Vale Stefan Romaniw

Last week both Australia and Ukraine lost a giant of a man. Stefan Romaniw, who will be well-known by many of the people in this place and the other place, passed away while on a trip representing the Australian Ukrainian community in Lithuania. He passed away in Poland on his way home.

I knew Stefan for the last five years. Soon after comimg into this place, I took up the chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Ukraine group. With Stefan and the previous ambassador, we worked closely on issues such as trade and visas. Then, in 2021, as the Russian troops built up on the border of Ukraine and it was looking more and more like there would be an invasion, Stefan and I would talk pretty much every day about what the Australian government could do to support Ukraine should there be an invasion.

I think the first rally I ever went to protesting against Russia's invasion was at least a month or two before they actually invaded. These rallies—and I've been to dozens of them around the country—were all organised by Stefan, both in his role as the co-chair of the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations—which he chaired with another friend of ours, Kateryna Argyrou—and also in his global role as the first vice president of the Ukrainian World Congress.

There is no shortage of what Stefan did for both the Ukrainian diaspora here in Australia, which he did during his down time, as well as running his business. The work he did for Ukraine and building support for Ukraine around the world was tireless, it was endless and it never ceased to amaze me. I lost count of how many trips he would have taken to Ukraine. Dozens! At least dozens. Stefan was the one who encouraged me to go Ukraine, and I can tell you that even just getting to Kyiv is a frightful battle of a trip. It's an awful long way to go. But Stefan never blinked an eye. He would call me up and say, 'I'm off again. I'll see you in a week or two.' He always went with an aim in mind and always with an objective, and that objective was always to help the defence of Ukraine—and what he could do both with the community raising money for weapons, medical needs, food aid and other humanitarian aid, or what he could ask the Australian government for. I think he knocked on more ministers' doors than even I did in search of aid for Ukraine.

I have no doubt that were Stefan still alive, he would have been up here this week, banging on several ministers' doors. Instead, the Victorian government is putting on a state funeral for Stefan next Friday. It's a sad but fitting end to a man who was well acknowledged for all the hard work he did for the community. He was given an OAM several years ago.

To his wife, Anastasia, and his children, Pete and Theresa, I say, 'We will all remember your father and your husband.' As I said, Stefan was a giant of a man. Australia is a poorer place without him, and Ukraine will always hold him in their heart when they say the words, 'Slava Ukraini.'