Mr ABBOTT (Warringah—Leader of the Opposition) (14:16): I rise to support the words of the Prime Minister. Robert Hughes was that rare creature: a critic who turned out to be a greater artist than most of those whose work he assessed. In hospital 14 years ago, after his infamous car crash, he apparently asked for enough life to be granted to him to write a masterpiece; in fact, he already had. The Fatal Shorewas not a complete history of early Australia, but it was a brilliant and riveting account of our convict experience. Many fine words have been written about this remarkable man. I would simply seek to adopt words from the obituary in the Spectator, which said: … we should thank a great Australian, who was an intellectual without being an academic and a fighter without being a bully, for the arguments he gave us against conformism from whatever quarter it came. He did remarkable work. He will be much missed. On behalf of the coalition, we send our deepest sympathies to all who knew him and, in particular, to his family.