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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-02-10 Daily Xml
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Condolence

Freebairn, Mr J.S.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:16): With the leave of the council, I move:

That the Legislative Council expresses its deep regret at the recent death of the Mr John Sydney Freebairn, former member of the House of Assembly, and places on record its appreciation of his distinguished public service, and that as a mark of respect to his memory the sitting of the council be suspended until the ringing of the bells.

Although I never had the opportunity to meet Mr Freebairn personally, I trust there will be members opposite who did, and I hope they will share many anecdotes relating to his character and his contribution and service to the community.

Mr Freebairn entered parliament as a young man—only 31 years old at the time of his election as a member for the district of Light and, at the time, the youngest member of the South Australian parliament. His young age was subject to much media commentary at the time, but to my knowledge neither his suitability nor his capability for the position were ever in question.

He was educated at Scotch College and then at the School of Mines, and it is very clear from his speeches in the other place that he was both well spoken and well informed on the matters on which he spoke. In the tradition of his pioneer family, he made his living as a farmer and was quite involved in the affairs of both the SA Wheat and Woolgrowers' Association and that great institution, the Agricultural Bureau.

In Mr Freebairn's day, the district of Light covered a very large geographical area extending to the east and north-east, even past the River Murray. In his efforts to faithfully represent the interests of his constituents, Mr Freebairn acknowledged that one challenge of governance in South Australia at the time—and indeed still is in the present day—was to balance the needs and requirements of our farmers and pastoralists with the needs and requirements of urban and suburban populations.

Mr Freebairn endeavoured to conduct himself justly and reasonably in the matter of the fair and equitable allocation of resources across the two categories of industry in South Australia—the primary and secondary industries. We know from the words he spoke in the other place that he had a keen understanding of and a clear sympathy for the plight of farmers with regard, in particular, to water allocation. His speeches to the house demonstrated an apparent encyclopaedic knowledge of the economics of water infrastructure, in particular in his district, and if you go back and read them I am sure you will be struck by the level of detail in his explanations.

Mr Freebairn was a champion of reform and progress. Aligned at the time with the Liberal Movement, he campaigned internally for both reform of the electoral system and for a modernisation of the values of the Liberal and Country League. He was proud of the eventual success in the Liberal Movement in advancing its progressive cause, but his political career ended, he believed, as a consequence of this slowness in advancement. He unsuccessfully stood for the Midland district in the Legislative Council at the 1973 election. He remained interested in politics, even afterwards, and continued to advocate for the interest of the community and its industries.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:20): I rise to endorse the comments made by the Leader of the Government in relation to the life of John Sydney Freebairn and to add some comments on behalf of the opposition. As the Leader of the Government mentioned, Mr Freebairn was born into a family with a pioneering background and grew up in Alma, where he later farmed. Incidentally, some of my early ancestors also farmed at Alma.

Mr Freebairn was educated at the Alma Primary School and later at Scotch College. It is important to note that Mr Freebairn was involved with the Agricultural Bureau of South Australia for some 20 years and was a member of the South Australian Wheat and Wool Growers Association. I think it was in those early days that he had a real love affair with the South Australian rural sector, realising especially how important it was to our state's economy.

He became the Liberal member for Light in the South Australian House of Assembly in 1962 through to 1970 and, as the Leader of the Government mentioned, at the time he was the youngest member of the House of Assembly, aged 31. It was probably some time before that age record was broken, I suspect. Even more so at the time, he also noticed that the electorate of Light, to which he was elected, was reliant on its pastoral, agricultural and fruit growing industries.

I remember meeting Mr Freebairn at a couple of Liberal Party functions, where he still had a very strong interest in rural affairs and advocacy for rural affairs. The minister mentioned some of the speeches he made, and Mr Freebairn still talked to me about equality around water allocation and some of the other things he was passionate about while a member of parliament. He was always a strong advocate for these rural industries in his electorate, and he sought to improve the three main issues he thought were facing the industry, namely, water, power and transport. I am sure even today he would see that water, power and transport are still major issues facing not only the rural industries that reside in the electorate of Light (or the area it was then) but facing all of us today.

As the Leader of the Government said, Mr Freebairn won preselection for the Legislative Council district of Midland in 1973 but, unfortunately for Mr Freebairn, was defeated at the polls. He also went on and contested the federal seat of Wakefield for the Liberal Movement in the 1974 federal election. So, we can see that Mr Freebairn had a long connection with his electorate, a long connection with his community and a long connection with the Liberal Party and, of course, with the Liberal Movement. With these few words, I offer my condolences and the condolences of the Liberal Party to his family and friends.

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (14:23): I rise to endorse the remarks made by the Leader of the Government and Leader of the Opposition respectively. I am probably one of the few members of this place who actually knew Mr John Freebairn for a significant period of time. In fact, he and my father were both members of the Liberal and Country League and members of this parliament around the time the Liberal Movement came to the fore as a part of the Liberal and Country League and, of course, then later as it became a separate party. While my father and Mr Freebairn were on different sides of that scenario, they always maintained good relationships, and certainly later in life that continued.

Mr Freebairn was only 30 when he was endorsed as a candidate for the LCL which, as some might have remarked, in those days was seen as almost an infant. It received a few headlines in the country papers of the day, certainly the papers that covered the area of Alma via Hamley Bridge. I know the Clerk of this place remembers Mr Freebairn as making it clear that is where he came from. While Alma is a very prominent farming area and is close to Owen and Salter Springs and places like that, not everybody knows where Alma is so he always said, 'I come from Alma via Hamley Bridge.'

Certainly I concur with the remarks about his commitment to a number of agricultural organisations, particularly the poultry industry. I do not think that they were specifically mentioned, but certainly he was a director of the Red Comb Cooperative organisation which existed amongst the poultry producers. He was a member of the South Australian Egg Board and, of course, also as a grain grower he was a director of South Australian Co-operative Bulk Handling Ltd for some 10 years.

I think, as has been noted by previous speakers, he held the seat of Light on three occasions—1962, 1965 and 1968—and at that stage, as the Leader of the Government alluded to, it was a different seat than it is today. In fact, The Advertiser election guide in 1962 described Light as:

A pastoral, agricultural and fruit growing electorate with a few towns and small industrial pockets. Subdivisions are Eudunda, Kapunda, Morgan, Riverton and Saddleworth.

Of course, in the redistribution leading up to the 1970 election the seat of Gawler, as it was, was dissolved. The seat of Gawler had not only the town of Gawler but all the Elizabeth suburbs in it, but because of the growth in population there was a need to create new seats to the south of Gawler and so the town of Gawler, and a number of its surrounding areas, went into the seat of Light and changed the nature of that seat significantly.

As it was, the then mayor of Gawler, the Hon. Dr Bruce Eastick, ran for the preselection for the LCL against John Freebairn and, because the number of Liberal members in Gawler probably outswamped those who had come from those northern areas, he won preselection. Dr Eastick then went on to become the leader of the LCL and the Liberal Party, after the name changes and went on to become the member for Light for some 23 years.

I noted with great interest in Mr Freebairn's maiden speech a number of issues that I think would still be relevant today. One that was relevant to a lot of people was the need for better east-west connections in road transport in the Lower and Mid North of South Australia. I think many people for a long time have been somewhat perplexed by the dogleg nature of how you go from, say, Port Wakefield across to the Riverland.

It is interesting to note that some 54 years ago, in a maiden speech, that was one of the issues that Mr Freebairn raised. In fact, he talked about some of the work that had been done by the government on the Renmark-Eudunda road—which was in those days known as the North of the River Road—and some work that had been done by the District Council of Eudunda on the Eudunda-Marrabel road. He talked also about connections between Saddleworth and Balaklava which, some would say, are still waiting.

The interesting one he talked about was the fact that at that stage there was some progress by the New South Wales government in sealing the Hay-Wentworth road, which we all know is the Sturt Highway going across the Hay Plain, and he was interested in bringing some form of sealed road, I suppose, from Wentworth on the north side of the river to Renmark and then through to Morgan and beyond. To my mind, for that to have been raised in 1962, was visionary. It might have been hopeful, because we still do not have a sealed road, certainly in South Australia between Renmark and Wentworth, but it is interesting to me that he could think of those sorts of linkages, some of which we still have not achieved.

Mr Freebairn had a lengthy retirement from parliament because, he did, as has been said, attempt to come into this august house in 1973 but was unsuccessful. In his lengthy retirement, having left the service of the parliament at the age of 40, he still was very happy to come here to make friendships with people who had not necessarily been here when he was here, and he was a frequent visitor to the place. He was always very respectful in the way he dealt with me and I regard that highly.

I remember one of the more recent times when I saw him at an event in the country, and it must be about 10 years ago, acknowledging the voluntary service of CFS members in the Hamley Bridge area. He was very strong on the emergency services sector in his district and, of course, that area has, in only recent months, been decimated by fire. I am not sure whether his former property was impacted because I think that was probably at the northern end of the perimeter but, certainly, the town of Hamley Bridge was surrounded.

I think it is important, though, to emphasise that Mr Freebairn was a very young man when he came to parliament, particularly for that day. He would have also been a very young man to have lost his parliamentary career, but he never brought any sense of being bitter about that when he came to this place and, as I said, I think he was active in the former members' association, but he was always a friendly person who would come into the refreshment room, I will call it, and I think probably made himself known to many people in this place. With those remarks, I support the motion.

Motion carried by members standing in their places in silence.

Sitting suspended from 14:33 to 14:52.

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