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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-11-24 Daily Xml
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MATTERS OF INTEREST

MORRISON, MR R.

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (15:27): I rise today to pay tribute to Rodney Morrison who died in October. Rod was a delegate for the Yorke Peninsula sub-branch of the ALP, a former union official and committed community activist. Rod was born in Pakenham Victoria to dairy farmers and attended the Marist Brothers School, along with his two brothers, Darryl and Michael. Rod, fortunately, turned his considerable mischievous energies to school sport, becoming school captain and captain of the swimming, football and tennis teams and, to reassure his parents of some academic leanings, was also captain of the debating team.

Such was his authority and presence in his preferred school interests that his wife to be, then a student at the same school, thought that he was also the captain of the girls' basketball team. Rod carried this passion and conviction throughout his life. At 18 years of age, Rod answered the call to go to New Guinea as a Kiap, an administrative field officer, Australia's in the field answer to managing its territorial responsibilities in Papua New Guinea until independence in 1974. His new wife, of course, followed; two of their three children, Stuart and Cassie, being born in Lae.

What is a Kiap deserves some explanation not only for its interesting history but for the light it sheds on the character of Rod Morrison. The term is pidgin English for captain from the German kapitan, a legacy of the German colonial era. What did they do? A short answer would be everything. The country is daunting enough: impenetrable jungles, high mountain ranges, wide and wild rivers, isolated and hostile tribal groups, not to mention 700 languages and living with the ever-present danger of attack. Many Kiaps were murdered by spear, axe or poison-tipped arrows, not to mention snakes and crocodiles, as well as having to live with sicknesses like malaria and dysentery. Theirs is an untold story.

The work as a patrol officer was to be a master of everything—a judicial officer, diplomat, mechanic, you name it—but it is best summed up as a lifestyle by C.A.W. Monckton, a past resident magistrate in Papua, who said, and I quote selectively:

He must also be prepared to spend weeks alone with the natives, spend most of his pay on living expenses and, at the end, to have his health shattered...for an officer to remain in the service he must practise monastic celibacy...he must be prepared to live in subhuman habitation...and to remain sane, possess a sense of humour.

Rod's family and friends testify to his unique qualities and his sense of humour. The year 1978 saw the family back in Australia, with Rod employed as a fisheries officer in what is now PIRSA. After obtaining his degree, majoring in labour studies, Rod's passion for social justice and his election as a worksite representative saw him elected in 1992 to the PSA council and PSA executive. His fight for workers' rights and workers' occupational health and safety continued with his election to the ACTU Occupational Health and Safety Committee in 1996, his election to assistant general secretary of the PSA in 1996 and his re-election in 2000, as well as his becoming vice president of SA Unions in the same year. These were just some of his notable union responsibilities.

Rod would have shaken his head at the current plight in relation to workers' rights. He was most unhappy with the changes to workers compensation, and he would have been equally irate in relation to the current budget dispute, which would have seen him on the steps of Parliament House and, indeed, in my office. As we can see and imagine, Rod Morrison led an interesting life and all who knew him remark on the constant themes that summed up Rod: passion, honesty and integrity. In his later years, concerned with poor health, Rod retired to Wallaroo, where his continuing interest in union concerns and workers' rights saw him as a contributing member of the Yorke Peninsula ALP sub-branch. Rod leaves behind his ex-wife, Jane, and children, Stuart, Cassie and Tiki. I and the York Peninsula ALP sub-branch extend our sympathies to them. Vale, Rod Morrison.

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