Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to rise to add my voice and associate myself with the remarks of my colleagues across the chamber in this place for a servant of the nation that I never met but that I did have the opportunity to see the influence of in my home state of Tasmania. As Senator McKenzie indicated in her remarks, Peter Nixon completed a report into the economy of Tasmania in the late nineties, and I recall my good friend the then premier of Tasmania, Tony Rundle—who, sadly, also passed away only very recently. I was sitting in Tony's office one day, and Tony was saying to me that when the Nixon report was tabled, when it was brought down, the community were effectively marching in the streets, seeking the introduction of the measures that were contained in the report. Such was the respect that the Tasmanian community held for Peter and the work that he'd done.

There is a bit of a theme that runs through the presentations here tonight, which is that, the more things change, the more they stay the same with respect to the issues, because the key issues identified by Peter in that report with respect to the Tasmanian economy included overgovernance, and we have a continuing debate with respect to the number of local government areas that exist within Tasmania. The chestnut of actually getting things done in our state, which remains today, is parochialism—we hear a lot about north and south, but sometimes we don't hear about north, south and north-west—bureaucracy, resistance to change—and that is as valid today as it was in the late nineties, when this report was issued—and polarisation of issues. People hold very close to the issues that they find in our state and they fight for them very hard, and nothing is more evident than that in the politics of Tasmania today.

One important recommendation that he made and that has progressed is the importance of tourism to the island of Tasmania. Peter recognised that in his report, and it now contributes over 10 per cent of our economy—the importance of tourism infrastructure and the development of that. That goes to some of the points that my colleagues have already raised that were extremely important and have played a huge role in the development of the tourism industry in Tasmania. For example, the development of MONA, although it's a purely private piece of infrastructure, demonstrates how right Peter was when he made those recommendations, because that was another one of the elements of the importance of the development of the tourism industry in Tasmania.

He also recommended the continuation of the Freight Equalisation Scheme, which remains an extremely important part of the Tasmanian economy, recognising the importance of Tasmania's sea freight disadvantages. He recommended an annual review of the parameters to keep it up to date, and we just had a debate in the lead-up to the last election about that and addressing bureaucracy, promoting innovation and change. Part of the conversation that I had with Tony on that occasion was that, although people were marching in the streets to see the implementation of the reforms recommended by the Nixon review, every time he tried to implement one of those reforms—going back to the point about resistance to change—they were marching in the streets to try and stop him. The only things that didn't receive pushback were the support for the Freight Equalisation Scheme and tourism infrastructure. In fact, the attempt to reform local government was one of the things that led to the downfall and the loss of the Rundle government in 1998, and the resistance to change in that space remains as it was today.

I think it just goes to reinforce the strength of the stories, the strength of character that someone like Peter brought to the tasks that he was given—that the report that he made into the Tasmania economy was so highly regarded. After Tony Rundle lost government in 1998, Jim Bacon, the new Labor Premier, picked up a lot of the elements of the Nixon review and quietly implemented them as his own, demonstrating the strength of the work that was done across the parliament. They have obviously gone on to become important parts of the Tasmanian economy.

To broaden out the recognition that has been provided by my colleagues but also to express the appreciation of the Tasmanian community for the contribution that Peter made to our state, I am very, very pleased to be able to stand in this place today and recognise that. It's fantastic that members of his family are here to be able to hear us make the recognition. I know that he and Tony Rundle became great friends during the period of time of preparation of the report and the work that Tony did in looking to implement the recommendations. I'm very pleased to add my voice and associate myself with the remarks of my colleagues across the chamber in recognising someone who was not only a powerful voice for regional Australia but an important voice for all of Australia in his public service. I'm very thankful for that. You as his family can be proud and thankful for that. I'm very pleased to add my voice to those of others in the chamber expressing our condolences to you for the loss of a great Australian and thanking him for his service. May he rest in peace.