Frank Wilkes is a leader worthy of celebration for his contribution to the modernisation of this place. He was the quiet lion of Labor who let his values and actions speak loudly. The few people in this Parliament who had the opportunity to meet him will know him as a man who served his state and his party at a time of generational change for the Australian Labor Party. Elected to Parliament in the 1950s and rising to Labor leader in the 1970s, he faced challenges of party identity no recent leader has had to confront. He was a man of a different generation but who kept up with the changing times, except of course that he refused to go quietly in relation to the disappearance of his beloved Fitzroy Football Club. He was a Northcote man, born and bred. Initially he went into his father’s furniture business, where he rose to the position of manager. He was also a member of the Furniture Trades Union.

Frank began his political career when he joined the Labor Party in 1948, and he served as a campaign manager for John Cain, Sr, in 1952 and again in 1955. He was elected as a Northcote city councillor in 1954, and he served for 24 years as a councillor. In a record many of us in this place would envy, he was elected unopposed for most of his time as a local member, as has been observed by number of other speakers in their eulogies of Frank. As members will be aware, being a councillor and an MP at the same time is something that is no longer possible. No doubt we all sit back in awe when considering the level of contribution and commitment to public life that must have been involved in taking on both roles.

When John Cain, Sr, died in 1957, Frank Wilkes stood in a hotly contested preselection for his seat with the former Premier’s son, John Cain, and 25 other candidates. Frank won and went on to hold the seat for 32 years. Frank was elected unopposed successively as Labor whip in 1959 and deputy leader in 1967, supporting Clyde Holding through a long period of difficult times for Labor.

After the 1976 election Frank was elected Leader of the Opposition and set out on the long road to rebuild the party’s electoral fortunes. He achieved a 5.2 per cent swing in the 1979 election, gaining 11 seats and providing the platform for the ALP’s win in the 1981 election. Among his many achievements Frank was the first Victorian MP to call for the legalisation of homosexuality and the first Victorian MP to introduce a private members bill to grant land rights to Victorian Aboriginals.

Political life in those days was very different. The 24-hour media cycle did not exist and the internet was still 20 years in the future. Frank had just three advisers and a two-room office to fit them into. His chief of staff was Race Mathews, and I understand that David White was also amongst his staff. Although written off by critics, having managed a 5.2 per cent swing and gained 11 seats in 1979 he put the party back into serious contention. With a new generation of candidates and a new sense of purpose, the party was invigorated and in a potential winning position at the next and successive elections. In the end the baton passed to John Cain, Jr, who led the party back to government in 1982 and into a decade of Labor reforms. Frank then served very successfully as the Minister for Local Government, the Minister for Housing, the Minister for Tourism and the Minister for Water Resources until his retirement in 1988 after a marathon 31 years in Parliament.

Perhaps a Treasurer ought not mention this — and I hope the current Minister for Housing, Disability and Ageing does not take offence — but when Frank was the Minister for Housing he was always highly resistant to Treasury attempting to evict housing commission tenants because of rental arrears. He grew up in the Depression, he served in the Second World War and he saw firsthand social problems which today’s members fortunately have not had to experience. Significantly, like many returning servicemen, he talked very little about his time in New Guinea.

Frank was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 1989 Queen’s Birthday honours for service to government, politics and the Victorian Parliament. One of his daughters, Helen Buckingham, followed in his footsteps by being elected a member of the Legislative Council representing Koonung Province from 2002 to 2006, and might I say she represented that province with distinction.

I offer his family sincere condolences. I am sure members from both sides of the house will join me in paying tribute to Frank and his excellent service to this Parliament — a man whose values spoke loud, a man whose contribution to public life was unquestioned and a man who history and circumstance did not favour with the ultimate prize of leadership of the state but whose efforts leave an enduring legacy for this state and for his party. Vale Frank Wilkes.