Motions
Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (12:23): Today we pay tribute to Neale Daniher – not just a football great but a great Australian, admired across the country and deeply, deeply respected. His passing is a loss felt by all of us. Born on 15 February 1961 in West Wyalong and raised in Ungarie in the Riverina, he grew up as one of 11 children, the second of four sons in a proud farming family of wheat and sheep farmers. He began his schooling at St Joseph’s catholic school in Ungarie before continuing at St Patrick’s College in Goulburn and later Assumption College in Kilmore, that well-known football nursery. In his early years he played local football for Ungarie in the Northern Riverina league before progressing through Assumption and eventually making his VFL debut for Essendon in 1979 at just 18 years of age. He was forged on country footy fields and became one of regional Australia’s great sporting stories – four Daniher brothers, who all went on to play VFL/AFL. Who could forget the four of them lining up in State of Origin together for New South Wales in 1990?
Neale never forgot where he came from, and he never lost those country values. He was shaped by regional Australia and spent his life reflecting the very best of it. At Essendon and later at Melbourne he made his mark not just as a player and coach but as someone who brought people together and earned respect through action rather than words. He was known as a leader who valued character as much as talent and who always put the team first. At the Dees he was known as Coach or the Reverend. Diagnosed with motor neurone disease – or the beast, as he called it – in 2013 and given just a few years to live, he faced that battle with courage, determination and dignity. In true country fashion, when adversity came he did not step back, he stepped up, co-founding FightMND and helping raise more than $140 million for research. He turned a deeply personal fight into a national cause, bringing Australians together in a way that very few people can. His message was simple but powerful: play on and fight on – words that captured exactly who Neale was. From the paddocks of Ungarie to the hearts of a nation, his legacy is one of courage, humility and service.
Neale Daniher will be remembered for his fight for MND sufferers and their families. Through FightMND he helped drive unprecedented national awareness, turning MND into a cause recognised right across Australia. At this point I also pay tribute to the member for Pakenham for her work in here and out of this place as well. Neale was clear the goal was never sympathy; it was action, research and ultimately a cure that would benefit future generations. Neale’s leadership helped transform fundraising into a national movement, particularly through the Big Freeze at the MCG, which united Australians in support of sufferers. He showed that even in the face of an incurable disease, you can create meaning, purpose and change for others. His enduring message was the importance of hope and action in the face of adversity. Neale once said:
Life just gives you an opportunity and a handful of cards and it’s up to you how you play them. And if you get a bad hand, you still have to look for the opportunity.
I note the comments from the family at the time of Neale’s passing. They said:
His wish was simple but powerful – to help create a world where no one has to face this disease. But beyond that he wanted to leave a legacy that says this “No matter the odds, no matter the diagnosis, we all have the power to fight, to smile, and to do.
Because the mark of a person isn’t what they say, “it’s what they do”.
To Jan and all the family and all those who loved or were inspired by Neale, the best way we can honour Neale Daniher is simple: play on and fight on.