Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) | Hansard source

I rise to make a contribution about my friend and my colleague Simon Birmingham, but, as Macca said, he's just Birmo to us in here. Entering here in 2007, replacing the late Jeannie Ferris, was the start of a 17-year career, which has been accomplished, distinguished and significant. Seven of those years was as a cabinet minister in a coalition government. There is no doubt that those seven years allowed you to make your mark on this country, and you should go and leave this place knowing that you have made a significant contribution to our country as an education minister—I think every education minister wears the scars of having held that role—the trade minister, the minister for finance, the shadow minister for foreign affairs of course and, most importantly for us, holding our team together over the last three years in opposition as our leader in this place. You've done a phenomenal job.

Behind the extensive resume that Birmo brings to this place, there is a man of real character. You're a true moderate. You are absolutely a true moderate and unwavering in your conviction for your beliefs. Moderate he may well be; he's also a team player. I can remember many occasions, as we all can—whether that was in leadership, whether it was sitting around the cabinet table or whether it was in the party room—where Birmo always put forward his views and his convictions in the strongest possible way. But, if he was outnumbered by the majority, he would always accept the majority view and he would then go out, front the cameras and fight the fight that wasn't necessarily the view that he put forward behind closed doors. Because he's such a team player, he would often go and fight the fight, but I know that inside he didn't necessarily want to fight at all.

As Bridget has said, there was no more obvious a place where the contests were robust on many occasions, but the relationship that is established through a respectful debate with differing opinions can actually lead to some of the greatest relationships that you can ever make in this place. There is nothing that I think demonstrates that more so than the relationship you have maintained with the National Party and how we have managed to get to a consensus position once we have had our robust debates behind closed doors.

One of the things I think everybody will remember Birmo for is that he is the safest pair of hands in the media—although, I have to say, his confidence has grown and grown in his time in this place, because I do remember a certain press conference, when he was first in this place, where he failed to work out where the exit was and then, after a fiery engagement with the press, found it a little difficult to get out of the room. The unflappable Birmo we see today was forged on the altar of a very embarrassing moment, and you will note that these days he advances every single one of his media outings!

Beyond his talents in this place as an amazing senator, he has also been an extraordinarily loyal friend to me and a reliable source of advice. In fact, Birmo and his then partner in crime, Sean Edwards, are the very reason I'm even here today. They managed to con me at a restaurant one night at dinner that they'd really love me to run for a casual vacancy. I wasn't going to win, they said to me. 'You're not going to win; we just need a really good field of candidates.' So I put my hand up, and 12 years later I'm still here, so clearly that wasn't true!

The reality is that there are many ways that you can judge the character of a person, and one of the ways that I think is a really good judge of character is the loyalty of their staff. There is nobody in this place that has staff that have been more loyal than Birmo. I acknowledge Loretta, who is here—a formidable force in her own right—Buck, RT and the many others of your staff. Their loyalty to you is a demonstration of your respect and loyalty that you give to them. It works both ways. I think that is probably the greatest demonstration of the character of the person that is sitting before us today.

Above all else, Birmo is a family man. To Courtney, a political operative all in your own right: I acknowledge you and the sacrifice that you have made over the last—well, not quite 17 years, but all the time that you guys have been together that Simon has been in this place. I'm not really sure that you've thought through having him home full time, but I wish you all the best with that! To Tilly and Amelia, who have not known your father to be anything else but a person who is in this place: it's going to be a really interesting time for you to have Dad home a bit more often so he can pick you up from school. To Amelia: I will never forget your birthday on 7 September, because Dad promised me faithfully that he would be my sponsor and bring me into the chamber when I was sworn into this place. At the very last minute he said he was terribly sorry, but you were about to be born. Instead of swearing me in, he went home for your birth. I think that probably shows it. I reckon he might just be the family man that we all know him to be.

To Diana: it's fantastic to see you here. There is always one face that you will always find in crowd when Birmo is doing anything, and that's yours. The support that you have given to Simon throughout his career is absolutely extraordinary, and I just wanted to acknowledge that as well. I'm sure much of your decision today has been on the basis that you have an amazing family, and you want to spend more time with them.

To us in here, but to me personally, you're not just a considered and steadfast politician. You're a great leader. You're a great orator. You're a deeply rational thinker. Above all else, you're somebody that cares about other people, and the care that you have shown your team since becoming the leader has been extraordinary. We will absolutely miss you. We'll miss your wise counsel. We'll miss your terrible Christmas jokes and your terrible Christmas outfits, as Macca just said, but I think everybody in this place, and certainly I on behalf of South Australia, wishes you all the best for whatever it is that you're going to choose to do in the future. I know, whatever it is, that they'll be lucky to have you. We'll sadly miss you.