Pat Dodson is being hailed as a “giant” who made a “legendary” contribution to Indigenous rights after quietly slipping into retirement.
Mr Dodson officially resigned from the Federal Parliament on Friday, ending a seven-year stint as a Labor senator in Canberra.
The man dubbed the father of reconciliation announced his retirement in November, accepting he could no longer keep up his parliamentary duties while battling cancer.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Mr Dodson – who turns 76 on Monday – leaves politics with the love and appreciation of his Labor colleagues.
“It has been my great fortune to be able to count Senator Dodson as a colleague, and my enduring happiness to be able to count him as a friend,” Mr Albanese said.
“I have benefited time and time again from his wise counsel, and he has taught me so much over the years.
“Patrick is such a generous man.
“Through seven years as a Labor senator he has given Australia his wisdom, his courage, his insights and his fearless conviction.
“On behalf of the Labor family he gained when he became a Senator for Western Australia, I wish Pat nothing but the very best as he focuses on his own health.”
A Yawuru man from Broome, Mr Dodson rose to prominence heading up the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody before becoming the inaugural chair of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.
He was appointed to the Senate in 2016 and hand-picked by Mr Albanese to be his special envoy for reconciliation and the implementation of the Uluru Statement after Labor’s election win.
A cancer diagnosis sidelined from last year’s Voice to Parliament referendum, making just public appearance in the campaign’s final week to implore Australians to support the Yes cause.
In a statement, Reconciliation Australia said Mr Dodson had been a “giant in Australian public life”.
“His contribution to reconciliation and the struggle for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights is legendary,” the statement said.
WA Labor secretary Ellie Whiteaker said the party was proud to call Mr Dodson one of its own.
“Pat embodies the values that we hold most dear in the Labor Party – fairness, equality and responsible to those who are vulnerable,” she said.
“We wish Patrick a happy retirement and thank him for his remarkable legacy of reconciliation and service.”
Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy said one of Mr Dodson’s legacies was the reminder that reconciliation was still “unfinished business”’.
“This issue of moving forward between Black and White Australians is unfinished business,” she said.
“It’s business that belongs to all Australians and the (Voice to Parliament) referendum showed us that.”
Barrister Varun Ghosh has been selected as Mr Dodson’s replacement.