles.

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (12:27): I too rise to join in this condolence motion for the Honourable Rob Knowles AO, someone who is well known to many on this side of the chamber, and I knew Rob extremely well. When I first joined the Young Liberals at the age of 16, Rob was actually on the executive of the Young Liberals, a generation ahead of me, but I watched his career from that time forth. He came into this chamber, as many have said, on 20 March 1976 and served in this chamber until 17 September 1999, having been the Leader of the Liberal Party in this chamber.

Rob was an extraordinary man that contributed in so many ways not only to political life but also to community life. He was an extraordinary person, someone everyone could look to and admire and someone whom many people loved, not just those in the Liberal Party. Rob was a great family man and raised a beautiful family – his three children Edwina, Bob and George – and was very proud of his eight grandchildren. Rob, as Mr Davis outlined, served in this place for a number of years. He served as Minister for Health, Minister for Aged Care and Minister for Housing. But he also was personally chosen by Jeff Kennett to be his successor, and to do that he needed to move to the other house. Jeff did persuade him to stand down from this house in 1999 and to stand for the seat of Gisborne. Unfortunately, the 1999 election did not go the way that the Premier had thought it would go, and Rob did not win that seat.

Rob did not sit about and retire and just do nothing; Rob got actively involved in other causes in the community and served everyone extremely well. I would just like to read from Rob’s funeral notice the list of things that he was involved in. He was the member for Ballarat Province from 1976 to 1999, Minister for Health, Minister for Aged Care and Minister for Housing – I should have remembered that because he actually mentored me as Minister for Housing. He was chair of the Ballarat Grammar school board. He was chair of the Royal Children’s Hospital board. He was deputy chair of Beyond Blue. He was chair of the Grampians Health board. He was on the Great Ocean Road Health board, Silverchain Group board, Brandon BioCatalyst board and Food Standards Australia New Zealand board and was a national mental health commissioner. He was a member of the health ministers advisory council. He was commissioner for complaints for aged and community care. He was on the Victorian Liberal Party state executive. He was in the Victorian Young Farmers and Young Liberals. He was on the boards of St John of God Health Care and Global Health. He was patron of the Ballarat hospice. He was in the Clarendon Cemetery Trust. He was an adviser to the Austin Research Institute. He was a consultant to the TAC on healthcare issues. He was on the board of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. He was patron of the Ballarat International Foto Biennale. He was a DrinkWise Australia Limited board member. He was on the Brotherhood of St Laurence board and the chair of that board at the time when I worked very closely with Rob, Tony Nicholson and Tony Keenan to bring in the education first youth foyers here in Victoria. I know that Rob was very proud of the work that we did there; those education first youth foyers have gone on to serve the community well and to serve the young people who get the opportunity to live in those foyers well. Rob was also on the Anglican Diocese of Ballarat synod.

As Mrs McArthur said, the church was full because everybody admired and loved Rob, and it was a testament to the man – not only the number of people at his funeral but the calibre of people at his funeral. I would like to extend my deepest condolences to his wife Carmel; to his children Edwina Hill, Bob and George Knowles and their partners; and to his eight grandchildren George, Austin, Marigold, Robbie, Oscar, Greta, Winifred and Walter. Vale, Rob Knowles.

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