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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-12-03 Daily Xml
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Evans, Hon. I.F.

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. D.W. Ridgway:

That this council acknowledge the service to the parliament of the Hon. Iain Evans, minister of the Crown from December 1997 until March 2002, and a member of the House of Assembly for the seat of Davenport since 1993.

(Continued from 19 November 2014.)

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (23:50): Given the hour and the enormous amount of work that this council has worked its way through today in a most professional manner, I will try to keep my comments brief, but, to be fair, I would have liked to have had more time to expand on my relationship and the wonderful contribution of the Hon. Iain Evans to the people and the parliament of South Australia.

Many wonderful things have been said about the Hon. Iain Evans in both chambers to date, and I would concur with all of those remarks. I am very grateful and it reminds me of the great camaraderie that can exist between members of the opposition parties to the Liberal Party and the respect that is paid to us all at different times. I will not touch on all of the achievements of the Hon. Iain Evans in this place, but what I will do is relay to the chamber the fact that the Hon. David Ridgway, the Hon. Rob Lucas and myself tonight attended a small function honouring the Hon. Iain Evans at the Gallery (I think on Waymouth Street).

I have to say that, in particular, his family spoke in glowing terms of not only the Hon. Iain Evans's contribution and what it meant to their family but the extraordinary contribution that Fiona Evans made to political life by being the rock of the Evans family when the Hon. Iain Evans was obviously off doing the things that he did. I was really touched and impressed by the speeches that Iain's four children made. I have to say that you should take comfort that, as a member of parliament, given that you do so many things, you and your beautiful partner Fiona have nurtured and parented exceptional young people. The way they spoke was absolutely fantastic and pretty touching. It made me a little bit emotional and I am sure it was the same with everybody else in the room.

At some point it was alluded to—one of the low points in my life as a member of parliament—when Senator Jeannie Ferris sadly had passed away. I know that Senator Jeannie Ferris had quite a bit of respect from Labor senators in the federal parliament and there was a very moving occasion in the federal parliament that a number of state members of parliament attended. It was at that time that a person challenged the Hon. Iain Evans and timed it beautifully, when a number of his friends and supporters were there paying their respects to Senator Jeannie Ferris. That person called on a challenge after the Hon. Iain Evans had been the leader for about 12 months, or maybe a bit less.

It was one of the low points of my political career because I thought it was the lowest act that I could have imagined. It is one thing to use the democratic system, it is another thing to use a weakness when people are paying their respects to somebody who deserved respect.

That person, of course, is now a minister in the Labor government: the Hon. (it hurts me to say it) Martin Hamilton-Smith—the honourable. I can only reflect tonight when I listened to the pain of that family, but I also really enjoyed the exceptional young people who have become Iain Evans' family. I am proud to be called a friend of Iain Evans. I am proud to have always associated with him and been a loyal person. I wish the Hon. Iain Evans, Fiona and their beautiful family every success in the future, and tonight I am pleased to pay tribute to his exceptional service to the people of South Australia.

The Hon. J.S. LEE (23:55): I would like to thank the Hon. David Ridgway for bringing this motion to the chamber. I join the other honourable members to acknowledge the outstanding service of the Hon. Iain Evans. I am sorry I missed his farewell party tonight due to the many speeches I had to prepare here, but I would like to say just a few words of tribute. As a fairly new member to parliament, I have only worked with Iain since 2010, but I have found him to be one of the most knowledgeable members in the shadow cabinet.

I remember that he structured a process to share information and transfer knowledge to new members when I was first elected. Iain set up internal committees that allowed some of the class of 2010 new members to actively learn and be mentored by more senior members of the Liberal Party. I have greatly benefited from being in those committees with Iain. At all the business events where I have invited the Hon. Iain Evans as my guest speaker, businesspeople have found Iain to be insightful, knowledgeable and charming. Iain was a fierce and fantastic contributor to the South Australian Liberal team with a wealth of knowledge and valuable experience.

As a person who is fond of numbers, I might just present some stats. Iain is a record holder for four things: the fact that he is a family man, businessman, team man and Liberal man. He has been married to his beautiful wife Fiona for 30 years, produced four wonderful children, had five years as a minister in the Olsen and Kerin governments, and was the 13th leader of the Liberal Party in its 100 years of history. He was heavily involved in nine federal election campaigns and nine state election campaigns, had 21 years of outstanding service as the member for Davenport, and 40 years of service to parliament between his father Stan Evans and himself. Five hours and 28 minutes was his longest speech in the House of Assembly.

Iain's passion to serve the community and his capacity to make a difference in the parliament ought to be publicly acknowledged here in this chamber and throughout parliament. It is an honour to have had Iain as my parliamentary colleague. He will be greatly missed by the Liberal team and I am sure others in parliament as well. I take this opportunity to wish Iain and his family the very best in the future, and may they enjoy much success and happiness in the next chapter of their lives.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (23:58): Certainly I thank all honourable members for their contributions to this motion, and it is fitting that tonight, as the Hon. Terry Stephens mentioned, there was the final function for Iain Evans' farewell. I think his son Staten said it was like the final performance of the John Farnham farewell tour. There had been a number of events, and I had the privilege to host an event just last night in the Speaker's dining room, where Iain had all of his family, siblings, their children and his children there as well, so it was quite a large event.

I think it is a measure of the commitment to the parliament of South Australia by the Evans family—obviously, his father Stan before him—that he almost filled the Speaker's dining room with his immediate family and their children. His commitment to service has been one that I think you could point all budding young members of parliament towards, for his service and the way he has served his community and his electorate.

I know that he had a view that he would doorknock his entire electorate every four years. Often you would talk to him and say you had met somebody in Blackwood and he would say, 'Oh, yes, they live in Smith Street, No. 27. It's the place with the red roof and the willow tree out the front.' He actually took a real interest in his community and I suspect the Hon. Michael Atkinson is the only other person I know who—and I am hoping he does not mind me putting him in the same speech with Michael Atkinson—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: He probably would for a whole bunch of political reasons.

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins interjecting:

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: He probably will. He may blame others for other things but nonetheless, in his commitment and service to his community, Michael Atkinson has a way of approaching his electorate, and Iain had a way of approaching his electorate. I think the level of commitment and service he gave to the seat of Davenport will be very hard to mimic for whoever may follow Iain. Our candidate for that by-election is Mr Sam Duluk and I do wish Sam all the best in that pursuit.

Tonight we did have an event and I thought it was fitting that former premier Olsen was there to speak and made some very poignant comments about Iain's contribution as a minister. Of course, Iain followed up to say that the most fulfilling years of his life were the five years that he was a minister of a Liberal government. It is a sad time when a member of parliament I have known for all the time I have been involved in the parliament and all the time before moves on, but it does leave an opportunity for those who are to come after him to step into those shoes. They will be very big shoes to fill and they will take some filling.

I know that Iain has some plans with his career and the next phase of his life. As the Hon. Terry Stephens mentioned, he saw his four children speak tonight. I think they are a real testament. Here it is at midnight on a Wednesday night and members would know politics is pretty tough on family life, yet they have been able to bring up four great children. Of course, Fiona has been a great support and, if you like, a rock in their relationship, and they have done a fabulous job.

I am delighted to have known Iain Evans. I was delighted and felt it was a real honour to work with him. It is fair to say that every now and then he has been a bit grumpy and perhaps we have not always agreed but, at the end of the day, Iain was passionate about Davenport, passionate about South Australia and passionate about making this state one of the greatest states in the nation. It is probably a little sad that he only had five years as a minister, but I do wish him all the very best for the next phase of his life and I thank all members for their contributions to this motion.

Motion carried.

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