Fraser Anning (Queensland, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

This is not my first speech. After that thinly-veiled attack on Sir Joh by Senator Bartlett, I rise to support the condolence motion for Lady Flo Bjelke-Petersen. My wife Fiona and I had the honour of knowing Lady Flo and her husband, Sir Joh. Sir Joh was the patron of the aircraft manufacturing company I was involved in, and our families counted Sir Joh and Lady Flo as friends.

Lady Flo was a wonderful person, filled with genuine warmth. She possessed a genteel eloquence which charmed even her political opponents. She was famous for her traditional pumpkin scones, the recipe for which still adorns the tea towels in many Queensland kitchens. Like her husband, Sir Joh—who was the greatest premier Queensland ever had in my opinion—Lady Flo was a staunch advocate of families, especially those from the bush and, even prior to her election, was a tireless supporter, along with her husband, of their political interests. Once elected to the Senate, Lady Flo astonished even her strongest political foes as they discovered that, behind her Country Party roots, Flo had a very shrewd political mind.

Many people who did not know Joh and Flo well did not realise there was a genuine political partnership between them in which they discussed and analysed political developments together, planned together, and together they best tried to serve the people of their home state. Like Sir Joh, Lady Flo was a committed Christian and, in an age of social ratbaggery, stood firmly for traditional values once shared by politicians across the political spectrum. Yet, despite her long political involvement with the hardened leftists who hated Sir Joh, it must often have been a trial. Lady Flo rose above it all and never lost her kind and thoughtful outlook.

In a long life well lived, Lady Flo touched so many people, my family included. It is a great consolation to know that, in passing, she is reunited in spirit with her lifelong partner and soul mate. Rest in peace, Lady Flo, and know that the world is a little brighter and certainly a better place for having had you in it.