Death of the Honourable Patrick Darcy Hills, A.O., A Former Minister of the Crown

Mr COLLINS (Willoughby - Attorney General, Minister for Consumer Affairs and Minister for Arts), [4.22]: I move:

(1) That this House desires to place on record its sense of the loss this State has sustained by the death of the Honourable Patrick Darcy Hills, a former Deputy Premier and Minister of the Crown.

(2) That this House extends to Mrs Hills and family the deep sympathy of the members of the Legislative Assembly in the loss sustained.

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It is with great regret that I move this motion of condolence in respect of the late Pat Hills, and offer on behalf of the House my deepest sympathies to his wife, Stella - who is present in the gallery - his daughters, Carol, Maria and Margaret, and his sons, Michael and Paul. I also pass on to Mrs Hills and her family the personal apology of the Premier who was unable to be here at this time this afternoon to move this motion himself. The passing of a former member who served in this House for such a long time as 34 years and held so many high offices in our State, including 18 years as a Minister under five different Premiers, is a sad event indeed. Pat Hills began his working life with General Motors Holden and then went on to establish his own engineering company. However, his instincts and interests led him quickly towards public life. Indeed, Pat Hills' long and impressive public career is testimony to what I think could be described as two of his greatest passions, politics and the State of New South Wales.

His passionate and lifelong love of politics was shown by his joining the Australian Labor Party at the age of 15; being active in the Amalgamated Engineering Union at a young age; being elected as an alderman on Sydney City Council at the age of 30; and then becoming Sydney's youngest ever Lord Mayor at the age of 34. An impressive record indeed, even before he began his long career in this House in 1954. His passionate love for Sydney and New South Wales was shown by his long resistance of any opportunity to move to Federal politics, preferring instead to remain in this Parliament and serve the people of this State. It was also shown by the great energy and vigour he brought to every portfolio he undertook, beginning with Assistant Minister to the Premier in 1959; then as Minister for Local Government and Highways from 1959 to 1965 and Deputy Premier in 1964 and 1965; and then as Minister for Industrial Relations, Mines and Energy in the Wran and Unsworth governments. He also, of course, had the honour of leading the Australian Labor Party while they were in Opposition in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He lost his leadership by the narrowest margin possible, a tied vote and then a countback in 1973, when Neville Wran became leader.

There are many achievements and events in Pat Hills' long career in public life which we, as current members of this House, should be mindful of at this time. To mention just a few: he was the State's longest serving Minister for Industrial Relations; as Lord Mayor of Sydney he played a key role in persuading the government of the time to set aside Bennelong Point to enable the Sydney Opera House to be built; and also as Lord Mayor he welcomed the Queen to Sydney on her first visit to Australia, the first visit by a reigning monarch. In thinking about these things, as we honour the man Pat Hills, we also recall and revive some key themes and events in our State's rich history. Apart from his passion for politics, Pat Hills was a man with wide interests and if he did not choose the right side of politics to join, he certainly chose the right football team to support. His love of sport and the South Sydney Leagues Club - a club which the Premier strongly supports - was another feature of his life, and as Chairman of the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust he oversaw the development of the Sydney Football Stadium. In a personal sense, one of the greatest tributes which I, on behalf of the Premier, as someone from the other side of politics can pay to an old adversary is that he certainly inspired great affection and loyalty from his colleagues and this is indeed indicative of his quality and integrity as both a politician and a man. Today we honour those qualities as we remember Pat Hills and offer our sympathy to his family.

Mr CARR (Maroubra - Leader of the Opposition) [4.28]: I join with the Attorney General, Minister for Consumer Affairs and Minister for Arts in tribute to our late colleague, our former leader Patrick Darcy Hills. There have been, in our time, few members of this House who so completely embodied the special qualities of the party he
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led, the city of which he was first citizen, the faith in which he lived and died, and the State and nation he loved, grew up in and was part of. These were the influences which formed him, but equally on Labor, on Sydney and on New South Wales, he has left his own distinctive mark and lasting influence. By any measure, his ministerial record was remarkable - a total of 18 years under Premiers Cahill, Heffron, Renshaw, Wran and Unsworth - a record length of service unsurpassed in the history of this Parliament. His portfolios included local government and highways, mines and energy, technology and industrial relations. The range and number of bills of the Parliament and laws of this State which stand in his name tell their own story of diligence and dedication. Together they represent large new chapters in the history of local government, the power industry and industrial relations in New South Wales. His legislative monument remains his workers' compensation Acts, which provided the framework for a scheme that has become a model for the rest of Australia and beyond.

I turn now to the achievements of our late friend. He spent 50 years in public life in some very hard arenas without once being tainted by corruption or a whiff of scandal. In that time it is well established that he cleaned up the administration of the Town Hall, whose administration he inherited. As the Attorney General said, he was the youngest ever Lord Mayor. The Attorney General said also that he was the nation's longest serving industrial relations Minister. In that post he was a conciliator, settling disputes, steering the way towards solutions to the conflicts between the two sides of industrial relations. He modernised the local government system, the power industry, the city council, superannuation schemes, shopping hours, industrial training and apprenticeships. As Terry Sheahan said in the remarkable tribute he delivered in St Marys Cathedral this week, he revamped the whole of the workers' compensation system because he would not accept that it was merely a way of paying injured workers some money. He saw and used it as a vehicle with great potential to reduce injury and disease, and, when injury and disease occurred, to focus on the positives: the rehabilitation of the victims, a system free of neglect, and the establishment of an environment that encourages safety and accident prevention. Terry Sheahan said, "He was one of Labor's finest sons, a great reformer, still hard at work at the very end, not wanting publicity or praise, just results". We endorse every word of Terry Sheahan's tribute.

The remarkable fact is that only one other Opposition Labor leader this century, and since 1893, Ernest Durack, in 1916 failed to achieve the premiership. Lest this be seen as a dimunition of Pat Hills' contribution, I wish to detail his remarkable electoral performance in the toughest of circumstances when Labor in this State was at its most vulnerable because of circumstances beyond its control. In the first election in which Pat Hills led our party, which was in 1971, the Australian Labor Party scored 51 per cent of the two-party preferred vote. The ALP won 45 seats. It won back all the ground the party had lost in the 1968 State elections, which was the one and only Askin landslide. The 1971 result was superb; it represented a great gain by the Labor Party led by Pat Hills. If there had been an Askin redistribution on the eve of the election and fair electoral boundaries, Pat Hills would have been delivered the premiership.

I, as Leader of the Opposition, pay tribute to him for his performance in what must have been the loneliest campaign - the 1973 campaign. At that time Federal Labor was most unpopular. It was in the middle of the stress and controversy of the Whitlam Government. The party gave Pat little support in that campaign. I was present at the campaign opening at the Randwick Town Hall in the seat of Coogee. The party's campaign budget that year was less than $200,000. I remember Stella and the family and others rallied to give Pat support. It was a tough climate for the Labor Party. To refresh
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my memory of that campaign I got out some of the newspaper clippings. It will not surprise honourable members that the Sydney Morning Herald did not support Pat in his bid to be Premier. In fact, in 100 years the Sydney Morning Herald has never supported the Labor Party in any State election campaign. On the eve of the election the editorial said that Labor had made little impact and that Sir Robert Askin, that impressive figure, had run a flawless campaign. It said also that the Askin Government had done much of which the community could be proud. It was the usual pre-election Sydney Morning Herald editorial. A feature article on the same page said:

The real aim of the New South Wales Liberals in tomorrow's State election is not just to win but to win by a margin which will give the vote unmistakable national significance. They are set to deliver a numbing defeat to both State and Federal Labor.

How did Pat Hills' react? He did not give up the ghost. He went out and fought a gutsy Labor campaign which resulted in Labor obtaining 48.5 per cent of the vote. As the honourable member for Charlestown reminded me yesterday, Pat Hills held the line with 44 seats in addition to the seat of Coogee. After a Court of Disputed Returns decision Labor's Mike Cleary got home for a modest but decisive victory. That was a creditable result in the circumstances that applied in 1973. Pat Hills, the Labor hero held the line in the worst possible circumstances.

In the formative years of the Labor Party in New South Wales one hundred years ago, its foundational parliamentary leader, James McGowen, the member for Redfern - which was to be included in Pat Hills' seat of Elizabeth - sought to define for his followers the nature of Labor representation in this Parliament. The infant Labor Party was experiencing troubles and was being torn apart on the tariff issue - free trade or protection. In a fighting speech in 1894 delivered from this very place - on this side of the Chamber - McGowen said, "I was not elected as a free trader or a protectionist. I was elected as a Labor man". Pat Hills was a Labor man. He was Labor through and through. He could not conceive of a public life except as a member of the Australian Labor Party. He joined the party in 1934, the moment he became eligible to join. That was another agonising period for the Labor Party, then reeling under the Lang disruption. Some 20 years later Pat Hills, as Lord Mayor of Sydney, was one of the key figures around Premier Joe Cahill, who was instrumental in containing in New South Wales the great split which was devastating the Labor Party around Australia. That was a time when the Labor Party demonstrated, as it has so often done, its fundamental strength and resilience.

Pat Hills' career spans a great deal of Labor history and the history of this State. It is a matter of history that the Labor Party ultimately won through, largely because of Pat Hills' success in holding the ground for the party in that most difficult of elections in 1973. That was the basis on which Neville Wran was able to get over the line in 1976. Pat Hills went on to be one of a select band of Ministers who served throughout the full 12 years of that great Labor Government. It is interesting to reflect on the relationship that Pat Hills had with Neville Wran, who challenged him for the leadership. I am told that at a State electorate council meeting in Elizabeth in the late 1980s Pat Hills said, with characteristic generosity of spirit, to his members: "I may not have won you an election in 1976. You have got to give Neville Wran credit for that". Neville Wran for his part at all the functions he addressed marking the tenth anniversary of that Labor Government, and a little while later on his retirement as Premier, said that he could not have a better working relationship with any Minister than he had with Pat Hills. I cannot recall how many times he said that but some of my colleagues will recall him saying it.

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There was in the man we pay tribute to today not a trace of bitterness or vindictiveness. We recall him as a cheerful, positive and friendly man. He was married for 50 years to Stella. On one occasion she said in my hearing, "I am married to the nicest man in the world". We knew that Pat would leave Parliament House to go home to Centennial Park to have lunch with his wife. They were very close, the best of friends and beautifully matched. Let us say, with Wordsworth, of this man, "This is the happy warrior; this is he that every man in arms should wish to be". It is with great pride that I associate my party, his party with this tribute to a great servant of this House, this city, this State and this nation.

Mr ARMSTRONG (Lachlan - Minister for Agriculture and Rural Affairs) [4.40]: In speaking to this condolence motion, I represent the Deputy Premier, who is also the leader of the National Party. I wish to apologise on behalf of the Deputy Premier for his not being able to speak to this motion. He has an urgent appointment. At the time of his retirement from the New South Wales Parliament the late Patrick Darcy Hills was the longest serving member of this House. He held the seat of Phillip, which became the seat of Elizabeth, from 1954 until his retirement in March 1988. Pat Hills gave long and distinguished service to the Parliament and to his party, having been a member of the Australian Labor Party from 1934. He also gave dedicated service to the community, having been elected in 1952 as Sydney's youngest Lord Mayor. As such he hosted the first visit to Sydney by Her Majesty the Queen in 1954. During his parliamentary career Pat Hills occupied no fewer than 11 portfolios, including being Deputy Premier and Minister assisting the Premier and Treasurer. When Labor lost office in 1965 Pat Hills was Deputy Premier and later became Leader of the Opposition for five of the 11 years Labor stayed in Opposition. Members might find it interesting that Pat Hills maintained that Premier Neville Wran should never have stepped down for the Street royal commission. He was quoted as saying:

I suppose because of the fact that he is a lawyer and is so close to the law, he felt that the law would ensure that his name was unblemished but frankly I wouldn't have done it. I think that the forum of the Parliament is the place for things to be debated quite openly and clearly and after all, in my view, it is the supreme body in New South Wales. That's the difference between a lawyer's approach and a toolmaker's approach.

Pat Hills was of the old school of the Labor Party. He was a wily politician, a good numbers man and politically tough and forthright. He was the sort of man you would want on your side. He earned the respect of his colleagues and his political opponents. His middle name of "Darcy" came from the surname of the famous Les Darcy, who sometimes sparred with Pat's father. Pat Hills used to hang a picture of Les Darcy, a famous Australian boxer, on his ministerial wall. In a varied political career his proudest achievement was taking the decision on his own to build the Eraring and Bayswater power stations. He remarked at the time that the power stations re-established New South Wales as an industrial State and ensured that we had adequate power.

I wish to add a few of my own comments to those I made on behalf of the Deputy Premier. When I came to this place in 1981 Patrick Darcy Hills was one of the Ministers of the Wran Government who were right at the height of their careers. Patrick Darcy Hills was a warm man, a man who always had a kind word, a man who in this Chamber would carve you into small pieces if he possibly could but once behind those bars he was just an ordinary person. He was a man who was quite generous in his praise, particularly to younger and newer members. I knew Pat Hills when he was mayor of this city. In that position he gave great lustre and dignity to this city. So I share the sense of loss of all within this Parliament in the passing of Patrick Darcy Hills. Everybody who knew him can be proud of that fact. One of the greatest things in life
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would be to leave this Parliament in a better fashion than when first elected, and Patrick Darcy Hills certainly did that. On behalf of my colleagues in the National Party, and the Deputy Premier, I extend our deepest sympathy to his wife, Stella and daughters Carol, Maria and Margaret, and sons Michael and Paul.

Ms NORI (Port Jackson) [4.45]: I would like to endorse the comments made by honourable members, I offer my condolences to Pat's wife, Stella, their children and grandchildren and other members of their family. I pay tribute to both Pat and Stella for their contribution to the public life of this city and this State for over four decades. I cannot say I was a close friend of Pat Hills - I was not part of his generation and I did not grow up in Surry Hills - and I cannot say that I was a close political colleague in this Parliament because our time did not overlap. However, I had known and worked for Pat as a branch member and had admired him for some 13 years prior to his retirement from this Parliament. I first met Pat in 1975 when I was in my early twenties. I had transferred into the Darlington branch, which was in his electorate, and became involved in the State Electorate Council, which was called Phillip. I also had a minor position on the State Electoral Council. In later years I was secretary of the Elizabeth State Electorate Council. I am happy to say that I also worked on a number of election campaigns when Pat was the member for Phillip and then Elizabeth.

What I admired most about Pat was his patience. I speak as a rank and file branch member because it was as a rank-and-file member that I associated with Pat. I have never known anyone to be as patient and as phlegmatic as Pat. You never quite knew what he was thinking, but that was okay. In his time in public life Pat presided over many demographic changes in the inner city. This was reflected, of course, in the Australian Labor Party branches. I cannot help but smile when I think back to a State Electorate Council meeting at the Redfern Town Hall, in that little room "with the honour of" with brass trimmings. A room where about 1,000 Australian Labor Party meetings must have taken place in the last 50 or 60 years, and Pat Hills had certainly been there for his fair share of them. The reason I say I smile is that I can still see Pat Hills sitting there, I still picture him sitting patiently, waiting, listening - and if it was winter he would have a jumper on underneath his suit - while we young turks, or radicals, argued, attacked, and debated. We were always so very sure of the correctness of our position, and thinking back today even I have to admit that I cringe now at some of the things that we did that Pat had to sit their and endure. However, he was never hostile and he never lost his cool.

I remember a funny meeting at the Darlington branch - I will not mention names or details - when someone was having a bit of a go at Pat. They said, "Well, you know, if this keeps happening, there'll be trouble with your preselection". Pat just said, "I have just won a preselection 600 to 35; that's not too bad" - and it was not either. Of course a preselection challenge would never have been successful against Pat. I have to point out that Pat always supported the State Electorate Council when we supported rank-and-file preselection. Pat had always survived and co-existed quite happily in a mixed factional context in his branch - some of his stronger supporters were lefties from the left-wing Surry Hills branch - and that is not an easy accomplishment. I cannot think of any other politician at that time in that area who was able to do so. We would attend the Federal Electorate Council meetings in the same room at Redfern, cover largely the same territory, and there would be nothing but brawl after brawl after brawl. The next month we would attend the State Electorate Council meeting - with much the same people - and everything would be happy and okay. We would talk about fund raising and be very positive about what we were doing. I think it is a real tribute to Pat that we could do that.

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Another reason I admired Pat was because he was part of and represented those wonderful, traditional, working-class inner city communities. He represented some of the most underprivileged areas in New South Wales: Redfern, Woolloomooloo, Millers Point, Glebe and Surry Hills. Those areas were characterised by poor housing, overcrowding, unemployment and sheer poverty. But he was imbued with the noble spirit and altruism that pervaded those communities. One still sees remnants of that spirit in Glebe and in Millers Point, because those communities have remained intact. I do not glorify the poverty of those communities. There is nothing noble or glorious about poverty but they did have a spirit that we do not see too often today. They were real urban villages - parochial and proud of their precinct. If a woman became a widow and needed someone to look after her kids so she could go out and scrub floors, the neighbours would pitch in. Thankfully, today we have child care. If people were sick, a neighbour would pop in and make sure they had a meal. Thankfully today we have Meals on Wheels, which is something that Pat introduced and we should be eternally grateful for that great initiative. If people were unemployed, the neighbours chipped in, and that is the kind of community that Pat was born into. Some time in late 1987 or early 1988, I chatted to Pat about what Surry Hills was like in the old days. There is no doubt that Pat was a real Surry Hills boy and was very emotionally attached to Surry Hills. The task of Pat, as the representative of those communities, was to ensure proper housing, employment and health facilities. Throughout his long career, Pat strove to ensure that his constituents received the improvements that they so desperately needed.

On a personal level, Pat and I were about as different as you could get, but that was okay. We always got on. He was always kind and helpful to me and anxious to assist. Once I was preselected, Pat was very supportive of my candidature. I was very grateful for his support because, for Pat, loyalty to the Australian Labor Party came first, second and third. I would have to be kidding myself if I did not acknowledge that if Pat had decided to play a role perhaps I would not be here today. There are many stories and anecdotes that I could recount about Pat and the inner city Australian Labor Party, but they are best kept for the confines and the camaraderie of the wonderful party that Pat loved and served so well. I know that Pat will be missed greatly by his wife and family, but I am also sure that they will take great comfort in the knowledge that Pat's legacy will be remembered by the many thousands of people who knew Pat and his achievements.

Mr FAHEY (Southern Highlands - Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Further Education, Training and Employment) [4.50]: I would like to join with all honourable members of this House in paying tribute and giving recognition to the late Pat Hills for his distinguished public life and his service to this Parliament and the community. I was at a Ministers of Labour Advisory Council Conference in Perth last week when the news was telephoned through to me that Pat Hills had died. I conveyed that news to the chairman of that conference, Senator Peter Cook, and then asked that the conference acknowledge the eleven and a half years of service that Pat Hills had given to it and that he had contributed significantly to the workplace and industrial relations in a long and distinguished career. That recognition and condolence message might be conveyed to his wife, Stella, and to his family. I can assure honourable members that there was some discussion at the luncheon that followed of the contribution that he had made. Deep regret and great respect was passed on in the course of that conversation. I have that respect for him.

I had the responsibility of being the Opposition spokesman for industrial relations and employment for about two years prior to 1988. During that time that poker face looked across at me from this side of the House and, I am sure, wondered about me
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often. I could not read his face or what his thoughts were, but at all times he was courteous and gave me every opportunity to obtain second reading speeches and assistance on the technicality of matters coming before this House. We may have disagreed on politics, but certainly the courtesies were there. I very much appreciated that because it was not always forthcoming to me in those days. In the past four years, my contact with Pat was through the sporting arena. His great love for the Sydney Cricket Ground and Sydney Football Stadium brought him back there on almost every occasion he had the opportunity to attend sporting events. That too was very much a part of what Pat's life was about.

I saw him last on the night of the semi-final of the cricket match between South Africa and England. I was sitting in a chair. He bent over - he was standing up - and he said hello. I immediately put my hand out and touched his knees because on the previous occasion that I saw him he indicated that he was about to go into hospital to have two knees replaced. He indicated that he would be playing a lot more golf and be a lot more active afterwards. I said, "Haven't you had the operation yet?" His answer was, "Yes, I have - three weeks ago". I said, "You should be sitting down". He said, "I feel terrific". To hear of his death within a few weeks was very sad. The step that he had taken to ensure that he was more active than ever before simply did not come to fruition in the course of the weeks that followed.

The tribute paid by the people of Sydney on all sides of politics and from all religions last Monday at St Mary's Cathedral was testimony to the esteem in which this man was held. The President of the New South Wales Labor Party, in most of his remarks on that occasion, spoke very eloquently about that contribution. I certainly cannot match that contribution, other than to say that I recognise the contribution that was made. Above everything else, in all that I have read and all that I have seen, I recognise the loyalty that that man had and the fact that he could have been depended upon when things were going right and when they were not going right for him personally. The question of loyalty has been the subject of some debate in the past day or so in this House. We can all look to the late Patrick Darcy Hills and take example from his life and his efforts throughout that life to see what loyalty really means - loyalty to his community, his party, his church and his family. His family, particularly Margaret, clearly demonstrated to me on a number of occasions that they simply worshipped the ground that he walked on and saw him as a shining light and a pivotal point in their existence. I simply say that I regret his passing; I recognise his contribution; and I express my sympathy to his widow and his children for the difficulties that they would undoubtedly be experiencing now and will experience for some time to come.

Mr WHELAN (Ashfield) [4.56]: I join with the Attorney General, Minister for Consumer Affairs and Minister for Arts, members opposite and my party leader, Mr Carr, on this motion of condolence on this very sad occasion. The Whelan family go back many years with the Hills family. I was talking to my wife before I came to the Chamber and she reminded me that when she was a young girl she, the Hills and the Mahoneys used to holiday at Port Macquarie. Port Macquarie became one of the places Pat took stock of where he was in State politics. The principal thing about Patrick Darcy Hills was that he always had his feet on the ground and he always knew where he was going. Pat supported me in the preselection ballot of 1972, in which I was unsuccessful. That did not stop his supporting me later in the preselection ballot of 1974, in which I was successful and which ultimately led to my winning the seat of Ashfield on 1st May, 1976. His wise counsel during that time was always invaluable, and no one would ever doubt Pat Hills' ability to count. He did that for me with consummate ease. In fact, he
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lent me one of his great supporters, who was known to the honourable member for Canterbury very well, the late Susie Sutherland, to assist me in my campaign and to ensure that I was able to defeat the evil foes who were opposed to me in that preselection ballot.

After I won that seat in Parliament, which I remind honourable members was an important seat, as was the seat of the honourable member for Blue Mountains in 1976, Pat and I kept in close contact even though he was a shadow minister at that time. He was instrumental in opening my campaign. As I have said, he was a wise counsellor. When I was first elected, I came into what was affectionately known as the old Pizza Hut. Pat was kind enough to organise that I would take his office, which was then a temporary office. One of the attributes of Pat Hills was that, whether he was a shadow minister or a Minister of the Crown and whether he was meeting the most important person or meeting someone who did place himself in high esteem, Pat, with his great presence, always treated fellow mankind as equals. He had a great presence in this Chamber. He was never ruffled as a Minister. It is a great lesson to all of us and, I regret to say, even to Ministers in the present Government that he never got ruffled. He knew how to handle every question, no matter how tricky it was. He always knew how to resolve a problem.

Pat Hills' knowledge of the standing orders was outstanding. There was not a standing order that he had not drawn up, amended or thought of. Askin, no slouch, had been in office for 11 years. Credit must also be given to Eric Willis, who also knew how to draft standing orders. That threesome - Eric Willis, Pat Hills and Bob Askin - were great combatants and knew everything about standing orders. Where the Attorney General, Minister for Consumer Affairs and Minister for Arts now sits is where Pat Hills sat as a Minister. Premier Wran sat nearby and almost every day would defer to Pat on technical standing order points to get out of predicaments that all governments seem to get into. I knew Pat both personally and in his performance in Parliament. I take this opportunity to convey my condolences and that of my family to the Hills family.

Mr LANGTON (Kogarah) [5.2]: I offer my sympathies also to Stella and the Hills family. Pat was first elected to the city council in 1948, the year I was born. The significance of that is that Pat and Stella and their family lived at that time in Fitzgerald Avenue in Maroubra, and directly adjacent, out the back in Donovan Avenue, was where my family lived. My mother and father and Pat and Stella in those days were very close. Pat and my father were particularly close in their jointly forming the Maroubra Junction branch of the Labor Party and also the local branch of the Amalgamated Engineering Union, now the Amalgamated Metal Workers Union. They were also very close at a family level. My mother has never forgotten the great support she received from Pat and Stella in very difficult times during their life in Maroubra, including the practical and physical support she received from Pat and Stella in 1945 when my elder brother died.

We left Maroubra in 1953 when I was five years old. It has been said that I left Maroubra at five because I heard that Bob Carr was going to run for local preselection. That is not true. It was a great honour to me about 30 years later to be elected to this place and to be able to work with Pat. I know it was a great source of pride for my parents as well that I had the opportunity to work with him. Pat was a great source of advice for me and for many other new members in this place, and his words always contained much wisdom. The advice Pat gave me has assisted me greatly. My mother appreciated deeply the support she received from Pat and Stella a couple of years ago when my father died. On behalf of my mother and my own family I extend to Stella and her family my sympathies and those of my family. We understand what they are going through.

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Mr ANDERSON (Liverpool) [5.4]: I wish to join with other speakers in contributing to this condolence motion. My greatest regret is that the tribute paid to Pat Hills by Terry Sheahan on Monday cannot be incorporated in Hansard. That tribute encapsulated, in every syllable, many of the thoughts of all honourable members and others who knew Pat. I have been thinking a lot about Pat since his death. I recall my first day in this Parliament in 1978. I had known Pat Hills since I was a young boy - and I do not mean only as a teenager - in the eastern suburbs. On my first day in this Parliament I walked out through the door of this Chamber and, as I had been taught to do and as I had always referred to him, I walked up to Pat Hills and said, "Excuse me, Mr Hills". He wheeled on me and said, "Don't you ever call me that again". I wondered what I had done wrong. He said, "Now that you are here and have gone through what was necessary to get here, we are all equals and you call me Pat". I thought that was significant, certainly in my understanding and appreciation of him. I had grown up in the eastern suburbs and with the Eastern Suburbs Labor Party. In my early teens my late father had held the seat adjoining Pat's. In that era there were many dominant figures within the Labor Party in that area, many of whom would not be widely known. Among those dominant figures were people like Eddie Ward and Pat Hills and so many others. It was an enthralling life experience for a young boy, having been associated with many party activities and later joining the party, to see someone like Pat Hills in operation at that level. As I got older and as my life changed it was enthralling to see him at work in this Parliament.

I want to make particular mention of the cricket ground. From about the time I was 10 my mother and father and I used to go to Sydney Cricket Ground to watch the match of the day irrespective of who was playing. That was the era when St George was dominant. We would see Pat at the cricket ground. Honourable members may remember what the cricket ground was like compared to the cricket ground of today and its wonderful public facilities. I also remember the sportsground and playing there and being aware of how dingy and dismal the players' facilities were under its wooden stand. Now Sydney has the Football Stadium. People often forget how much that is a tribute to Pat's efforts, made for no other reason than that sport and people who like sport ought to have first-class facilities. Pat deserves great credit for that achievement. South Sydney has been mentioned. I am not and never have been a South Sydney supporter. As a younger person I supported Easts. My mother, however, has been a Souths supporter since as a young girl she came down from Canowindra to Sydney to attend school. She had a great love, as did Pat, for Souths. People often forget, for it is so easy to forget, that when Souths was in a major financial crisis not so many years ago it was primarily Pat Hills and Michael Cleary, with the assistance of others, who saved the South Sydney club and enabled it to continue in the competition. I remember those sorts of things that Pat did and the reasons he did them. He did them not for personal aggrandisement but because they needed to be done, largely because rugby league was the working person's sport.

In the last four of my six and a half years as a Minister in the Wran and Unsworth governments, as indicated by the honourable member for Ashfield, Pat sat where the present Attorney General, Minister for Consumer Affairs and Minister for Arts is sitting. I sat on one side of Pat, and Ken Booth sat next to me. For those four years it was a lesson to me to watch men such as Pat and Ken in the Parliament carrying out their role as Ministers, members of Parliament and human beings. I share the sentiments expressed by the honourable member for Ashfield in watching Pat in operation. At that time a number of dominant speakers, none less than Neville Wran, were members of this Parliament. Pat's way of dealing with questions and interjections was unique to this Parliament. Other Ministers would attempt to yell over the top of an interjection. In the
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middle of a riot Pat would stop speaking and stand silent until the uproar had died down, and then continue with his answer. That probably had a greater effect on interjectors seeking to disrupt what Pat was saying than any other mechanism that could have been employed by a Minister at the time.

It was not just in the House but also in the Cabinet, and more particularly in the policy and priorities subcommittee of the Cabinet, where the eight senior Ministers met ostensibly to deal with major policy issues and major issues covering the Government at the time that I saw and came to understand his greatness as a politician and as a human being. Cabinet may be no place for the fainthearted - and I note that Terry Sheahan is in the gallery, nodding and smiling - but there one could see all Pat's political skills and his commitment in particular to the working people of this State. In any sort of brawl I would have preferred to have Pat on my side, particularly in that forum. People should reflect upon the contribution made in this Parliament by Pat Hills. He played a singular role in the provision of the tremendous resources at the Sydney Cricket Ground and the Sydney Football Stadium. More recent events were unnecessary and less than one might have expected in the latter part of this century. I am sure that members have some understanding of what I am trying to say. It would be remiss of me not to pass on in my remarks to Stella and the family the thoughts of my mother, whom they know so well, and the thoughts of my wife.

Mrs GRUSOVIN (Heffron) [5.12]: I join other members of this House in offering my sympathy to Stella and the Hills family on the loss of Patrick Darcy Hills, a man who served this House and the people of this State so well over so many years. He touched the lives of many of us here in various ways. It is fitting that the Hills family is sitting in the gallery in the company of the State President of the New South Wales Labor Party. Pat first and foremost was a Labor man. He was part of the whole history of the Australian Labor Party in this State, certainly in the majority of my lifetime. I think this is a time for reminiscing. At the wonderful Mass in which we participated to bid him farewell and to celebrate his life the celebrant reminded us that memories are far more vivid and important than photographs or other images. The memory of Pat will be with us always.

My earliest memories of him go back to when I was a very young child. I was in awe of a man called Pat Hills, as was my family. I remember waiting at numerous times in a parked car in Fitzgerald Avenue while my father was involved in Labor Party business and discussions with Pat Hills. I want to convey the sincere sympathy of not only the other members of my family but particularly the former member for Heffron. He thought very highly of Pat and has many memories of the way in which his life was touched by Pat. My family has always felt a great responsibility for the fact that Patrick Darcy Hills never served in the Federal Parliament. There was only one vote in it. My family was involved in the preselection ballot. I was very young and I might have been in bed on the night of that ballot. Pat Hills came back to my family's home and in the living room said to my mother and aunt that he thought he probably was not going anywhere in politics and that it was probably the end. My mother and aunt said: "Pat, you are a young man. You have so much potential. You will go on to do great things". They were feeling especially guilty at that stage. At that time women only made cups of tea; they did not have party membership. My mother and aunt had not been able to participate in the ballot.

I know that there are some myths around about my family's feelings for numbers. It is terribly important to ensure you have numbers in a ballot. My family learnt the hard way. It had many regrets that at that stage Pat did not enter the Federal
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Parliament. I think that loss went on to be New South Wales' gain. In many ways Pat has left behind a record of service and many monuments that will benefit the people of this State for a long time to come. Other memories I have of Pat Hills go back to 1962 when he picked me up in his car and took me with the late Hon. Edna Roper to participate in the filming of some of the earliest Labor campaign advertisements in the medium of television. He was always so polite, charming and courteous. He made one feel very important. I often sought his counsel after I entered this Parliament in 1978. I always valued his counsel, especially in the relatively short time I spent in Cabinet. On one occasion he paid me, I think, a supreme compliment: not long before the 1988 election he told me that I was a fast learner. I said to him, "If I am, it is only because I have had the best of teachers". Pat Hills was a true son of Labor, a superb politician and an outstanding citizen of this State. He was a wonderful husband and father and the patriarch of the Hills clan. He was exemplary in his witness of his faith. He was always these things, but finally, simply and probably most importantly, he was a good man, a good human being. May he rest in peace.

Mr FACE (Charlestown) [5.17]: I join with others in speaking to the condolence motion for the late Patrick Darcy Hills. I am the only Australian Labor Party member who served in this Chamber with Pat when he was Leader of the Opposition. You, Mr Speaker, are the only member of the Liberal Party-National Party coalition who served in that period. I say that simply to point out how things have changed in 20 years. There are not many members now who serve for more than 30 years, as did the late Bill Sheahan and Ken Booth. The volatility of the electorate has meant the passing of the era when members could serve for such lengthy periods. The fact that Pat Hills served in this Chamber for so long was to the benefit of this House and the State in general. There is no need for me this afternoon to go over the many things he achieved in his period of service. During the 1950s he played a major role in healing the wounds of the party split. Along with Joe Cahill and others he averted for a couple of decades the sorts of calamities that occurred in Victoria My father was supportive of Pat for this. He was a victim, having been unceremoniously tipped out of his union position. Newspaper tributes to Pat have not given him credit concerning the elections referred to by Opposition members. The by-election that resulted in my coming to this Parliament in 1972 was an instance of Pat's judgment proving to be true. It was one of the few times when Bob Askin lost his cool. He reacted in a way that caused considerable detriment to his party at the time.

Pat bluffed the then Premier into holding a by-election considerably earlier than he wanted. That by-election was a consequence of a considerable amount of turmoil in the Labor Party at the time of what became known within party ranks as the Shortland affair. The Liberal Party had a predetermined idea of saving McMahon by having a spill in the north, thus causing a problem for me and for the party generally, but Pat sought good advice and his judgment was correct. One of the rare strategy errors Askin made was the calling of the by-election, which cancelled the effect of the national campaign opening in New South Wales by the Country Party, as the National Party was known in those days. The calamities expected by the then government in Canberra did not eventuate. In fact I was elected without any problem. Billy Wentworth had commenced against him a defamation action as a result. Several other things occurred, but they are part of history.

As the Leader of the Opposition has said, the 1971 and 1973 elections were great times during which Pat rebuilt the party. Many of the people who entered Parliament in 1971 made the transition to government in 1976. Many of them became Ministers. Eric Bedford is one who is in the gallery today. It was a period of great rebuilding of the
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party and Pat did it successfully. It must be remembered that at that time there was a redistribution whenever there was an election. In 1971 Askin created what were known as the central and country areas and deprived Pat, based on statistics of the percentage vote, of becoming Premier of this State. Electorates in Newcastle such as Hamilton were abolished. Rural electorates were created to form the country into a central zone, which existed until the Labor Party came to office and brought some reality to the principle of one vote one value.

In 1973 Pat had everything stacked against him. A redistribution was introduced into this Parliament just before the Easter period. From memory the debate commenced at 9.27 a.m. and continued until after 1 a.m. the next morning. That redistribution was another brainchild of Sir Eric Willis and was slammed through this House by Ian Griffith, who was Chief Secretary at that time. Much has been said about the increase in numbers in this House. The Government at that time had no compunction in increasing the number of seats from 96 to 99. If the Government had not been successful in electorates such as Hornsby and won in the Nepean area, it would probably not have remained in office. Interest rates set by the Federal Government created a backlash against the Labor Party. Such was the intensity of that backlash that within 12 months of my election my majority was cut in half. That of course also resulted in a lack of support for Pat himself.

At that time Pat had turned in a result of 44 seats. Had the then Opposition been successful in the electorate of Coogee at that time, history may have been a little different in the sense that the ballot in the caucus room may have been different. Such things never deterred Pat. He went off to Port Macquarie, as he so often did, licked his wounds and started fighting again. I was probably more aware of that than most people because we occupied adjoining rooms in the old cottage. I spent a great deal of time with him during that period. He could certainly scent victory. He was not a shadow Minister but one would have thought he was. After 1974 he was never absent from the floor of the House and made many significant contributions in the period leading up to the 1976 election. His loyalty was never found wanting. On several occasions Neville said to me and others that if it had not been for Pat and the late Jack Renshaw, Labor probably would not have had the easy passage it did in those early days of government. Their understanding and knowledge of the workings of Treasury, the Executive Government and Cabinet were invaluable after Labor had been out of office for so long.

Pat was a fountain of knowledge and advice for many young members. He always took them under his wing. Many of us wanted to change the face of the world when we became members of Parliament, and over a period of time Pat was able to steady us down. Stella was always by his side. I remember well the tremendous contribution she and Billy Einfeld made to the creation of Focus. A considerable amount of money was raised for the disadvantaged and the less fortunate in the community. Pat Hills' maiden speech in 1954 related to housing, which was one of his great concerns. He foresaw the Sydney Harbour tunnel. What he said about roads at that time has all come true. It was a grand vision and he presided over most of it. Time does not permit me to say everything I would like to say. I pay a personal tribute to Pat from various people in the Hunter. He presided over the Hunter Valley Training Centre, which has trained 3,000 young people in the past 10 years. To head that, Pat appointed the Hon. Milton Morris, who was one of his foes in the Parliament. They were on different sides but Pat saw him as a person who was able to do a good job. Pat had a great ability to relate to people. I should like to place on record my appreciation of the contribution he made to this Parliament and to me personally. To Stella and his family, many of whom I have met over the years, I offer sincere condolences on behalf of myself, my wife and the people of the Hunter region.

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Mr CLOUGH (Bathurst) [5.26]: At the Requiem Mass at St Mary's Cathedral on Monday, I listened to the President of the New South Wales Labor Party deliver the best speech he has made during the many years he has been in public life. In his tribute to Pat Hills he emphasised the most important feature about Pat, that he was a caring, good and just man who never forgot his origins. He worked for the benefit of those who needed the assistance that could only come from people such as Pat Hills. I first met Pat about 26 years ago when I brought a person to see him and his wonderful deputy, Sid Einfeld. It was with great pleasure that I listened to Sid read the first lesson at the Requiem Mass at the cathedral on Monday. Sid may have looked feeble but his voice was as strong as ever and the intention was there. I brought someone to see Pat and Sid, little knowing that some years later I would join them in this House as a member of Parliament. I was in awe of Pat Hills. He was the ultimate person in the Australian Labor Party and I remained in awe of him until I had been a member of this House for some time. When I became a member of this House in 1976, having had Pat open my campaign in the unsuccessful 1973 election, I could not get over the fact that Pat Hills, after all that I had read and seen about him, was a very human person indeed. He was an easy man to relate to. When I was feeling a bit downhearted, as I was when I first became a member of this House, he would put his arm around my shoulder and say, "Come on, brother, things are not as bad as they seem". His love of the Sydney Cricket Ground was obvious even then. I had not been here five minutes before he had my signature on an application to become a member of the Sydney Cricket Ground, and I have been a member ever since.

Pat was one of the most remarkable people in the Labor Party, a person who certainly followed his preachings with practice. There is no doubt that he was a great man. My wife, Doreen, and I extend our deepest sympathy to his family. Doreen particularly asked me to refer to Stella, and I would like to do that because Stella Hills is a wonderful person. On one occasion I was making arrangements to attend a Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground and I was to be accompanied by a couple of mates. I could not get them into the Sydney Cricket Ground and wanted a couple of tickets. I rang Pat and he said, "Yes, call out at my home. Stella is there, she will give you a couple of tickets". I rang the bell and Stella came to the door. She had been preparing to go somewhere and had not finished dressing. She was in a slip, but so far as Stella was concerned there was nothing unusual about that. She is a down-to-earth person who gave Pat great support during his long years in public life. It has been a pleasure and an honour to have had anything to do with Pat Hills over the many years I knew him.

Mr NAGLE (Auburn) [5.29]: I join with the Attorney General, the Leader of the Opposition and speakers on both sides of the House to support this condolence motion. I met Pat Hills 30 years ago, when I was 15. He had known my father from the early 1950s. It is with great sadness that I stand before this Parliament and talk about my friend Pat. Thomas Fuller, a seventeenth century writer, said, "If you have one true friend, you have more than your share". I was blessed to know Pat - my true friend and Labor's true friend. I remember sitting with him and my father in a hotel in Bathurst after an infamous by-election, discussing Labor's defeat. Both my father, who had more than 50 years in the party, and Pat were the stuff that human drama is made of. If there is a Labor heaven, I assure the House that Pat Hills has joined my father there. He was the human spirit. A longstanding friend, Peter Cox, said, "Pat had an air of strength that showed he was very much in control of his life's direction. His positive attitude, determination and high expectation of himself always assured him of success in everything he undertook". Pervading everything was his incredible sense of humour. Peter Cox said it was infectious. To live in the hearts of those left to die, Mr Speaker, is not to die. Pat will live on in our hearts. My constituents, my family and I send our
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deepest sympathy to Stella and her family. Peter Cox has asked me, in this speech tonight, to extend his sympathy and that of his wife, Olive, and their family to Stella and her family. He wishes them all the best. He said that Pat will be sadly missed by all of us.

Members and officers of the House standing in their places,

Motion agreed to.