HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Member Index
Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-05-05 Daily Xml
Contents
Pdf Xml

Condolence

Payne, Hon. R.G.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:21): With the leave of the council I move:

That the Legislative Council expresses its deep regret at the passing of the Hon. Ronald George Payne, former member of the House of Assembly and former minister in the Dunstan, Corcoran and Bannon governments, and places on record its appreciation of his distinguished service to the people of South Australia and that, as a mark of respect to his memory, the sitting of the council be suspended until the ringing of the bells.

I rise today to pay respects to the Hon. Ronald George Payne, a former member of the House of Assembly for the seat of Mitchell and minister under no less than three Labor premiers. Early last month, we learnt with great sadness of the passing of Ron Payne. Today we honour a remarkable South Australian politician whose values of decency, hard work and loyalty are a reminder to us all, particularly to those who aspire to a life of service to our community. Ron was born in Alberton in 1925 and as a boy growing up in the Depression saw more than his fair share of hard knocks. Food was hard to come by and at one stage he spent a number of years in the Morialta Children's Home.

It is not hard to imagine that these humble beginnings and tough formative experiences must have influenced his political outlook, and later his deeply compassionate approach, particularly in his role as community welfare minister in the Dunstan government. As a young man he found work as a telegraph messenger with the PMG. At 17, with World War II in full swing, Ron joined the Royal Australian Navy, serving three years as a gunner aboard the HMS Deloraine minesweeper corvette, with a very illustrious history.

While on shore leave in 1946 he met his future wife Betty, and I understand that it was on Beehive Corner, where they were both stood up by their respective dates. Ron was not demobilised until some years after the war finished, as there was still much clearing of mines to be done after the hostilities had ceased. In 1948 Ron and Betty married, and Ron found work again with the PMG, first as a postman, and later he trained as a telephone technician.

Using his accrued war service back pay he put a deposit on a block of land in what was then the relatively new suburb of Clovelly Park. The house he built in Scottish Avenue for his beloved wife Betty and their two girls, Tracy and Sandahll, was to be his only home. As well as it being a warm and loving family home, he would run off ALP newsletters in the back shed, where he repaired old radios and worked on the Chevys, Pontiacs and Buicks, for which he apparently had a great love.

In the 1960s he moved from the PMG to the South Australian Institute of Technology, where he worked as a senior engineering technician. His interest in politics inevitably brought him into contact with the impressive Labor Party organisation in Adelaide's southern suburbs, with people of the calibre of Geoff Virgo, Ralph Jacobi and many others. Ron Payne was a close associate and protégé of Virgo's and when a boundary distribution saw Virgo's seat in Edwardstown split and the new seat was created, Ron, as a leading member of the local community, was the logical choice as the ALP candidate.

His election to the seat of Mitchell in 1970 was the beginning of seven terms and 19 years as local member. Those who saw or experienced Ron at work in those days talk of him as a consummate local member. He knew and served his electorate extraordinarily well. Ron was one of those who had built their homes in the early days when the streets were only slowly populated by a few, fresh, bare houses full of young and optimistic working families with young children. He knew their problems, their concerns, their challenges, and as the local member he tackled those issues with extraordinary diligence and commitment, because their lives were his life—it was that simple and that straightforward for him.

In 1975, Ron became minister for prices and consumer affairs and minister for community welfare in the Dunstan government, both of which he tackled with his usual toughness and thoroughness. He served as minister of planning, water resources and housing in the Corcoran government; however, it was his term as minister for mines and energy in the Bannon government from 1982 to 1988 that was his greatest source of pride in his political career.

The controversy surrounding the Roxby Downs Indenture Bill and the issues around the treatment of the Pitjantjatjara people required a safe and steady pair of hands. It is a tribute to Ron Payne's intelligence and his ability as minister that Roxby Downs moved through its early expansion phase in the 1980s so effortlessly and with very few controversies. Given the potentially divisive political issues that were swirling around the project at the time, it was a truly amazing achievement that happened in a quite seamless way because it was handled so deftly by him.

Ron Payne was one of a particular class of politician who are among the very best of us but do not want to see their name up in lights or splashed across headlines. Instead, satisfaction is to be found in the thousands of modest successes helping people at a grassroots level, just doing a low-key, extremely capable and professional job as minister. Quiet and no-nonsense, he was extremely effective; it is a rare political art and Ron Payne was one of its greatest practitioners.

Finally, mention must be made of Ron Payne's sensible dress style. He was a man who brought informality to the parliamentary dress code and dress sense. Even before the famous Dunstan pink shorts, Ron famously appeared in parliament without a tie and with his shirt sleeves rolled up. Apparently that had been unheard-of before then, and he rarely wore a tie and preferred to wear not a suit but rather a reefer or a bomber jacket.

In retirement Ron kept up a busy life in the Clovelly Park area enjoying cricket. His wife Betty must be acknowledged today and between them they were a formidable political pair. She suffered blindness for the last 20 years of her life and Ron devoted a great deal of his latter years caring for her. His passing on 9 April marks the passing of the last World War II veteran who served in a South Australian state Labor government. It is also a reminder to us of the inspiring values and fundamental decency of people like Ron who went through the terrible hardship of the Depression and more, yet triumphed to create a better South Australia for all of us. May Ronald George Payne rest in peace.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (14:29): I rise to support the remarks of the Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council and to add some condolences on behalf of all Liberal members. Mr Ronald George Payne served for 19 years in the House of Assembly and for that entire period of time in the electorate of Mitchell. For 13 of those years he was a minister in the Dunstan, Corcoran and Bannon governments. For a couple of months in 1975 he was minister for prices and consumer affairs. He also then subsequently served as minister for community welfare from 1975 to 1979. Then, for six months, he was minister for planning and water resources and housing during that period and, finally, as has been mentioned, he was minister for mines and energy from 1982 to 1988, during which time, I think it is understood, he made a great contribution to this state.

In his maiden speech to the parliament he raised a number of issues. He had been a former employee of the South Australian Institute of Technology, which has become the University of South Australia and, during that speech, he spoke about a number of issues in relation to technology, the union movement and aged care. Early in his career, he pointed to a sense of humour when he said:

I feel bound to report that at least one elector informed me that he was glad to be able vote a Payne into Parliament because Parliament had given him many a pain in years gone by.

There were a number of issues that took place during his ministerial career, things that I think echo matters we continue to see today. In his earlier ministerial career, as minister for community welfare, he referred to social workers, and there was an article published in 1977 which said, 'Cut out social jargon—Payne', where he is quoted as saying:

There appears to be a need for a simpler, more basic qualification which will equip social workers to work effectively in the field.

And it was recommended that social workers should periodically go back to university or college to gain special knowledge relevant to their work, and we may see echoes of some of those matters in some of the challenges we have been facing at a state level.

He also, interestingly, had quite a role in the uranium debate. At one point, there was a report done under his tenure as the minister for mines and energy in which he said 'that the option was still open, given the debate that is currently taking place at government level'. It has certainly been a long time coming, but clearly that was on his radar at the time.

Further, wind energy was mooted as a potential source of energy, which would be then preferable to nuclear as an option. Hydroelectricity is another issue that was looked at during his term. At that particular point, the Warren Reservoir, close to the Barossa Valley, was being examined as a potential source there. A number of other issues—gas, Roxby Downs—the leader of the government has referred to as well.

Sometimes it is these quirks of reporting which do catch our eye, and the leader of the government did refer to the honourable member's attire. It was reported, on Mr Payne's retirement, about the fact that he eschewed the wearing of a tie, and I quote:

He knows he's worn a tie, but he can't remember when. Sporting an open necked shirt and reefer jacket, typical attire during his 18 years in politics, Mr Ron Payne's last days as a State Minister ended with a bang yesterday.

One of the editorial comments referred to how this quality of his for not wearing a tie, a tie being deemed to be not necessarily appropriate for our environmental conditions, made him quite endearing. There are a number of references throughout articles on Mr Payne which I think do refer to his decency. Clearly, he was a minister who took his role seriously and acted in a very conscientious manner throughout his tenure. We pass on our condolences to his family. I support the motion.

Motion carried by members standing in their places in silence.

Sitting suspended from 14:35 to 14:55.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT