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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-09-10 Daily Xml
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Condolence

RITSON, HON. R.J.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:21): I move:

That the Legislative Council expresses its deep regret at the recent death of the Hon. Robert John Ritson, former member of the Legislative Council, and places on record its appreciation of his distinguished public service.

I rise today to pay respect to Dr Robert Ritson, who passed away recently in Lismore, New South Wales. Dr Ritson was a Liberal member of the Legislative Council from 1979 to 1993. Although, unfortunately, I never had the pleasure of knowing Dr Bob Ritson, I understand from his colleagues that he was certainly known to his friends and colleagues very well. He brought his interests as a medical practitioner to bear with his focus on issues relating to public health policy. He was passionate about the issues he supported and believed in and very proudly argued those and defended his views in this chamber.

Dr Ritson introduced a bill to amend the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 to make it more difficult for women to seek terminations—a bill which I have to say I am personally relieved was defeated. Although it is clear that he and I might agree to disagree on some issues, we certainly supported a strong interest in a range of other areas. I was pleased to learn that Dr Ritson was a strong supporter of tobacco sponsorship restrictions, supporting Labor's bill to ban tobacco sponsorship of sporting and cultural events.

He was also a staunch advocate, I understand, for safety in amateur diving, arguing in favour of tighter safety standards and for access to recompression facilities by commercial operators. As a doctor, he expressed concern about death or major injury to a diver because of a lack of adequate safety equipment. These are areas, obviously, that I also am concerned about and sympathise with.

His keen intelligence and good humour that his colleagues talk about are fondly remembered by his friends. His 14 years of very loyal service in parliament is a testament to the deep commitment to public service and his community. I, along with no doubt all others in this chamber, offer our heartfelt condolences to his wife Jill, daughter Maryann, and son Matthew.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:24): I rise to speak to the condolence motion for the Hon. Robert John Ritson born in Adelaide in 1936, or Bob as he was known in this place and to his friends. He was elected to the Legislative Council in 1979 and, of course, as the minister said, remained here until 1993. Prior to his service in the state parliament he had been a medical practitioner and he continued some general practice work into his parliamentary career. Upon joining parliament, Bob drew on his professional experience to become a credible voice on several major health issues, such as abortion and euthanasia. His numerous attempts at effecting change over such legislation were born of a genuine concern for social health.

Bob was a strong voice in parliament as a health advocate. He dedicated time to fighting to keep a multipatient recompression chamber active in North Haven for the safety of divers and for MS patients. He was cautious about biological experiments and the likely use of human tissue. He was passionate about the ethical and scientific oversight in these areas and he did not want the government to absolve itself of any responsibility when it came to the health of the community.

He was also vocal in protecting the mentally ill, arguing that the overflow of the intellectually disabled people from hospitals into prisons had to be stopped. Bob was also concerned about the decline of maternity services at the Modbury Hospital and, sadly, I am sure he would be incredibly upset with the recent decisions over the inpatient paediatric services being ceased at Modbury.

Shortly, I know my colleague the Hon. Rob Lucas, who knew Bob very well and served alongside him for about a decade, will make some additional comments, but on behalf of the Liberal team I extend my condolences to his family and friends.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (14:26): I rise to speak to the condolence motion for Bob Ritson. As the Hon. Mr Ridgway has indicated, I had the honour of serving with Bob for a period of time and also of knowing him prior to his election to the Legislative Council.

My first recollection of Bob Ritson was meeting him sometime in the mid-1970s and for the 1977 state election we had, as a party, the unfortunate circumstance of losing not only one candidate but two candidates in the period leading up to the election. Bob had a medical practice out in the north-eastern suburbs. As the Hon. Mr Ridgway has indicated, he had been a campaigner and a supporter of the continuation of maternity services at the Modbury Hospital during that particular period and, clearly, from the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, the noughties and now, 2013, that issue for the people in the north-eastern suburbs continues to be an issue upon which they will campaign and support the ongoing provision of paediatric services at that hospital.

As I said, we as a party had lost a couple of candidates who had resigned and Bob said he had been told that the second candidate who had resigned did so for personal reasons but, as Bob told the story, he found out later after the election that the personal reasons were that the candidate had actually conducted a survey and found out that he (and we) were going to lose by a considerable margin, so for personal reasons he resigned as candidate for the Liberal Party and Bob took over the candidacy. The previous candidate left the party with a parting gift to the incoming third candidate, Bob Ritson, which was the results of that particular survey.

Of course, Bob and the Liberal Party were singularly unsuccessful in the 1977 election in that particular electorate of Todd in the north-eastern suburbs. Bob then contested preselection for the Liberal Party in 1979 and, as members on this side of the chamber will know, that requires a presentation, a speech and answering questions before a most important body in the Liberal Party called the State Council, which comprises some 200 to 250—

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: Very wise people.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: —fiercely independent and very wise, as my colleagues tell me, individuals spread from the Western Australian border to the South-East and Victorian border.

It is not in the Liberal Party, particularly in those days, the capacity to sit down in a smoke-filled room with a couple of people and assure your preselection. At that particular time, in 1979, it was a hotly contested preselection, and Bob's position was that he was very much considered by many as a rank outsider. In a wonderfully what appeared to be impromptu, no-notes, off-the-cuff speech to the State Council, he literally came from nowhere, bypassing other favoured candidates, and won the No. 6 position on the Legislative Council ticket.

I am sure that members know that the No. 6 position on the Legislative Council ticket for major parties or minor parties does not really guarantee you too much. These days, of course, the No. 4 position on the ticket might not guarantee you much at all, either. Certainly, at that time, the No. 6 position was not considered highly likely to give you a guaranteed career in the Legislative Council but, of course, in 1979, there was a landslide to the Liberal Party and the Hon. Bob Ritson was elected for his term in the Legislative Council.

Bob Ritson was very much a sort of Rumpole of the Bailey type of person, wonderfully articulate, wonderfully intelligent, widely read, liked by almost everyone, with friends across the political spectrum—Liberal, Labor and Democrat, as it was at that particular time. I think that the two leaders have indicated that he came from a medical background, which perhaps might not have been recognisable from some of his personal eating habits: his favourite breakfast was an awesome combination of pie, sauce and Coke; his luncheon menu generally was a gherkin and pickled onion roll with a Coke. After seeing what he had eaten for breakfast and lunch, I never wanted to know what he had for dinner, but probably it involved a glass of red wine as well.

For those like you, Mr President, who at some time in your past have resorted to having to smoke on the steps of Parliament House, Bob Ritson would have been seen by many people at that particular time having a smoke outside Parliament House with a number of the other members who smoked. Those staff around Parliament House (maybe there is at least one who would probably remember—the Clerk) knew that Bob was legendary for losing almost everything, including his keys. If the staff ever found a set of keys in Parliament House, they did not have to do the equivalent of an email or send a note to everyone: they would all go to Bob Ritson first to find out whether or not they were Bob's keys, and invariably they were his keys, and that saved having to ask any other members or staff.

I have looked back at some comments I made in 1993, when Bob was leaving the parliament. I referred to the infamous impersonation of a Harrier jump-jet that he engaged in whilst visiting a softwood plant in the South-East. I will not go into the gory detail of all of that, but for those members who might like a private description, I am happy to share that information with them.

Bob Ritson was wonderful company on select committee trips and, in our case, party trips, around regional areas of South Australia, and he was highly regarded by all who met him. He had a particular interest, as the leaders have indicated, in obviously health-related issues. He was fiercely conservative in relation to what we would these days refer to as conscience vote issues—voluntary euthanasia, the Natural Death Act and what we now refer to as sex worker legislation, which was in those days simply and accurately called prostitution bills. He had a staunchly conservative view about those sorts of issues and, in relation to those views, he was prepared to articulate them and speak about them on many occasions.

He fought tenaciously for individual cases. There was a particular case in relation to a person who had been unfairly accused of child abuse in a difficult domestic arrangement with this person's wife and children. Bob took up the case, with many others who took up the case, during the period of the Labor government. It was ultimately settled with the incoming Liberal government, when this individual won a cash settlement in relation to some of the trauma he had been required to go through as a result of clearly some major problems within what was then the old community welfare department in those days—now Families SA or part of the Department for Education and Child Development, but I think in those days it was referred to as the community welfare department.

The matter was in relation to allegations of child abuse against their children, and Bob was tenacious on issues like that. He fought for the underdog if he believed in a particular issue, and he had the courage and was prepared to stand up and fight for an issue, whether it was with a Labor government or within his own government, if he believed in a particular cause.

As I indicated, he had come from nowhere with what appeared to be a wonderfully impromptu speech in 1979. When he stood for preselection again in 1985, I remember coming back late one evening (at that stage our offices were on the lower ground floor), and Parliament House was relatively quiet—Martin Cameron was not playing his bagpipes. I walked onto the lower ground floor and could hear this stentorian voice coming from behind an office. I walked past and realised it was Bob Ritson's office and I paused to listen. There he was, word for word, going through what I was to hear, a week later, was his wonderfully impromptu, off-the-cuff speech, word for word. It was well rehearsed and certainly, I am sure, when the State Council a week later listened to a no-notes, off-the-cuff speech they were suitably impressed. However, his secret was out, as I said to him, as I had heard him rehearsing the speech a few days prior to the State Council.

Bob had the position of whip in this chamber when I was leader for a number of years. I have previously placed on the record, and I want to do so again, my acknowledgement of the wonderful work he did. The work of whips in this chamber and in another place, of course, is essential to the smooth operation of the chamber and the parliament. We have been lucky in the capacity and capability of the whips we have had, at least on our side of the chamber. I am sure, Mr President, on the other side of the chamber you would say the same about the people who have held the position of whip in your party, but I do acknowledge the work of Bob Ritson.

I also want to acknowledge his public service, his community service prior to entering parliament and his parliamentary service, as well as his service to our party, the Liberal Party. Whilst in the end he was not a minister in a government or the president of the chamber, Bob Ritson and people like him are the heart and soul of our parties—our party in this case—and the heart and soul of our parliamentary party.

He was fiercely loyal even when particular issues might not have been consistent with his own personal views. If he did speak differently, he managed it in a way which did the least possible harm or damage to his party, and on many occasions he did not speak publicly, even though he might have had a different view from the one that his party had on a particular issue.

He was wonderfully messy, as I said. I still have a copy of a postcard he sent me from London on one of his overseas trips that encapsulated Bob's approach to the parliamentary office and I have tried to follow it ever since. The postcard simply reads, 'A clean desk is a sign of a sick mind.' As I said, I still have that postcard in my desk as a motivator and, now that he has passed away, as a memorial to the Hon. Bob Ritson. There are some other stories I have shared with some of my colleagues about his approach to paperwork in the office which I will not put on the public record, but on occasions his management of the paperwork that went through his office was unique.

Before concluding, I do want to pass on my condolences to his wife, Jill. Bob was unusual in some respects in that he and Jill did separate and divorce, but a number of years later they were one of that small minority of couples who, having had a period of time apart, came together again and remarried. I think they remarried—they were certainly together for many, many years prior to his passing and Jill was looking after him when he passed away. I do want to formally pass on my condolences to Jill, his family and his friends.

I also want to indicate my sorrow, via this contribution, that we only became aware of Bob's passing on the day there was a notice in the Adelaide Advertiser indicating that his funeral was to be held that afternoon or the next day in Lismore. It was just physically impossible for some of us who would have wished to have tried to get to his funeral service to do so. Certainly, had I known earlier, as someone who did know him I would have made arrangements to try to represent the party at the funeral service.

So, I do want to apologise to Jill and his family through this contribution for being unable to be there. It is a shame that someone who gave such great service to the party passed away without many of us (or any of us) knowing that he had done so and therefore the party was unable to be properly represented, in my view, at his funeral. It certainly was not a slight on Bob's service to the party: it was simply a fact of not being aware that he had passed away.

With that, I pass on my condolences to Jill, his family members, his friends and acquaintances, and acknowledge on behalf of the state parliamentary party, on behalf of the Liberal Party organisation, his tremendous service not only to the parliament but to our party over very many years.

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (14:43): I rise to briefly add to the remarks of my colleague. I do well remember the Hon. Dr Bob Ritson. I was not on the college when he was preselected at No. 6, but I have been well acquainted with the quality or the uniqueness of the speech which got him to that No. 6 position.

The Hon. Dr Ritson was a colleague of my father in my father's last three years in this place and when, in fact, my father was the Government Whip in that period. I am sure that my late father would agree with the Hon. Mr Lucas in describing the Hon. Bob Ritson as someone who was wonderful company and highly regarded. I think the Hon. Mr Lucas would confirm that they both shared that thing he called a 'stentorian' voice. I am also aware that the Hon. Dr Ritson was known by some quite affectionately as Ritso and I think most of us on this side probably would question whether that nickname came from one Hon. Rob Lucas who seems to be good at making up nicknames for most people.

The other thing is that the Hon. Mr Lucas mentioned that Bob Ritson was elected to this place in that unique position of No. 6 on the Legislative Council ticket. I think it happened once on the Labor side, maybe twice, but certainly twice on our side. The other person who was elected at No. 6 to this great chamber from our side is well remembered by some here, the Hon. Angus Redford.

Before closing, I would also like to say that in this time of acknowledging the service of the Hon. Dr Ritson and particularly his services as whip, I am delighted to have the Hon. Rob Lucas's acknowledgement of the role of whips on the parliamentary record. I extend my sincere sympathy to the Hon. Dr Ritson's family.

Members stood in their places in silence.

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