Members

Simms, Hon. R.A.

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. R.I. Lucas:

That this council welcomes the Hon. Robert Simms, elected by an Assembly of Members of both houses on 4 May 2021 to replace the Hon. M.C. Parnell (resigned).

(Continued from 4 May 2021.)

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (17:16): I rise to support the motion before us today and welcome our newest member, the now honourable Robert Simms. It does beg the question: if he is now honourable, what has he been up to that he was not honourable before? I do not know Robert well, but I know a lot of people who do know him well, and the company he keeps I think speaks volumes to the sort of person he is and the sort of member he is going to be here.

I note that we saw a former member, the honourable—and I use that term loosely, given his desertion of this chamber—Andrew McLachlan, demoted to the Senate from this chamber. Now we see the Hon. Robert Simms promoted from the Senate, via the Adelaide City Council, to this chamber, which is a good thing. It is rare that someone has the experience at the various levels of government that the Hon. Robert Simms has.

I know a number of people who know the Hon. Robert Simms well, and I asked whether there were any stories that were both funny and embarrassing for Robert and fit to tell in this chamber. I got a whole lot of stories that met the first set of criteria, but I am afraid did not fit the second set of criteria of being fit to tell in this chamber, so I do not have any of those anecdotes that have been passed on to me that I can share with this chamber.

It has been reflected upon a couple of times the shoes the Hon. Robert Simms is filling, left by the founder of the Greens party in South Australia, the Hon. Mark Parnell. I am sure Robert will carry on that tradition of integrity and decency that he has left behind in this chamber, and I look forward to working with him into the future.

The Hon. C. BONAROS (17:18): On behalf of SA-Best I, too, rise to support the motion and to formally extend a very warm welcome to our newest member, the Hon. Robert Simms, in this place and associate myself with the remarks of other honourable members of this and the other place. We are very much looking forward to sharing the halls of the lower ground floor with you—it is a little bit different down there—and this chamber. I know the Hon. Robert Simms has described himself as a bit of a nerd, and I assure you that you are in very good company in this place.

It has been well established now, through all the speeches that have been made, that you have some big shoes to fill. Your predecessor, the Hon. Mark Parnell, was, as others have said, a mentor, a statesman, a diplomat, a gentleman and a friend to many in this place—a green giant, as the Leader of the Government in this place put it, and one of the finest examples of what all parliamentarians and good citizens aspire to be. He epitomised the often quoted words of the 19^th century author and theologian James Freeman Clarke, who distinguished, 'A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman, of the next generation.'

You, too, have spoken of your commitment to positive social change for generations to come. Your record across all three levels of government speaks for itself, as does your commitment to issues that go to the very heart of Greens platform issues, including things like the climate crisis and the environment, inequality, marriage equality, poverty and homelessness, advances in LGBTI rights, social housing, the list goes on.

We may not always agree on issues being debated in here but, in my view, the Hon. Mr Simms has quite rightly highlighted that while we make laws it is people who drive social change. There is no doubt that your party has played a pivotal advocacy role in that process. We all have a responsibility to do just that. Your political journey is clearly only part heard, and we look forward to you paving your own path here in this place. With those words, and on behalf of SA-Best, I, too, welcome the Hon. Mr Simms to the Legislative Council and look forward to working with you, your office and your team for years to come.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (17:20): Unsurprisingly, I rise to support the motion and welcome the Hon. Rob Simms to this place. It has been a long time coming, in many ways, for him to arrive here, and I look at it as a little bit of a Goldilocks effect. He has finally found a place in the middle: just right, not too big and not too small but just right. I hope that he will make himself a welcome home here, not just to the next election but well beyond that.

The Hon. Robert Simms and I actually go back to when he was 17. I know a lot of those stories the Hon. Kyam Maher has alluded to, and I shall not share any of them here. I think the Greens will be well served by Robert's presence in this place. Our shared values and our four pillars—environmental sustainability, social justice, peace and nonviolence—and of course grassroots democracy, will be adequately and with amplitude personified in this place.

The Hon. Robert Simms and I will share one of the portfolios the Hon. Mark Parnell used to hold. We will have a shared portfolio of climate change and environment because we believe that is too important to divide amongst us. We also think that it will double our capacity in those areas. We look forward to working collaboratively as team Greens but also collaboratively with all members of the council. I cannot wait to get on with the job, and I know the Hon. Robert Simms has already proven this afternoon that he cannot wait either.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (17:22): I would like to quickly add my comments to the welcoming of the Hon. Mr Simms to this chamber. It is always good to see a new member come, fresh faced and full of enthusiasm and energy.

The Hon. K.J. Maher: Three weeks.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Three weeks, yes. It will be fun to see if he can maintain much of that enthusiasm and energy. Welcome; it is great to see you here, a new face. I was discussing with the President some weeks ago the number of people who have come through this chamber in the nearly 20 years that I have been here—and he has been here a bit longer, and the Hon. Rob Lucas is approaching the 40-year mark—there have probably been several football teams of people who have been through here. Welcome, the Hon. Mr Simms.

I was away, and I think I had a pair, visiting some constituents in the regions when we spoke about the Hon. Mark Parnell. I want to say that I had the great fortune to be the Leader of the Opposition for 11 years of Mark's 15-year term, so I had a lot to do with Mark. We spent some time together on the ERD committee.

I remember the Hon. Russell Wortley and the Hon. Mark Parnell wanted to inquire into coastal development. They wanted to go in September, not really being aware that the weather is much better in March. So I suggested that we amend that motion and not do the inquiry in September but do the trip to the West Coast in March. I think that was one of the most memorable ERD trips that we had. We all enjoyed having a good look at the Far West Coast; it is a beautiful part of South Australia. We also enjoyed some of the wonderful fruits of the sea while we were over there.

I remember very fondly offering Mark Parnell what I could only ever say was a wheelbarrow full of turf, not a wheelbarrow full of grass. I had some instant lawn that I did not need, he was laying a bit of lawn and he said, 'But don't ever say it's grass.' I can say it is grass now. I gave him a wheelbarrow full of grass. Sadly, it had been out of water for a little bit too long and he claims none of it actually grew. Maybe he needed to put a bit more water on it.

There are two things I would say to wrap up regarding the Hon. Mark Parnell. We had a select committee into wind farms and a very memorable night when Mark, the Hon. Mr Wortley and I and a number of journalists slept in a deserted house in the Clare Valley on a very stormy and windy night. We were there to listen to the infrasound and the vibrations from wind farms, and all we had were vibrations from the storm that blew through and we did not hear anything other than rain.

The Hon. K.J. Maher: And your snoring?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: And maybe my snoring, yes. Well, we were tired by the time we finished. I do recall that the journalists with us wanted to actually film us getting into bed so they could relax. I think we might even have posed as if we were getting out of bed within a couple of minutes so that they could get all of their vision and then we could actually enjoy each other's company and sleep the night.

The other thing I would like to say is about the tragedy that befell the Parnell family with the death of Mungo. To see somebody in this chamber and their family, Mark and Penny, go through that was quite—for them, I am sure it is something they will never forget and it has changed their lives forever. I think it was really important that we all shared in the grief with them, and we did that pretty much universally as a chamber. It was a pretty moving time. You might not share their political views, but when times were tough we tried to do the best we could to support Mark and Penny and the family.

I wish them both all the very best in their retirement. I did see him flashing his Seniors Card around last week for his public transport free travel. He has worked hard. He has been a great servant of the people he was representing here and a great servant of the people of South Australia. I do wish Mark and Penny and the rest of their family all the very best in his retirement.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (17:26): I wish to add to the very well-chosen words by my colleague the Hon. Connie Bonaros in welcoming the Hon. Robert Simms to the Legislative Council. He may be a greenhorn—sorry to use that pun—but in actual fact I am quite impressed by the Hon. Robert Simms' experience in three tiers of government. For such a young man, I think that is a notable achievement. I have already pointed that out to my younger son, who may have political aspirations one day, to look at what the Hon. Robert Simms has achieved in such a short period of time.

He is now my neighbour; he has taken over the office of the Hon. Mark Parnell. I look forward to working with the Hon. Mr Simms, as I do with the other crossbenchers and the Hon. Tammy Franks and other members in this place. I have been extremely impressed by Robert's enthusiasm, even since before he entered this place, for the issues that we will be tackling and will continue to tackle.

As the Hon. Connie Bonaros has pointed out, there may be some issues that we will not agree on, and we may not support them on certain issues. However, as a party, SA-Best certainly shares some common interests with the Greens, in particular those social justice issues that I know both the Hon. Robert Simms and the Hon. Tammy Parnell—

The Hon. C. Bonaros: Tammy Franks.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: —the Hon. Tammy Franks are quite passionate about. I have Mark on the brain. I do miss Mark's presence on the floor and seeing him wheel his bike in and out each day, and certainly his enthusiasm and presence in this place and what he has contributed to legislation in the Legislative Council. I am sure the Hon. Mr Simms will follow in those large footsteps that have been embedded in this place by the Hon. Mark Parnell. I would like to welcome the Hon. Robert Simms to the Legislative Council. I can see that he will probably have a long career in politics, if not in the Legislative Council certainly with the Green movement.

The PRESIDENT: I call the Treasurer to conclude the debate, and I understand he may or may not have a limerick.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (17:29): I can assure you I do not have a limerick. No, I am limerick-less. I rise to conclude the debate formally and thank all members who have welcomed the new member, the Hon. Mr Simms, to the chamber. The fact that a number of other members of the chamber have not joined in is no indication of lack of welcome to the Hon. Mr Simms; I am sure they have all in their own way personally welcomed him to the chamber and look forward to working collaboratively with him over the coming months or years, depending on their respective lengths of service. I thank honourable members for their contribution to the debate.

Motion carried.