Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Prime Minister) (14:00): I move: That the House record its deep regret at the death, on 30 March 2022, of the Honourable Robert James (Bob) Brown AM, a former Minister and Member of this House for the Division of Hunter from 1980 to 1984, and the Division of Charlton from 1984 to 1998, place on record its appreciation of his long and meritorious public service, and tender its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement. Bob Brown's first couple of attempts to get into federal parliament did not meet with success, but, identified by Gough Whitlam as a future great asset to the party, Bob kept going and going. Indeed, some of his weekends of campaigning were bookended by 700-kilometre drives to and from Deniliquin, where he worked as a commerce teacher. The campaigning eventually paid off. By the time he retired, this son of the New South Wales coalfields had served in three levels of government: as mayor and state member for Cessnock and as federal member for Hunter and Charlton. Bob had what I view as a particularly solid grounding for a political life: a degree in economics from Sydney university. The economics textbooks he wrote were mainstays of the Australian curriculum for decades. According to Bob, when the free market ceases to act in the interests of the people, government has a responsibility to step in. As Minister for Land Transport and Shipping Support in the Hawke and Keating governments, Bob oversaw radical reforms such as increased seatbelt wearing and a national blood alcohol limit of 0.05 for drivers. It literally saved a countless number of lives. He improved conditions in the road transport industry, and he served the last few metres of the National Highway. Bob was born in Pelaw Main in the Hunter region of New South Wales. His father carted timber to the coalmines—timber that held up the mine roofs under which his uncles, his cousins and his grandfathers all toiled. Bob was keenly aware of the dangerous work of miners. Recounting his primary school days, he explained: 'When the pit whistle went during the day, the class would freeze, because the pit whistle did not go unless some accident or something similar had happened. The kids would wonder whether it was dad or granddad or Uncle Tom or an older brother who could have been injured or killed.' That was the stark reality of life in the mines then—a truth spelled out on too many headstones in too many cemeteries. What it instilled in Bob was a powerful belief in trade unionism. As he put it on one occasion: 'When workers are united they are invincible. They know struggle and have been strengthened by it.' Bob served Australia throughout his life. He served his community. He did it with intellect, insight and conviction. Now that Bob has joined his beloved wife, Joy, in the realm of memory, our hearts go out to his son, Brad; to his daughter, Kelly Hoare, who succeeded him in this place as the member for Charlton; and to his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. May he rest in peace.