Prof RAZAY (Bass) - Honourable Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to give my inaugural speech today. Three weeks ago, I stood here and I gave a speech outlining why Tasmania was behind the rest of Australia on health, education, the growing housing crisis, and budget deficit but today my speech is about reflecting on my life journey.

I am privileged in that, throughout my life, I have lived in three countries. I started in Syria, followed by England, and now in Tasmania, Australia. In each country, I met so many people who have given me not just support, encouragement and motivation, but love, care, affection, and made me feel like part of their family. I would like to talk about how each country and the people have shaped my life and led me to where I am standing now.

It started in 1956. I was born in a place called Derik or Al-Malikiyah, in the north-east of Syria. I was a second of eight children: three brothers and four sisters. My family belonged to the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch, one of the oldest churches in the world, which goes back to early days of Christianity as it was recorded in the Book of Acts. The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. The church is still using the Aramaic language, the mother tongue of Jesus.

My parents were full of faith but organised religious ritual was not part of our daily routine. It was mainly going to church on Sunday, and children were allowed to decide if they want to go or not. My father was very funny, very loving and caring, and always tried to help people. He was passionate about the power of education and although he only studied to grade five, but he was full of wisdom and knowledge about any topic you could imagine. My mother was illiterate but she was quite happy and content looking after a big family.

As a working class family - my father was a clerk in the parapolice force - it was amazing how we managed to survive on a small budget. As children we used to complain, 'How come we can't buy what we want?' and he used to say, 'Why don't you look after the budget?' I looked after the budget sometimes, and the salary would disappear by the fourth week - so it was amazing how we survived. It was also amazing - we only bought a television when I was at university. We used to visit our neighbours or friends so we could watch soccer games. We dressed really well because my dad used to take us to second-hand clothes shops. They were European designs and we loved them.

My earliest vivid memory was that I failed my first year, so I had to repeat grade one. It was the best thing that happened in my life, because it has impacted the rest of my life. After that, I excelled at school. In high school I used to get excellent reports from the teachers. My other highlight was in grade nine. It was an important exam. I came second in the state, and in grade 12 I came seventh in the state.

Then I studied medicine for six years at the University of Aleppo in Syria. After graduation, I decided to go to study in England. I looked at the British Medical Journal and I chose to write to Professor Martin Tiffany, who was a surgeon at Birmingham General Hospital. I was excited. He wrote back to me to say, 'You're welcome to do clinical training,' but it was unpaid.

I was very sad to leave home because I could have stayed and worked and helped my father to look after a big family but my father never tried to dissuade me or put obstacles. The opposite - he was supportive. He was even so generous that he gave me all his savings - which was equivalent to £1000 - to embark on one of the most challenging things in my adventure, my journey to England. I was 24 when I arrived in England, where I worked at the Birmingham General Hospital. I was under Professor Keighley in his surgical department, who was the leading researcher in the management of inflammatory bowel disease.

My first challenge, one of the things when I arrived, was that was my English wasn't great. I had difficulty understanding people, especially the Brummie accent of the Black Country in Birmingham. I could understand my professor because he was loud. I never actually went to English language school and that's why my accent is so funny. One of the best things I took with me, a precious thing, was the New Testament. I used to read it because it improved my English, because it's written in a simple language.

My first challenge when I arrived in Birmingham was I found out that the accommodation wasn't free so I thought my money was not going to last me long. I decided to work at night in a takeaway place. After a few months I thought I might move from Birmingham to Bristol because my sister Hayat was studying a PhD in chemistry there. I met Dr Heaton and Professor Alan Reed from Bristol Royal Infirmary and I talked to them about my dilemma. They were very sympathetic. The problem when I arrived in England was that to register and work in England, you have to do a medical and language exam, but I couldn't do it because I didn't do a one-year internship training before I went to England. What that meant was that I had to leave England before I could do the exam. The only way that I could stay in England was to work as a laboratory technician, which was disappointing and devastating.

I felt sad when I left Birmingham and I moved to Bristol where I worked in the Department of Medicine. I got excellent training from a renowned specialist. At the same time I managed to do research, and I passed the Canadian and American examinations.

After two years, Professor Reed called me to say that he had contacted one of his friends and managed to get me an exemption that allowed me to do the examination and into an internship afterward. I couldn't believe it. I was over the moon. It was like a miracle but more importantly, the question was: why did these wonderful people help me? I did not even ask them.

After that, I did the medical examination. I passed the medical test, but I failed the language test. The next day, people would stop and chat to me and ask, 'What is the latest in the news?' and then they would stop me and correct my mistakes. Apparently, they had a meeting in the Department of Medicine and Professor Reed said to everyone, 'Talk to George and improve his language.' What better language school could you get? As you could imagine, I passed my language test and started to dream. At last, after two-and-a-half years I am going to get a paid job.

I enjoyed my work for the first few years. At the end of the first year, before I left, I went to Doctor Heaton and asked, 'What advice would you give me?' He said, 'Keep smiling.' I am sure that after all these years, he will be there smiling at me.

My main challenge was to pass the Royal College of Physicians exam, which is essentially an exam to study internal medicine in England, and you are allowed six attempts. As you could imagine, I failed four times. My fifth attempt was in Glasgow, Scotland. I left Birmingham on the train. I got to Glasgow, got on the bus to go somewhere so remote, and there was a hospital where I did my exam. It was my lucky place because I did pass my exam. I thought, 'At last, I can pursue my career in medicine here'. Afterward, I worked as a registrar at Torbay Hospital, which is in Torquay.

After three years working there, I decided to apply for specialist training in medicine and geriatrics. I had five interviews, and they were all unsuccessful. Someone said to me, 'You have no hope of getting into specialist training here, and you might have a better chance if you go to Australia.' Can you believe how life has panned out. Somebody must have mentioned it to him. Anyway, I was at the crossroad. I said, 'Well, I might not be able to do specialist training. I might have to change my career.' After long contemplation I decided to do a reset.

I went to my old friend and mentor Dr Heaton. I said, 'Can I join your research team without being paid?' He was delighted. One of his friends allowed me to stay in his attic for free. In those days, my main interest was looking at risk factors for heart disease in men and women. In the 1990s, all the reports were advising that if you drank in moderation, it would reduce the risk of heart disease, but nobody understood the mechanism behind that. What I did then was to look at the relation between alcohol consumption and the hormone called insulin, which is secreted from your pancreas and regulates blood sugar. My study was the first to show that drinking in moderation will lower your insulin, which improves insulin function, but drinking heavily is harmful and causes insulin resistance.

I wanted to send my paper to the prestigious journal, The British Medical Journal, but they warned me: 'The editor is anti-alcohol reports.' I said okay. They were surprised when the paper was accepted. In those days, it attracted so much attention from the media, and also led to so many reports afterward on the benefit of alcohol consumption.

After my first year of unpaid research, I met Professor Gordon Wilcock from Bristol Frenchay Hospital. He said to me 'Why don't you come and work with me in Alzheimer's disease and you will be paid?' Of course, I could not believe it, and so I did the first study in which also I linked Alzheimer's disease with insulin and that if you have insulin resistance then it will greatly increase the risk of Alzheimer's. After two years, the University of Bristol then awarded me the degree of Doctor of Medicine, which is equivalent to PhD.

Are you surprised, after my two years of research, I was successful in the first interview for senior registrar training and that was in Truro in Cornwall. I spent two-and-a-half years there and that led me to life in the land down under. After two-and-a-half years, I had the opportunity to work at Concord Hospital in Sydney as a lecturer. I could not believe it because, for me, it was like a holiday, going to Sydney. After six months, there was a job advertised for a Chair in gerontology at Launceston General Hospital.

I rang my colleague, Dr Andrew Maclaine-Cross. I asked for advice. He said, 'Well, what can I say to you? The only thing I would say is that if people go off and work somewhere, after five years they pack their bags and leave, but people who come to Launceston General Hospital, come and stay.' Well, Dr Maclaine-Cross, I am proof that your advice was correct.

It has been a privilege to work for the last 28 years as physician geriatrician at Launceston General Hospital. One of my first priorities was establishing a Launceston Memory Disorders Clinic without a budget, and also the Dementia Research and Education Centre. I was fortunate that the Clifford Craig Foundation gave me funding. One of our first research projects was the Launceston Alzheimer's disease risk factor study, in which we first reported that Alzheimer's disease is linked with obesity and the metabolic syndrome. Afterward, we published a work to show that exercise actually improved not just cognitive function but also physical function in people with Alzheimer's.

After 10 years doing research in a busy hospital, I was thinking to myself, 'I cannot keep doing research,' until the honourable Michael Ferguson turned up. He was the CEO of the Clifford Craig Foundation. He came to me, I remember, and he said 'George, can you come up with a big research project so we can fund it?' I said 'Well, what's retirement George going to do here?' We then embarked on one of the largest studies looking at the incidence, diagnosis and treatment of a condition called normal pressure hydrocephalus.

It is a condition which results from built up fluid in the brain, which leads to enlargement of the cavities inside the brain. That can lead to memory problems, dementia, balance and walking difficulty, and incontinence. It can be diagnosed by scanning the brain to show large packages. The importance of the diagnosis is that you can treat the condition by inserting a fine tube called a shunt into the cavity of the brain and the rest of the shunt under the skin into the stomach, so if there is a build-up of fluid in the brain there is a track to drain away the excess fluid.

So, we did the study. People think it's rare and only accounts for 1 per cent to 2 per cent of cases of dementia. In the longitudinal study we found that up to 15 per cent of cases have it and we showed that the shunt improves their memory, balance and walking, their incontinence, and prevents them from going to nursing homes, which has a major impact on health expenditure.

At the same time, over the years I have given public talks to raise people's awareness of the importance of early diagnostic treatment, and in the last four years I went around giving what I call the 'Tassie dementia talk' around Tasmania, where we give people hope that this form of dementia can be prevented and treated. I believe that through talks and research, we have changed the stigma toward dementia. The impact of all our talks led me to publish a book called Dementia A New Hope, which we did last year, which is a guidebook for ordinary people about diagnosis and treatment of dementia, Alzheimer's disease and hydrocephalus.

I will now take you to July 2008. I was in Oxford on sabbatical leave looking at blood pressure and cognition. I loved going to Church of Christ evening services. I enjoyed listening to the boys' choir singing. Then one day I was listening to the dean of the college, and he was saying the most important teaching of Jesus was faith, love and hope. My immediate reaction was surprise. I said how come, because I used to say to people that the most important teaching of Jesus was faith, love and happiness, so I couldn't believe how I changed hope into happiness, and I really believed that's what it was.

Then I went to the Bodleian Library in Oxford, which is the oldest one, and I sat there writing my reflection on the topics. After I finished, I found out that I spelled 'happiness' wrong. I used the letter 'y' instead of 'i'. I looked at it, thought it was funny, but after contemplation I said, 'I like my spelling', because it revealed the secret of happiness. 'I' means me, but 'y' means you.

This leads me to how my faith has evolved throughout my life. I mentioned to you some incidents which had impact on me. My earliest memory about my parents' deep faith was when I was probably five years old. My younger brother was very sick with childhood illness and they had already lost a boy to childhood infection. My parents called the priest urgently because they were worried they might lose another boy. They called him to pray and christen the baby and then they needed a godfather. I was the only one standing there so I became his godfather. It was a miracle that my brother survived.

My second thing was in grade 9 at the final exam, which is the essential exam before you go to grade 10-12. I developed a habit of going for a long walk a month before the exam, basically go round after a long day studying, reflecting, dreaming, praying that you will do well during the exam. Then, the day before the exam, I had a dream with the number 253. The next day the result was exactly 253. I didn't take much notice, like a lot of things in life, but then in grade 12, which is an important year, the pre-university exam would determine what subject you study and therefore determine your career. I did the same thing for a month, going for walks. Then, a month before the result, I went to visit my grandparents and had a dream with the number 232, so I wrote it in the calendar. A month later when the results came I rang my grandfather and said, 'Look at the calendar, you will get the exact result'.

My other thing was I was great for studying medicine but I had acute tonsillitis before my surgical exam so I didn't actually have much time to study. I had a few notes on topics and concentrated on those. You wouldn't believe it, but four out of five questions came from the topics I studied and I ended up having the highest mark in my class.

We have to mention also what happened in Australia. A lot of things happened, but one of them was that the Australian Medical Council ruled that if you come as a specialist to Australia you have to do an exam to be registered and recognised. I was absolutely surprised and shocked in 2000 when I received a letter from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians to say, 'We have accepted your training and you are a fellow', without doing the exam. I thought, 'Wow, this is another miracle for me'.

I feel that probably it's time to acknowledge people throughout my life. Of course I have to mention thanks to my parents, who sacrificed themselves for their children. Dr Andrew Maclaine-Cross, who I have known for 28 years, thank you for all the support and encouragement. My wife, Melissa, my soulmate, you gave me so much love and support over the years and you made me the person I am standing here today. My daughter Emily is here. You have endured many years of conversation and encouraged me in my political career. I remember four years ago her saying, 'Dad, we've heard this for years. Why don't you do something about it?'. Well, that's the reason why I am standing here today.

Of course, I have to thank the Clifford Craig Foundation for funding my research. Most importantly, I thank my patients and my carers who gave me so much motivation. They used to say, 'George, why do you keep doing the research?'. My answer was because of my patients, my carers, and their community. It's amazing. The best thing is to give when you don't expect anything in return.

I would like also to thank the City of Launceston Council which taught me so much about issues related to Launceston. The staff at Launceston General Hospital have given me so much joy over the years.

Finally, I thank the people of Bass, who supported me and encouraged me to continue on my political journey and reminded me, 'George, keep going. Don't give up.' I would like to thank them for putting their trust in me.

Throughout my career I have faced many challenges and obstacles. I always stayed positive and hopeful, even when I failed in my exams or job. However, I have enjoyed every day in my life. I am very blessed to have known so many people. They were like father figures or brothers. They made me feel at home and gave me a lot of support and encouragement. I used to remind myself through the years, don't worry about what you eat or what you drink or what you wear, because you will always find people who will look after you. My faith is characterised by simplicity that has given me a deeper connection to who I am, but I've always kept it to myself. I only talked about it lately with my family.

In closing, perhaps I will mention what I think about the main factors that contribute to happiness. Have a little faith. Do not worry about the future. Celebrate little things. Do not hate anything because it might be good for you. Do your best and keep knocking at doors. Be patient and pray all the time. Always give, give, and if you do not expect a return, that will be rewarded. Do not react to people if they are angry with you and show love even toward those who hurt you. Live in moderation. Get involved in music, singing and dancing. Yes, it is possible to achieve genuine happiness. Forget about yourself and think about others.

I still have two minutes, honourable Speaker. I will finish by reciting the 'Lord's Prayer' in Aramaic. Which is what Jesus taught 2000 years ago. It is called Aboon d-bashmayo:

Aboon d-bashmayo

Neth-qadash shmok

Teethe malkuthok

Nehwe sebyonok

Aykano d-bashmayo off bar'o

Hab lan lahmo d-sunqonan yawmono

Washbuq lan howbayn wahtohayn

Aykano d-of hnan shbaqen l-hayobayn wlo tha'lan l-nesyuono

elo faso lan men beesho

metul d-deelok hee malkutho

w-haylo w-tehbotho

loalam olmeen Amin