Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

It is my honour to associate myself with this motion and to speak about Sir James Killen. It is a particular honour to follow the member for Moreton, whose seat Sir James represented with such distinction over his 28-year career, and also to be here with the member for Fadden, who I know had a very long and close relationship with Sir Jim.

I do not stand here today as someone who knew Jim Killen at a personal level. I met him once or twice and, like everyone who met him, found him a thoroughly engaging person. When I was in my final year of school, I had given to me his autobiography. It was one of the first books I read about parliament and politics. I had not heard of Jim Killen until I was given that book by a family friend, someone who had not been involved in party politics but who had followed political debate and public affairs and thought that Jim Killen was the model of a community representative and a parliamentarian. Knowing my interest in public affairs and politics at that time, they gave that book to me as a gift. When I got the book I thought: ‘This will be interesting; I have never heard of this person.’ But it was captivating reading and I read it cover to cover. You could not help but feel that this was a person who was a quintessential Queenslander and a quintessential Australian. For those of us here, all of us representing all views within this parliament, he was a great local member of parliament, he was a great minister for defence, but most of all he was a great parliamentarian.

The life of Jim Killen spanned one of the most difficult and interesting times in Australian history. He was born in 1925 in Dalby and worked as a jackeroo from the age of 13 or 14. In the Second World War he joined that wonderful generation of veterans from the First World War who came back wanting to make sure that their country, Australia, could be the best it could be. He was one of those who decided that they wanted to have a stake in the decision-making right here in Canberra. People like Jim Killen probably would not have considered parliament had it not been for the adversity they endured. He was born in Dalby in 1925, when Australia was 25 years young. He then grew up through the Depression and experienced all the difficulties of life outside the major cities to become a self-made man and to make a difference—with people from the Labor Party as well.

We know that he was a man of great intelligence, a man of great wit, a man with whom you would never want to get caught in a verbal exchange. I say this as a member of the Liberal Party: he was fundamental in the creation of the Queensland division of the Liberal Party. He very much laid the groundwork and helped create the division from nothing in the days after the Second World War. The member for Fadden—my friend, who knew Jim Killen—knows that he was critical to the establishment and success of the party and to its representation here in Canberra. Given the diverse nature of our country—and I say this as a suburban Victorian—this ensured that the Liberal Party represented the breadth of Australia in all its guises.

I say as an observer that Jim Killen conducted himself with complete distinction all the way through his career and, just as importantly, also in his retirement. He stayed true to the cause he believed in. He recognised that in politics there would be ups and downs and disappointments but at no point was there ever any evidence of bitterness in him. He remained a servant of the people of Queensland and of the Queensland division of the Liberal Party for every day of his parliamentary life and his retired life. I just wanted to place on the record my tribute to him.

Debate (on motion by Mr Cameron Thompson) adjourned.

See this speech in context