Alan Eggleston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

But they were, as Kay Patterson has just interjected, quite misguided. I was quite happy to be friends with them, but I have always been very strongly committed to the principles of the Liberal Party rather than to those of the National Party. But I must say that I have always regarded Sandy Macdonald as a kindred spirit and seen him as a man of principle in politics. He is somebody who I think has made a great contribution to the Senate during the time that he has been here. I wish him well also in his retirement.

Senator John Watson, from Tasmania, has had 30 years in the Senate. You have been here for an unbelievably long period of time, Watto. You have made a great contribution. I have always enjoyed your company, discussing issues with you, and your wise counsel on a wide variety of not only financial matters but also other issues that we have been confronted with during the time that I have been in the Senate. I think perhaps you are one of those people who should have been a minister. I think it is a matter of some regret that you were not, considering your great knowledge of finance and clear understanding of issues relating to Treasury matters.

Senator Ross Lightfoot, my colleague from Western Australia, as has been remarked, has the unique distinction of having served in three houses of parliament. He was the member for Murchison-Eyre in the lower house in Western Australia; the member for the North Metropolitan Region, in the northern suburbs of Perth, in the Legislative Council; and later a senator. It is a unique achievement, Ross. Ross is one of the three senators in the parliament who have a base in the federal electorate of Kalgoorlie. The three of us are here tonight. Ross Lightfoot represented the central part of the Kalgoorlie electorate, the Murchison and Gascoyne region. Senator Johnston is also from Kalgoorlie, and I came out of the north-west.

Ross was a pastoralist in the Gascoyne and a prospector. I think he is very much a man of the old school, as he revealed in his speech tonight, with his great respect for the concept of the monarchy and royalty. I have always found him to be well read and a man with thought-provoking opinions. I think, Ross, you will be long remembered as a very special person in this chamber, just as you were in the Western Australian state parliament. I wish you well in your retirement as well.

Grant Chapman is another very long-term MP, who served both in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. He is somebody I have always respected and enjoyed the company of. He is a man with a great knowledge of financial matters, as is John Watson. Again, I think he is somebody who could well have been a minister. Perhaps it is a matter of some regret that he was not made a minister during the period that he has been in the parliament.

I am not sure whether his suggestion tonight of aptitude and psychological tests for members of parliament would really work. I think we are all rather unique characters, and I am not sure that there would be a suitable test which would identify the kinds of unique abilities and characteristics that a person who wants to get into politics and be a senator needs. I think it is far better just to have people decide for themselves that they would like to be a senator and serve the people of their state in Australia in this house.

The end of this Senate term will probably see the end of the Democrats as members of the Senate. Three of them, Senators Lyn Allison, Andrew Murray and Natasha Stott Despoja, came into the Senate about the same time as I did. All of them have made marks in different ways in the period that they have been here. My Western Australian colleague Andrew Murray has become a widely respected voice in the world of business and finance—particularly in terms of calling for ethical standards of conduct in business affairs. Natasha Stott Despoja and Lyn Allison have both become important voices in our community, taking up issues of importance to them. For Natasha Stott Despoja these have been education, youth and various causes, which she has taken up with great enthusiasm. Senator Lyn Allison, of course, has taken up environmental and health issues.

With the closure of the era of the Democrats in the Senate, I think an important chapter of Australian political history has been brought to a close. I think they played a responsible role, by and large, in holding the balance of power in the Senate, and I only hope that any other parties which hold that balance of power will act with responsibility equal to that of the Democrats during the time that they held it.

The end of this Senate term also sees the departure of several ALP senators, and I would like to mention two of them. I have always felt Linda Kirk was a person of great ability, and—no doubt—a victim of the vagaries of politics in losing her preselection. I think the ALP is the loser for Linda Kirk’s not being re-endorsed, because I think in the long term she would have made a great contribution to the Senate. Senator George Campbell is also retiring. I dealt with George while he was the ALP whip and I was the acting government whip a couple of years ago. I must say I always found George to be a pretty tough character—there were no shades of grey, you knew exactly where George stood. He either said yes or no when you approached him with an idea seeking some sort of accommodation from the opposition. Obviously, he was a great son of the union movement, and I wish him in particular all the best in his retirement.