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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-04-05 Daily Xml
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Condolence

BAKER, HON. D.S.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the Status of Women) (14:17): By leave of the council, I move:

That the Legislative Council expresses its deep regret at the passing of the Hon. Dale Baker, former minister of the crown and member of the House of Assembly, and places on record its appreciation of his distinguished public service and, as a mark of respect to his memory, the sitting of the council be suspended until the ringing of the bells.

It is with sadness that I rise today to pay our respects to Dale Baker, who passed away last week after battling the very debilitating motor neurone disease. Known for his no-nonsense approach to business, politics and life in general, Dale Baker was variously seen as a character, a larrikin and a maverick.

Born in Millicent on 30 January 1939, Dale Baker was the son of the English migrant Bob Baker and his locally born wife Jean Spoehr. After attending a local primary school, Mr Baker was educated at Scotch College in Adelaide. After leaving school he returned to his beloved South-East to work on the family property.

He was a very fit young man and a keen sportsman, playing more than 200 senior games for the Millicent Magpies Football Club, of which he was a life member, I understand. He was also a devoted supporter of the Port Adelaide and Port Power football clubs. In fact, it was his wish that we would see both teams win the premiership in the same year.

He went on to become a successful grazier, running three properties near Furner. Ever the innovator, Mr Baker later turned his hand to native flower production and built a successful flower export business. He also pioneered Simmental cattle breeding in 1972 and later had an investment in the historic Padthaway House vineyards.

Having spent his entire life in the region, Dale Baker was very much involved in his local South-East community and, among other things, served for more than 20 years as the chairman of the Millicent Hospital Board. In 1985, at the urging of another South-East farmer, former federal defence minister Ian McLachlan, he turned his attention to state politics. He was elected the member for the House of Assembly seat in Victoria (later renamed MacKillop), an electorate that covers much of the prime South-East farmland and major winegrowing regions.

After just five years in parliament, he was elected deputy leader of the Liberal opposition under the then leader John Olsen. A few months later he was elevated to leader when Mr Olsen moved to the Senate. It was said by former colleagues that Mr Baker 'brought a larrikin streak to the Liberal leadership' and rebuilt the party at a difficult time in its history. Whilst he was a tough political commentator and competitor, he was liked and well respected by all sides of politics.

In 1992 he stood down from the leadership of the party and was replaced by Dean Brown. Later Dale Baker held the positions of minister for finance and minister for primary industries, mines and energy in the Brown and Olsen governments. He was a passionate minister for primary industries and strongly represented the South-East region. He was a staunch environmentalist and believed that South Australia could become the food basket for all Australia and South-East Asia.

After losing his seat at the election of 1997, Mr Baker, in his forthright way, said he would not hang around offering advice. Apparently he said, 'Nothing is worse than broken-down old politicians hanging around' and 'Once you're finished you're finished'. With that parting shot, he returned to the South-East to continue running his family business and being involved in the local community that he cared so much for.

In later years he served as chair of the Limestone Coast Regional Development Board until failing health forced him to retire. That failing health came in the form of the incurable motor neurone disease. The disease took away his ability to speak and he had to eat through tubing, but even that did not slow him down. He was still very much involved in the family business and he took to communicating via a portable whiteboard, email and text messages.

His courage and optimism in battling, I believe, one of the most cruel and certainly debilitating diseases is really an inspiration to all of us. In an interview with The Advertiser just six months before his death, he said, 'I have been one of the luckiest people alive, led an intensely interesting and varied life, and never had a day I was not happy.' We offer our heartfelt condolences to his son Tom, daughter Marina and four grandchildren, Piper, Charlotte, Olivia and Harry. Dale Baker will be remembered as a man who lived life to the fullest and gave a great deal to his local community.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:22): I rise to second the motion and place on record some comments. I think a number of my colleagues have some comments to add as well. Dale Baker was a good friend of mine, one of the first people I knew in the Liberal Party. I first met him when Allan Rodda had announced his retirement from the seat of Victoria and a preselection was held. I was not that well involved in that part of it. I was on the preselection college. I seem to recall my brother was involved in that preselection college. Nonetheless, Dale Baker was preselected. He did a tour of the next round of AGMs and that was when I first met Dale Baker, in February 1984, when he came with Allan Rodda.

That started a long friendship. As we look back on Dale's life, there were some important milestones. He mentioned numerous times his early life in the South-East and then his travel to Adelaide to come to Scotch College. I think one of the last times I saw him out publicly he was supporting the school. The school was one that he loved.

I cannot recall whether the Hon. Russell Wortley was at the opening of the boarding house about 18 months ago, but Dale Baker had long been a supporter of Scotch College, generous with his time and, I suspect, his financial support of the college. He was there, delighted to see that Scotch College had invested in a new boarding house, because he valued that time of his life when he was a boarder at Scotch College as one of the most important parts of his life and a turning point in his life.

As we know, he was elected to state parliament in 1985 as the member for Victoria (which went on to become MacKillop). He was Leader of the Opposition from 1990 to 1992. Of course, we all know that that was the time when the opposition was starting to unravel the State Bank, and it was Dale Baker who started the initial unravelling of that pretty dark era in our state's history in a financial respect. Dale was very much like a dog at a bone about that issue and very concerned for the future of our state.

He was always very involved in his local community and, as we have heard, he served 20 years on the hospital board and was very involved in football in the Lower South-East, playing for Millicent. He certainly was somebody who immersed himself in the community and had an incredibly broad following when he was first elected. I can recall Liberal Party functions and gatherings with guest speakers at Padthaway House (a property where he had a financial interest) or at the Banksia farm or even at the barn in Mount Gambier; it was not uncommon to get between 500 and 800 people from the South-East to come and support Dale. The enthusiasm he brought to the position was something rarely seen in politics where people are able to get that level of support.

From a personal point of view, looking at Dale's activity in the South-East, I saw in my early days of involvement with the party the things that he was involved with that made a difference. It is very easy to be a member of parliament and gloss over the top through your career but to not really make a big difference on the way through.

When Dale was minister for primary industries he imposed quotas on the Rock Lobster (Southern Zone) Fishery. I think it is fair to say that nearly all the members of that fishery were probably members of the Liberal party and they nearly all resigned when he imposed those quotas as minister for primary industries. However, he believed that it was the right thing to do to preserve that industry and that fishery.

It is probably fair to say that most of them now would say that that was the very best thing that could ever have happened to the industry. It gave them some financial security over licences and pots, but also the fishery was sustainable. They have probably not all rejoined the party but I suspect they now have a very different view of the action that he took at the time (which they so violently opposed) and it actually proved to be the right decision.

Another thing he saw as being vitally important for our state was to continue what I suppose the current government would call the PACE program—the program for accelerated exploration. It was the early days of collecting aerial magnetic data that had been started under the Bannon government, and Dale Baker saw that as an important investment to make. At the time that I was shadow minister for minerals I had some banners in my office, in chronological order, of the mining history of South Australia. I think John Klunder was the minister at the time and Dale was the shadow or vice versa, but there was certainly bipartisan support.

Dale saw that as being a very important part of the future of our state and often spoke at meetings about the wonderful opportunities that minerals and mining exploration and the mining boom would bring to our state. I am sure we all agree with him. We are talking 20 years ago that he was the local member of parliament talking about a mining boom—and we are still talking about a mining boom today—and it will be of great delight to all of us when it finally arrives.

There are a couple of issues that bring home to me, as a Bordertown resident, the value of a good local member. The first one is a story about the Tatiara Meat Company. That company, as members would be well aware, is a works that slaughters lambs in Bordertown. It was started by, the Hubble brothers (Eric and Eckhart), and employed around about 400 people. In the early 1990s there were some major concerns, in a financial sense, and it looked as though it would have to close. Dale was primary industries minister and he became involved. They flew to Melbourne and brokered some deals with some bankers and managed to get the finances sorted out, and that business survived.

It is interesting when looking back over history, that when Dale lost the seat in 1997 the Bordertown polling booths were probably some of the ones that dealt him the harshest punishment. I cannot recall but I suspect that the feeling in the community was that he was not that popular at the time. Yet 18 years on, that community has a business with 500 employees, and at one point (and I think it is still the case) the primary school in Bordertown was the largest primary school in the state outside of metropolitan Adelaide in terms of the number of enrolments.

During Paul Keating's recession, that we had to have, the community actually grew in size. There was a whole range of things that spun off that decision, and that community has benefited from the sheer hard work of the local member at the time, from the hard yards he put in. It is a legacy that goes on well beyond when he left politics.

Another one was a business that some of us on this side of the chamber have visited—the Mackenzie Intermodal facility at Outer Harbor. For those of you who are not aware, it is an intermodal facility that does logistics; packs wine, hay, meat, etc. Lynton Mackenzie, who is a personal friend of mine, picked up a rock off the ground at Outer Harbor. He needed some guidance, and said 'I want to build a container packing facility.' He told me he was going to go to his local member.

Sure enough, a few weeks later, Dale Baker rang and said, 'I've got a meeting with a Mackenzie guy in Bordertown. Do you know much about it?' I said 'Well, he just wants to do this big project at Port Adelaide; I don't know much about it.' They met, and Dale gave him guidance on what he needed to do, showed him what he had to do, which ministers to visit, how to put a proposal together. Sadly Dale was no longer in parliament, but Lynton Mackenzie started on that journey.

He would be quite happy to tell you that it was Dale Baker who showed him the way through the bureaucratic minefield on the journey to building the successful business that, at its peak, exported, I think, 65 per cent of all Australia's bottled wine and handled some 25,000 to 30,000 containers of freight out of the South-East, and that has over 100 employees at Port Adelaide at Outer Harbor.

Those are just two examples where the local member took an interest and was able to open some doors and make a real difference. I am sure there are dozens and dozens of other examples of Dale's commitment to regional and rural South Australia where he made a difference in people's lives—a difference which, of course, went on for many years to follow.

I remember hearing on the radio a little story of a more humorous nature. We all know that Mitch Williams ran as an Independent and defeated Dale in 1997. I am sure that Dale was somewhat disappointed at that result, but when Philip Satchell interviewed him about a fortnight to a month after the election and asked, 'Dale, what sort of relationship do you have with Mitch Williams?', Dale's response was 'I could kiss the man. He has released me, he has taken the burden of being a member of parliament off me.'

While he was bruised, and a bit bitter, as the Leader of the Government said, Dale made the comment that former politicians should not hang around and get in the way. He got on with his life. He continued to make a significant contribution to the Limestone Coast Regional Development Board, and I was pleased to see him putting all the skills he learnt here at the sharp end of politics back into his local community again.

Like everyone, I was very saddened to hear about his illness. We thought he had had a small stroke, or that he just needed a bit of speech therapy because of a benign tumour he had had removed from his tongue, and we thought he was back on the road to recovery. Sadly, it was the beginning of motor neurone disease. It was a pretty tough time for those of us who knew him to see him waste away. As the minister and the Leader of the Government explained, it is probably one of the worst diseases that can afflict someone.

On behalf of the members of the opposition—and I know others are going to speak—I pass on our sincere condolences to his family, his friends, and in particular to his son Tom, daughter Marina, and his grandchildren, who were at his funeral. Members would have seen some of the photographs in the paper; he dearly loved Olivia, Harry, Piper and Charlotte.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (14:34): I sadly rise to support this condolence motion. I would have liked to have attended his funeral and shown my respect and gratitude to Dale Baker, but I was not able to attend. However, I do want to put a few points of view on the public record, and my assessment of a man I respected and who taught me quite a lot.

First of all, I had the privilege of first meeting Dale Baker when he was leader of the opposition in the early 1990s. Straight away, he showed a different style of leadership to that of many premiers and leaders before him and, I would suggest, since. The parliament was not very well furbished at the time and his office was where government members are now, on the Casino side of the House of Assembly, prior to the upgrading of the opposition areas, full of a lot more cabinets and other stuff out in the corridors than we see today.

Dale Baker never—or hardly ever—had his door shut, and when I would walk past just to visit some other Liberal members, he saw me and said, 'G'day, come in. How are you going?' and wanted to immediately have a chat. I found that to be a huge honour and it said a lot to me about the fact that a man like Dale Baker never forgot where he came from and respected all people of all ages and all capacities.

I think he was actually a very good leader of the opposition. In fact, it would have been interesting to see what would have happened to this state had Dale Baker gone on to become premier because, when it came to business acumen, common sense and the ability to get the job done, I have not seen any who have been above Dale Baker.

We know the reasons why he stood down as leader of the opposition, but he was instrumental with Jennifer Cashmore and some others—against opposition from some of the media and the government of the day—in raising concerns around the State Bank. I suggest that, had Dale Baker and his team not raised those concerns, the state would have been in an even more difficult financial position than it was when discovered in the late 1992-93 period.

Dale Baker certainly had a passion, a love and an extraordinary ability when it came to agriculture, and that is where I had a lot of rapport with Dale as a farmer myself. He was articulate, professional and precise in the way he went about all of his agricultural duties, and they were diverse. He was innovative, with the Simmental cattle as an example. He saw the value in that breed. He was one of the pioneers, and not only was he a pioneer, but he actually worked with the Simmental cattle society for South Australia to ensure that, to this very day, there is still a vibrant, strong Simmental cattle breed in South Australia.

The only thing that I ever disagreed with Dale on was the team that he barracked for—Port Adelaide. You just could not get a word in on the reasons why he should have looked at some other teams but, again, he was consistent and passionate. He was a robust, tough man. Some may have said he was a bit of a larrikin, but he always stood by what he believed in. Mining and the aeromagnetic survey work has been mentioned. In 1994, very early in my time as a member of parliament, he was very keen to get all members of parliament who were interested out to the mines and energy area of government to be briefed. He wanted to include everybody; he wanted to educate everybody with those opportunities.

The second time I did not quite agree with him was on deregulation of the dairy industry. He was a deregulator. 'You get in there and you do your best and you just tough it out and you'll make a living' was the way Dale went about it. He certainly made a very good living for himself and his family and built up what I think is a pretty solid empire in agriculture.

When I challenged him on deregulation of the dairy industry as one who is not so much into deregulation at all costs, he said to me, 'Well, lad', or words to that effect; 'you might as well support this, because this is only state deregulation. Wait until the federal deregulation comes through and if we're not positioned for that, then you'll really see what's going to happen.'

In hindsight, whilst the concept of deregulation has still been a problem for many of us, he was right there again, because what he did was force the South Australian dairy industry into some restructuring and looking at other opportunities that were not specific to the bonus city milk that was around forever before that.

I am saddened by his loss. He was still a young man. He is the second person in this parliament, at least that I recall, to have actually contracted that very sad, debilitating and tragic disease. I would hope that all members of parliament, when they leave this place would have many years to go back with their families and communities and enjoy. Sadly, Dale Baker has not done that.

The last time I saw Dale Baker was when he was starting to, unfortunately, really suffer with the illness, but it was actually at the funeral of the former police commissioner, Mr David Hunt. He was determined to go there even though he was unwell. He knew exactly what was going on. Whilst it was difficult for him to communicate, we could communicate with our eyes and with our handshake.

He has left a very strong legacy for the South Australian community and I am very appreciative of the many times I had with him. As I said, wherever he was, he treated everybody equally. When you needed a bit of a hand before an election, he did not get into a government car or anything like that, he got down in a candidate's car, namely my car, and doorknocked and canvassed the agricultural areas of the seat of Mawson and was very, very well received.

It is a sad day, but there are good memories of Dale Baker. I know his children were close to him and I encourage them to think of all the good times and the positive legacy left for South Australia. Vale, Dale Baker.

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (14:40): I rise to support the motion and add to some of the memories of the contribution that Dale Baker made to the state of South Australia—a state that he loved. I suppose I really got to know Dale quite well in the years in which he was the leader of the opposition and also a minister in the Liberal government after 1993.

In the first part of that period, I was the secretary of the Rural and Regional Council of the Liberal Party, and followed that with three years as its chairman. I think that body within the Liberal Party has always had a very strong relationship with the leader of the day and also the shadow or minister for agriculture or primary industries—whatever it was called at the time.

Dale was prepared to offer great support to our organisation, but he made it very clear to me very early in those days that he was confident we knew what we were doing and that we did it well and he was not going to get in the way at all. I think that was Dale's attitude. If he thought you could do something, he was not going to try to change it, and I remember that very well.

I also remember coming down to this place in the early 1990s to assist the then shadow minister for agriculture, former member for Goyder, Mr John Meier, who was developing a policy in agriculture at the time. The current minister and Leader of the Government would, I suppose, be interested to know that, at that stage, there was a significant crisis across South Australia in agricultural pursuits. I remember that John, as the shadow minister, was extraordinarily busy dealing with people who were having a very hard time of it in their rural pursuits.

So, John asked me to help him develop a policy and he said, 'You had better go and see Dale. Dale is the leader and Dale will have a view on what our policy should be in this area.' Dale looked me up and down when I went to see him and he said, 'You know the issues; get on with it.' He was not going to meddle with it. He had a fair idea that I had a reasonable concept of what we needed to put in that policy.

The Leader of the Government and Leader of the Opposition have referred to the role that Dale decided to play post-politics as chair of the Limestone Coast Regional Development Board. As most members here know, I was the regional development spokesman for this party for a number of years and I have had a lot to do with those boards when we were in government and more latterly.

Dale was passionate about putting his experiences as a former member of parliament and former minister into that role. Some of us have seen that impact in people who have left this place, like our former colleague the Hon. Caroline Schaefer in her chairmanship of the Mid North and Yorke NRM board. It sometimes allows people to bring those skills and give that role an extra level. Dale certainly did that. He was extraordinarily passionate about a number of issues that were very strongly contested in the South-East at that stage. As my colleague the Hon. Mr Lucas knows, when there is an issue running in the South-East there are quite often a number of opinions and Dale stuck to his guns on a couple of those issues. I will not go into any detail, but I remember that very strongly.

One other matter that comes to mind about Dale and the South-East is that in 1994 there was a redistribution of state seats. People were waiting to see what the boundaries commission would come up with, as our colleagues in the lower house are at the moment. There was a trip to the South-East forests. I am not sure whether it was a parliamentary committee or a Liberal Party visit, but Dale Baker was there—he may even have been the minister for forests at the time—and so was Mr Ivan Venning MP, the then member for Custance.

They were deep in a forest in the South-East examining Pinus radiata, etc. Dale received a phone call to say that the boundaries had been released and that Ivan's electorate of Custance had been abolished. So, Dale got to deliver that news to Ivan deep in this forest in the South-East. While Ivan says the colour went out of Dale's face, I think it is more likely to say that it went out of Ivan's face. Subsequently, the Liberal Party appealed that decision and, rather than re-create Custance, the seat of Schubert was born. That is a story that I am sure the member for Schubert is telling in another place this afternoon.

I join with other members in passing my sympathies on to the Baker family and the many friends that Dale had, and has, across the state. There was a really good celebration of his life at Norwood last Monday. It showed Dale in all of his lights as a farmer, businessman, sportsman and family man. I think the Hon. Mr Ridgway said that in a number of the photographs depicted you could see the adoration he had for his grandchildren. So, I pass on my sympathies to the family and support the motion.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (14:48): I rise to support members who have spoken to this condolence motion. I can only agree with the comments the Hon. Mr Dawkins just made, that there was a magnificent memorial service on Monday of this week and, I thought, three magnificent speeches from Ian McLachlan, as a friend, political associate and fellow businessman and activist (I guess) over 50 years, and two former staff members, Richard Yeeles and Ian Smith, who have both subsequently gone on to successful careers in their own areas. I thought all who were there certainly got a very good picture of Dale Baker.

One recurring theme through the speeches was the Dale Baker sense of humour that was known by people who knew him for a long time. I only met Dale in the mid-eighties when he came into parliament.

The material provided by the library shows that Dale's sense of humour stayed with him right to the very end. There are a number of articles in the Sunday Mail and in The Advertiser. In an article in the Sunday Mail in April last year, when Dale had lost the use of his voice and was using a whiteboard, a photograph showed Dale with his dog and, on the whiteboard that he used to communicate was the message, 'People did not listen when I could talk so this is more effective'. In another article that he wrote in support of voluntary euthanasia, he talked about motor neurone disease and about the fact that he had moved to PEG feeding by tube. He said:

The other main change is that I take my own packaged liquid food wherever I go, including overseas, plus a syringe to administer. Works very well and not a hassle. Champagne is fine through the PEG—no taste, but the same kick. The only drawback is that on visits to friends they now give me all their cheap wine.

I think those two examples are perfect. I have maintained a close friendship with Rex Jory and Richard Yeeles over the years, and they have maintained a close friendship with Dale Baker and have had much more contact with him in recent years since he left politics. The sense of humour evident in those two media-reported examples was certainly a recurring theme during their visits with Dale, they reported, and it continued right through to the very end.

As I said, I met Dale in the mid-80s when he first came into parliament. In the mid to late 80s, as the shadow minister for education, I can remember a couple of very hairy rides through his electorate as he made sure that we got from school to school in less time than I had ever contemplated being possible. I think his speed of transport was referred to by a couple of speakers on Monday in a number of humorous stories. Of course, those sorts of things do not happen these days because we are much more responsible when it comes to road safety issues.

The Hon. David Ridgway referred to Dale's success in relation to pushing issues through and bringing them to a successful conclusion. He talked about some issues at the state level and certainly a few in relation to his own electorate. In addition to his prosecution of the case in relation to the problems of the State Bank—together with others in the Liberal Party; he was not the sole voice—there was the prosecution of the case in relation to electoral fairness.

A significant influence on Dale's political career was Ren DeGaris, who came from the South-East as well. Dale and Ren were very close. Dale prosecuted work during his time as leader—and just before that as well—in relation to the electoral fairness test, which is now a part of our Electoral Act. It came as a result of the 1989 election, when the Liberal opposition at that stage won 52 per cent of the two-party preferred vote but did not win government. As a result of that, significant changes were achieved in our electoral tests, and Dale Baker was a prominent proponent of that.

The Hon. David Ridgway referred to his work in other areas, as I said, such as the State Bank, mining and others, and I will not repeat those. He certainly chalked up successes, both as an opposition politician and as a minister for a brief period.

As would be said of us all, our careers are not always sated with success; some misfire. I remember the controversy—and it is still a controversy at the moment—when Dale surprised many of us in the Liberal Party at the time when he became the leader, with a passionate policy position regarding the privatisation of a number of assets, including the South-East forests, or the forests generally.

That was a very interesting period for the Liberal Party because his views were not necessarily reflected by the member for Mount Gambier at the time, Harold Allison. Nevertheless, soon after that, Dale took one for the team—as was said on Monday—when both John Olsen and Dean Brown returned to the state parliamentary party and contested the leadership pre-the 1993 election.

Unsurprisingly, the Liberal Party position reverted to what is still the position: not supporting the privatisation or the sale of the forests. In that speech, which was a comprehensive one as leader of the opposition in 1991, he talked about the sale of WorkCover and a variety of other assets, some of which (not all) have been privatised by not only Liberal governments but also Labor governments.

A story perhaps not widely known—again a fair indication that not all of every politician's bright ideas are successes—is that I recall in that period when he was the leader that one of his bright ideas was the suggestion that I should become the shadow attorney-general to take on the then Labor attorney-general, Chris Sumner.

All I can say, without going through the gory detail of those discussions, is that, luckily, wiser heads prevailed, both for the legal fraternity in South Australia and also for the Liberal Party, I suspect, as we had an outstanding shadow attorney-general, who went on to serve with distinction as attorney-general, the Hon. Trevor Griffin, at that particular time.

I suspect that, up until now, that story would not have been known to more than a handful of people. With all of us we have our ideas that take root and come to fruition and are very successful, but occasionally there are the ideas which, on reflection, fall on fallow ground and go nowhere, luckily, in relation to those issues.

I join with other members in supporting the condolence motion and, on behalf of my wife Marie, I pass on my condolences to Dale's family, friends and acquaintances.

The PRESIDENT: I support the motion as well. I knew Dale probably in my younger days more so than in later years because I grew up at Tantanoola and Millicent and played footy with Tant, and Dale was playing football for the Millicent Magpies at the time (now the Millicent Saints, of course). I also grew up on a property owned by the Hon. Allan Hookings, who became Dale's father-in-law and who was a distinguished member of this house, so I knew Dale's wife Margaret very well and grew up on those properties.

The Millicent area in particular has been blessed with a number of characters who have served in parliament here, starting probably with the late Jim Corcoran and late Des Corcoran, the late Allan Rodda, the late Ren DeGaris of course, Martin Cameron, and then along came Dale Baker, all characters in their own right and all very good local members. They served their areas very well and never forgot that they came from the South-East, and did not only take up the fight on behalf of people in the South-East but also in the state.

When I shifted away from Millicent and Tantanoola, the next time I heard about Dale was probably during the shearers' wide comb dispute, where he played a small role to his good friend Ian McLachlan, and I think he had some sort of a relationship with a fellow called Nifty Thompson during that period. I pass on my condolences, especially to Margaret, the children and his grandchildren. I ask honourable members to stand in their places and carry the motion in silence.

Motion carried by members standing in their places in silence.


[Sitting suspended from 15:01 to 15:20]


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