Page 367 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 15 February 2005

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affordable transport, growing communication links and, with these firmly in place over a number of years, prosperity. Let us remember that for them prosperity means the ability to buy modest amounts of the luxury items of soap, sugar, kerosene and clothing.

Adam contributed to this project and I am absolutely sure that that is why he believed he was there. His work has brought peace to the life of the islanders, and for this reason his loss is a tragedy. I extend my very deepest sympathy to his family and all his loved ones.

Question resolved in the affirmative, members standing in their places.

Death of Mr Charlie Pahlman

MR STANHOPE (Ginninderra—Chief Minister, Attorney-General, Minister for Environment and Minister for Arts, Heritage and Indigenous Affairs): I move:

That this Assembly expresses its deep regret at the death of Charlie Pahlman, Deputy Director of the ACT Council of Social Service and Greens candidate for Molonglo in the 2004 ACT election and a committed social justice advocate and a very respected and valuable member of the Canberra community, and tenders its profound sympathy to his family, friends and colleagues in their bereavement.

Mr Pahlman was a committed social justice advocate and a very respected and valuable member of the Canberra community. He died tragically during a family holiday to Western Samoa on 19 January 2005.

Charlie Pahlman will be sadly missed by his partner, Pam Boyer, his children, Tina and Kari, their mother, Christine Pahlman, his parents, Anna Lena and Ragnar, and his brother, Andrew. He will also be missed by his colleagues at the ACT Council of Social Service and the ACT Greens.

In a tribute posted on the Charlie Pahlman Memorial web site, a friend reflected on Mr Pahlman’s commitment to his passions. She said:

Charlie was a man of honesty and integrity. He did not just support various campaigns for environmental and social justice from the edge—he immersed himself in them and gave his skills, his time and his energy wholeheartedly. He lived his commitment in a way few ever do.

Charlie Pahlman was born in Sweden in 1960 and moved to Australia at the age of 10. During his life, he gathered many and varied experiences, which all served to fire his passions for social justice. He did everything from farming avocados on the New South Wales North Coast and becoming a stock rider on a cattle station in Queensland to even running a vegetarian cafe on the Hawkesbury River.

In the mid-1980s his love of travel and adventure took him to Asia, where he developed a passion for the Mekong region and the people of Thailand and Laos. He worked with the people there on the protection of their environment and their communities. Mr Pahlman brought all of these experiences with him to the ACT in 1996 where he took up the position as campaigns director for Community Aid Abroad.


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