Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's time, Senator Smith! I'm not sure yet, but it should stay in people's minds at least. Very early on in his parliamentary career, he stood for Deputy Leader of the National Party, and he almost won. He was very highly regarded. In a very short career in this place, he became the Leader of the National Party in the Senate and then decided to run for a lower house seat.

He apparently had been very scornful of politicians throughout his Public Service career, but that didn't stop him becoming one. Perhaps, by running for the lower house, he started to push up against the limitations of frank and fearless advice and hit into the tough grassroots politics that goes with potentially being a lower house member. I know a former colleague of ours, Ron Boswell, was very good friends with John Stone. In his recent autobiography, Ron recalls campaigning with John for the seat of Fairfax in the Sunshine Coast. In Ron's view, it was just tough for a strident free-market economist who believed in a lot of free trade to get the support of the pineapple and ginger growers of the Sunshine Coast. So ideological purity has its benefits, but it doesn't always translate to votes, as John realised. He was beaten, ultimately, by Mr Alex Somlyay, who had a long career in the other place. There are lots of stories about that campaign. But none of that reduced the contribution John made to this country. Indeed, Gerard Henderson once wrote that there could be questions about John's political judgement but there could never be a question about John's courage in putting himself forward for these positions and seeking to do what he thought was best for the nation.

It was a long time ago that he ran for the seat of Fairfax, but he continued to contribute to our nation. I will miss his contributions in the Spectator magazine. They were quite fun. I was reading a few of them before this, and I've ultimately decided that I probably won't quote them in the chamber. It's probably too soon! Maybe in another 10 years we can recount his reflections. They were always very acerbic. He was always worth reading.

I'll finish here. Again, to the people that want to put opinions forward to us as decision-makers: I just want to know what you think. I just want to know where you stand. I think it's best, and John's career shows this—we don't actually need the public servants to be politicians. We don't need them to double-guess what's going to work or what's going to get the most votes. I find that's happened a bit too much lately. They perhaps read a little bit too much psephology and not enough public policy. We need the Public Service to provide advice on what's best for Australia, obviously, and then we need to navigate, through a democratic environment, how that gets popular support. But we need the frank and fearless advice, now more than ever, that John Stone provided.

All my condolences go to his family. His son Andrew Stone, who himself has been a major contributor to public policy in this country, is here with us this evening. Thank you for being here, Andrew. Please, on behalf of all of us, pass our condolences on to your family. Vale, Senator John Stone.