Page 2666 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 26 September 2007
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In closing, I had the opportunity to participate in a triathlon with Terry last year. It was my very first triathlon, and he gave me some words of advice, Mr Speaker: that I should take it easy, that he was going to beat me, that that was how it was going to be, and that, even though he was giving me an age advantage, his superior fitness and technique would come through. That was most certainly the case. He did clearly outperform me, and I think that was a testament to his commitment in all areas of life.
We have lost a great Canberran. Words fail me a little at this point, Mr Speaker, other than to extend to Helen and the family my sincerest condolences. We can all only hope in our time in this place to be as effective and as compassionate as Terry Connolly.
DR FOSKEY (Molonglo): I think it is fitting that people who knew Terry Connolly spoke before me because I did not have the pleasure, and obviously the enrichment, of developing a personal relationship with Mr Connolly. Who knows what the future might have brought in that regard. Now, of course, the future has been totally changed. But I have had the pleasure of getting to know Helen over my years in the Assembly, so I want to speak pretty much out of my caring for her. I also want to thank and honour Terry Connolly for what I believe is his most enduring contribution to the Assembly: the Human Rights Act and the focus that we have in this territory on human rights.
I guess Googling these days is a bit like what people used to do when they opened the Bible and hoped that randomly a verse would appear which would give them direction. When I Googled Terry Connolly yesterday, what came up was his explanatory statement for his Bill of Rights, which he must have presented to this Assembly in 1994 as a draft bill. Of course, as we know, with the change in government it was put off and it was not until early this century that we actually did end up with a Bill of Rights.
But it is fitting that something that is so serious, that is so meaningful and that has the ability to profoundly impact on people’s lives had such a long gestation period. I wish that we could give to all important legislation that degree of attention. But I think it was such an optimistic introduction, and perhaps it is most fitting today to actually read from words that Terry Connolly wrote. When we as a community lose someone really special and when a family loses a partner and father, we want to know that that person’s contribution will endure long past them.
I do not know if it is something deeply instinctive within humans, but certainly if we are left behind we want to make sure that the contribution that person would have made is still made, and I think in the Bill of Rights we have that. The introduction to the Bill of Rights states:
This Bill of Rights is intended to set out the rights of the people of the ACT. It will provide a clear and accessible statement of rights, which can be used to guide the Government, the bureaucracy, and members of the ACT Assembly in making and interpreting laws. It will also provide clear guidelines to the police and the courts, as well as to people who are arrested or charged, of their rights and responsibilities. It will give members of our community the ability to have
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