Parliament pays tribute to Gordon Bilney

30 Oct 2012, 3:17 pm   -   Source: AAP

Former Labor minister Gordon Bilney is remembered as a humorous bon vivant who left the nation a better place

Former Labor government minister Gordon Bilney has been remembered as a roly-poly politician of great humour and a bon vivant of some note who once voted Liberal in his own electorate.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Mr Bilney, who died at the weekend aged 73, was a brilliant man who placed his gifts at the service of Australia.

"He has earned the best accolade any of us can hope for. He left the nation a better place and we are saddened by his passing," she said after moving a motion of condolence in parliament.

A former dentist turned diplomat, Gordon Bilney served at posts around the world.

He was elected Labor member for Kingston in South Australia in 1983, subsequently serving as minister for defence science and personnel and minister for development co-operation and Pacific island affairs under the governments of Bob Hawke and Paul Keating.

As defence personnel minister, he lifted the longstanding ban on homosexuals in the ranks.

He lost his seat in the election in 1986 that swept Labor from power.

Ms Gillard said one of many tributes to Mr Bilney was from journalist Alan Ramsey, who described him as a "free and roly-poly spirit with considerable style and acerbic wit".

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said Mr Bilney was Australia's first ever dedicated minister for development and Pacific island affairs, a good precedent of the Keating government and one which might be followed in a future parliament.

"He was ... a man with a great sense of humour and was a bon vivant of some note," he said.

Mr Abbott said Mr Bilney was challenged in his seat of Kingston by Australian Democrats leader Janine Haynes at the 1993 election.

"Gordon was so desperate for the Democrats to come third in that contest and he was so worried about the Liberal vote that he voted Liberal," he said.

"Or at least so he told a journalist some years ago. Any Labor minister who votes Liberal is obviously a pretty good character."

Current Labor member for Kingston Amanda Rishworth recounted the story of Mr Bilney's ongoing correspondence with some annoying letter writers after he departed politics.

He famously signed off: "One of the greatest privileges of private life is that I no longer need to be polite to nincompoops, bigots, curmudgeons or twerps."

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