Page 2662 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 26 September 2007
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MR BERRY (Ginninderra): Thank you, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker. My sincerest condolences to you, Helen. As difficult as it is, nobody could comprehend how difficult this tragic occurrence would be for Terry’s family. For those of us that worked with Mr Connolly, we found it a lively experience. He came to this Assembly as a bright, enthusiastic young lawyer with all the passion of somebody who had just entered politics; the sort of passion that gave us in our caucus the liveliest of debates and which I think set the ACT on a productive course so far as lawmaking was concerned.
His talents were recognisable from the beginning; his ambition was noticeable. He pursued all of his interests, with a great passion. I remember the birth of his children and the difficulty that Terry had keeping his suits clean as he assisted with the rearing of these children and the round-the-office humour about these things. That is what joins us together mostly—that connection between ordinary human beings.
In party politics, there are differences which we wrestle with as adults, and there were many of those occasions where we wrestled on philosophical issues and political issues, as you would expect in a lively political environment. I remember those very clearly.
I also remember meeting Terry on occasions when he was out on his bicycle and I was attempting to run, and we had a few discussions about our respective health and how we were trying so hard to preserve it. So I suppose if there is any consolation in any of this, Terry was, at the time of his death, doing something he wanted to do. Nevertheless, the abruptness of it is extremely moving, and it reminds us all that, if we have a job in life, we ought to get on and do it with the sort of passion that Terry Connolly displayed in all of the efforts that he put into this profession as a politician and, I think, the profession he was most suited to—the law.
I do recall one example of legislation that was dealt with here in the Assembly after long debate, and that was the Mental Health (Treatment and Care) Act. It was to replace the ancient provisions of the Lunacy Act, and it was a most difficult piece of legislation to work our way through because of the well-known tensions between the medical profession and the judiciary around the issues concerning the mentally ill. My office and his office, and he and I, worked closely on this issue and his passion for human rights showed through in the development of that legislation. It is a sort of a family business these days, and something you can be proud of.
So, for all of us, we have to move on and take with us the fond memories and the reminders of what we are here to do. I think Terry would agree, we are here, with whatever our view of life is, to try and leave the place in a better state than what it was when we got here. Vale Terry Connolly.
MR HARGREAVES (Brindabella—Minister for the Territory and Municipal Services, Minister for Housing and Minister for Multicultural Affairs): Thank you very much, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker. Many people have spoken today and in the media far more eloquently than I am capable of doing. But I wanted to just contribute to the words about Terry Connolly.
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