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LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Tuesday, 13 September

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LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Tuesday, 13 September LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Tuesday, 13 September 1994 ______ Mr Speaker (The Hon. Kevin Richard Rozzoli) took the chair at 2.15 p.m. Mr Speaker offered the Prayer. ELECTORAL DISTRICT OF PARRAMATTA Issue and return of Writ: Election of Gabrielle Mary Harrison Mr Speaker informed the House that he had issued a writ on 15 July 1994 for the election of a member to serve in the room of Andrew Charles Frederick Ziolkowski, and that the writ had been returned with a certificate endorsed by the Returning Officer of the election of Gabrielle Mary Harrison to serve as member for the electoral district of Parramatta. MEMBER SWORN Ms Harrison took and subscribed the oath of allegiance and signed the roll. DEATH OF NORMAN JOHN MANNIX, A FORMER MINISTER OF THE CROWN Mr FAHEY (Southern Highlands - Premier, and Minister for Economic Development) [2.17]: I move: (1) That this House desires to place on record its sense of the loss this State has sustained by the death of Norman John Mannix, a former Minister of the Crown. (2) That this House extends to Mrs Mannix and family the deep sympathy of the members of the Legislative Assembly in the loss sustained. It is with regret that I move this condolence motion to mark the passing of Jack Mannix, the former Labor member for Liverpool and Minister of Justice, and to offer the deepest sympathy of the House to his family. Norman John Mannix, later known as Jack Mannix, was born in Armidale in August 1920. Educated at St Marys boys school and De La Salle College in Armidale, Mr Mannix left school at the height of the Depression to become a brickies' labourer. His experience of poverty and hardship during the Depression years were later to influence his approach to public and ministerial service. In 1937 Jack Mannix began what was to become a lifelong career in public service. At the age of 17 years Mr Mannix joined the New South Wales public service as a junior clerk in the Department of Works and Local Government. Mr Mannix later learned shorthand from his wife, Patricia, earning himself a position as private secretary to the Minister for Local Government and Housing, Jim McGirr, who was later to become Premier. By 1951 Mr Mannix had risen through the ranks of the public service to become the chief clerk in the Housing Commission. In 1952 Mr Mannix succeeded Mr McGirr in his seat of Liverpool, a seat Mr Mannix held for the Labor Party until his retirement in 1971. During this time Mr Mannix resumed his studies, completing a law degree at the University of Sydney before being admitted to the New South Wales bar in 1955. Mr Mannix specialised in mining law and was appointed to the boards of a number of companies, including Abaleen Minerals. Jack Mannix was also a director of the Liverpool Cooperative Building Society and the Liverpool Hospital. In the Parliament Mr Mannix served as Minister of Justice from 1960 to 1965. During that period he introduced legislation to reform prisons, liquor laws, hire-purchase agreements and the Landlord and Tenant Act. Mr Mannix continued his public service even after his retirement from politics. Requests for administrative assistance from the Intellectually and Physically Handicapped Children's Association in 1972 led to a 20-year commitment. He used his administrative and political skills to secure funding for that association. His efforts were recognised last year when Liverpool's Bambi Nursing Home was renamed the Mannix Children's Centre. Jack Mannix is survived by his wife, Patricia, whom he married in 1942, and their five children. On behalf of the Government of New South Wales I express the condolence of the House, as well as my personal sympathy, to the family of Jack Mannix. Mr CARR (Maroubra - Leader of the Opposition) [2.20]: The Opposition joins the Premier in extending its condolences to the family of Norman John Mannix. The name Jack Mannix will be associated with that long period of Labor government in New South Wales from 1941 to 1965 because, while it is true that he only entered Parliament in May 1952, he was previously private secretary to Mr McGirr and was involved in public administration. As the Premier pointed out, Jack Mannix was born in Armidale. He came from a country family and his later success in politics confirms the links of the Labor Party of that era with important provincial centres in New South Wales - one of the strengths of the McKell, McGirr and Cahill governments. He was Minister of Justice from 1960 to 1965, when the Labor Government was defeated and was replaced by the Askin Government. He retired in January 1971. His name will always be linked with that long period of stable, successful and moderate Labor government - a Labor government that survived the cataclysmic party split of the mid-1950s. On behalf of the Opposition, I extend condolences to his family and record our indebtedness to him for the contribution he made to those long periods of successful Labor government, so important in the Labor tradition in this State. Page 2885 Mr ARMSTRONG (Lachlan - Deputy Premier, Minister for Public Works, and Minister for Ports) [2.22]: On behalf of the New South Wales National Party I join with the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition in expressing my sympathy to the family of the late Jack Mannix on the loss of their father and husband. Jack Mannix's record has been well articulated by both the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition. He was a man from the country; a self-made man. That was an era when members of Parliament, people who were in public office during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, tended to be self-made, self-educated people. We appreciate the dedication of Jack Mannix who, when he was 17 years old, worked for the Department of Housing and the Department of Public Works, put himself through a university education and, at the same time, persevered with public life. There was a commitment that is sometimes lacking in this day and age. Sometimes we take things for granted. It takes something like a condolence motion for the late Jack Mannix, when we look at the history of a man like that, for us to realise that commitment was very much a part of the ethos of the generation before ours. It has been said that in May 1960 Jack Mannix was Minister of Justice, a portfolio that was previously held by Mr Reg Downing. Coincidentally, today we are to have condolences for Mr Reg Downing. Jack Mannix not only served the public but, as the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition have said, upon his retirement from the Parliament he was so touched by the plight of children that a temporary position in the Intellectually and Physically Handicapped Children's Association became a 20-year period of unselfish dedication to those less fortunate than most. Again the message is that we should get out and do something and not sit back and bleat. The men and women of that era who served in the community did have an ethos. Those people who came up the hard way were prepared to give of themselves when the opportunity arose. Mr WHELAN (Ashfield) [2.25]: I support the Premier, the Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the National Party in this motion of condolence for Norman John Mannix, more affectionately known as Jack Mannix, who passed away recently. I was one of the hundreds of mourners who attended his funeral mass at Liverpool. Amongst the hundreds of mourners were many ordinary members of the public who came to pay tribute to a man who had helped many of them during their lives. Jack Mannix was the Labor member for Liverpool from 1952 to 1971. In 1942, when he was a public servant, the then Premier McGirr realised his talents and potential and appointed him as his private secretary. When McGirr became Premier, Mannix continued as his private secretary. So lasting was their relationship that Mannix succeeded McGirr in his seat in Parliament. Mannix, in his role as Minister of Justice, was particularly vigorous in his pursuit of the rights of prisoners and justice for all those in public housing - the latter probably due to his former Housing Commission status, as he was the chief clerk for the Housing Commission. McGirr and Mannix launched the State's first public housing program. Many thousands of new homes were built for people who were otherwise unable to afford a reasonable place in which to live. In researching what I have to say today I read through Mannix's maiden speech which was given in this Chamber on 19 August 1952. Not surprisingly, like most, he canvassed many issues of a local nature relating to the electorate of Liverpool - some might say a typical maiden speech. But his speech varied because he referred to the fact that his wife had given birth that very day to his fourth child, a son. It might also have been a first for a new member of this House to be presenting his important first speech while at the same time his wife was in hospital presenting him with a new son. As previous speakers have said, Jack Mannix had a lengthy and distinguished career in this House. His contribution to the people of New South Wales was not only restricted to his role as a member of Parliament and Minister. Upon leaving Parliament he became the Executive Director of the Intellectually and Physically Handicapped Children's Association.
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