Labor powerbroker Graham Richardson dies aged 76

Graham “Richo” Richardson, the longtime former Labor senator, party powerbroker and media commentator, has died at 76.

After weeks of ill health with influenza and pneumonia, and years of struggle with cancer, the political titan died at 3.50am on Saturday, his family said.

The news was announced by 2GB Breakfast host Ben Fordham, who spoke with Richardson’s wife, Amanda, and son D’Arcy, early on Saturday.

Richardson served as a NSW senator in federal parliament between 1983 and 1994. He was, at the time, the youngest elected senator, aged 33 when he first arrived in parliament.

He was a cabinet minister under prime ministers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, variously as minister for social security, transport and communications, health and the environment.

After leaving politics he became a political commentator. He appeared on Channel Seven’s election night coverage for years, and since 2011 hosted Richo, an evening commentary program on Sky News. He also led Richo + Jones, a joint program with former broadcaster Alan Jones.

The outspoken Labor veteran had battled cancer for years but remained active in the media until as late as September this year. In 2016, he underwent a marathon 18-hour surgery to remove several organs, during which his heart stopped several times.

“I wasn’t sure if this was a vengeful God getting even with me for all the evil deeds that I’d done over the years,” Richardson remembered in an interview at the time.

‘Fiercely loyal’

Leading tributes on Saturday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the powerbroker knew he was not without his faults but he was “loyal without being overly sentimental”.

“He himself would say he wasn’t perfect. He was a larger-than-life character and he was someone who always lifted up the spirits of a room where he was,” Albanese told ABC Radio Sydney. “He was someone who was fiercely loyal to those people around him, and in return he inspired, I think, a great deal of affection.”

Albanese, who said he spoke to Richardson “now and then”, said the “Labor loyalist” was a “great lunch companion” and was supportive of Albanese’s leadership. “He was always worth returning the call.”

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the labour movement had “lost one of its giants”.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Richardson “dragged the entire landscape with him when he moved”, with a lasting legacy as environment minister in saving the Daintree Rainforest and the Wet Tropics.

“Many people in public life are described as a force of nature,” Burke said in a statement. “Richo was a full tectonic plate. His policy legacy went beyond the making and unmaking of leaders.”

Burke said that the title of Richardson’s book Whatever It Takes would lead many to conclude everything was about power for the former politician but he had greater motivations.

“I saw, up close, a fiercely loyal man try to drive a better health system and invest his capital before he left parliament in obtaining what was, back then, the largest-ever investment in Indigenous health,” Burke said. “I’ll miss his support, humour, his counsel and his occasional insistence on a very long lunch.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers remembered him as a fearsome political animal – but also kind and generous.

“Richo’s legacy was to attach power to purpose, to harness his immense influence in the service of his country, its people and, in time, its environment,” he said. “He was a peerless political animal; fearsome as a practitioner but kind and generous in his semi-retirement.”

NSW Premier Chris Minns singled out his work as environment minister, when he helped secure protection and world heritage listing of the Daintree Rainforest and Kakadu National Park.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison said he and Richardson “struck up an unlikely friendship” during the 2010 election, and former Liberal treasurer Josh Frydenberg agreed that Richardson was “not afraid to make friends across the aisle”. Liberal MP Tim Wilson described him as “always encouraging with his honesty”.

Former NSW Liberal premier Dominic Perrottet said: “He was passionately Labor but always generous with his advice and support because above all he wanted to make NSW a better place.”

Amanda Vanstone, a former Liberal MP who replaced Richardson as the country’s youngest senator, recalled his “Shakespearean” antics when bogong moths infiltrated the new Parliament House and were being “barbecued” by the lights, crying: “Let the bogongs be gone!”

Fordham recounted on Saturday morning: “When he had his big health challenge, he said to his wife Amanda, ‘I’m going to live ’til I see D’Arcy finish exams and his HSC.’ D’Arcy did his last HSC exam on Thursday ... and Richo died this morning.”

Get alerts on breaking news as it happens. Sign up for our Breaking News Alert.