Prolific writer and former Labor speechwriter Bob Ellis has died at his home in Sydney at the age of 73 after a battle with liver cancer.
A Seventh Day Adventist from Lismore in NSW, Mr Ellis wrote speeches for Labor leaders including Paul Keating and Kim Beazley. He was also a political commentator, author, screenwriter and playwright.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Mr Ellis "blessed Australia with more than four decades of brilliant phrases.
"Bob's writing moved people to tears and drove others to litigation. At every turn he confounded and delighted, he shocked and awed," Mr Shorten said in a statement on Sunday night.
"There was truly no such thing as a dispassionate Ellis piece. With Bob, it was always personal, it was always emotional, it was never dull."
Former South Australian Premier Mike Rann tweeted that Mr Ellis was "a great writer and film maker, political activist and the best of friends".
"He could write like an angel. At times outrageous and iconoclastic but also insightful, caring, poetic, sweet and melancholic. Naughty."
