Legislative Assembly

11389 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Thursday 13 November 2008 __________ The Speaker (The Hon. George Richard Torbay) took the chair at 10.00 a.m. The Speaker read the Prayer and acknowledgement of country. HUMAN TISSUE AMENDMENT (CHILDREN IN CARE OF STATE) BILL 2008 THOROUGHBRED RACING FURTHER AMENDMENT BILL 2008 Message received from the Legislative Council returning the bills without amendment. PUBLIC HEALTH (TOBACCO) BILL 2008 Message received from the Legislative Council returning the bill with an amendment. Consideration of Legislative Council's amendment set down as an order of the day for a future day. BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE Notices of Motions General Business Notices of Motions (General Notices) given. DEATH OF RALPH JAMES CLOUGH, A FORMER MEMBER FOR BATHURST Mr RICHARD AMERY (Mount Druitt) [10.06 a.m.]: I move: That this House extends to Mrs Clough and family, the deep sympathy of members of the Legislative Assembly in the loss sustained by the death on 12 August 2008 of Ralph James Clough, a former member of the Legislative Assembly. These formal motions commence every condolence motion in this Parliament. This is the first time I have moved such a motion but, of course, I have spoken in support of them. Therefore, it is my pleasure and honour to move this motion for our old friend and mate and of course very good member of this Parliament, Mick Clough. Some time has elapsed since we heard the sad news that Mick had passed away in Perth, Western Australia, following a long illness. As many people did at that time and later at a memorial service in Lithgow, I too offer my deepest sympathies to Doreen, to his children Elizabeth, Peter and David, their partners and families, and to his many grandchildren, not to mention his extended family members and his friends whose lives were touched so much by Mick and who also, of course, were saddened by his passing. A few weeks ago I celebrated 25 years as a member in this Parliament. When I reflect on many of those years my friendship with Mick always rates at the top of the things I remember most fondly about this Parliament. In fact, Mick reminded me that the anniversary of my election to Parliament, 22 October, was also his birthday, although his birth year of 1927 gave him many more years on me. I first saw the name R. J. Clough during the 1976 State election campaign. I was only in the stages of joining the Labor Party at the time. Labor had lost the Federal election in 1975. Mick Clough was a candidate for one of the State seats that was deemed crucial for the election of a State Labor government. Mick had a strong political presence before standing as the candidate for the impending State election, although I was unaware of that presence. The Whitlam Government had lost office in 1975 and the Labor State Opposition under Neville Wran was gearing up for the 1976 State election. The seat of Blue Mountains, the seat considered crucial to Labor, was to be contested by Mick. He had contested it in the 1973 election, but the good citizens of the Blue Mountains did not have the sense to elect him on that occasion. After election day I kept track of the progressive 11390 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY 13 November 2008 count in the marginal seats in the Sydney Morning Herald and I remember the count of Mick Clough was one we were all watching, because it went up and down from day to day, to see whether we were going to form a government. I met Mick when my predecessor Tony Johnson, the then member for Mount Druitt and then Riverstone, introduced me to him in the confines of this Parliament, and I learned that Mick and Tony Johnson had a long and enduring friendship during their time in this Parliament. Members might recall that Mick was probably a bit uneasy about it but on one occasion he played a joke on Tony Johnson. They were very good friends and Mick always had a great sense of humour. Mick went into Tony's office and put on his desk a box on which he had written the word "bomb". Mick said it was put on Tony's desk inside his room, but someone had put it in the outside anteroom. Of course, all hell broke loose. Security was called in and the police and the media became involved. It was a bit of a light-hearted prank between two mates in this Parliament that somewhat backfired. There were editorials in the Daily Mirror and the Daily Telegraph calling for Mick's sacking. These days I suppose we would have set up some inquiry. Seeing the editorials calling for all sorts of things to happen to him, Mick told me later that he rang Neville Wran and said, "Premier, what do I do?" I think Neville said, "Get out of town and stay there." It was good advice: the incident blew over, as such things often do. When I was elected in 1983 Mick Clough was the first person who became a new friend in this place. I had been friends with many members of this Parliament before that—people such as Bob Christie, John Aquilina and so on—but it did not take long to become a friend of Mick. You could not help liking him and respecting him. In the space of one day he could be harsh and determined to get a point over and a little later be funny, sarcastic and friendly. I liked his sense of humour. I liked the way he made fun of himself and the way he laughed. As I mentioned at the memorial service, I would just laugh at his whole-of-body quiver when he laughed. Some people have a smile that radiates from their eyes or their face; Mick Clough had a whole-of-body laugh and it was such a pleasure to see. It was so nice—warm and fuzzy, I suppose—to be around a fellow such as Mick Clough. This place has changed since I was elected, but it has changed a lot more since the days when Mick Clough was first elected. Mick came in at a time when this Parliament was being renovated. The offices we now have were just being built to replace the old shed type buildings that fronted onto Hospital Road at the back of Parliament House. I would argue that by the time I got here this place was perhaps operating at its best. All the offices that we now take for granted had been built and the foyer and the paintwork in this place that we now see were still relatively new. The members bar area was always open, although Mick never partook of alcohol, not that I ever saw anyway. Members of all parties would meet and games of snooker would be played more often than they were in later years. In the area where the former members room now sits was an open lounge area where all members would go to have breakfast, and there were many discussions between members of all the parties and, of course, the occasional Independent, such as Bruce Duncan, who I think represented the seat of Lismore. Mick would be there, having his breakfast and holding court. If it was not a discussion on politics it was on sport and if it was a discussion on sport it was cricket, cricket and more cricket. He would talk about the current games, especially when the West Indies or England was playing Australia. I hope I do not offend anybody who is a cricket fan but I loved the banter with him and the humour that we shared with each other. He would mention that someone such as Viv Richards had just got 100 runs by hitting 70 balls. Although I was only ever a senior constable he would always call me "Chief Superintendent". One particular day he said to me, "Chief Superintendent, have you ever got 100 runs by hitting 70 balls?" I said, "I recall in a demonstration in the moratorium marches hitting about 70 balls and about 35 people got the runs, and they weren't too happy about it". I would ask him if Viv Richards was as good a sportsman as John McEnroe. You would have to know Mick Clough and you would have to have been there to appreciate him but he gave me this look that he used to give me. It would crack me up each time I saw it. He would follow up with one of his favourite put-downs when he wanted to tell somebody that he or she was a bit of a drone. He would look at you and he would say, "Why me? Why is it always me?" Of course, he would win the point. Mick Clough was one of the many Labor members who lost their seats at the 1988 elections. People such as Harold Mair, John Akister, and Terry Sheahan lost country seats. In the caucus meeting prior to the 13 November 2008 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY 11391 election Mick dressed down the Government and predicted the loss of seats because of policies on issues such as national parks and gun laws. He did not just say that we would lose seats; he named the seats and pointed to the members—and he included himself in that assessment, such was his knowledge of politics and, in particular, country politics. During that period when he was out of Parliament I became a shadow Minister.

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