Mr DUTTON (Dickson—Leader of the Opposition) (14:06): I join with the Prime Minister in honouring the life of Gerard Leslie Hand. Gerry was a product of working-class Australia, a proud member of the Labor left and a politician passionately driven to better people's lives. We know what made Gerry tick, because he was a straight talker. He never shied away from espousing his hard-left political beliefs or asserting his faith in Vic government. He took pride in being branded a socialist, and he openly acknowledged his very strong views about the redistribution of wealth. In fact, in his maiden parliamentary speech, Gerry spoke with compassion about the working-class families and migrants who helped shape Australia, the suburbs and improve the quality of inner urban life. On show was a man who also cared deeply about widowed women, the elderly, the unemployed, the homeless and those from ethnic and Indigenous backgrounds. Gerry felt a calling to improve services for hard-pressed Australians, whom he saw as having been thrown onto the economic scrapheap. An article in the Herald in June of 1985 said, 'Nobody who has spent more than a few minutes with handouts appreciates the sincerity of what he is up to, working through the party to improve the lot of the poor and disadvantaged.' He was a boy of Warrnambool, a son of strict Catholic parents and the eldest of seven siblings. He worked in the family tobacconist as a driver, a milkman, a grass cutter and in a fish and chip shop. Then, for eight years he was a textile worker and shop steward with the Warrnambool Woollen Mill. Gerry, the workers' man, with a go-get-'em attitude, had a natural talent for organising. In 1972 he established the South West Trades and Labour Council. Later, he became secretary of the Warrnambool branch of the ALP and a researcher for Senator Cyril Primmer. These positions were Gerry's springboard into his first battle for preselection in Wills. Alas, as the Prime Minister points out, he was up against, as theAustralian at the time put it, 'the most popular political personality in the country', namely Bob Hawke. Right faction against left, Hawke defeated Hand only by the smallest of margins, but only two years later Gerry was preselected for Melbourne, winning the seat in 1983 and holding it for almost 10 years until his retirement. In government, the rivals of Hawke and Hand set aside their differences and grew very close. Gerry served the Hawke and Keating governments dutifully, especially as the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and for immigration. He felt passionately about improving Indigenous lives. Angered by the deaths of Aboriginal people in custody and frustrated by the ineffectiveness of federal programs and funding, Gerry pushed forward with bureaucratic reform, and in 1989 the Hawke government established ATSIC. Reading Gerry's views of the late 1980s today, one appreciates the influence of his thinking in our recent debate. In his home town and electorate, Gerry saw firsthand the positive impacts of Australia's managed migration program. It was for that reason, as well as his sense of justice, that he adopted a hard stance against illegal migration, which he said 'blows to pieces a fair system'. Gerry oversaw new measures to deter, detect and deport illegal migrants, and he implemented our system of mandatory detention, which remains integral in managing migration to this day. In his valedictory address, Gerry said: It is a great privilege to come here and to try to help people. You only get one shot at it. I have had my shot. I am very proud to have been here. In those fine words, Gerry Hand expressed a sentiment felt by all who serve in this place, regardless of time, regardless of politics. On behalf of the coalition, I offer my heartfelt condolences to Gerry's family, his friends and his Labor colleagues. The SPEAKER: As a mark of respect to the memory of the Hon. Gerry Hand, I ask all present to rise in their places. Honourable members having stood in their places—