Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC) Share this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of Senator Wong and the opposition to acknowledge the passing of the Hon. Ian Louis Robinson, who passed away last week. I note, as the Leader of the Government in the Senate has just said, that today would have been his 92nd birthday. At the outset I wish to convey the opposition's condolences to relatives and friends of Mr Robinson.

A Country and then a National Party member, Ian Robinson served in the House of Representatives from 1963 until 1990 representing the divisions of Cowper and, following the 1984 redistribution, the seat of Page. In his long parliamentary career, he served as Assistant Minister to the Postmaster-General in the government of Sir William McMahon before his time in executive office was cut short by the election of the Whitlam government in 1972. He also served in the shadow ministry and was an advocate for rural industry and regional services.

Born on the banks of the Richmond River in the mid-1920s, Ian Robinson was strongly connected to northern New South Wales throughout his life. Growing up where his grandfather had first settled in the early 1870s, he later resided in Grafton. Mr Robinson was first active in the Rural Youth Movement and the Agricultural Bureau, before joining the Country Party at a very early age.

Variously a farmer, journalist and company director prior to entering parliament, it seemed public service was to be his true calling. He first entered politics as the member for Casino in the parliament of New South Wales in 1953. He resigned from this position 10 years later to successfully contest the federal election. The division of Cowper had been a Country Party seat for many years until it was snatched by Labor in the closely fought election of 1961. However, unfortunately for Labor, Frank McGuren was to be a oncer. He was defeated soundly in the landslide victory of the Menzies government in 1963, which brought Ian Robinson into the Commonwealth parliament. Mr Robinson would go on to win re-election on a further 10 occasions. Upon entering the House of Representatives, Mr Robinson first addressed himself to the subject of Commonwealth-state relations. Whilst he observed that he believed in the rights of the states as allowed for in the Constitution, he was also quick to identify the need for the states to:

… accept more responsibility in their financial relations with the Commonwealth.

He went on to denounce buck-passing between different levels of government and to lament the negative effect this had on national and regional development and expansion.

Cowper was a largely rural electorate and naturally it was primary industries that dominated, in particular dairying—which was the greatest of these—grazing, timber, banana growing and fishing. Mr Robinson argued for greater attention to be paid to public works and rural infrastructure. Interestingly, despite his claim to 'believe very firmly in state rights', he also saw the need for the Commonwealth to

… exercise more control … or at least have a larger hand in the determination of the overall public works programme.

He saw the need for improvements in communication, roads, education and employment if the potential of primary and secondary industry in rural and regional areas was to be realised. Hand in hand with this went increased investment in steps to increase productivity and he advocated:

… scientific research in co-operation with the States in the field of primary industry.

He also saw a need for:

… special financial assistance to all forms of industry … in regions such as the northern half of New South Wales …

This was to overcome hurdles to economic development in country areas.

In 1971, Ian Robinson became the Assistant Minister to the Postmaster-General. Unfortunately for Mr Robinson, his ministerial career was to be short-lived, as the government of the Liberal-Country Party coalition that had prevailed in Australia since 1949 came to an end in 1972. Finding himself in opposition, Ian Robinson served briefly in the shadow ministry prior to the election of the Fraser government in 1975 as the spokesman on decentralised industry. However, when the coalition returned to government, Mr Robinson did not re-enter the ministry and would instead serve as Deputy Chairman of Committees from 1976 to 1983. When Ian Robinson transferred to the new division of Page following the 1984 redistribution, there was an appropriate symmetry about that change. Sir Earle Page, after whom the seat had been named, had been an important mentor to Mr Robinson and was the last Country Party member to hold the division of Cowper, which Mr Robinson had reclaimed from Labor in 1963.

The 1980s were a turbulent time for the group now known as the National Party, especially as they operated under the shadow of the ill-fated Joh for Canberra push. In 1987, Mr Robinson found himself caught up in speculation about the replacement of then leader Ian Sinclair, touted as a potential leadership candidate sympathetic to a number of disaffected Queensland members. Ultimately, the changing mood of the electorate brought about Mr Robinson's exit from the House of Representatives. Faced with changing demographics in his electorate and criticisms about his own performance, he was defeated at the 1990 election by Labor's Harry Woods. The rise in green issues and green voters was an ill match for Mr Robinson. Having turned up to the opening of the Clarence Environment Centre, Mr Robinson was described by The Sydney Morning Herald's Mike Seccombe as having fitted in 'like a foot in a glove'.

Ian Robinson was a Country Party member through and through. As a representative of the Country Party and National Party in the House of Representatives for 27 years, he displayed the resilience that came from experiences of rural life, where you are not necessarily master of your own destiny. We again extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends following his passing.