Given the hour and the enormous amount of work that this council has worked its way through today in a most professional manner, I will try to keep my comments brief, but, to be fair, I would have liked to have had more time to expand on my relationship and the wonderful contribution of the Hon. Iain Evans to the people and the parliament of South Australia.
Many wonderful things have been said about the Hon. Iain Evans in both chambers to date,
and I would concur with all of those remarks. I am very grateful and it reminds me of the great
camaraderie that can exist between members of the opposition parties to the Liberal Party and the
respect that is paid to us all at different times. I will not touch on all of the achievements of the
Hon. Iain Evans in this place, but what I will do is relay to the chamber the fact that the Hon. David
Ridgway, the Hon. Rob Lucas and myself tonight attended a small function honouring the Hon. Iain
Evans at the Gallery (I think on Waymouth Street).
I have to say that, in particular, his family spoke in glowing terms of not only the Hon. Iain
Evans's contribution and what it meant to their family but the extraordinary contribution that Fiona
Evans made to political life by being the rock of the Evans family when the Hon. Iain Evans was
obviously off doing the things that he did. I was really touched and impressed by the speeches that
Iain's four children made. I have to say that you should take comfort that, as a member of parliament,
given that you do so many things, you and your beautiful partner Fiona have nurtured and parented
exceptional young people. The way they spoke was absolutely fantastic and pretty touching. It made
me a little bit emotional and I am sure it was the same with everybody else in the room.
At some point it was alluded to—one of the low points in my life as a member of parliament—when Senator Jeannie Ferris sadly had passed away. I know that Senator Jeannie Ferris had quite a bit of respect from Labor senators in the federal parliament and there was a very moving occasion in the federal parliament that a number of state members of parliament attended. It was at that time that a person challenged the Hon. Iain Evans and timed it beautifully, when a number of his friends and supporters were there paying their respects to Senator Jeannie Ferris. That person called on a challenge after the Hon. Iain Evans had been the leader for about 12 months, or maybe a bit less.
It was one of the low points of my political career because I thought it was the lowest act that
I could have imagined. It is one thing to use the democratic system, it is another thing to use a
weakness when people are paying their respects to somebody who deserved respect.
That person, of course, is now a minister in the Labor government: the Hon. (it hurts me to
say it) Martin Hamilton-Smith—the honourable. I can only reflect tonight when I listened to the pain
of that family, but I also really enjoyed the exceptional young people who have become Iain Evans'
family. I am proud to be called a friend of Iain Evans. I am proud to have always associated with him
and been a loyal person. I wish the Hon. Iain Evans, Fiona and their beautiful family every success
in the future, and tonight I am pleased to pay tribute to his exceptional service to the people of South
Australia.