Comment
Please add our voice to the tributes and thanks
Brian Shakes
I want to add a few words to the many that have been written recently to mark the passing of Sir Rupert Hamer – a compassionate leader, thinker, businessman and man of action, man of ideas and man of his word.
But a man also who did not have the word ‘retirement’ in his vocabulary! He was an example for all of us of just how rich the years of the ‘third age’ can be when the mind and heart are open, when the health is good and the passion to contribute is strong.
I feel I can say these things with genuine knowledge, for Sir Rupert was a long-time life member of this Association. He believed firmly in the work we do on behalf of seniors Australia-wide and in particular in this State he loved, and was an advocate for us and our members in public as well as behind the scenes.
For that we are most grateful, and I would like to place our gratitude for his support on the public record.
At a time when we are all being urged by the Federal Government to work longer, be more self-sufficient and participate more actively as we age, we could do much worse than learn from how Sir Rupert’s lived his so-called retirement years.
While he was blessed with a supportive family, good health and a well-established public and media profile, his retirement from politics in 1981 freed him to take public stands on a wide variety of matters.
I suspect that with this freedom came an acceptance that he must use it wisely and with responsibility. Nonetheless, he did not shirk from advocating for issues that mattered to him, such as the environment, the right of individuals to freedom of conscience and decision-making, and for fairness and justice.
At times his stands angered those he had been aligned with politically, as was the case with his views of how the nation’s heroin problem should be tackled, and on the need for reform of the Victorian parliamentary system.
None-the-less, he upheld the truth as he saw it, and participated fully wherever he could see his services would make a difference to people’s quality of life.
All these attributes – and so many more – marked the life of Sir Rupert Hamer. Our community is diminished by his death, but we’ll all be the richer if each of us chooses to follow his example in even just one small way.
• Brian Shakes is chief executive officer of ARPA Over 50s Association.
Over 50s Association comment archive page
