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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-10-30 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

Evans, Hon. I.F.

Mr KNOLL (Schubert) (15:10): I rise today to certainly grieve—and that may be too harsh a word because the man is sitting right here—the loss to the parliament of Iain Evans. I have grown accustomed to speaking, but I do actually feel a bit nervous because I have five minutes to say a lot. I am a naturally conservative person who does not want to reinvent the wheel. In fact, I believe that most of the time things have been done before and almost all of the time things have been done by people more competent than I am. I have been very keen to engage with those who I think can help mentor me and help give me the wisdom of those who have come before, and Iain is certainly one of the greatest exponents of that and a man to whom I have turned regularly.

The member for Davenport takes with him today over 20 years worth of institutional knowledge. As someone who has seen what happens when institutional knowledge walks out the door in other organisations, I do indeed think that this is a great loss to the South Australian parliament and to the South Australian Liberal Party. Having said that, I have his phone number (we all do) and I will be making very good use of that.

Iain often provided the cautionary tale, and I am a great fan of the cautionary tale. As someone with youthful exuberance who too often goes too far, it is good to have that cautionary tale in my mind, and Iain provides that. On any number of occasions his wealth of experience has been used to give us the alternative point of view. Through his experience, he has helped to moderate and give us a better understanding of the issues we grapple with in this place.

Iain also has a great ability to get to the heart of an issue. In politics things become very complex very quickly. A whole different range of pressures come to bear and it is extremely difficult on many occasions, especially with more complex pieces of legislation, to be able to get to the crux, to the heart, of the issue. Iain's contribution and advice is always succinct and to the point and strikes at the very heart of the things we seek to discuss.

On behalf of the class of 2014—which I affectionately call 'the kids', which I know is an insult to some of the members of the class of 2014—Iain, we are deeply going to miss you, your wisdom and your knowledge. The generosity with which you have given your time to us and the manner in which you have given frank, fearless, intelligent and cogent advice is something that has helped us on our journey so far. It is also interesting to note that whenever there are stupid questions to be asked, we want to go to the people we can trust, and stupid questions we have had and you have answered them very well.

Many people are going to talk about the achievements of Iain, but I have a couple of quick anecdotes. I did not know Iain that well before coming into parliament, but he comes with a reputation. When you go to see Iain, you always have to ask yourself, 'Are we going to get good Iain or are we going to get grumpy Iain today?' You can never tell. It does not matter whether it was good Iain or grumpy Iain, you still always got the answer you needed and you still always got respect and courtesy. Can I say that once you get past grumpy Iain you realise that the wealth of knowledge and experience is still there.

I am disappointed to learn that Iain is an Adelaide Hills sauv blanc drinker and, as a member from the Barossa, I find that a bit difficult to swallow. Iain's greatest piece of campaign advice that I have been able to glean is this: he says, 'Always wear the same clothes when campaigning; that way people will be able to recognise you by your clothes as well as your face.' So he has been wearing the same daggy pair of cargos for 20 years.

In closing, I will read from something. It says, 'His loyalty was unquestionable and, to some point, I think his loyalty possibly cost him the achievement of various positions within this place, but the credibility he gained as a result of maintaining loyalty is to his credit.' They are words that Iain said in his maiden speech about his father, and I think that would be just as true of him here today.

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