Subjects: The death of Sir Donald Bradman
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LAWS:
Are you there, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, John, I am.
LAWS:
Thank you very much for giving us a little time. I know you've got a busy morning but we do appreciate it. I just wanted you to touch on the sad passing of Sir Donald Bradman.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it is a moment in the history of our country. No Australian has gathered greater respect, greater reverence and has had a greater impact on this country than Don Bradman. He was not only the greatest cricketer the world has seen, by the measurement of many the most skilled sportsman the world has seen. But more than that he gave Australians hope and confidence in a time of great despondency and despair during the years of the depression when his prowess on the cricket field injected new spirit into people who needed something to lift their lives. And the fact that it's now 52 years since he last played and we still talk of him in this extraordinary way is a measure of the impact he's had on the life of the country. I spoke to his son earlier this morning and expressed the sympathy of the entire nation to him and remarked what an incredible impact Don Bradman has had on the lives of so many Australians and the concept and the impression of Australia around the world. It's fair to say that the name 'Bradman' is the best known Australian name still on the Indian subcontinent and that's a measure. When Nelson Mandela saw Malcolm Fraser after he'd been released from captivity he asked almost as his first question whether Don Bradman was still alive. That's an indication of how the man touched everybody's life.
LAWS:
You saw him last week, didn't you Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, I saw him last Friday week and I'm so very glad that I did. I made a special trip to Adelaide to see him. And I took with me the Australian Sports Medal and I was so glad to see him. He was ill. He'd been ill for some months. He'd been receiving 24 hour nursing care and he had his son and grandchildren around him and all of that was of comfort. He'd had a long life, a very good life and his marriage to his wife, Jessie, lasted for 65 years and they lived in the same home in Adelaide for all that time. But he was a figure who has had a great influence on this country, more than probably any person I can think of.
LAWS:
When you saw him last week did you think it would be the last time you'd see him?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, I did. I did think it probably would be. I had seen him briefly before Christmas when he was in hospital and I felt that he may not last too much longer and I am so very grateful that I was able to see him not long before he died.
LAWS:
The Test against India starts tomorrow. I imagine it will start with a special feeling.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it will. It is a moment in the life of the country like perhaps none other because of the extraordinary influence that he's had. And the fact that he lived a very long life after he left the sport, he gave a lot back through administration and then he, of course, worked through the challenges of world series cricket, played a role in bringing about a healing of that rift and then just continued on as somebody occupying that very special and revered place. And it will certainly have an enormous impact on the cricketing world and there will be an opportunity because after a private funeral there will be a memorial service, a State memorial service almost certainly in Adelaide. That's a matter to be worked out between the family and the Australian Cricket Board. That's a matter for them. The Government will, of course, assist in any way which is sought and that will be an opportunity for the nation and the cricketing world to pay tribute to this man's remarkable life and the remarkable place he's had in the hearts and the feelings of the Australian people for so many generations.
LAWS:
Thank you very much, John Howard, for passing our condolences on to the family. I know the nation will be grateful that you were able to do that. And thank you now very much for your time.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thanks, John.
LAWS:
Good to talk to you, John.
PRIME MINISTER:
Bye, bye.
LAWS:
Bye. The Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard.
[Ends]