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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-05-04 Daily Xml
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Condolence

Groom, Mr T.R.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:21): I move:

That the Legislative Council expresses its deep regret at the recent death of Mr Terry Robert Groom, former minister of the Crown and 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.

It is with much regret that I rise to speak to this particular condolence motion. Sometimes, I am sure, as with other honourable members, we speak to condolence motions for people with whom we have had not much connection over the years. In the case of Terry Groom, a number of us I suspect—probably more so in the Labor Party, but certainly from my side—had a long, ongoing association with Terry Groom. I knew Terry mainly in a political sense, as will become apparent from my comments. I know I speak on behalf of all my colleagues when I say we regret the fact that we are speaking to this particular condolence motion this afternoon.

Terry Groom was first defeated in 1975 at the election for the seat of Hanson, which was then in the western suburbs, a coastal seat. It was an election during the Dunstan decade that was called early, as all the elections during that decade were called. There were elections in 1973, 1975, 1977 and 1979. They were called on a two-yearly basis for differing reasons. One reason for the 1975 election was the controversy about the handover of country railways to the commonwealth government.

Those of us who have connections to the South-East—the Hon. Ms Scriven, the Hon. Mr Maher, the Hon. Mr Ridgway and myself—would be familiar with the passions that that aroused at that particular time, probably not as much as the passions in relation to the forestry privatisation, but nevertheless during the 1970s it was an issue of some controversy. Terry Groom was elected in 1977, again for the western coastal seat of Morphett, and then lost two years later. With the early election called upon the resignation of Don Dunstan, Des Corcoran took over and he took the state to an early election in 1979.

Of course, that saw the defeat of the then Labor government after almost a 10-year period, and the election of the Tonkin Liberal government for a three-year period. Mr Groom was out of parliament for that period. He then moved from west to east. He negotiated within the halls of power, within the Labor Party, to move to the eastern suburb seat of Hartley, and that is where I became more familiar with Mr Groom—because I had been a member of the Liberal Party in the electorate of Hartley since around 1981-82—when he was elected as the member for Hartley in 1982, and successfully defeated a series of Liberal Party candidates in that particular electorate in 1982, 1985 and 1989.

There were some unhappy experiences—and I might address some comments on that in a little while—in the period between 1989 and 1993. In 1993, having moved from west to east, he then moved north to contest the seat of Napier as an independent Labor candidate, and at that particular time was defeated by the endorsed Labor candidate, Annette Hurley.

He also served for a period of time from October 1992 to December 1993 as the Minister for Primary Industries and Minister Assisting the Premier on Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs. He maintained an ongoing connection with the multicultural and ethnic affairs community, not only through his period in parliament but subsequent to that. I was listening to the proceedings in the House of Assembly and a number of former colleagues from the Labor Party in Hartley are in the other place as we speak listening to the condolence motion—former member Grace Portolesi and I think the Hon. Mario Feleppa might be down there, because he was actively associated with campaigns in the Hartley electorate. I think that Joe Scalzi, the 'lion of Hartley', might also be down in the House of Assembly listening to the condolence motion.

As is often the case, you go back to early contributions that members make in the chamber. It was an unusual set of circumstances for Terry Groom as he gave his first speech, almost a budget-related speech, and a few weeks later gave a very long considered speech in the Address in Reply debate, talking more about his electorate and his background. In his first contribution he referred to the time he had spent in the law but also working in the community welfare department. A significant part of his contribution was about various government policies in relation to what was then called the community welfare department, and its responsibilities largely have morphed into the human services department and, in part, child protection. The community welfare department no longer exists by that particular title.

He spoke, as I said, on a range of issues in relation to community welfare policies, the Social Welfare Advisory Council, the McNally Training Centre at Magill—which was not too far from his soon-to-be electorate of Hartley—and the Aboriginal affairs department, and talked about policies as they related to the unemployed. There was one aspect that was clearly apt in 1977 when he gave this speech, and here we are, 43 years later, and it is probably still the case, where he talked about the significant impacts of unemployment on mental health, and I quote:

Unemployment has profound psychological effects which are likely to increase the degree of mental disturbance in the community. I have already mentioned that the May figures at Glenelg showed that 50 per cent of those registered were under 21 years of age.

Prolonged unemployment amongst young people may in some cases lead them to turn to drugs as a way out and eventually to more serious crime. I believe that the number of research papers currently being published add weight to what I have said. I believe it is far better to provide people with work through unemployment relief schemes than to make the unemployed rely solely on welfare benefits.

He then proceeded to have a bit of a dig about the then federal Liberal government in relation to unemployment relief schemes. When one goes back through his early contributions, they are littered with commentary and strong views one way or another on a whole variety of things, from sales tax to payroll tax to the cost of sporting goods in South Australia for families, the unfair imposts on South Australian or Australian-based manufacturers compared to imported products, and the like.

I talked earlier about making some comments about my interactions with Terry Groom over the years. By and large, because I was a member of the Liberal Party out at Hartley and I was paired and assisted in the various campaigns from that particular period onward, the early eighties onward, we were engaged in Labor versus Liberal, the Liberal candidate versus Terry Groom. In recent years—I do not know whether it was on every occasion but it was certainly on a good number of occasions—he was either the campaign manager for the Labor Party in Hartley or a very senior and prominent advisor to the Labor candidate in Hartley.

As each election transpired our paths would cross. He was a vigorous campaigner—if he saw a head he was prepared to kick it—and he gave as good as he took. He played his politics hard, but when the occasion merited he was always cordial and friendly in terms of engagement with his own colleagues I am sure but also with opponents from opposing political parties.

A lot has been written about what happened in the period 1989 to 1993, and I will address only a few comments to those circumstances. During that time, I was still actively engaged in the party's various contributions to electorate redistributions and was amused when I saw, in that particular period, the Labor Party submission to the Electoral Commission that effectively turned Terry Groom's seat of Hartley from a relatively safe Labor seat into a marginal Liberal seat.

It did so by a very unusual type of dogleg around the Aldersgate nursing home, which added about 100 or 200—I cannot remember the exact number—strongly Liberal voters into the seat and made it a very unusual looking seat. Clearly, it had been designed with good effect. There were other seats, of course, that were turned from Liberal to Labor, but that particular seat—which we were very happy about—was turned from a Labor-leaning seat to a Liberal-leaning seat.

I assume it was the subject of much angst within the party at that time, and it led to a very public falling out of Terry Groom with his then party. One story by Peter Hackett, amongst very many in The Advertiserat that particular time, quoted Terry Groom as follows:

'Reflecting on what occurred last weekend—

which was at the state Labor convention—

I was just appalled…appalled that the party is in the grip of the factional system. I thought that if they want to knock off a loyal sitting member they would do so at their own peril. If they are going to do this then no-one is safe.'

The 47-year-old father of three said that in the days before the preselection convention 'all sorts of deals' were put to him. 'But I felt that if I succumbed to these deals I would be entrenching the factional bosses in power. I would have sacrificed my integrity and how I see myself. I would have been letting down the rank-and-file party members on a personal level—nothing more. We have been friends for about 20 years.'

So there was a public falling out. He then became an independent Labor member, and history in South Australia has a good number of examples of people leaving either the Labor Party or the Liberal Party and becoming either an independent Labor or an independent Liberal. During that particular period, the power of Terry Groom and a colleague, Martin Evans, was considerable in terms of what occurred in the South Australian parliament during the period from 1989 to 1993.

Recent debates that we have seen in relation to the fairness clause only came about as a result of the intervention of the two independent Labor members and their influence over potential votes in the House of Assembly. It was those particular provisions and ultimately the referendum of 1991 I think it was (the early nineties) that saw the successful passage of the fairness provisions into electoral law in South Australia.

There were other significant influences. In terms of the precursor to our current parliamentary committee system, Martin Evans in particular but also Terry Groom had a considerable passion in relation to committee reform and they used the power that they had in that particular period for a significant rewrite of the parliamentary committee system. So the genesis of the parliamentary committee system as it exists now, and it has obviously been added to over recent decades, was the influence that Terry Groom and Martin Evans had back in the period between 1989 and 1993.

As I said, Terry was a man who played his politics hard, I am sure both within the party but also in the parliament. Nevertheless, I think the fact that a number of former opponents and former colleagues in another place today are paying respects in their particular condolence motion indicates the respect and the regard in which he was held. Since leaving parliament—I do not know if he immediately went back to law, but I occasionally ran into him in the streets of Adelaide and he was just coming or going to a legal practice—he continued to, at least in part, practise law subsequent to his parliamentary career.

In concluding, I know I speak on behalf of all my colleagues, but more particularly I suspect former colleagues as well, in passing on our condolences to his family, his friends and his acquaintances and in paying public tribute to his contribution to his party, to the parliament and to the broader South Australian community over many years of distinguished service.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:37): I rise to speak on this condolence motion and to endorse most of the comments that the Leader of the Government, the Treasurer, made. I must admit, I do not have a good working memory of electoral politics in the 1970s, as the Treasurer does, so I am at a slight disadvantage in rising to speak today.

Terry Groom spent 13 years in the parliament, first in the seat of Morphett and then, as has been recorded, in the seat of Hartley. Not one to back down from a challenge, Terry won four elections out of seven attempts, which is quite a remarkable feat—to not just win so many but to get back in the ring after many so bouts at elections. When he won the seat of Morphett, it was only by 112 votes, despite the seat being a notionally Liberal seat under the 1976 redistribution. I suspect Terry probably remains the only non-Liberal member person to win the seat of Morphett.

As the Treasurer has outlined, Terry resigned from the Labor Party to sit as an Independent after failing to win preselection for the seat of Napier. Despite this, in an example of South Australian Labor's good working relationship with Independents, Terry became the Minister for Primary Industries and the Minister Assisting the Premier on Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs under the Arnold Labor government. Terry also chaired the Economic and Finance Committee while an Independent.

As the Treasurer has recounted, Terry Groom was involved in the discussion and the debate around electoral reform that saw the system that we have had up until recently. I know that a few years ago, Terry Groom—I think in an article in InDaily in 2016—revealed that at the time of the discussion around electoral reform he warned Liberal members that the so-called fairness clause they were pushing would not work.

Terry Groom recounted that if his warning had been heeded several subsequent elections since those reforms may have been won by the Liberal Party and that they were the authors of their own predicament. I think, as the Treasurer has outlined, Terry did not pull any punches and played politics hard but fair.

Terry came back to the Labor fold in the mid-2000s and continued to support campaigns in the east. I know, as the Treasurer has outlined, that Terry Groom was heavily involved in many campaigns in the eastern suburbs and was very well respected by a generation of Labor figures for his knowledge and his campaigning abilities.

Terry's commitment to his community was legendary. He learned to speak the Italian language which, along with his work in the Italian community, made him much loved and very well regarded. In his first speech to parliament in 1977, he praised the Labor government's improvements in social welfare and looked to what needed to be done as a Labor agenda. Terry was a fierce supporter of small business, going on the record on things like defending the Adelaide Railway Station pie cart when he saw the new Casino begin to represent a threat to its operation.

After politics, Terry continued in the law and also served on the boards of such important bodies as the Motor Accident Commission, the Repatriation Hospital, the Environment Protection Authority, the Parole Board, Renewal SA and as a member of the Flinders University and Roseworthy Agricultural College councils. I wish to pass on my condolences and thoughts to Terry's partner, Kay, and his three children.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (14:41): I rise also to add my remarks in our tribute today to a Labor stalwart, Terry Groom. I am advised that in a statement on his passing the Hon. Grace Portolesi said that Terry loved the business of politics. That is true, as speakers before me have said; he did love parliament. He loved the cut and thrust of the game. He did not quite so much love the late-night sittings or the endless committee meetings, unless he had the numbers, but in reality the thing about politics that he really loved was mingling and mixing with people. It was the people he loved, and the people loved him back.

He got out into the community, dragging candidates and, I have to say, campaign managers such as myself, with him to the Gepps Cross markets very early on Sunday mornings and introducing them to the community. He took them around Norwood Parade coffee shops and introduced candidates and the campaign managers to the people there. He loved shaking hands and bumping shoulders and being out and mixing with the community.

He threatened to take me to many festas, and luckily I had many excuses to get out of most of them—but not all. As has been noted by speakers previous to me, his deep and lasting connection to the Italian community was well known. He did learn the language. There were a few encumbrances to him learning the language. One of his closest friends was Gracie Portolesi, whose dialect was Calabrian, which is not all that close to proper Italian. We had to continually remind Terry that his pronunciation needed to be corrected and not to hang out with Gracie quite so much and pick up that southern dialect.

In fact, I remember Gracie's mother saying at one stage that I spoke better Italian than Gracie did and Terry should be listening to me in terms of pronunciation. It is not true—Gracie speaks much better Italian than me—but perhaps my pronunciation was slightly better in those days. He did learn the language and he did go out and draw in, effectively, the Italian community, and they loved him for it.

He also had a love affair with his portfolio as primary industries minister and had a penchant for long drives in the country in the chauffeur-driven car, taking as many staffers with him as he possibly could. He took every opportunity to get out and about in the rural and regional communities, and that also endeared him to those communities. It did not translate quite so much in terms of the votes at election time, but he was always welcome.

Though his tenure as minister was cut short in 1993 by the election he still had a deep and abiding love for the party. The honourable leaders of the house have spoken about the fallout when he was no longer endorsed for the seat that he sought in the northern suburbs, and that hurt him—that hurt him quite a bit—but he did not carry that grudge for very long.

That grudge, I suspect, was largely held and directed towards the then State Secretary of the Labor Party, Terry Cameron, later the Hon. Terry Cameron. Terry held that one for quite a long time. He warned many of us about Terry Cameron, and of course we found out when Terry Cameron came into this place as a Labor member only to cuddle up with the Hon. Mr Lucas over there and vote with him on the privatisation of ETSA. We should have listened to Terry Groom in those days, but we did not.

He was not a card-carrying member for many years, but during that time he was officially out of the party he did have some special friends that he would help and mentor in the party. He picked his favourite candidates and he pushed them for preselection, and he backed them all the way with his advice and, occasionally, his money. He never really stopped being a Labor man at heart and it was not too long before he paid up his dues and became a card-carrying member once more.

I would like also to acknowledge the great support of his family—his wife, Kay, and his sons, who live in the USA at the moment, which is a difficult period for them, and his grandsons. This will be a great loss for them and one which will be very difficult to get over. Terry was a very loving family man. His family meant everything to him and they reciprocated in kind. I know the passing has been very hard for them and I would like to send my best wishes and, if I can, those of everybody in the chamber to them at this difficult time.

Terry lived a remarkable life. He will be greatly missed by his family, including, of course, his Labor family, and by those who worked very closely with him over the years at his law firm, Duncan, Groom and Hannan, those in his electorate offices—he had many loyal staff—those in his ministerial office and those of us who were dragged out to work with him in his unofficial office, the cafes of Norwood Parade. Vale, Terry Groom.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (14:46): I want to speak briefly about Terry Groom. Our paths crossed several times in my previous career as a journalist, and I always found Terry quite an honourable man—sincere and quite informative. I think we were often the beneficiaries of some good stories from Terry. The Italian community particularly loved Terry, especially in the eastern suburbs. He was a common sight at some of the bigger festivals, including the San Pellegrino festival, where he was always welcome.

He always took a strong interest in what was happening in the parliament. I think the last time I bumped into Terry was a couple of years ago during the land tax debate, or debacle as it turned out. Terry had attended a couple of the forums that were in the eastern suburbs and he made his feelings known—how he was opposed to it and thought it was something that was going to destroy the investments of many mum-and-dad investors. He encouraged us and also Labor, of course, to continue our fight.

He will be sorely missed in the Italian community because many of them often went to him for help and assistance, and Terry was the sort of bloke, from what many in Hartley have told me, who would never close the door and would always listen and try to give any assistance or advocacy where he could. So on behalf of SA-Best, the sincerest condolences to Terry and his family and to the Labor family.

The PRESIDENT (14:48): I wish to make a few remarks to add to the motion. While I did not know Mr Terry Groom that well I did take, as an active farmer and a representative of various groups within the stud sheep sector in South Australia, note of his period as the Minister for Primary Industries. He also had served in this parliament with my father, and I think when he became Minister for Primary Industries he was given some considerable advice by my father about how to handle primary industries. I am not sure how much of it he took, but he no doubt listened to it.

Also, having lived just north of the Gawler River, I was not very far from the Napier electorate and when Terry Groom stood as an Independent Labor candidate in that seat he ran a very active campaign. Other members have talked about his connection to the Italian community and I think he flourished in his connections with that community in Angle Vale and other areas that, at that stage, were in the seat of Napier.

I well remember the last shift I did one night handing out how-to-vote cards in the 1993 election. I used to spend most of my time handing out how-to-vote cards in seats that the Liberal Party was not going to win but hopefully getting those important votes in the upper house. My last shift that day was at the Angle Vale Primary School booth and I remember Terry being there right at the end, still within the realms of the state electoral laws, encouraging the good people to vote for Terry Groom. I pass on my condolences to the Groom family and their friends and acquaintances. 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 14:51 to 15:05.

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