HANSARD EXTRACT
| Adjournment:
Mr John Marsden |
| 25 May 2006 |
Mr HAYES
(Werriwa)
(4.38
p.m.)—I
rise this evening to acknowledge the contribution of one of my
constituents who made a difference to civil liberties, freedom from
discrimination and access to justice. This evening I would like to
recognise the contribution made by Mr John Marsden, who passed away
in Turkey last week. Passionate, persuasive, polarising, flamboyant
and controversial are all adjectives that have been used to describe
the character of John Marsden.
From humble beginnings in Lismore,
John’s list of achievements is considerable. In 1978 he became a
councillor of the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties and
later became their president. He was a member of the New South Wales
Anti-Discrimination Board, President of the Law Society of New South
Wales and was appointed to the Legal Aid Review Committee and later
the Justice Act Review Committee. He served as a director of Odyssey
House and as a member of the New South Wales Police Board.
However, not all his efforts were focused on such high level
positions. Locally,
John was known for his deep commitment to Campbelltown. In fact,
John always maintained that there were only two great cities in the
world—Rome and Campbelltown. Whenever someone tried to cast slurs on
Campbelltown, he fiercely railed against them and defended
Campbelltown. He was proud to be a resident of Campbelltown, and I
am sure that he would have been very disappointed at some recent
newspaper reports following his death suggesting that a man of his
wealth could have lived almost anywhere.
His commitment to improving the local area remained right to the
end. After hearing that
John had passed away last Thursday morning, I was not surprised to
open a letter later that day from John. It was dated just prior to
his leaving for Turkey, but showed that, despite his illness, he was
still thinking of how to make one of the two great cities even
better.
John’s letter was an invitation to me to meet with him on his return
to discuss some of the ideas he had about improving our local
area—in other words, improving Campbelltown. I further understand
that, just prior to that,
John
had also written to every Campbelltown councillor, regardless of
politics, in an effort to persuade them to take seriously the
protection of a particular heritage building.
His great love of Campbelltown naturally resulted in his involvement
in a great number of local groups.
John was involved in the Liverpool Apex Club, the Campbelltown
Swimming Club, the Campbelltown Arts Centre, Wests Leagues Club,
Campbelltown Main Street Committee and St Gregory’s College Art
Show—to name just a few. His love of art and the arts generally was
not only reflected in his involvement with the Arts Centre and local
arts shows but also characterised in his home. As one person
recently put to me, you could hardly put a pin between the artworks
that adorned the walls of John’s house.
There is no doubt that
John divided the community at large but, at the same time, his
passion for Campbelltown was reflected in the respect that
John
had within the Campbelltown community. As former Campbelltown MP
Michael Knight recently said, ‘Whether people loved him or hated him
it was impossible to ignore John Marsden.’
Whether you liked or disliked John, his legacy in advancing civil
liberties, social justice, equity in the law, the arts and, of
course, Campbelltown itself, would be very difficult to overlook. I
think I can say with some confidence that Campbelltown will not see
a resident or a supporter quite like
John
for some considerable time to come.
To his brother
Jim, to John’s immediate family and to the partners and staff of
Marsdens solicitors, I offer my condolences and, I am sure, the
condolences of many in this House.
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