Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Resources) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the condolence motion for a friend and colleague and someone to whom I owe much in terms of my initial years in this place. David Jull and I shared the last of the Liberal seats in the parliament when we sat on the right side of the Speaker. For me as a new person in parliament and someone desperate to learn the ropes quickly, David Jull was of great assistance as we sat in question time. There was a routine to David in question time. Sitting right up the back and viewing the whole of parliament, David first got a list of the questions, went through them and struck out the words that he felt were grammatically incorrect. Then he made private—sometimes not so private—comments about the incompetence of the minister who had written them. He never allowed a question to start with the word 'minister' and in fact made a few other comments about that as well. Having succeeded in rewriting the question, he would cast his eye around the room to see if it was now time for him to slip out for a cigarette. Unfortunately, as we know, that was part of the reason David has passed away. He would then return, look around again and see if anything of interest was happening and see if he could catch five minutes of energy rebuilding—what you and I, Mr Deputy Speaker, might call sleep—which was usually the point when the then whip, Michael Ronaldson—now Senator Michael Ronaldson—would roll along the back of the seats and say to me in a growling voice, 'Wake him up'.

I think, in reality, David's contribution should not be remembered for his performance in question time, which he felt was unduly boring. David's contribution to this parliament was very broad. As I have mentioned, to newcomers to the House he was an absolute font of wisdom, not just on airplanes, which he was unsettlingly knowledgeable on, but also in relation to the history of the House. I remember David saying to me, 'You'll hear some wonderful stories about the Old Parliament House; it's all rubbish'—he may have used a slightly different word there. He said: 'We were down there crammed in like sardines with three people to a room the size of our en suite. While there was some great conviviality in all of that, this building is much better to work in.' David would set about recalling experiences more as a way of passing on his experience than of just telling a story.

The thing about David that I admired most was the fact that he was absolutely straight. David was a guy that you could rely on. He would not lead you up a blind alley and he did not play political games. In his time he had some political misfortune himself. In the early days of the Howard government, having achieved what must have been a lifelong goal of becoming a minister, for a whole range of reasons that ministry slipped through his fingers and he was never able to regain that position. He did not show bitterness about that. He did have some views on it which he shared with me—and they will remain in my confidence—but there is no doubt that David's contribution as a minister for the short time he was there was enormous and significant. In terms of his life after the ministry and as a backbencher, he was always there to provide advice, but you had to ask for it. He was someone who felt that, if people wanted to know, he would tell them. He told them frankly and without political spin but he was not there to impose on people his great font of wisdom.

As I said, I had the pleasure of sitting with David for two years up the back of the chamber before I was appointed Minister for Small Business. We were never close but with David you knew that at any time you could roll down to his office and seek some confidential advice—advice about what you should do as a minister or advice on how you should handle a particular issue within the party. He had been in the party for a very long time and, at that time, I had only been in the party a few years. As the shadow minister has just said, if you wanted any travel advice, there was nowhere else to go.

I remember David very fondly. We both suffered from cancer and there was a bond there. Unfortunately for David he was not able to overcome it. As a past colleague of his, and as someone who greatly admired him, I pass on my condolences to Erica and to his family. Unfortunately, due to pre-existing travel commitments, I will not be able to join my colleagues on Friday at the funeral in Brisbane but, if I am at all instinctive about what that day may contain, apart from some of the moments of reflection about David's life and the enormous amount he has done for his community and for Australia, there will be a few stories told. They will all be funny; they will always be about the great companion he was when you travelled with him; they will be about the way in which he mixed amongst his colleagues so easily. As I say, I pass on my condolences to the family. I congratulate David for the life he led—it is a life that many of us would like to emulate. He has been a fine Australian and we should remember him fondly.

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