Page 2664 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 26 September 2007
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So, again, I am going to miss a really good friend, a truly great man, and I think that so too will the rest of the country. To Helen and Lara and Maddy, I send my sincere best wishes and those of Jenny, and the rest of us.
MR SMYTH (Brindabella): Mr Speaker, I am glad to speak after you because I think you injected into this morning’s debate something that I think Terry would have appreciated, and that was simply a bit of humour. Sombre is not how I recall Terry Connolly and, whilst I know that we are all sad, I would ask you to think about some of the stories that will be told, particularly by the bench, over a glass of red over the next couple of days about who Terry Connolly really was and what he brought us. What he brought us was his love for his family, the law, the ALP, football and cycling. Whatever he did, he did completely. Whatever he did, he did not hold back.
But he did not do it with any sort of moral superiority or arrogance. For many of us in public life today, I think the true challenge is to keep your feet on the ground. And if there is one thing that we can take from the life of Terry Connolly, it is that his head might have been in the clouds in what he sought to achieve, but his feet were very much on the ground.
Nelson Mandela, in his inauguration speech as President of South Africa, said: “Who are you to be shy? Who are you to hide your light under a bushel and not strive to be the best that you can be and do the best that you can do for your community?” If any of us in this place—indeed any legislature or any part of public life—were looking for an example of what they could be, they could always look to Terry Connolly.
Perhaps in the coming days Helen will share with us his reaction when he was offered the post of Master of the Supreme Court of the ACT. As Simon so eloquently pointed out, the greatest acknowledgement of your effectiveness is to have those on the other side of the chamber steal you away from your party and get you doing something that does not impact on them in a political sense.
We have with us today two former Chief Ministers and the current Chief Minister, as well as the Chief Justice and the full court bench. Their presence represents an acknowledgement of the path that led him to the bench, which then allowed him to do so much of what he did on behalf of his community. I am sure this would have brought a smile to his face. His acceptance of that position, I am sure, would have brought a smile to the face of Gary Humphries at the time. His acceptance of the position of Master of the Supreme Court indicates that he must have thought that he could do important work there because, as a member of parliament and as Attorney-General, you can do a lot. But the path that he chose, his dedication to the law and the fullness that he sought in his life, I think, is an example to all of us.
There is a great verse in the Bible. It is from John 10:10, and it is this:
I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
My memory of Terry Connolly will always be that he had abundant life, because he chose to be that way. We could all learn a lot from that. His approach to life, his
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