Alan Ferguson (President) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Chapman, I am not going to stop now, but I do not intend to put you through the ordeal for much longer, because all of the things that should be said have already been said in a genuinely heartfelt way by other senators. In the 16 years that I have been in this place, I have served with all of you for all of that time, except Senator Lightfoot, who has been here for the past 11 years. The contribution that each of you has made as a senator is unique. You will all be remembered for different contributions to the Senate—some in a major role in government, some as backbenchers and some as chairs of committees—but you have all played a significant role. I want to speak only very briefly to each of you because I think to extend the valedictories when much has already been said probably only makes it more of an ordeal for you.

I want to firstly mention Ross Lightfoot. Ross came in some 11 years ago. I refuse to believe that Ross Lightfoot has mellowed since he has been here. The Ross Lightfoot that I see sitting in that seat is almost the same Ross Lightfoot that I saw 11 years ago. I do remember Senator Lightfoot’s maiden speech. I also remember the very hasty phone call he got about two minutes after he had finished, when he was summoned to an office somewhere else. But what I liked about Senator Lightfoot from the time he arrived in this place was that you always knew what Ross’s position was on any issue. You always knew what Ross stood for, and that is what I admired him for. Every parliament needs a Ross Lightfoot. Every parliament needs someone who can be known for the position he will take, for the stance he will take on any particular issue and for the passion that he shows for his own particular interests. Ross has spoken about Iraq and Kurdistan and the things that are particularly important to him. The mining industry in Western Australia is particularly important to him, although I must remind you that Ross Lightfoot is really a South Australian who migrated to Western Australia.

Ross has always been a gentleman and has always impressed his fellow senators by the way he conducts himself. I think that is important in this place too. There are many people who are what we call nice blokes but they do not always know how to conduct themselves. Ross, you always have; you have always been polite. You have always known what you believe in. As a temporary chairman of committees, you were an example to others through the way you conducted yourself in this chair and the way you conducted the proceedings of the chamber. You did it with authority, you did it with style and you did it with presence. Many of us will remember the way that you have involved yourself in the works of the Senate and in the running of this chamber. You can go out of this place a very proud man for your contributions to the Senate from your state of Western Australia.

To Senator Sandy Macdonald can I say that he is my type of guy. He has been a great friend ever since he came here in 1993. I remember on many occasions he and Bozzie and I putting our steaks on the barbecue at the Kingston Hotel on a Thursday night. Bozzie liked his quick and rare because he was always hungry. Sandy and I were a bit more circumspect!

Sandy has been a wonderful friend and he has also been the epitome of a National Party coalitionist. That is what I have always liked about Sandy. I cannot think of any major policy issues that Sandy and I disagreed on. We had a division today where Sandy voted with the National Party, against his Liberal Party colleagues, but he was voting that way not because it was what he believed in but because he was so loyal to the party that put him here—and the party that deselected him, which means that he is not coming back here—that he said, ‘I can’t vote against my colleagues.’ I admire someone like Sandy Macdonald, who appreciates how he got here and who put him here, which was the reason for him voting that way. I am sure his heart was not in it but he felt that he owed loyalty to his party. To me, that is the character of the man.

Sandy and I had many other opportunities of being together. We both were involved in the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade for a number of years. I could say he is a fellow serviceman. Sandy and I both went to the RIMPAC exercises in Hawaii. We think we are eligible for a gold card, actually—we are not quite sure.

Sandy Macdonald has spent a lot of time away from his wife, Alice, and their young family. Two of his children—and maybe the third one—were born while he was here. But Sandy is someone who will go back to his farm having served the Australian parliament and contributed to the Australian way of life and will make a major contribution in his own community. He is so highly respected. I want to thank Sandy for his friendship and for his contribution to this place. As other people have said before, Sandy is a true gentleman. I do not think there is anybody in this place who does not like Sandy Macdonald. If you can leave this place with no enemies I think you have done yourself a great service.

I next want to speak about Senator Chapman. Senator Chapman, I think, is probably one of the best public speakers I have ever heard. I listened to him on Sunday in Adelaide at a function that the Liberal Party were having. Senator Chapman gave one of the best speeches I have ever heard—and this is on his retirement. They often say that you save the best till last, but I know in Grant’s case he has not, because I have heard him on numerous occasions speak in public and express a point of view, and there is nobody more articulate than him when he makes a public speech.

I think that for anybody to have spent almost 30 years in this parliament is a period of outstanding service—just outstanding service. He won a marginal seat, knocking off a sitting Labor member of parliament in Kingston in 1975 in the tide. He then went against the tide for a couple of elections and maintained that seat when people thought he would not. He lost in 1983 in the big swing to the Hawke government. He bided his time, and in 1987 came back, into the Senate. For 21 years Senator Chapman has served in this Senate, and he has always been loyal to his party and to his beliefs. He has never varied—everybody knew where Senator Chapman stood on any particular issue. For that, the people of South Australia have every right to be proud of you, Grant. We, as your colleagues, wish you well in the future. I know at your age you have a chance to have a great future still, and the experience that you have had as a senator will be invaluable to somebody when you leave this place. Congratulations on your ability, your loyalty to the Liberal Party, and on those friends that you have within the party.

Senator Kemp: I do not quite know where to start. My campaign manager—an in-house joke, I apologise to my colleagues on the right. When I first came to this place, Senator Kemp was one of the very first people that befriended me. I remember his words, and he used them again tonight. He said, ‘You have just joined the best club in Australia.’ For a while I thought, ‘That is almost belittling, a bit of an insult to talk about joining a club.’ But, in fact, the Senate—in its own way—is the best club in Australia. There are only 76 of us, and we get a chance to get to know each other in an intimate fashion. We work together on committees unlike our counterparts in the other place who work on committees, but there are so many of them they never have the same interaction that we have as senators in this place. Some people you think you might not like finish up becoming your best friends.

We are all in this place with a different philosophical point of view. I think we all want the end result to be the same, but we have different ways and means of how we think we should achieve that same end result. To me, Senator Kemp was a mentor, someone who gave advice generously. He was someone who I shared a philosophical viewpoint with anyway, so that made it much easier, because Kempie was never afraid to share his philosophical viewpoint. I first heard his father speak at a function—I think it was in Adelaide, where his father was a guest at one of the functions that we had. I saw then the enormous ability that the Kemp brothers, I should say—not just Rod—had in their contribution to the Liberal Party, and—with apologies to my Labor colleagues—the Liberal Party philosophy which they adhered to.

Rod Kemp’s history in the party was one of working for Margaret Guilfoyle, and working at the Institute of Public Affairs. He was consistent all the way. After being here, and when we won government, Rod became a minister. I had a lot to do with Rod as a minister because I actually chaired the Economics Committee when he was at the table on the other side. We had a couple of infamous occasions, one with a former senator—who is no longer with us—at about one o’clock in the morning. I will not say any more, but tensions tend to overflow a little bit at one o’clock in the morning. But Rod was fantastic in estimates: he listened up to a certain point, and would then intervene. He was asked 700 and something-or-other questions and, quite frankly, he did not give a lot of answers but he never made a mistake. He never got one wrong, I can promise you that.

I am delighted to have known Rod and Daniele. Daniele was the most wonderful support. She is a wonderful person that all of us who have known her have grown to love on our side of politics. I know that Rod and Daniele will have a very interesting and lively future, and we certainly wish them both well.

I am not sure where I should start with Senator Patterson. I wrote down a few notes, actually, when Senator Patterson was speaking, and these are the things I wrote: thoughtful, helpful to new senators—enormous help to new senators—always giving advice quite freely. Whether it was taken or not did not matter. Kay always gave advice, and it was always such sound advice. She was a wonderful personal friend—from the time you came into this place, you always felt that Senator Patterson was your friend. She did not care who it was—she would always willingly come into your office and say, ‘How are things going? If I were you, I would do it this way.’ I can always remember she once tried to teach me how I should keep my electoral allowance in one account and something else in another account. I got it mucked up anyway, not that it really matters—she gave the advice, and that is what really counted.

I think in your case, Senator Patterson, your service to this parliament and to Australia as a minister is something that we will all remember. Being a minister is a very difficult job—you cannot please everybody. As a matter of fact, you can only please very few people, but you were always quite forthright. You were very good to your colleagues, who would come and ask you questions and try and get information. No question from a colleague was too much. I want to congratulate you, particularly on your service to the Australian public, the Australian Senate and to the government that you served in. I think it will serve you well in the future, because I know you have other things and other interests that you are moving on to. Your experience here is one that you can be immensely proud of. I certainly wish you well.

I come to Watto, Senator Watson. When I first came into this place I had spent eight years in the superannuation industry. I had not been here all that long when Senator Alston said, ‘I think you’d better get on the superannuation committee because I’m getting off.’ I think it was at the time he became deputy leader. I cannot remember the exact date. I spent four or five years with Senator Watson on the superannuation committee. Senator Watson, your contribution in that area alone is one that you will be remembered for. I had forgotten that there were some 58 reports—I was probably only involved in some probably 20 or 25 of them. You seemed to churn them out a lot more after I left. Probably they were quicker to write!

The service that you have given this place, the fact that you have been in the parliament for 30-plus years, is an achievement that hardly anybody will ever replicate. Thirty-plus years—it is a lifetime. It is a lifetime of service to the Australian public. It is a lifetime of service to the Senate. In every case I heard many people say that Senator Watson was probably the least political person in the chamber because all he wanted to do was the right thing, and that is true.

I should not digress, but I distinctly remember an occasion when we were in opposition in the early nineties and Senator Bob McMullan was on this side taking a bill through the parliament. Senator Watson was over the other side and moved an amendment. He moved it, spoke very eloquently and Senator McMullan stood up and said, ‘I’ve consulted advisers and it can’t be done.’ Senator Watson said, ‘Yes, it can.’ Senator McMullan consulted the advisers and said: ‘It can’t be done. It’s not possible.’ Senator Watson stood up and said, ‘Yes, it can; I’ll show you.’ He dashed around the back of this chamber, around the advisers. About two minutes later he went back to his seat and Senator McMullan said, ‘I accept your amendment, Senator Watson.’ Such was his knowledge of the taxation laws that were promoted in this country that I think Senator Watson left the impression on both the government of the day and his colleagues of being one person who was an expert in the area. When you have someone with that sort of knowledge it is respected by everybody in this chamber.

Senator Watson, you have, over the 30-plus years that you have spent in this place, left a mark that people will remember for a long time. I congratulate you for it. I wish you well in the future; I am sure that there will be many things that you want to do in the future. Wherever your future may lead you, I am sure you will make a positive contribution.

When a large group of senators is leaving this place it is both a sad time and a happy time, because we welcome a new crop of people who will come and make a contribution to this place. For those that are coming in, I think it would do them well to look back at what has been said tonight by a whole range of senators about those that are leaving. It would give them some indication of the sort of contribution they can make to this place if they apply themselves in the way that will best suit the chamber, the Senate and their responsibilities as the elected representatives of the Australian public in this place. I look forward to the time when we can pay tribute to the retiring Labor senators, Democrat senators and others that might be leaving. But tonight is a special night for coalition senators, so, on behalf of all senators, can I say to each and every one of you: we wish you well.