Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to associate myself with earlier comments paying tribute to esteemed colleagues whose times will shortly expire and who will be leaving this place shortly, namely, Senators Troeth, Barnett and Trood. I know that a lot of colleagues want to speak so I will be jumping around a little bit to try to capture the essence of what I want to say about each of these colleagues. All of these senators have graced this chamber with their presence and by the considerable contri­butions each has made, albeit in different fields and areas of expertise and interest.

I find it so challenging to try to capture the essence of a colleague's parliamentary career, which typically is diverse and broad in scope. As the speeches go on and the degrees of fabulousness get greater, it is ever more difficult to be able to properly capture rather than diminish the high regard in which they are held. For that reason, rather than attempt to catalogue the myriad public achievements of the three of them, I will just give a few personal reflections and observations.

Senator Troeth represents and embodies a very important Victorian Liberal tradition, that of having a woman continually representing the state of Victoria since 1949 in this chamber. Judith has continued the tradition and has been a wonderful example of women selected on merit who have forged their careers in a not always accommodating environment. Judith has been a strong representative for women and particularly for rural women across Australia, as others have said. Having that great credential of being from a farming background, as a wife and mother of five children I also come from a rural background, and when someone the other day referred to me as 'Sydney Helen', I did not really know whether to be insulted or not. But Judith of course has got absolutely impeccable credentials to represent her rural constituency.

She has been an indefatigable worker. I am currently chair of the Scrutiny of Bills Committee and I think that she was also chair and a very effective parliamentary secretary, as others have said, to the Minister for Primary Industries and Energy, and the minister for agriculture. On top of all that, her hard work on various Senate committees is topped only by the list of foreign countries she visited during the years she served in the Senate. But these were not the normal places. Our Judith has been to Ethiopia and Tanzania and Mongolia and East Timor, which just shows the interest she has in the far-flung places around the globe.

Finally, if anyone in this chamber has an impression of a mild-mannered senator, let me remind you, as other colleagues have, that Judith is a woman of passion and conviction, prepared to exercise her absolute right to take on unpopular positions particularly in her own party—never an easy thing to do—and to stand her ground even, if necessary, crossing the floor if she thought that was warranted. So there are two things I will always associate with Judith Troeth: her passion and her commitment to causes that she felt strongly about. But most of all, I will always value her friendship.

The second senator that I wish to quickly mention is Guy Barnett. Guy joined us after appointment by the Governor in 2002, replacing our great friend and colleague Senator the Hon. Brian Gibson. He had a stellar career as the youngest senior adviser to a state premier at the age of 25, and then of course as a successful owner and manager of his own government affairs and public relations business prior to his entry to the Senate. These are all things that will serve him well now. He was well qualified to contribute to the long line of very distinguished Tasmanian senators that we have in this place.

From a party point of view, long before being appointed to the Senate, he was a member of the Liberal Party State Executive and Policy Committee, and Chair of its Constitution Review Committee from 1994 to 2001, no doubt ably calling on his legal background. So he is a passionate advocate for truth and transparency. We have all heard about these wonderful attributes of Guy.

My very clear memory of Guy will always be associated with him working closely, even passionately, with me when I was the minister for communications on measures to protect Australian families online, and he always had valuable perspectives. He also had an almost equally passionate denuncia­tion of government waste, although I hasten to say that was not in my capacity as minister for communications. So, Guy, the people of Tasmania should be very proud of you, as we are, and I know that you will be able to use the many talents that you have innately and those you have developed.

And as for last of the three amigos—I always like to use that word, drawing on my background as minister for communi­cations—I wish to talk about the stereotype of the diplomat rather than the senator. Senator Trood has performed superbly as a senator. A great friend from Queensland since his election, he came to the chamber as a fully-fledged lawyer and university lecturer. He served on various boards, either as president or board member, such as the Australian Institute of International Affairs, the Australia Indonesia Institute and the Foreign Affairs Council—all before he entered politics. As others have said, he served our party not surprisingly in a most distinguished role as Chair of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, a member of the state executive and as Vice-Chair of the Liberal Party Development Committee.

As I have heard it said of Senator Trood, when Senate estimates come around, as indeed Senator Evans confirmed, even the most senior bureaucrats are concerned that there is a senator who knows as much, if not more, than they do about their department and its work. But all of this has been very carefully camouflaged behind that urbane, civilised and cultured manner. When I was appointed shadow foreign minister by Malcolm Turnbull I called on Senator Trood several times to represent both me and the coalition at various state functions, totally confident in the knowledge that he would always enhance our position. He never let me down and he has never let us down. He has a deserved reputation for his calm, thoughtful and strong contributions, always listened to, always worth listening to. He is a rare talent, assisted and perfected by his university lecturing over many years, and more recently his visiting fellowship at the Lowy Institute for International Policy.

I know that others want to talk about the three of you. As I said when I started, the briefness of my contribution is in no way meant to diminish the great regard in which I hold all of you. You will be very much missed in the chamber. We are losing three very valuable senators on our side who have made a significant contribution not just to us but to the body politic of this great Senate and to the national debate, both individually and jointly. You will be missed. I salute you and thank you and ask that you not be strangers to us in future.