Thursday, 15 August 2024

 Gabrielle WILLIAMS (Dandenong – Minister for Government Services, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Public and Active Transport) (09:56): As we have heard from other speakers, the wonderful Jude Perera was very proud of the fact that he was the first person born and educated on the Indian subcontinent to have been elected to any lower house of parliament anywhere in Australia, and he should be rightly proud of that, as we all were and remain of him. Jude had incredibly strong ideological foundations and was a very deep thinker. That may not have been well understood by all in this chamber, but for those of us who knew him well it was one of the most compelling parts of the man. His inaugural speech revealed great concern and knowledge about class structures that discriminated against the poor and working classes. It also revealed a great passion – first and foremost in the Sri Lankan context but his thinking was much broader than just that – for the fight to end colonial rule, something that defined his father’s politics and was clearly a great influence on Jude himself. As a staunch Australian republican, I can very much align myself with that and did speak many times to Jude about that. He also saw the opportunity in technologies. In his valedictory speech he spoke about the opportunities in AI, but he also spoke about and emphasised the role of government in mitigating some of the risks and the protection of workers. Jude was a family man. He loved his family deeply. To Ira, to Rangana, to Judy, you have our condolences. Vale, Jude Perera.