Petro Georgiou (Kooyong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to pay tribute to the life and the parliamentary career of Peter Andren and in so doing support the motion of condolence moved by the Prime Minister and seconded by the Leader of the Opposition. Peter Andren was a paradigm of an Independent member of parliament. He was the member for Calare from 1996 to 2007. In the 11 years we shared together in the parliament I had many opportunities to admire his independence of thought, his decisiveness and action. He had a strength of conviction that his parliamentary colleagues sometimes disputed, but ultimately they could not but admire who he was and the fact he was willing to stand up for what he felt was right. He opted to take the more difficult role of leading his constituency forward rather than just following behind. He displayed his courage on numerous occasions throughout his parliamentary career, perhaps no more notably than in the context of what happened in the parliament last week. He supported and advocated a formal parliamentary apology to Indigenous Australians.

Back in 1999 when Peter first voiced his opinion on the apology, his position would not have had the majority support in his electorate of Calare. In 2000 Peter again acted bravely and introduced a private member’s bill to override the Northern Territory’s system of mandatory sentencing. The consequences of this, which were so positive for the Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory, are recounted in his autobiography.

Throughout his time in parliament Peter’s commitment to Indigenous rights was unwavering. He would no doubt have been extremely proud of what happened in the parliament last week. It is sad that he was not there himself to witness the occasion and to lend some of his own words to the discussion. I admired Peter greatly for the stance he took on issues such as Indigenous rights, gun laws, the environment and refugees. On many of these issues history will show that he was a man ahead of his time. Indeed, history has already shown that.

Peter also gave a passionate voice to the issues of importance to the residents of Calare. He championed local industry, campaigned for better transport, banking and telecommunications services. He argued for greater government assistance for farming families. Peter Andren’s ability to truly represent his constituents was nowhere more fully demonstrated than in the polls—something that some of us on the other side of the House may have found a bit disconcerting at times. Since it was first proclaimed in 1906, the New South Wales Central Tablelands seat of Calare had swung from being held by Labor, to the Nationals, to the Liberal Party and back to the Labor Party.

When Peter won the seat in 1996, following the retirement of the sitting Labor member, he did so with only 29 per cent of the primary vote. We can all sit here and admire. But during his time in office Peter turned Calare into one of the safest seats in Australia. In the 2004 election, Peter won his seat with over 50 per cent of the primary vote and over 70 per cent of the two-candidate preferred vote. You cannot tell it was once a National Party seat. In no small way, this was a reflection on Peter himself and on his ability to connect with the people of Calare through his enthusiasm, his hard work and his love for the country and the people.

In March 2007, Peter Andren announced that he would resign his position in the House of Representatives at the next election and, instead, run for a seat in the Senate. He would no doubt have made an outstanding contribution to the Senate, just as he did in this chamber. I extend my condolences to Peter’s family, especially his partner, Valerie, and his sons, Greg and Josh. His passing is a great loss to this parliament.

Debate (on motion by Mr Raguse) adjourned.