Ms O’CONNOR (Clark – Leader of the Greens) – Mr Speaker, I rise on behalf of the Greens to pay honour to the life of Cliff Iles AM and to thank Ms White, the Leader of the Opposition, for those personal reflections; they certainly rounded out my impressions of a good man who lived a very long life of public service. Ninety-five years is a great innings.
One of the striking features of Cliff Iles’ long list of contributions and achievements is that he was a public schoolboy, born and bred in Sorell, a town he clearly loved very much and never really left.
He was a farmer, a Sorell Councillor and Mayor, an advocate for primary producers and a state Liberal MP who also had a great interest in politics and politicians from all sides of the political fence. He was a founding member of what is now the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a delegate to the International Labour Conference in Geneva over many years, a recipient of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee medal, which I understand made him very proud, a Member of the Order of Australia which is this nation’s highest honour, a gentleman and clearly a style icon in the township of Sorell.
In his lifetime, as a person who was born before the Second World War, he must have seen so many changes, not only to his own little community of Sorell but to this island and to the world. He clearly was never idle. I have not seen a curriculum vitae come before the House quite like Cliff Iles’ and it is a commitment to public service we could all emulate.
On behalf of the Greens, I thank Cliff Iles posthumously for all that he gave to his community and to Tasmania and pass on my sincere condolences to his large extended family.
