He was “a man of many facets” the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said as he delivered the eulogy for the former senator and Labor minister Graham Richardson on Tuesday.

It was an understatement of monumental proportions. But as the Labor family gathered at St James Church in Sydney to farewell “Richo”, the controversial Labor power broker, federal minister and, in later life, political commentator and broadcaster on Sky News, there was a remembrance of his achievements.

“His unparalleled political instincts made him a central figure in the caucus and the cabinets of the Hawke and Keating governments,” Albanese said, referring to Richardson’s central role as a powerbroker within federal Labor during the 1980s and 1990s.

But, Albanese said, it was his achievements as environment minister that had been his proudest.

_{Sign up: AU Breaking News email}

“They are achievements that will endure as a living, breathing reality for time beyond measure,” Albanese said. “Yet Graham was characteristically self-effacing in his words. He said this: ‘My memory won’t be around for very long but the rainforests of north Queensland will be.’”

As environment minister, Richardson had moved to save the Daintree and curtailed the logging of old growth forests in Tasmania. As health minister, he focused on improving Aboriginal health.

“There is no escape … that Graham’s life was often colourful, and it certainly wasn’t short of controversy,” Albanese said.

“Yet, if Graham was not perfect, he was always very direct. That much was evident in the famously self-aware title of his memoir, Whatever It Takes.”

Albanese and others remembered Richardson’s working-class roots as a proud son of a postie, “a rationalist who could discern the big picture down to the smallest brushstroke”.

Many made reference to his special power: to effortlessly mix in the circles of the wealthy to the front bar. They noted his “disarming wit and charm”, as longtime colleague David Tierney put it.

Others referred to his skills as a dealmaker, often exercised around the lazy Susans of a Chinatown restaurant. The Golden Century, a Sydney institution, was referenced often.

Richardson was one of the youngest NSW state Labor secretaries before becoming a senator for NSW at 33, taking his backroom political skills to Canberra, where he rose to be a minister in the Hawke and Keating governments.

Among the mourners were the widow of Bob Hawke, Blanche d’Alpuget, and a host of federal ministers, including Tanya Plibersek, Deborah O’Neill, Michelle Rowland and Tony Burke.

State Labor was also represented: former NSW premier Bob Carr was there but not the current premier, Chris Minns, who still recalls Richardson’s unsuccessful efforts to ensure he was not preselected for the state seat of Kogarah. Instead, the NSW treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, waved the flag while Natalie Ward represented the NSW opposition.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott was there, though not John Howard and Paul Keating.

“It’s a thrill to bring a bipartisan note to this memorial,” Abbott said. “It was impossible to spend time with Richo without learning … and without realising that what unites us is greater than what divides us – a rough diamond but a gem.”

In recognition of Richardson’s networking skills there were also politicians from across the aisle: former treasuerer Joe Hockey, newly minted One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce and Nationals Michael McCormack and John Barilaro.

There were figures from his wider circles of life, including broadcasters Alan Jones and Ben Fordham, and Ros Packer, the widow of media mogul Kerry Packer.

Many of the media were also present, in recognition of Richardson’s role as a political commentator and his later stint on Sky News. Among the mourners were Sky’s chief executive, Paul Whittaker, and many of the on-air talent.

Richardson’s widow, Amanda, thanked St James’ Church, which agreed to have the funeral after the family had differences with St Mary’s Cathedral.

Son D’Arcy recalled the efforts his father had made to be part of his life after he endured an operation in 2016 which resulted in several of his organs being removed. Richardson spent his later years in a wheelchair. He died within days of D’Arcy finishing his HSC.

“Being a great dad despite his challenges was the greatest legacy,” he said.

But not all were so swept away by the state funeral for Richardson, whose life was also highly controversial.

Geoffrey Watson, former counsel assisting the NSW Independent Commission against Corruption and now a board member on the Centre for Public Integrity, told the Guardian the decision by the Albanese government to grant Richardson a state funeral was “absolutely dreadful”.

“I regard a state funeral for Graham Richardson as entirely inappropriate and an insult to the values of this nation,” he said.

“On multiple occasions, Richardson was known to have acted corruptly and, while he skated through many of these, his career crashed as a result of one instance from which he could not escape.”

In 1992, Richardson was forced to resign from Paul Keating’s ministry after allegations that he had used his influence to help a friend and relative through marriage who was facing charges in the Marshall Islands over an allegedly dodgy migration scheme and fraud.

Despite Richardson claiming ignorance, the affair highlighted questions about his judgment, leading to his temporary exit from the ministry.

In 1994, Richardson, having returned to the ministry, was named in a Queensland police report which was raised in federal parliament by then National party backbencher Bob Katter.

“Operation Wallah had been set up to investigate the involvement of well-known Australian criminals in prostitution, money-laundering, standover tactics and SP bookmaking on the Gold Coast,” Katter told parliament.

Two women were allegedly provided to Richardson in exchange for Richardson making favourable representations to a US defence contractor on another’s behalf, something he denied.

In her book, The Fixer, journalist Marian Wilkinson revealed that soon after Richardson offered his resignation to Keating, citing ill health.

But for the moment, Labor is forgiving and forgetting.

“We are still coming to grips with the idea that he has left us, and still assessing the scale of what he has left us, or all of the attempts to capture him through the narrow prism of caricature,” the prime minister said. “Graham was a man of multiple facets.”

Many different facets indeed.