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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-09-24 Daily Xml
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Condolence

Creedon, Hon. C.W.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:01): I move:

That the House of Assembly expresses its deep regret at the death of the Hon. Mr Cecil William Creedon, former member of the Legislative Council, and places on record its appreciation of his long and meritorious service, and that as a mark of respect to his memory the sitting of the house be suspended until the ringing of the bells.

In August, I informed the house of the passing of the Hon. Cecil Creedon. Cec Creedon was a member of the Legislative Council from 10 March 1973 until 6 December 1985.

A Tasmanian native, Mr Creedon moved to the Gawler area where he raised his family and was very active in the local community. He ran a local dry-cleaning business and was associated with various sporting and community organisations in the Gawler area. Mr Creedon was also president of the Gawler Adult Education Centre. Mr Creedon put his passion for the local community to direct use, serving as a councillor on the Gawler council for eight years before serving as mayor for six.

Before being elected to the Legislative Council, Mr Creedon had run as a candidate for the council in the 1962 and 1968 elections—an optimistic proposition for a Labor member in the Playford era. At the time, the Liberal and Country League, as it was then known, held a significant majority in the upper house. Mr Creedon's election was the first time a Labor member had been able to win a Legislative Council seat outside the metropolitan area.

From his first moments in parliament, he made his passion for ensuring all South Australians were properly represented well known, calling for an end to the rule of property and wealth in the council. During his time in the Legislative Council, Mr Creedon was a member and acting chairperson of the Joint Committee on Subordinate Legislation and also a member of the Public Works Committee.

We should remember him as a man who, no matter his role or time in life, was always prepared to serve the people of the Gawler area. I express my sincere personal condolences to Mr Creedon's family, to Paul and John who are with us today, and to the house.

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:03): I would like to join with the government and express our condolences from this side of the house on the recent passing of Cecil Creedon, a member of the Parliament of South Australia from 1973 to 1985. Naturally, I did not know Mr Creedon, but I am reliably informed that he was a passionate local advocate for the people of his area—the area of Gawler. He served in the parliament in a quiet and dignified way. I join with the Premier in expressing our condolences to his friends and family. From all people on this side of the house, we support this motion from the Premier.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light—Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:04): I rise today to pay my humble tribute to the Hon. Cec Creedon, a former Gawler councillor, mayor and member of the Legislative Council. More importantly, I pay tribute to him as his friend.

The Hon. Cec Creedon passed away on 3 August, but his legacy will see him remembered as one of the key figures of public life in Gawler and the surrounding districts. Cec's example of community service, selflessness and dedication to the improvement of the life of those around him has certainly provided inspiration for my own public life. Cec was a different breed of politician, a product of his day in every way. He was the embodiment of post-war hope and enthusiasm. While it is clichéd to say that he was a champion for a fair go for all, he was not afraid to tread on toes to make positive change. He was a great dissenter, and his leadership will be missed in the town of Gawler.

While I met his son Paul at Gawler High School during the 1970s, I first met Cec in 1984, when I transferred my party membership from the Napier sub-branch to the Gawler sub-branch. I was fortunate to share with him and his late wife, Jessie, a great friendship for many years.

Cecil William Creedon was born in Westbury, Tasmania on 9 March 1922. The eldest of four children, he attended the local Catholic school until he was 14, when he left school to find work, which was common for his time. Cec was a man of ambition and pragmatism. Recognising the power of a good education, he continued his schooling informally, with the help of the school nuns, on weekends.

On 20 May 1941, with Australia joining the world at war, 19-year-old Cec joined so many others of that great generation and enlisted in the services, in Cec's case, the RAAF. He served honourably throughout World War II in Melbourne, achieving the rank of corporal before being honourably discharged in 1946. On the surface, it would seem as though Cec's service went by unremarkably, but it was not the case at all. During this time, he met his future wife, Jessie, and the pair was inseparable from that time on, with Cec following his South Australian bride back to the great state of South Australia. The couple would go on to have two daughters and four sons, nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, which is a wonderful legacy in itself. His sons Paul and John, as the Premier mentioned, are in the gallery today.

While he would have many careers throughout his life, his commitment to the values of the labour movement were lifelong. I have been told that the seeds of his political ambition were sown by the story of two of his ancestors, who were both proud unionists in Tasmania and who died in mining disasters before Cecil was even born.

It is probably no surprise that he followed his father into the Australian Labor Party, joining in 1948, where his passion for community service grew. Like so many in days gone by, Cec made his first steps in public life by being elected to local government, winning the seat of Gawler South ward on the Gawler council in 1960. He served as a local councillor until 1968 and later as mayor from 1972 to 1978.

Cecil was a man of the people and, as the owner of a local dry-cleaning business, it was hard for him to be anything else. It is a testament to his place in the community that the people of Gawler would trust him with the keys to their town as well as their dirty laundry! He used the power of that position to full effect. Some of the policies Cec pursued during that time included measures to increase service delivery to poorer members of the community, such as his fight to expand public patient access to the Hutchinson hospital. As a former shopkeeper, Cec also fought hard for better vehicle access and parking in Gawler's central commercial district, located in and around Murray Street.

Significantly, though, Cec presided over a period of time when tension was at its highest between those who actively fought to preserve Gawler's character and those who were interested in the town growing, and the legacy we now have is a town that retains much of its character but still enjoys the convenience and employment that those major investors brought with them.

For me and for many others, he will be remembered as the first Labor representative outside metropolitan Adelaide to win a seat in the Legislative Council, in 1973, coincidentally at the same time as he was mayor of Gawler, which was allowed in those days. It was a major achievement, given the dominance of the Liberal and Country League vote in the region, and it was not an opportunity that was taken lightly by Cec.

His term in the other place was marked by controversy and, to my mind, bravery. He famously refused to take an oath of allegiance on a Bible, instead swearing to The Queen, although he would have preferred it to be Australia. He refused to wear formal dress to Government House for an official ceremony, instead choosing to wear an ordinary suit, such was his preference for pragmatic action rather than swanning about in deference to tradition. In comparison with the premier of the day and his love of safari suits and shorts, that was small fry, but a significant gesture nonetheless.

Of course, not everything he did was in harmony with the icons of the Dunstan era. He famously scuttled a key gay law reform bill when he failed to hear the bells calling for him to vote. Luckily for Cec, the bill was reintroduced and passed into law. He was also a man who did not like airs and graces. I delight in reading the story of Cec objecting to the prefix of 'Honourable' given to him on entering parliament. When he was told the title was compulsory, he simply climbed on a chair and prised the letters from above his office door. The maintenance staff finally gave up replacing them after he had prised them off a third and fourth time.

In his final speech in 1985, he spoke with pragmatism—more aptly, it could be described as brutal honesty—of his distaste for pomp and circumstance, saying that he felt 'a misfit' and 'bored to the extreme' with the formalities of parliamentary life, but he revelled in the pragmatism and bipartisan compromise of committees of which he was an active member. In his own words, he was a man who did not like to hear politicians ramble on in the chamber for the sake of their own voice, so in honour of Cec I will keep this brief. The people of Gawler have lost one of their true champions and I a friend.

The SPEAKER (14:11): Cec was not as quiet as the leader might have surmised: Cec could be a firebrand. The Hon. Cecil William Creedon was elected as a Labor member of the Legislative Council in the state general election of March 1973. He had been elected as mayor of Gawler a year earlier and was to serve as mayor of Gawler with his tenure as a member of parliament until 1978—those were the days.

Cec was to remain a Labor member of the other place until 6 December 1985. Cec had fought hard to win his seat in the Legislative Council and had run unsuccessfully before on two occasions during the 1960s. I am not absolutely certain, but I think when Cec won Midland Frank Blevins may have been his running mate at that time. Cec's victory took Labor Legislative Council numbers from four to six, reducing the Liberal and Country League numbers from 16 to 14, where they had been since the year dot. The LCL still had a strong majority, but it was the beginning of their decline in the other place.

A dry-cleaner by trade who owned a dry-cleaning business in Gawler, Cec was a robust advocate for the rights of working men and women, especially with regard to the importance of the family home. He used strong language in his maiden speech to rail against unscrupulous realtors who, Cec said, were often supported by unprincipled financial institutions, the predatory pricing and fees of which would often bring ill health as well as financial calamity on their clients.

Advocacy for the rights of consumers and the importance of protecting the family home were common themes of Cec's 13-year service to the State of South Australia. In September 1975, he protested against a decision of the South Australian Full Court that overturned a decision by the credit tribunal to allow customers of large stores to inspect their credit files. In 1976, he protested against reports that the Fraser government would close down the Australian Housing Corporation. Cec told parliament that the Housing Corporation provided bridging finance for homebuyers at low interest rates.

As you would expect from an MP who was also the mayor of Gawler, Cec had strong opinions on local government. He was a passionate supporter of the importance of implementing full adult franchise for local government, and we forget that at that time only people who owned property could vote. He was a strong believer in the benefits of adult education for all and was president of the Gawler Adult Education Centre for some years. Vale, Cec. I would ask members to rise in their place.

Motion carried by members standing in their places in silence.

The SPEAKER: The house will stand suspended until the ringing of the bells but, before it does so, could the security attendant in the strangers' gallery please bring me the camera of the person who has been taking photographs in violation of the house's rules and the dignity of the occasion.

Sitting suspended from 14:16 to 14:26.

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