Members statements
Donald ‘Pinkie’ Brown
Mr LEANE (Eastern Metropolitan—Minister for Commonwealth Games Legacy, Minister for Veterans) (12:28): I wish to recognise the service of Donald James Brown, otherwise known as Pinkie Brown by his friends in Broken Hill. Don is one of my constituents, a fierce advocate for the labour movement and Labor Party. He was born in 1934 and grew up in Broken Hill. Just before his 15th birthday he got a job at the local butchers and joined the union movement. Don then worked in a few jobs in Broken Hill as a butcher’s assistant, a plasterer and a mineworker. After the mine shut in Broken Hill he moved down to Melbourne and worked as a council worker at Dandenong council. Don got involved with the Municipal Employees Union and rose through the ranks to serve six years as the state president. In fact Don chaired the last meeting of the MEU before it was amalgamated with the Australian Services Union.
Don is now retired and living in the eastern suburbs, but even in retirement he is still a lifelong member of the union movement and an active, well-respected member of the local branch of the Labor Party. Pinkie has been a good person of the labour movement. He has devoted his entire life to improving wages and working conditions for workers around Australia. I am honoured to acknowledge his enormous contribution to the labour movement and the Labor Party in the house today. I also feel honoured that he is a good friend.