In a statement on the death of media magnate Kerry Packer broadcaster John Laws said Packer “was the first true Australian entrepreneur. He took the risks, he never asked anybody to take risks for him, all he ever put at stake was his own money, his own reputation and his own self-respect.”
Laws said Kerry Packer epitomised what most Australians hope to be – strong, tough and compassionate. “Many people never knew what Kerry Packer did, but Kerry Packer thought a great deal about, and for, other people. I don’t know that anybody comes close to Kerry Packer in the area of concern and generosity.”
“I imagine everybody who’s been asked to comment has said there will never be another Kerry Packer. The thing is you just don’t expect people like Kerry Packer to die. Unfortunately they do.”
Macquarie’s Alan Jones told the Nine Network his “system gave in, his kidneys gave in. Kerry said no look, I’ve had enough of this. There’s only so much medication and so many transplants…he accepted no aid and he then knew… I think his words were: ‘This is my time.’”
Today in The Australian newspaper Jones wrote: “A giant oak tree crashed in the Australian forest of great people with the passing of Kerry Packer. To many, KP was the embodiment of admired success. He was tough and unconventional, rarely seen to be keeping step with the times but, rather, marching ahead of them. Who, after all, can forget his performance at a parliamentary inquiry in 1991 when he volunteered the thought that it was a marvel anyone paid tax at all, given the way politicians wasted it?
But such a tough and challenging public persona was only a small part of the story. When KP died on Boxing Day of kidney failure – when a body tortured for years with medication and transplants decided to give up – Australia lost one of its most generous, unselfish and inspiring givers.
To use an image that KP would be happy with, his life was too short an innings. There were many bold shots, some unconventional, but the scoreboard kept ticking over. Look out at the MCG today; I sense the grass will be a little less green. With Kerry’s passing, much of the shine has gone from many things.”
Packer’s media rival and friend Rupert Murdoch said: “Kerry was both a lifelong friend and a tough competitor. He was the most successful businessman of our generation. As a broadcaster, he had an uncanny knack of knowing what people across the country were thinking and this finely-tuned antennae made him the best broadcaster the country has seen.”
Prime Minister John Howard remembered Packer saying: “Of all the impressions he left with me, none was greater, or more indelible than his passionate commitment to the interests of Australia and the interests of the Australian people. In all of the many conversations I had with him over the years, he was always concerned about what was right for this country. And the last one-on-one personal discussion we had at his home some two months ago, he was full of ideas for the future of Australia and ways in which this could be made a better country.”