Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (12:27): I am pleased to rise on behalf of the Nationals to pay our condolences to the family and friends of Race Mathews and to the wider labour movement and to acknowledge his period of service. I am indebted to the Minister for Education, because in my biographical information I was not aware that Race had spent time at Yinnar South Primary School. Whilst it would be completely wrong of me to rely on Race’s memory, I have just recently written to the minister about an issue at Yinnar South Primary School. I will not seek to do the wrong thing and suggest that this would help, but perhaps when the minister is responding on the infrastructure needs of Yinnar South Primary School he might recall that Race Mathews did time there. It is a recognition, though, of the commitment that Race obviously had.
Growing up, I remember the Weeping Woman saga, but I also remember, as a kid, the name Race Mathews, partly because of the name and partly because my own father was as passionate about politics as Race Mathews was, but in a very, very different way – in fact the exact opposite. I remember Dad railing against the Fabian Society and many others. But I do remember Race Mathews and that name at the time. He obviously served as the member for Casey in the federal Parliament from 1972 to 1975, having had the time prior to that working for Gough Whitlam, and as the Minister for Education indicated, that would have been a time. As Iola said – and I am going to be quoting a little bit from her obituary on her husband – she quoted him as saying that it was ‘the most tumultuous, and by far the most rewarding’ time of his career. I can imagine that would have been the case as he moved on from time as a teacher and as a speech therapist into the heady world of federal politics at that time. Obviously he came back to Victoria and to the Victorian Parliament, serving as the member for Oakleigh from 1979 to 1992.
His inaugural speeches, having had a brief look at them, reflect an eloquence and a conviction that really sets him apart. You can read the passion for his commitment to social justice in those speeches. I also noticed a couple of things, including how much times have changed since his contribution. In 1979 he lamented the introduction of the word processor and how it was costing 20,000 jobs for typists, girls in their first year out of school, which is not something that we would say now – that girls are just looking for that. I also noted how much things have changed but how much they have stayed the same, because in his inaugural speech, which was then called a maiden speech, in 1973 in the federal Parliament he talked about patients waiting at Box Hill Hospital. He talked about the roads. I note the contribution in respect of the typists was about the threat of technology, and we are still facing those issues today with AI and the threat to jobs. It is interesting how much things change and how much they stay the same.
I think others have made comments about Race’s career in the ministry and some of those challenges. Weeping Woman was high profile but probably not the most important thing. Imagine having to deal with the aftermath of Ash Wednesday as the Minister for Police and Emergency Services. That would have been a difficult time for anyone in government and indeed the Parliament at the time.
I mentioned his commitment, and I think there was a commitment to the labour movement and to the socialist cause. I think the book titles alone tell us who Race Mathews was. The book titles were Australia’s First Fabians: Middle-Class Radicals, Labour Activists and the Early Labour Movement in 1993; Jobs of Our Own: Building a Stakeholder Society in 1999; and Of Labour and Liberty: Distributism in Victoria, 1891–1966. They tell a story of his commitment, and I am sure the member for Essendon has read all of those and will be giving us quotes from them at some stage.
As Iola said in her obituary in the Age:
… he was driven by a passion for fairness and justice, and a commitment to equality, democracy and empowerment.
I extend on behalf of the Nationals our condolences to Iola; their five children Sean, Jane, Vanessa, Keir and Talya; and the memory of a leader as well to his eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Vale, Race Mathews.