Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of the opposition to express our condolences following the passing of former Governor-General Major General the Hon. Michael Jeffery AC, AO, CVO, MC at the age of 83 and I begin by conveying the Labor Party's sincere condolences to his wife, Marlena and to all of his family and his friends.

Michael Jeffery gave a lifetime of service to Australia. Beginning in the army as a teenager, he went on to serve amongst its highest ranks and became a celebrated and respected leader. The manner in which he carried out this service saw him retained for even higher office, first as the Governor of Western Australia and then, of course, as Governor-General of Australia. He would also use his profile to advance conservation and improve soil health later in life.

Michael Jeffery started life in December 1937 in Wiluna, a small town in the Mid West region of Western Australia. Situated in the middle of the state, it is on the edge of the Western Desert, at the gateway to the Canning Stock Route. From these beginnings—these very Australian beginnings—came one of the nation's most significant military leaders and public servants. After growing up in the suburbs of Perth during the period of his school education, he left school at the age of 16 to attend the Royal Military College, Duntroon.

He had an extensive military career from 1958 to 1993 and included in that many notable overseas service and command postings. These included serving operationally in the theatres in Malaya, Borneo, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam. His service in Vietnam earned him the Military Cross. In Papua New Guinea, as my colleague Senator Birmingham has indicated, Major General Jeffery commanded the 1st Battalion, the Pacific Island Regiment. In 2005, the 30th anniversary of independence, he was recognised with Papua New Guinea's highest honour, being made an inaugural recipient of the honour of Grand Companion of the Order of Logohu, into which he was invested in 2007. He was also pivotal in the sustainment of the Special Air Service Regiment.

Major General Jeffery received many honours. The first was in 1981, when he became a Member of the Order of Australia for service to the Army. In 1988 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1996 for services as governor and to the community. In 2000 he was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, which recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch.

Michael Jeffery's military career came to an end in 1993, and shortly thereafter he was appointed to the office of Governor of Western Australia. He saw as a central component of this role connecting with people across the state. As governor, with Mrs Jeffery, he was patron of 170 organisations, and they relished the opportunity to be engaged with the community through these roles. To the extent they reflected Michael Jeffery's own interests, many of them had an emphasis on developing youth. Major General Jeffery was grateful for the way in which this vice-regal role enabled him to travel around the state, observing what he called the 'totality of life', from sheep stations to mines, oil rigs, schools and remote Aboriginal communities.

After retiring as governor in 2000, Michael Jeffery returned to make his home in Canberra, making the trip from the west to the east coast on the Indian Pacific. Not too long after this, he found himself moving to another and more significant address in the national capital. In August 2003 he was sworn in as the 24th Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia. He took office at a time where the then Howard government—and in fact the nation—needed the role to be filled by someone who would restore its integrity. It was a challenging time to take on the vice-regal position. He acknowledged this, stating that amidst the difficult circumstances in which the appointment took place he would give his total commitment to the Australian people that he would seek to carry out the role with dignity and dedication, and he did so. Certainly he came to the office with a sound reputation for ethical conduct—a reputation which continued undiminished.

In office Michael Jeffery sought to engage directly with Australians, with those undertaking worthwhile activities in their communities, continuing very much in the manner with which he had approached his role in Western Australia. As Senator Birmingham said, he was of the people and for the people. He once said:

The big thing you can do—and there's not enough of it—is looking people in the eye and saying thanks for making a contribution through being a Meals on Wheels person or a volunteer ambulance driver or a violinist in a youth orchestra, or whatever.

Mindful that it would not be appropriate to stray too closely to policy matters that were more appropriately the domain of the government of the day, he nonetheless sought to use some of his many speeches a year to lend profile to important national and community issues. These ranged from mental health, the environment, volunteering and the importance of mentoring, to urban planning, local sport and community involvement.

This accompanied his acquittal of more formal constitutional duties and responsibilities, such as presiding over meetings of the Federal Executive Council. He had a reputation for interrogating the business thoroughly. By the end of 2007, the Federal Executive Council had considered some 2,540 agenda items on his watch. With Mrs Jeffery, he also represented Australia overseas on multiple occasions.

My first personal interaction with Michael Jeffery came on 3 December 2007, which is a day I shall never forget, because that was the day on which the Governor-General of Australia swore in the first Rudd Labor government ministry and I became the Minister for Climate Change and Water. The signed certificate hangs in my office in Adelaide and a signed bookplate is in the Bible I keep in my office here in Parliament House. In an interview on his retirement, Michael Jeffery told a story about that day, when the swearing in of the ministry coincided with a tour of the grounds of Government House by a large group of schoolchildren. He recalled that, whilst he was inside discussing major issues of state or certainly engaging in major issues of state, the kids were all waving from outside. So, naturally, led by the new Prime Minister and the Governor-General, we all got up and waved back. He thought of this as being a profoundly Australian thing to do. Originally expected to serve three to four years, Michael Jeffery completed his term after a two-year extension in August 2008.

After leaving vice-regal office, Michael Jeffery continued in the role to which he was originally appointed by the Gillard government in 2012 as Australia's first national advocate for soil health. This was a natural for the boy who grew up in the red earth of the outback. He consulted in that role with thousands of farmers, Indigenous land managers, policy makers, students and interest groups across Australia to bring together the Restore the soil: prosper the nation report in 2018. He advocated for our soil, water and vegetation to be declared strategic national assets and he saw that improving soil health had the potential to have a significant positive impact on our carbon emissions. His passion for restoring Australia's soil for regenerative farming and exporting Australian knowledge about managing soils in difficult climates lasted until his final months when he relinquished the role. The legacy of his work remains.

Retirement from high public office also gave Michael Jeffery the opportunity to share more time with his children and grandchildren and engage in his hobbies and recreational pursuits, including golf. Michael Jeffery passed away in December 2020. The first full-time career Australian soldier appointed to the office of Governor-General, he set a standard for diligence and integrity by which those who follow are measured. He was, of course, succeeded in office first by Quentin Bryce, then by Peter Cosgrove and David Hurley. Reflecting on his predecessor, General Hurley said:

As a nation, we give thanks for Michael's extraordinary lifetime of service.

He was, by every measure, a great Australian.

So, too, do we in in the Senate today pay tribute to and give thanks for Michael Jeffery's service to Australia, to his nation. We express our condolences following his passing, and the opposition again express our sympathy to his family and friends.