Wendy Askew (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm honoured to contribute to the condolence motion today relating to the late John Watson AM, who was a senator for Tasmania for exactly 30 years. I attended former senator John Watson's funeral in Launceston just two weeks ago and, unsurprisingly, there was a very large congregation, including colleagues, both state and federal, many former staff, friends and, of course, John's family and extended family. A particularly lovely touch was the presence of the Railway Silver Band, in their bright uniforms, who played at the conclusion of the service. John Watson was patron of the band for many years both as a senator and after.

Not many senators achieve 30 years in this place. It is a feature of the churn of members that there are few in the chamber who shared these benches with John Watson. The Leader of the Government, Senator Wong, as she mentioned, Senator Carol Brown and my colleague Senator Richard Colbeck all served with him. At his funeral, the point was made that there is only a handful of senators since Federation who have made such a substantial contribution to the development of policy in Australia without achieving ministerial office. One of those who falls into that category would be former Tasmanian senator the Hon. Peter Rae AO and another is the man we are remembering here today.

As has been mentioned, John Watson's contribution to the development of Australia's superannuation and taxation laws cannot be overstated. He served on the longest established select committee in the Senate's history, the Select Committee on Superannuation, as we've heard, which was later renamed the Select Committee on Superannuation and Financial Services and operated from 1991 to 2001. Most unusually, in 1993 John Watson was elected chair of that committee. This was a time when opposition senators did not hold chairmanship of committees. But it was universally accepted across the political divide that there was no-one in the parliament who knew more about the complexities of superannuation and retirement income than John Watson.

John graduated from the University of Tasmania with a Bachelor of Economics in 1960 and then a Bachelor of Commerce in 1962. It was most uncommon at that time for a person to undertake a combined degree. He continued his education and became a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries, the Taxation Institute of Australia and the Institute of Chartered Accountants. John commenced in an accounting role at the Kelsall and Kemp textile mill in Launceston and steadily rose up the ranks to end up as managing director. He was one of very few members of this place to have been managing director of a large manufacturing company. Another who comes to mind is another Tasmanian senator and great friend of John's, the late Senator Brian Gibson.

However, when the Whitlam government decided to end textile, clothing and footwear tariffs, the economic effects on Launceston and the Tamar Valley were nothing short of devastating. Launceston had long been the home of not only Kelsall and Kemp but also Coats Patons, James Nelson and Waverley Woollen Mills. They employed hundreds of people, and hundreds more had ancillary jobs because of them. There were often three generations of people who worked in these mills because they were good and beneficial employers. Only the last of these three exists today. The others were destroyed by the tariff decision. John Watson spent weeks, as we've heard, driving around Launceston, trying to place his staff in new jobs when Kelsall and Kemp was to close. At the end of that task, as we've heard, he was left without a job himself.

John stood for the Senate in the half-Senate election in 1977 on a ticket with Shirley Walters, the first woman Senator from Tasmania, and Brian Archer. He was in the risky third seat and not assured of election. However, huge numbers of Kelsall and Kemp workers, not traditionally Liberal supporters, came out en masse to distribute leaflets and support him. They wanted to repay what he had done for them.

As history shows, John was elected easily and took his seat in July 1978. He was re-elected on six subsequent occasions. He decided that the way to succeed in the Senate was to find an area to specialise in, and he had one that was ready-made because of his astute accounting background. It is fair to say that John Watson together with his Labor Tasmanian colleague Nick Sherry deserve huge recognition for the tremendous amount of work they did in developing superannuation policy. John particularly fought for many years, right up until he left the Senate, to try and make superannuation completely portable, and I know he was conscious that there was still work to do in that area.

However, he did not confine his work only to that area. He served on the Joint Committee of Public Accounts for 27 years, including as chair and vice-chair, and he was part of 57 reports that committee tabled in that time. Richard Gilbert, who is here today, who was a Senate officer and secretary of the superannuation select committee before going on to head up the national superannuation association, paid warm tribute to John at his funeral and recalled taking a draft report into his Senate office for what he thought would be a quick sign off, only to leave three hours later after John Watson had read every word and laden him with many comments and suggestions. He said he learnt never to make that mistake again!

John was a staunch supporter of Tasmania, following in the vein of the senator who he'd succeeded, Sir Reginald Wright. John was prepared to cross the floor when he felt some decision would adversely affect his state, but he never did it without advising his leader and he never did it in a way that was designed to embarrass his party.

John grew up as a member of the Presbyterian Church, and his Christian faith was a strong guide in his life. He attended the then Scotch College in Launceston and later served on the council of the school. A stained-glass window in the college chapel was relocated at John's expense from Chalmers Church in Launceston when that church closed as a place of worship. John Watson was, for a long time, secretary of the Parliamentary Christian Fellowship and instituted the National Prayer Breakfast, maintaining strong links with many senators and members and their staff, across party lines. He took great care to invite interesting speakers for those events.

John Watson maintained a farm on the west Tamar, just outside the town of Exeter in the Tamar Valley. There he ran sheep, and he was very pleased, as Senator Colbeck has mentioned, only recently to have been awarded a first prize blue ribbon at the Exeter Show.

His interest in agriculture led him into a surprising diplomatic incident in Canberra. In 1989, he was a member of the organising committee for the World Sheep and Wool Congress, which was held in Launceston. Delegates came from across the globe to attend the meeting. John Watson was given the task of encouraging the USSR to send a delegation. He made an appointment with the agricultural counsellor at the Russian embassy, and, at the appointed time, was driven in a Commonwealth car the short distance from Parliament House to the embassy on Canberra Avenue. As his car arrived, the gate of the embassy opened to allow another vehicle to leave the compound. Knowing they were expected, Senator Watson told the driver to drive on through. The embassy, however, had other ideas, and the heavy gates closed on the car, crumpling each side of it. I understand the Russians did not turn a hair, and the meeting went ahead with no comment at all.

It was appropriate that, in 2014, John was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for his parliamentary service—in particular, the improvement of financial services and protection for Australian people.

John was strongly supported throughout his career, both at Kelsall and Kemp and in the Senate, by his wife, Jocelyn, who herself is well known in northern Tasmania and was herself honoured in the Order of Australia for services to pharmacy. At the funeral, each of John and Jocelyn's children, Ian, Rosemary, Fiona and Geoff—and I acknowledge Rosemary and Geoff in the gallery today—spoke warmly about an aspect of their father's life. It was, as funerals should be, a celebration of a life, and, in this case, a life of exemplary service and commitment to Tasmania and Australia as a whole.

On a personal note, my late father was a good friend of John Watson and shared many of his values, and that made it particularly moving to hear those stories and memories referred to at his funeral. My brother, former senator David Bushby, served with John briefly towards the end of John's career, and, personally, I have been fortunate to have ongoing support and encouragement from both John and Jocelyn over the years, always showing a genuine, caring interest in my activities. On behalf of my extended family, I send condolences to John's family, particularly Jocelyn, their four children and their partners, and their 12 grandchildren, Caleb, Noah, Oli, Douglas, Chris, Lachlan, Jackson, Camden, Sarah, Elise, Samuel and Rachel. It is my pleasure to support this motion of condolence today.