Valedictory

The Hon. D.R. CREGAN (Kavel) (18:42): When I was 16, I wrote to Kim Beazley. I wanted his advice on politics and the law. Mr Beazley was a figure of quiet authority in the small Western Australian community where I lived with my dad, my sister and my stepmother. He wrote:

I am impressed that you, at this stage, are cheerful about considering a political career. I guess the best advice I could give you would be to pick a party now and stick to it.

Over all the years, I have kept the letter, together with another from the then Director of Public Prosecutions, Robert Cock KC; I will come to that later.

Like so much other good advice, I ignored Mr Beazley. After nearly eight years in the house, I was only ever a member of a party here for about three years—and from Mr Beazley's perspective, certainly the wrong one. As Shakespeare said in Twelfth Night:

I am as mad as he,

If sad and merry madness equal be.

You need to be adventurous to decide to be an Independent member and to live by your wits, and you need a little toughness. It is a single, daring act. As Joan Didion wrote in Vogue:

…people with self-respect exhibit a certain toughness, a kind of moral nerve; they display what was once called character, a quality which, although approved in the abstract, sometimes loses ground to other, more instantly negotiable virtues. The measure of its slipping prestige is that one tends to think of it only in connection with…United States senators who have been defeated, preferably, in the primary…

Then, of course:

However long we postpone it, we eventually lie down alone in that notoriously uncomfortable bed, the one we make ourselves.

This is how, happily, I made mine. My grandfather, Danny Cregan, for whom I am named, was quietly rebellious and admired. There is a story that a captain in his brigade was once overheard to say that if a single man was promoted in the field he wanted it to be D.D. Cregan. Danny Cregan, myopic, Irish and disdainful of authority, was commissioned in the field as a logistics officer, well behind the lines, fighting Erwin Rommel in Africa and later the Japanese in Asia. But he would have a chance at his own, single daring act.

In coming to this place I said I had a modest upbringing. That is true. It is also true that I wanted to step aside from the assumptions that often wrongly go along with Hale School and Peterhouse and Cambridge and even Moredun Station. But Moredun Station is the proper place to begin.

Raised on Moredun, which had been in the Cregan family for more than 100 years and had 38 dams, Danny married for love—his second marriage, which cost much of the farm. Later in Africa and particularly in New Guinea, serving with the 12^th Light Horse, he was a profound critic of Australian defence policy. He held the strong view that the country was making a fatal error in waiting to withdraw troops from Europe for the defence of Australia. He did not mind being right, and he did not mind telling people. His letters home, including to his local member of parliament, who was particularly senior in the government of the day, were famous. He was never promoted again and finished the war still a lieutenant, alone with his glory.

Later, it is said that he refused an offer to stand for parliament. He had been divorced, he said, and there were rumours about other women, which, he assured the party officials who came to see him, were absolutely true. His view on the tactical errors of Singapore, Burma and Indonesia became accepted, a reminder that what is contested can rapidly become orthodoxy.

In any case, D.D. Cregan was an experienced critic of authority. He instilled in all of us—in everyone in our family—that it was just fine to oppose something, no matter the apparent personal cost or temporary social opprobrium. In fact, it might be better if the cost was high; it only improved the thrill of it all.

Make no mistake: I knew there would be criticism of my decision to become Independent, and that criticism came. Getting a lecture from Adrian Pederick on standards in politics was like getting a lecture from the town drunk on sobriety, but as a former law firm partner once said after I lost an easy case, 'You know, you don't have to win every day, but you do have to be right.' I felt that sooner or later the constituency would see the things I had observed at closer quarters. If they did not, that was the risk of leadership—the risk we all take and a risk I took wholeheartedly. I wrote in the margin of my daybook at the time:

The Marshall government is making enemies. It is infuriating the property council. It is quarrelling with the hotel's association and the master builders. Scandals, especially over expenses, are used as a device to strengthen the ruling faction's hand when instead they are a threat to the government-as-a-whole. New Ministerial appointments are being made from a narrow and sclerotic circle. The government's majority is unstable. Every signal to the executive is ignored. Many MPs fear for their seats. There is no longer talk of a second term.

I feared the state would see through the Marshall government. I do not share those reflections with any ill will. As the leader has said, once the hostilities end, the civilities must begin. But they are my reflections from the time and from my daybook.

There was also the question of GlobeLink and the question of my local branches. First, I had doorknocked my entire community to sell the benefits of GlobeLink. Soon after the election the policy was dumped. My electorate has forgiven me many things, but I judged that they would not forgive anybody for doorknocking them again and pretending GlobeLink was, after all, given everything I had already said, the wrong policy.

Second, in the time I was a member of the Liberal Party the party changed. I did not. A concerted membership drive from the hard right radically altered the nature of the institution. I cannot speak for the party in other parts of Australia, but in South Australia it is unquestionably, now, a hard right party. It indulges the fringe and the extremes, and every time it does, it loses more standing.

I refused to participate in the membership drive in my community, involving recruiting members from Pentecostal churches. I would refuse again today. Australia is not a sectarian society. It was made perfectly clear to me that if I did not fall into line, I would lose preselection. So it was kill or be killed. Drawing on a long Irish heritage, I knew what to do.

Serving as the first constitutionally independent Speaker was a pleasure in every way. Changing the constitution to ensure there would be an independent Speaker brought back all the tactical joy of working as a litigator at Allens. As an Independent, I was free from the mindless factionalism of the party. I could focus on my electorate and I feel I was able to devote the new energy to local projects.

We have a new hospital on the way, several new ambulance stations in the district, a new regional sports hub, a new aquatic centre, and a new school is funded and planned. Onkaparinga Valley Road through Kavel has been resurfaced. There is a new Service SA centre, an on-demand bus service is being delivered, and a new freeway interchange is being constructed. There is a new arts and culture hub, Fabrik, at Lobethal, together with other community assets. It was suggested that I am gold plating the electorate; instead, I believe that I have been focused on addressing years of neglect.

It was also an honour to replace, temporarily, Geoff Brock, who suffered a heart attack, as an Independent cabinet minister. I was honoured to receive a suggestion from the Premier that I join cabinet as the first Special Minister of State. It was a pleasure to work with the Premier, who is highly skilled, committed, intelligent and immensely capable.

It was also a great honour to be asked to advance legislation to ban political donations in South Australia, the first place where that has occurred anywhere in the world. For eight months, together with Lukas Price, the Premier and other advisers, we worked furiously and nearly every night. It was complex. There were, on average, three drafting changes a day. Many political participants in the state and elsewhere were invested in the task. They brought to bear as much influence as they could, and every day we resisted that influence in an effort to draw up the best scheme.

It was no small thing for the legislation to pass unanimously. As well, I mention Professor John Williams AM, Provost of Adelaide University, whose careful and accurate advice we came to rely on, as we had much earlier when I served as chair of the university merger committee. It was also a deep honour to serve as minister for corrections and for emergency services and police and to serve with other ministers in cabinet. It is wrong to elevate some to the status of favourites, and I admire the extensive horsepower of the cabinet overall, though I mention now particularly the Attorney-General, the current and former Treasurer and the former and current Deputy Premier.

It is true that I love politics. I also love other things. I am coming to the end of my second term. I had, at a much earlier time and perhaps foolishly, told the local newspaper that I would serve only two terms. My time is up.

What does it mean to be a local member? What values should you bring to the task? As a chief justice once taught me, and as I mentioned in my first remarks in this place:

As a general rule people who are popular or powerful, or who enjoy the support of the majority, either do not need or do not have any difficulty in securing the protection of the law. The people who need that protection are the weak, the friendless, the people who are accused of crime or other disgraceful conduct, people who can appeal only to the law to protect and vindicate their rights.

I took that lesson to heart in legal practice and, I hope, in politics.

As an aside, I want to share, mostly for my family, the first time I risked it all for something grand and exciting. I was in a mock trial competition, 15 years old in the Law Courts Building, facing off against a talented all-girls school. They were there to win. I went too hard on the cross examination. There were tears. Angry parents wrote to my headmaster. I worried that I was going to be suspended. Robert Cock KC, the Director of Public Prosecutions, who had acted as the judge, hearing about the latent scandal, wrote to the school:

In the several years which I have judged the Mock Trial competition, I have seen a number of remarkable students… Many treat the trial as a serious exercise and put tremendous effort into their preparation. Mr Cregan is, however, the most remarkable student I have witnessed so far.

Not the first time I was saved in this way—maybe not the last. I mention it so you know that I am returning to the law, something I have loved since I was 15, at least.

Thank you, Mr Speaker, and most especially to the people of Kavel and those in the gallery today who were willing to see that I wanted to do things differently and were prepared to extend me that privilege and, in time, the largest majority in the state. I hope in years to come you will find my contribution just as charming and ruthless because, scrawled in the flyleaf of all my university notebooks at Cambridge was a simple line from Beaton:

Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.

Lieutenant D.D. Cregan, most of all, I hope you are proud. I have enjoyed every minute.

To my staff, Airlie and Kayla, and Nicole and Leela, thank you. You are remarkable friends to have in politics, and I knew you were setting out on your own political paths. Our community is as grateful as I am for your diligence, compassion, thoughtfulness, and care. You have done very fine work. I understand you have told our local newspaper you will only work for a future Independent member. You are such a valuable team for the electorate and have done so much of the work that I have been credited with, that I hope they understand what losing you would mean.

To Rebekha Sharkie, it has been a true pleasure working with you as the longest serving female crossbencher since Federation. You have left more than your own mark in our region. You have always been kind, funny and generous. To Steve Murray, the past President of the Liberal Party and a talented MP, thanks for being a very fine friend.

To all the staff at parliament in Hansard, the Blue Room, the operations and maintenance staff, to the clerks and their officers, and to the library, thank you for your support. To Matt Schultz, thank you for standing in my place. You are an extraordinary community leader with real heart, intelligence, and the capacity to deliver the best outcomes for the Hills.

To my sisters, my brother and my parents, thank you for your forbearance as I have pursued my ambitions. As Hillary Clinton once said, ambition can be a lonely passion, and it is long past time to follow my heart into other things.

Finally, to Clare, whose letters always started in a touching way, 'My Dear Dan.' To borrow from James Salter, whose writing leaves an imprint: among the road maps, cards, old addresses—the lost world never put in order, there is, I know, a photograph. It is taken after dinner. The graceful, slightly awkward girl; it is difficult now to imagine the woman she might in later years have been. She passed away from cancer. The very first and perhaps the very best of my supporters, all those years ago. She does not know I never married, there are no children. Her death was a knell and everything to follow seems less vital.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Energy and Mining) (18:57): I am very sad to see my friend Dan Cregan leave. There are often conscience votes in the parliament where political parties, for a moment, vanish, and I often find myself in the minority of those conscience votes. I look around and I think to myself, 'This is where I would be if there were no political parties.' I think I would be alongside people like Dan Cregan. We do not share the same ideology on industrial relations, and we do not share the same views on capital, but we do share a lot of common values.

The Adelaide Hills had been taken for granted for a long time until Dan Cregan became the member for Kavel. When I was first transport minister, we announced the first interchange at Bald Hills, and because we announced it, the local Liberal MP opposed it, which I found fascinating. Because of Dan Cregan, there is a new interchange being built; there is not a goldmine at the Bird in Hand; there are local intersections being upgraded; there is a fully funded, on-demand service. It is not a trial anymore, it is there for good. He has fought very hard.

What I saw in him, and in his friend Steve Murray, was something unique. My biggest fear in the last term of opposition was that the Liberal Party would embrace these two men and bring them into the tent because they are smart, they are strategic, they think, they have compassion, and they understand. Luckily, for us, they did not. They kept them out, and for that I am eternally grateful.

When Dan became Special Minister for State, we on this side of the house entrusted him with the abolition of political donations. Let me say that again. We trusted someone who grew up in the Liberal Party with the abolition of political donations. I think it is fair to say under the current circumstances that we would have outraised our opponents probably 5:1 and we would have had a massive arsenal. However, we trusted the person who could have designed a system to disadvantage us.

The intricacies of it are delicate, but Dan went away and did a piece of honest work, not in the interests of a government or an ideology but in the interests of the people, and he has taken money out of politics. For that I think the people of South Australia will be eternally grateful to the Premier and the minister he put in charge of it, the Special Minister for State. It is a remarkable thing, and I do not think we have really quite seen the consequences of it yet. They will filter through because they will take time.

Dan will go away, he will go back to the law and he will make obscene amounts of money, because he is good counsel and he is the person you would want on your side, but he is also a good man. He is a caring man. He has personal circumstances that he is attending to because of his diligence and his honour. I think that is a remarkable trait in a man who has so much to offer this parliament and this state.

I point out to him that there was another very famous South Australian member of parliament who left this state after doing only a short period of time and then moved to Perth. He was Bob Hawke's uncle and he became Premier of Western Australia. Mate, if you get there, we want our GST back, but I suspect we will not win that argument. Godspeed, Dan. Thank you very much for everything you have done.

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (19:02): It gives me great honour to get up and speak to a friend and a colleague. As you have just heard, I understood everything that the last two years has looked like and has been. Dan and I formed a friendship in the Liberal Party, along with his friend behind us, the member for Davenport. We found ourselves in a party that was very, very difficult to even sit and listen to, let alone bat for.

The thing with Dan is that you cannot take away his history or his past in the fact that he has come right through the rank and file of Young Liberals. He has even formed relationships, even close intimate ones, with up and coming young liberals, just as any good family political position might do. He was as liberal as they come when he got into politics in 2018. One of the saddest things in this parliament here today and what we might be looking at at the next election in 2026 is that what this state needs more than ever—and perhaps even the Malinauskas Labor government might admit this—is a good, strong opposition.

In his Liberal thinking fashion, Dan does not yell it out, he does not preach to the unconverted or those who converted, he just goes about his business as though we all should either know the business of a Liberal government or know better. In 2021, I saw one of the most amazing strategic plays this parliament may ever see. On the back of a weak Liberal government, confirmed by the last 2022 election—that is not my justification, not my account.

Like Dan, we both polled well in 2022. The rest of the Liberal MPs cannot say that, and most of them are not here now today. Dan then went on to be the Speaker, an Independent minister and, as we have heard from the Treasurer, he played some very important roles in this house and for the Malinauskas government. That should be of no surprise to anyone.

Dan is very articulate and a man of few words. Back in the days of 1998 to 1992 I was told in the shipyard by some tradespeople, 'Nick, the one with the loudest voices are the ones you have to stay clear of because they usually do not know anything.' Dan is one of those quiet achievers that knows way more than perhaps even the eight years that he has given us so far and, as indicated by the Treasurer, the world is before him as he leaves this place.

With Dan and his logic—and I heard some of the parts he said he did when the party changed—I totally agree. I do not think the party has considered what it looked like between 2018 and 2022, and where it is going in its future. I really like the words 'whether it is either to be killed or change the course of action'. He was a tactician and his function by stealth was incredible to watch, not only in the four years but the next four years after that.

So why has he accomplished so much? He is honest, he is clever, he is calculated and, if you know that, you will work with him. I have seen the Malinauskas government do this and no wonder they have good things from him, as has been indicated by the Treasurer, because Dan is a person who really does think and plan his way.

The other thing I want to say that I picked up is that he uses the word 'integrity'. Integrity can be used to your own detriment, it can be used in an opportunistic way, but I think that when you add integrity with care and allegiance and understanding you end up with a total package that Dan Cregan has offered the seat of Kavel. May I just say that I think the seat of Kavel has been immensely lucky to have, first of all a Liberal member in Dan Cregan but to finish up with a very promising Independent member.

With that, Dan, as the Treasurer indicated, I wish you all the best in your pursuits. I am sorry we probably did not work as closely as I probably could have. I may have got a lot more for MacKillop if I had worked more closely with Dan Cregan than hoping that the Marshall government might see the light of day and the error of their ways.

The future for you, whether it be money-driven, and I have yet to see that because I do not think going into politics is something we should all be doing. I do not see it as a money-making exercise really. You will take your skills and your experience, and the world will be your oyster, and you deserve all the luck in the world. Well done, and thank you.

Ms SAVVAS (Newland) (19:07): I may do something slightly unconventional today and talk to the house about the 18 months that I lived in Mount Barker. When I lost my job in the Newland electorate office in 2018 I was looking for a bit of purpose and I thought what I would do was write to the newly minted member for Kavel about the build that I was undertaking in one of the new estates at the back of Mount Barker from my hometown of course in Tea Tree Gully.

I wrote to Dan within maybe three or four days of the election. He responded on brand-new letterhead within about 24 hours. I had only written just as a future constituent, completely anonymous to him, and not only had he written this letter on letterhead but there was a handwritten note on the side saying he looked forward to watching my political pursuits progress. Of course, I was both very impressed and terrified, which I think are always two words you can use to describe Dan Cregan.

Later on that year, when my house was built, I did move up to a Mount Barker that looks very different to how Mount Barker looks today. Although I only lived in that community for a very short period of time, I lived there during some trying times, being bushfires in the Adelaide Hills and also the COVID pandemic. I was continually impressed by not only the active way that Dan served that community but also the personalised nature of the care that he took for each different town in the Hills, knowing that we had friends and family in different sections that had been affected particularly by the bushfires. I was very impressed by that and at one of events where I did see Dan along the way, he had made a commitment to me and my then partner that he would doorknock each of the small towns twice. Again, I had a bit of a laugh about it and then wrote that down and sent it on to whoever I needed to send it to, alongside all of the very impressive material that we had received in different places along the Hills.

By the time it came to the 2022 election, I was long gone, and I got a call from the ex-partner in question, who was going to place his early vote. He asked my permission to vote for Dan Cregan rather than the Labor Party, which of course is not something I ever would have allowed of a current partner, but he was an ex. I did my due diligence as a budding politician myself, and I asked him one question: 'That depends. Did he doorknock you twice in Lobethal?' He said something like, 'I think he doorknocked me three times.' I said, 'Alright, you can put Dan first and Labor second, just because we are no longer together.' Again, I remember that conversation so clearly, when he said, 'No, I am pretty sure he came round three times,' which was just so incredibly impressive.

I returned to Mount Barker a couple of weeks ago. I had not driven through there in probably four or five years, to be honest, and I would not have been able to place my former residence on the map. I literally would have no idea how to get there. It is not the place that it was when I lived there, and there is no question in my mind that that is because of the advocacy of Dan Cregan.

When I moved to Mount Barker, it was not keeping up with growth. There was no local supermarket that I could walk to. I could not get to a bus from my house. I drove through there just weeks ago, looking at the changes to that town, that city, that really desperately needed it. Of course, there has been a lot of work from our government to make that happen, but there is no question in my mind that a very, very hardworking, intelligent, community-first local member has had a really big role to play in that. Although I am likely not to return to live there anytime soon, I am very thankful for what you did for a lot of my family and friends who are in the Adelaide Hills and, of course, for the strange and interesting conversations and friendship that we have built along the way. Thank you.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (19:11): My first interaction with Dan was indirect. It was actually through my brother and sister-in-law, who have a property at Carey Gully. Their property at Carey Gully is a fair distance from other neighbours, and here I was hearing how rolling up one day to doorknock their house was a young budding candidate for the Liberal Party, Dan Cregan. I thought, 'Bloody hell.' This is a city MP. If something has a bit of a steep driveway or a rolling hill, we complain about it, but here is somebody going out through Carey Gully, where properties are probably a kilometre apart from each other, doorknocking houses that have never been doorknocked before.

I think that goes to show the hard work and the dedication to his community that Dan Cregan has. I think that that hard work and commitment led to the events that we saw a bit over four years ago in this parliament, which will no doubt be some of the most unprecedented times, certainly some of the more hairy times that this parliament has seen. It was borne out because of a passion for Dan's community that he felt was completely missing in action in delivery of the government.

Dan, to go through with what he did, had to have an incredible amount of guts and bravery to do so—guts and bravery that I hope no-one on this side ever has, let me say. The internal fortitude to do what he did is absolutely extraordinary, but while no doubt he copped a very significant amount from people who no doubt have probably never talked to him again, look at what happened at the next state election for his result for his community. It was an overwhelming result. It was an overwhelming endorsement of Dan Cregan and his agenda and his advocacy for a community which had, by any objective measure, fallen behind where it should have been in terms of delivery of services.

The one area I have, obviously, the most interaction directly with is health, and something that Dan campaigned on relentlessly was the delivery of ambulance services to the Mount Barker community. Up until Dan took the decision that he did, up until the last state election, there was one 24-hour ambulance to service the entire Mount Barker community, which was nowhere near enough. It meant people literally lost their lives because we did not have that service offering for the community, which was growing exponentially.

I will always remember standing with Dan on what is now the site of the new Mount Barker Ambulance Station and Dan saying, 'Chris, this is the happiest day of my political career.' It was pretty touching and I was glad to be there for it. It just goes to show how invested you were in delivering for your community, how much this meant to you. The new Mount Barker hospital is going great guns—cranes up, building works underway—and it is all because of the legacy of your advocacy for those projects for the Mount Barker community.

The Hon. K.A. Hildyard interjecting:

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: The member for Reynell says the 'Cregan hospital'. At the very least, a statue or a plaque or something might be appropriate. Just lastly I want to say, without divulging any confidence, that in the cabinet, Dan, you were an incredible contributor to our discussions, not just in terms of the areas of your portfolio responsibility but in areas right across public policy and political life in terms of cabinet deliberations. It is an unusual thing, usually, to have members who were previously from another political party form part of a Labor cabinet—it does happen repeatedly here in South Australia—but it really elevated our discussion and you brought a depth of understanding to our discussion that led to better decision-making.

I think all of cabinet were very disappointed with the decisions that you have made, firstly to step away from cabinet and secondly to step away from parliament entirely. We understand the reasons why you have done so. We know that you will devote yourself to your family and, as has been mentioned, no doubt go on to have a very successful private-sector career, but we are going to miss you and I think this house and your community has been all the stronger for your contribution in this place.

Ms HUTCHESSON (Waite) (19:17): I will just make a few quick remarks. Dan, you are the best member for Kavel that I have ever known—again, maybe the only one. I want to thank you for being so friendly and so willing to share ideas and share your experience with me as a new member, and thank you for your help when you were the Minister for Emergency Services as well. It has always been a real pleasure to be able to listen to you when you talk in chamber and, no offence to our current Speaker who is doing a sterling job, it was always fun to listen to Dan when he was trying to keep us all in order in this place. Then, as the emergency services minister, your responses during question time were always great to listen to.

As a fellow Hills MP I know that the people who live in Mount Barker, and in Kavel more broadly, absolutely love you and they are going to miss you dearly. In terms of your work through the bushfires but just more broadly, looking after your community is something that I absolutely aspire to. I want to thank you for all of your advice and sharing information with me around learning about what 'campaign calories' are and giving me some tips, and your special interest in Waite and hopefully seeing me return here at the next election.

I want to thank you. I want to wish you all the best when you go to Perth and for your family as well. You have been a fantastic member in this place and we will miss you.

The SPEAKER (19:18): Thank you very much Dan, member for Kavel, for everything you have done. I remember having some long chats with you around your thoughts on ICAC. Then, when you moved into the ministry and I moved into this spot, I will be forever grateful for all the guidance that you provided on how to do things in the Speaker's chair. Thank you very much for the service to your community and to this parliament.

At 19:19 the house adjourned until Thursday 27 November 2025 at 11:00.