Page 2025 - Week 07 - Thursday, 13 August 2020
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For example, the front page of the Canberra Times on the day they were married talked about television coming to 13 country towns soon. It talked about Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev, who made a shouting, threatening farewell speech in the United Nations a few hours before he flew back to Moscow aboard a Soviet airliner. Page 2 of the Canberra Times on that day talked about new cracks in the apartheid, or racial segregation, war being reported in South Africa’s “mother city”, which, perhaps because of its more deep-rooted cultural ties with Europe, is “less colour conscious than any other city of the union”.
The times have certainly changed in the 60 years since Darryl and Valma were married, but their enduring love for each other and for their family has not changed. I congratulate them on their 60th wedding anniversary and wish them many more happy years together.
Mr John Paynter—tribute
MS CHEYNE (Ginninderra) (6.39): I rise this evening to pay tribute to my friend John Paynter. John was born in Calgary in 1946 on a balmy summer’s evening—about 17 degrees. John always used to say that Canada had two seasons: winter and a week of autumn. It is not surprising then that, after stints as a taxi driver, truck driver and acclaimed ski instructor, John was so attracted to Australia on a visit here that he decided not to leave.
It was while teaching psychology at the University of Sydney that he met his soulmate, Mary Ann, and her son, Beau. Together they had three children: Edward, or Teddy; William, or Billy; and Mary Ann, or Mary Lou. John often worked several jobs to support his family and to ensure that his children had the best possible upbringing.
John took risks and was insatiable in his desire to learn things and to create. Together he and Mary Ann developed one of the world’s first computer-based learning systems, “Computer Tutor”, in the mid-1980s. After working in computer programming and later banks, as well as running a family restaurant, John joined the Australian Public Service as a business architect.
John and Mary Ann were incredibly giving people. Their children speak warmly of how many of their friends John and Mary Ann hosted without a second thought, sometimes for months at a time, and especially if those friends were going through a difficult time. They unofficially adopted one friend, Shahang, or “Bang”, and they loved watching his life unfold as much as their own children’s.
Following a long battle with cancer, Mary Ann died in 2016. She had needlessly suffered, particularly at the end. John and Mary Ann had always been strong supporters of voluntary assisted dying, but this traumatic experience resulted in John devoting the rest of his life to fighting for this and for restoring territory rights.
Indeed, it was John’s passion in this area that resulted in a mutual friend of ours introducing us. We became firm friends ourselves. John was there at Parliament House when—which happens to be two years ago tomorrow—we were pleading with
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