Andrew Murray (WA, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

I was not on the speakers list because I had another engagement, but I am able to come down now to make a five-minute set of remarks. I thank my Liberal colleagues for giving me the opportunity. I briefly want to note the passing—in the Senate sense, not an eternal sense—of the Liberal and National senators who are leaving this place. In particular I want to address remarks to two sets of people: those who I have not dealt with much and those who I have dealt with much. In the category of those I have not dealt with much, I want to remark upon Senators Lightfoot, Sandy Macdonald and Patterson, who have not covered my portfolio areas or my committees that much. With respect to Senator Lightfoot, I sometimes think that when you are going to make remarks about people, as in funerals or valedictories or anything else, a simple sentence or two helps just to give a picture of the impression they have given you over a long period, and I have known Senator Lightfoot for a long period. So this is the impression that Senator Lightfoot leaves me with: a man who was a gentleman, who was good company and who was provocative in his views but kindly in his dealings, and I am glad to have known him.

Senator Sandy Macdonald has always been a warm, friendly and thoughtful human being, a genuine soul, and I am glad to have known him. Senator Patterson is a warm, caring and compassionate person, a principled and very decent person, somebody whom you would describe as eccentric and amusing, and I am glad to have known her. Of the three, the one I have dealt with quite extensively as a senator is Senator Kemp: funny, provocative, self-deprecating, a man who is difficult to know but is strong, determined and very consistent in his beliefs but always with the equanimity which it is useful to bring into this chamber. I am glad to have known him. Senator Watson: a great loss, I think, to the Liberal Party; an independent thinker, a lateral thinker—which is unusual in an accountant—a surprisingly cunning politician; a man who has generated a great deal of respect amongst serious people in the bureaucracy in the tax and finance world; a person who will be missed at the Senate policy end much more than probably he and many others realise. I am glad to have known him.

Last of all, Senator Chapman: probably not respected enough in his own home state. He is a thorough and diligent man. He carried out his work as Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services with great ability, and I think the influence and the effects of that committee’s findings under his tutorship will be felt in corporate law for many a year. He is a reserved man but I think he is a much better senator than I have seen him described in his home media. I hope he gets some of the credit he deserves.

To all of you: I wish you well in your retirement. I have enjoyed knowing you.