On Thursday, 18 September 2025 I paid tribute to the Hon. Rod Welford.
You can read my full speech below, or in the official Parliamentary record of proceedings (Hansard) here, where you can also read more about his contributions to education, the environment and the arts in Queensland, as told by other Members of Parliament.
I rise to offer a few words in support of this motion and I do so this morning on behalf of myself and the countless members of the Queensland Greens who have reached out to me to ask that I offer our sympathies and condolences to his family. Unsurprisingly, Rod was very well known to countless members of the Greens in Queensland and the environment movement more broadly, given his quite extraordinary and longstanding work in environmental advocacy and reform. I will not single out or repeat any of the countless policy or portfolio achievements that others have referred to this morning, but I will note that, as a student of law and environmental science in the 2000s—long before I was particularly interested in politics—Rod’s work was clear in the work that all of us students in those topics did. His legacy in education is manifest physically in my electorate with the extraordinary institution that is the Academy for Science Mathematics and Technology. The achievements that we keep seeing year on year coming out of that place are testament to his foresight and the work that he did in that portfolio.
I did not personally have much to do with Rod, but I had the great pleasure of meeting him a few years back when I attended Creative Generation with my eldest daughter. I was not aware until just yesterday, as it has been repeated today, that that is part of his legacy in education. That crossover of education and arts is a wonderful lasting tribute to him. In that brief encounter Rod was so incredibly warm, so incredibly interested. All of the personal traits and values that others have spoken to were laid bare. It was wonderful to meet him, and I know that my daughter enjoyed meeting him that day. She reflected very fondly on it. I offer to Rod’s family, friends and loved ones—everyone who lost this extraordinary man too soon—my deepest sympathies and condolences.