Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the minister for his reflection on the life of the former Deputy Prime Minister John Douglas 'Doug' Anthony. I rise to contribute to this condolence motion, and I do so both in honour of Mr Anthony's service and as a proud resident of New South Wales, his home state. It is clear from the tributes that flowed following his death that Mr Anthony was held in high regard as a thoroughly decent man who exemplified what it means to serve your community and your country.

Mr Anthony demonstrated a deep commitment to public service. He was elected to the federal seat of Richmond in 1957 in a by-election after his father, who had held the seat, died sudden. In his first speech to the parliament Doug Anthony warned that while members of parliament should express the views upon which they were elected to office, he noted that a member should, 'set his target at national development and security rather than personal achievement'. He spent a career pursuing the former and he certainly achieved the latter.

Mr Anthony's parliamentary career spanned nearly three decades, more than half of which involved service as a minister in government. The commitment he brought to the broader goals of the office was evident in the way he discussed his career, humbly remarking in his later years:

I'm very fortunate to be where I am. I think I was making a useful contribution and that's the satisfaction I get out of the job.

Mr Anthony appeared to have an admirable humility about his work and his role. He often performed his role as Acting Prime Minister during the summer, as Minister Birmingham noted, in a caravan by his cottage in New Brighton on the New South Wales North Coast wearing little more than shorts and thongs. During the lockdown year many members of parliament were able to have their own experience of working from the New South Wales coast or wherever their lounge rooms happen to be. If Zoom is any indicator most did wear more than shorts and thongs! It is appropriate that the linchpin of Australia's government would temporarily find itself in the bush by the sea on those summers.

Mr Anthony was a passionate advocate for regional Australia. He worked with the Country Party to represent the diversity of people living in regional Australia and bring their voice to Canberra. He made it clear that his responsibility was to the agriculture producers of this country. Doug Anthony was Minister for Primary Industry during an incredibly difficult period for Australian farmers, but he showed a tenacity in his work and his negotiating style that would come to define his career.

He helped establish the Australian Wool Commission, which administered reserve price schemes and provided funds for marketing and research. When the price of grain crashed in 1969 he introduced wheat quotas to limit overproduction and encouraged the Australian Wheat Board to open flour mills overseas. It was during this period that Mr Anthony—like me and many other members of this place—became an advocate for an Australian republic. During particularly tense negotiations with the British agriculture minister, Geoffrey Rippon, over European farm policies, Mr Anthony said:

It was the contempt that I couldn't put up with. It's always been the attitude of the colonial powers. After the loyalty that we'd shown, the wars that we'd fought—I thought it was a pretty shabby way to treat us.

That led him to become a campaigner, alongside my uncle Tom Kenneally, for the 1999 republican campaign. He believed in giving Australians the recognition and the respect they deserved, particularly rural Australians.

As his family noted upon his passing, he was very much a man of the Tweed region, and it is fitting that he should depart this life from within the community he loved so much. Despite being at home in the country, Mr Anthony was one of the architects of the modern and vibrant Canberra that we know today. As Minister for the Interior he helped finish the transition of government department head offices from Melbourne to Canberra—thank goodness!—overseeing the construction across the city and interjecting character into the national capital. It was Mr Anthony who was responsible for the construction of the National Library and the opening of Lake Burley Griffin. Mr Anthony and his wife, Margot, were well known in Canberra for providing emotional support to members of the local community who had disabilities.

As devoted as he was to his community, Doug Anthony was evidently a dedicated husband, father and family man. He married Margot in 1957. They had three children: Dugald, Jane and Larry and, eventually—and I'm sure he was very delighted—nine grandchildren. I was struck by the description of Margot and Doug's marriage as a 'romance that never died'. He was loved fiercely in return by his family, who were never lost in the shadows of the enormity of his public service.

Many in the community will also remember Mr Anthony for being the only Australian member of parliament—at least, that I'm aware of—to have a band named after him. When Paul McDermott, Tim Ferguson and Richard Fidler decided to form a musical comedy band called the Doug Anthony All Stars, Mr Anthony took it in the good humour in which it was meant. My friend Tim Ferguson told me, 'He was always a true gentleman who tolerated our antics with great patience and, hopefully, forgiveness.' While I didn't know Doug Anthony personally, when I read that his most famous saying was, 'If you see a head, kick it,' I thought the two of us might have gotten along!

My condolences are with Margot, his children, his grandchildren and his community on the New South Wales North Coast. May we look to his legacy as that of an honourable man and a true Australian statesman.