Page 2055 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 21 June 2011
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Jim mainly through the Liberal Party, and I value the service and the contribution that he has made to the Liberal Party. As an aspiring candidate, I know the support that Jim gave to members of the Liberal Party, but he also extracted a price for that. Jim would very generously provide you with wine for fundraising dinners, but he also took the time as he walked you through his store and handed over the wine to give you the benefit of his views on whatever was the topic of the day or whatever you had said or not said and whether he thought that it was appropriate or not.
He was a man of views and a man of great generosity. I was constantly amazed at the areas where Jim was involved in with his charitable work and where he gave his time. I recall when we were trying to establish scholarships at the Australian Catholic University, Jim was there. When Gary Humphries was attempting to raise scholarship money, Jim, as always, provided the wine for countless dinners. And it was Jim and people like him who first gave me my introduction to the splendid work of the Open Family foundation.
Touching on the comments of Mr Smyth, one of the great achievements in life is the nature of your send-off, and the nature of Jim’s send-off was a testament to the greatness of the man and the contribution he made in every aspect of his life. The clear expressions of love and admiration that came through his requiem were outstanding and something that will stay with members of the community who were there. As Mr Smyth has said, it is a testament to the man that he maintained willingly and openly and with great love his faith throughout his 63 years. A testament to that faith was the nature of the send-off with three bishops and such a collection of clergy. It is a send-off that all we Catholics aspire to.
In sending my personal condolences to Margaret, Damien and Adrien, it is quite clear that they have suffered an enormous loss, but I think that, because of the nature of the man, we know where Jim is now and we can only say: “Rest in peace, Jim. You will be missed, but your example will live on in those who knew you and loved you and admired you across the Canberra community.”
MR DOSZPOT (Brindabella): To Jim’s family—wife, Margaret, and sons, Damien and Adrien, who are in the chamber here with us today—I also offer my sincere condolences and sympathy. There has been a lot said about Jim’s generosity to charities and causes and his enormous contribution and dedication to Canberra and to the Canberra community. I served on the board of Cantrade with Jim for a number of years, and he was a tough, fair and very demanding chair. But he was a chair who never demanded anything more than he himself contributed. He wanted more, but he also contributed more than any of us on the board. We spent many hours in interesting discussions on various matters of importance to Canberra, such as a very fast train and initiatives that Jim wanted to push.
I also went on a memorable delegation trip with Jim and other business representatives to visit our sister city Nara in Japan in 1997, where I saw first-hand yet another side of Jim Murphy—a consummate diplomat representing Canberra and supporting the then Chief Minister Kate Carnell in countless functions we attended, always extolling the virtues of our capital city and the opportunities it could offer to our Japanese hosts.
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