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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-09-14 Daily Xml
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RIGNEY, MR M. AND JOHNSTON, MR E.F.

The Hon. M. PARNELL (15:57): Today I want to reflect on the lives of two eminent South Australians who have died in the last month and put on record my acknowledgement of the contribution each has made in their own way to our state. I want to speak about Ngarrindjeri man Matt Rigney, who died at Meningie on the shores of Lake Albert, and lawyer Elliott Johnston QC, who died recently at the age of 93.

First, to Matt Rigney. It is a testament to the respect in which he was held that the chapel at Matt's funeral was filled to capacity; so too was the overflow chapel and the surrounding areas, where there was standing room only. There were many members of parliament and many from the conservation movement in attendance, and many Indigenous people from all over the state and from interstate.

I met Matt on a number of occasions over the last 10 years and found him to be a very impressive and committed person. I remember interviewing him in a formal capacity once to see whether he was a suitable person to be a Greens candidate in a federal election. Of course he passed the test with flying colours, and we only ever went through that formality once, even though he stood as a candidate for the Greens four times.

Matt was the Greens SA candidate for Barker in the federal election of 2001, Finniss in the state election of 2002, Hammond in the state election of 2006, and he was on our Senate ticket for the federal election in 2007. On behalf of the party, I am grateful to Matt for the faith and trust he placed in us on those occasions. As a party, we will honour that trust and seek to further the cause of reconciliation that he taught and practised throughout his life.

Most recently, Matt was better known as the Chair of the Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority Incorporated, the Ngarrindjeri Native Title Management Committee, and the Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations. In recent years, he has been a tireless advocate for Indigenous rights to water and, as a member of the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council's community advisory committee, Matt had been advising the Murray-Darling Basin Authority on its water plan. He described the experience like this:

They are beginning to realise we have been living in this environment for literally thousands upon thousands of years and that we have managed it in a very sustainable way. I now sit at the table with farmers, irrigators and the like, and say 'Hang on, here's the customs that we follow as Indigenous people. These are the rules you must consider in any water plan.'

I would like to conclude my comments on Matt Rigney with an observation made by Senator Bob Brown recently, and I fully agree with these sentiments. Senator Brown said:

Now and then we meet another human being who has a wisdom beyond our own. Matt, with his deep bond with the Murray-Darling country, was such a man, and specially so. His spirit touched me deeply and I will always be grateful to him.

The life and times of Elliott Johnston QC were acknowledged last week at a moving memorial service held at Elder Hall and, again, yesterday in a condolence motion in the other house. Elliott Johnston was a truly great South Australian and a man of great principle who never lost the common touch despite reaching the highest legal office. I do not propose to talk about his distinguished legal career because others have done that better than I could, but I want to touch briefly on his post-retirement activities

As members would know, up until the very end Elliott Johnston was a regular attendee at any meeting, rally or event where the topic was injustice and creating a better world. His support for Aboriginal causes and for human rights was unswerving. Even at an age when most people are taking a break and relaxing after a life of hard work, Elliott was out there. He believed in the power of positive messages and hope, and he believed that a better world was possible.

My last conversation with Elliott was at the AGM of the Australian Options magazine, a thoughtful and worthwhile publication that all members of parliament should subscribe to. If you do not want to spend your own money, the Parliament Research Library has it, and I am sure that Elliott would appreciate a plug for a journal that was very close to his heart.

As Australia's most decorated communist, Elliott probably did more than anyone to help destroy the stereotype of the uncaring and unthinking ideologue that so often attaches to political labels. His vision of a better society was not filled with gulags and cultural revolutions that killed millions of working people; his was a vision of a world of compassion, rights and responsibilities that looked after all and left no-one behind.

Right to the end, Elliott was active in politics and the community. As we learnt at his memorial service, he was particularly keen to work with young people—young lawyers and students in particular—to expand their minds and to help them carry the baton of social justice forward.

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