Page 1681 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 3 May 2005
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forethought in all the years I was in the army, because I have to say it did not suit me at all.
It is interesting that Al Grassby was larger than life almost from the time he started on his journey. He had a vision that people would not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the quality of their hearts, by what they are all about and by who they are as people.
It is significant that in this city we have the best blend of multiculturalism in the world. Everywhere in the world there is some sort of segregation, whether by choice or by circumstance. In the ACT we do not have that; in Canberra we do not have that. We have people living alongside each other happily. Every now and again there will be some biffo, but it has nothing to do with race; it all has to do with something else.
We celebrate the multicultural festival every year. I think—I have said this publicly and I will say it again—we have the best blend of multiculturalism anywhere in the world, and I have seen it. It comes down to Al Grassby’s commitment in the first place. He said, “It can be done.” He went out and did it, and the rest of us have the good fortune to follow in his footsteps.
I want to acknowledge the role Ellnor played in this too. We often think of Al Grassby tearing around the countryside doing his parliamentary duties, stoking up people to start thinking about multicultural affairs and to understand the injustices we have dealt out to the indigenous people over the years. Ellnor was left, in a sense, to raise Gabriella and keep the home fires burning. Yeah, right! Ellnor Grassby has never been that idle. Ellnor was out there advocating for people as long as she was married to Al.
I remember bringing a constituent, a friend of mine who worked for me, to Ellnor Grassby’s door—and it had a cultural connotation about it. Ellnor said to me, “Leave it with me, it will be fixed by tomorrow afternoon.” And it was fixed. I did not dare to ask how she did it because she is Italian, but it was brilliant.
We also know about Al Grassby’s leadership in this country in sartorial elegance. That was borne out, of course, by the quote made by the Leader of the Opposition; but it was also born from Al Grassby’s wicked sense of humour. I enjoyed his sense of humour on more than one occasion. In fact, I was the butt of it on more than one occasion and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
One of the things people will remember about Al Grassby is the way he used to tear around the countryside doing this and that. I would like to read very briefly from Al Grassby’s own words about one such occasion. He said:
I was member for Riverina at the time and had received an invitation to attend a wedding involving the daughter of an old family friend who was also one of my best political supporters. My wife and I set out from Griffith to drive about 100 kilometres to the neighbouring town of Leeton where the wedding was to take place in a large and imposing club complex which had a number of function rooms. I had arrived from Canberra that day, we were running late and it was all rush and puff to get there if not on time at least in time to deliver my speech to the happy couple. I had been up most of the night with some parliamentary matters and after a hectic week was pretty red-eyed and weary.
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