Albanese, Anthony, MP

Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Leader of the Opposition) (14:06): Once upon a time, Sir Michael Somare reflected on one of the worst political predictions ever made, as he recalled: At one stage in Australia … I said I don't see it, I can't see myself out to be the prime minister. In the end, his four terms as Chief Minister and Prime Minister would span the Australian prime ministerships of Whitlam, Fraser, Hawke, Keating, Howard, Rudd and Gillard. To his people he was 'papa blo kantri', father of the nation. He was chief, he was grand chief and sometimes he was simply 'Mike'. Many of his predictions were more watertight, not least about PNG's momentum towards independence. In his words: A lot of people in this country thought we wouldn't be able to do it, they were talking in terms of two or three decades, while I was talking in terms of two years. Sir Michael was born in Rabaul but moved with his family to his father's ancestral home village of Karau in East Sepik. This province was the solid ground beneath his feet. It allowed him to walk the trickiest of lines between tradition and change. Sir Michael respected the power of the village structure but he also encouraged modern expression, especially through the arts, which he understood played a central role in a nation's sense of itself. Courtesy of his time as a teacher and as a radio journalist, he was equipped with the powers of persuasion, observation and illumination. He used them all as he helped drive his country, an intricate mosaic of more than 800 tribal groups, towards its destiny, somehow finding time to pen his autobiography along the way. In the words of Gough Whitlam, to quote the great Gough, Papua New Guinea had 'found a man whose time has come'. Confounding the doomsayers, Papua New Guinea made the transition to independence in peace, without either political or economic collapse. As PNG's first Governor-General, Sir John Guise, so famously put it on 16 September 1975, 'We are lowering the flag of our colonisers, not tearing it down.' When the Whitlam government was dismissed shortly after, Sir Michael made a pretty good joke, I think: 'We've only let Australia go for a few months and look at the mess they're in.' Despite some challenging times, PNG's democracy has, indeed, survived intact. With our renewed understanding of just how fragile democracy can be, we can appreciate even more the magnitude of the feat and the sturdiness of the foundations on which PNG's democracy is built. Both our dear neighbour and our region have lost a true leader, and Australia has lost a true friend. But the glow of his friendship stays with us. As we embrace in our hearts Sir Michael's wife, Lady Veronica Somare, and their children, let us turn back to the first radio address Sir Michael made to his newly independent nation: … this is just the beginning. Now we must stand on our own two feet and work harder than ever before. We are indeed masters of our own destiny. Mipela sori tru long lusim yu, Grand Chief. Bel bilong mipela olgeta i hevi tru. We are very sorry to lose you, Grand Chief. My heart and everyone's hearts are heavy. May you rest in peace.