Tuesday, 2 August 2022

Members statements

Steve Gibbons

Ms ALLAN (Bendigo East—Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Commonwealth Games Delivery) (12:59): I rise today to pay tribute to the life of Steve Gibbons. Steve lived his life true to his strong labour movement values, firstly as a unionist and then as the federal member for Bendigo from 1998 until his retirement in 2013. Steve was a fighter for working people. Indeed Steve’s 1998 campaign slogan ‘Fighting for Bendigo’ epitomised his approach to his role as Bendigo’s representative in Canberra. Steve did not only take up the fight, he won many battles that saved local jobs. He fought for the printing industry in Maryborough and the retention of Telstra jobs in Bendigo and convinced the then Liberal government to keep the Fortuna defence mapping facility in Bendigo. In particular Steve was a champion for ADI, now Thales, and this included the Bushmaster vehicle. Today a legacy of Steve’s work is the deployment of Bushmasters to Ukraine at the direct request of the Ukrainian President.

Physical reminders of Steve’s legacy are from the time he fought for and won the duplication of the Calder Highway to Bendigo—an epic battle that saw Steve run a relentless campaign against the Liberal government, another one he won for Bendigo, and we have now have a modern, safe duplicated highway between Bendigo and Melbourne—and our magnificent Ulumbarra Theatre, which simply could not have been built without the substantial funding Steve secured from the then Gillard government.

My deepest sympathy to Steve’s wife, Diane, and the wider Gibbons family at this sad time. Vale, Steve Gibbons—a true Labor fighter for Bendigo.