He died yesterday, aged 82, after the sudden final phase of a seven year battle with cancer.
In the press gallery for 60 years, Rob jokingly dismissed Ramsay, Oakes and Grattan as "young pups".
Ramsay says "nobody, in an any capacity – politician, bureaucrat or journalist – has equalled what Rob Chalmers somehow endured in the nation’s parliament, from the day he attended his first Question Time on 7 March 1951".
Always generous, always interested, and for a time a radio voice I grew up with on 2CH, he has been a part of my life for half his 60 years working in Australia's parliament.
Rob can't be replaced.
Rob and his family can be proud of the life he lived.
