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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 6 Hansard (19 June) . . Page.. 2103 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

Matthew was a passionate and committed advocate for his members. We worked closely, both in terms of our negotiations over the pay rise for ACT government employees and through my office and the staff of the Chief Minister's Department in negotiating the agreement.

Matthew was passionate in his convictions and not always, I think, fully in accord with his union colleagues. Nevertheless, he always pushed the envelope to get the best possible outcome for his members. At the end of the day, I think he achieved much, and the government achieved much in achieving real wage increases for the first time in seven years for ACT government employees.

The last time I saw Matthew Reynolds was when I had a meeting with him as Minister for Health, again on an industrial issue. I have to say it was not the most comfortable of meetings. Matthew was pushing very hard on the issue of recognising wage disparities for allied health professionals and actually brought a number of his members in from Community Care, Calvary Hospital and Canberra Hospital to talk about the concerns that they had about their wages and their conditions.

He let them do the talking for him. He introduced it, but he let them explain their issues to me directly. He was an effective advocate but also an advocate who recognised the value his members could bring to the debate about improving their pay and conditions.

I regret that our last meeting was one which led to me getting somewhat frustrated, but perhaps that demonstrated his capacity to push home the point and make sure that the government and I, as the minister, were listening to the issues of concern to the membership of the CPSU.

To his family-to his wife, Jenny; to his children, Tayla and Joel-I express my sincere condolences. I cannot begin to imagine the heart-wrenching agony that they are going through over this awful premature ending of Matthew's life, but I join with fellow members of the Assembly in expressing my condolences and my sympathies in Matthew's too-early passing.

MS TUCKER

: I would also like to support this motion of condolence for Matthew Reynolds. Although I did not know him personally, I'm aware of his important contribution to the labour movement since 1983, passionately defending the interests of Commonwealth public servants, most recently as national president of the Community and Public Sector Union. I was saddened to hear of his early and unexpected death. It is clear that Matthew Reynolds was extremely well regarded, both as an activist and as a person, since coming to Canberra in 1998 following his election as CPSU national president.

He was also an enthusiastic member of the Canberra community, contributing to coaching boys and girls in Australian rules football.

The pay rises recently awarded to ACT public servants are in many ways a culmination of his efforts on behalf of the workers he served. I take this opportunity to acknowledge the value of his contribution to our community and to pay tribute to him as a great trade unionist, activist and citizen.

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