Death of Bernie Banton, AM

Mr MORRIS IEMMA (Lakemba—Premier, and Minister for Citizenship) [2.18 p.m.]: I place formally on the record of this House what we all know and what we all mourn this day: Bernie Banton is gone, killed by the disease, by the poison, against which he fought for so long. Bernie died during Asbestos Awareness Week, a fact that speaks most eloquently for itself. He died in the very week we were, and are, going to unveil a major expansion of the proposed Asbestos Diseases Research Institute, which I announced with Bernie last year. He died with the ink still drying on the deathbed settlement he fought so hard to make a thing of the past. On the positive side, if there could be said to be one, Bernie's final days saw him acknowledged in the first words of a new Prime Minister as the symbol of everything that is good and fair and decent about this country.

Today we add to Mr Rudd's tribute in the nation's oldest Parliament with our words of reflection and with our silent prayer and contemplation. We will pay further tribute through a State funeral which I had the sad privilege of extending to Bernie's widow, Karen, this morning. Some people think that we offer State funerals too easily. I note that Great Britain has given only one in the past century, and that was to Winston Churchill. We should love a country where State funerals are given to the Victor Changs, the Slim Dustys, the Peter Brocks and the Bernie Bantons. That says everything about them, and it says a fair bit about Australians too. Accolades are all very well. Bernie had become quite familiar with them over the past few years—familiar, but completely unaffected. As was so obvious when I met him recently to say goodbye, Bernie faced death with the same courage and determination that he faced the fight against James Hardie: without complaint and, knowing that he had only a little time left, still thinking of others, those who would be left behind—his wife, Karen, his family, and the other workers facing that terrible, miserable disease.

Bernie became the public face of a campaign for justice for all asbestos disease sufferers. It was his transparent courage, his obvious suffering and his imminent mortality that brought him the affection of so many and gave his campaign the moral firepower that alone could humble a corporate giant and right a gigantic wrong. Bernie was just 61 when he died this morning. He should still have been at work and he should have been able to look forward to a happy retirement with Karen, Adam, and the rest of his family. He should have been able to look forward to seeing his 11 grandchildren grow up. That has not happened. It simply remains for us to say goodbye, and to echo the words of Mr Rudd last Saturday night: Mate, you are not going to be forgotten in this place. He will not be forgotten by any of us.

Mr BARRY O'FARRELL (Ku-ring-gai—Leader of the Opposition) [2.23 p.m.]: I join with the Premier and all members of this House in formally acknowledging the death of Bernie Banton and extending condolences to his wife, Karen, and their family. I congratulate the State Government on offering Bernie's family a State funeral. It will be a fitting occasion for the State to join in commemorating a remarkable man—because he truly was a remarkable Australian. In the words of Henry Lawson, he was one of the simple heroes of common life. Bernie was someone who faced great adversity and, besides thinking of himself and his family, he extended enormous service to the wider community beyond.

Bernie Banton was always a joy to meet; he was someone who was always ready to lend support to worthwhile causes across the community. I used to see him regularly at the Trish Multiple Sclerosis Research Foundation annual dinner that I attend. He was due to be at the dinner this year; he paid for his ticket, but he could not be there because he was sick. I remember being in the dining room of this Parliament with him a few years ago when he came to this place to help raise money for the family of a parliamentary library worker who had committed suicide.

I acknowledge the support for Bernie Banton and his cause by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, a partnership that advanced the cause of workers and employers. I will never—and would never—deny the appropriate right of unions to act in the wider community interest and their right to be congratulated on that. The advance in this matter for workers is obvious; the message for employers should be equally obvious. We live in a nation where good employers, like good workers, vastly outweigh rogue ones. This case sent a very strong message about the unacceptability of those employers who refuse to support their workers or who seek to deny them their rights and entitlements.

Bernie Banton's life over the past six years has been an example of those who show courage and selflessness in the face of adversity. His story is well known. His battle for justice for himself and on behalf of others is rightly applauded. Of the 137 employees who worked in his section of James Hardie Industries fewer than a handful are still alive. Bernie Banton's story is an Australian story. It is another example of the spirit of mateship personified. It sums up all Henry Lawson wrote about mateship, it helps to define the Australian character, and I am pleased on behalf of all members of this place to extend condolences to his family and remind the House that it is because of that special spirit that he is owed a State funeral.

Members and officers of the House stood in their places.