Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I rise as a National Party senator cast in the footsteps of Senator Ron Boswell—something that I think we all aspire to. I wish to extend my condolences upon his passing to his daughter, Cathy, to Sophie and to the rest of the family who couldn't be here today. I extend my condolences to all those who loved him and to those who respected him and who were impacted by his political conviction and community advocacy. They certainly broke the mould with Ron, and I don't think there will ever be another senator like Ron Boswell. He has been a blueprint for those who follow.

Many people will refer to Senator Boswell as Boz and Ron and every other thing, but to me he will always be Senator Boswell. The first times I came across him were when would ring the party line to the station to speak to my father, and his calls, of course, were legendary across the state. He was generous with his advice, as Senator McKenzie has already said, and honest to a fault. When I stood for preselection, he said to me: 'I won't vote for you. I will vote for the incumbent senator. And you should only ever believe those people who say they're not voting for you'—very wise words! Immediately after my preselection, he said, 'Now I will always vote for you.' It was a generous to do.

I take this opportunity to remember and acknowledge Leita Boswell, who stood with Ron for over five decades and whom he recognised in his valedictory speech by saying this:

I could never have got to the Senate, nor remained here as long as I have, without you.

We also know that Leita was responsible for introducing Ron to the National Party in 1974.

Ron's final words to this place, with the collaboration of St Paul, reflect also how he left this world on 6 January this year:

'My time of departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight. I have run the race. I have kept the faith.' Thank you very much. God bless and goodbye.

Senator Boswell grew up in Perth, living what he described himself as a tumultuous childhood. At the age of 14 he left school to work as an office boy in a Queensland insurance company. He was immensely proud of his working history and believed his success would come through selling and salesmanship, which of course proved to be more than true. On the back of years of hard work as a young man and a sharp mind for business, Senator Boswell started his own successful hardware business, and who knows how successful his enterprise could have become if he had never discovered politics.

While he grew up as a Liberal, his wife, Leita, and her family were long-term members of the Queensland Country Party, and it was at a conference for the newly renamed National Party that Senator Boswell was first introduced to politics. As a successful businessman and volunteer within the National Party, his first volunteer role was identifying small-business owners to run for preselection in the bayside suburbs of Wynnum and Manly. I believe that it was during these efforts that he decided it was Ronald Boswell himself who would make a good politician and great figure for working and small-business Queenslanders—and how glad we all are that he did.

During his opening speech, the newly elected Senator Boswell stated:

I will do all in my power to aid the growth and development of this nation as a whole—Queensland in particular …

And this dedication stretched incessantly throughout his career. Senator Boswell fought tirelessly for the development of regional and remote communities all over Australia. During his valedictory speech, Ron stated that getting modern telephone, email and internet to the bush was one of his career highlights.

Senator Boswell was incredible loyal to the National Party. He believed in its ongoing purpose in representing regional Australia and small businesses across the nation. However, he was never afraid to stand up for his beliefs and his community, crossing the floor on multiple occasions, often to his own career's detriment. However, Senator Bowell never seemed overly concerned with this risk. In fact, he consistently called out career politicians and believed that his experience in the real world—in primary industries and business—was his biggest advantage in representing Queensland. As a small-business owner himself, Senator Boswell was intensely determined to give Australian small businesses a fair go. He strongly defended small retailers against the deregulation of trading hours, which threatened to overload and overwork family owned businesses just so they could compete with big retailers. He was a major supporter of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, advocating for the model that only pharmacists should own community pharmacies. Often alone he challenged big businesses and large retail chains, never scared but always dedicated to give a voice to the businesses and organisations who rarely were given the chance to defend themselves.

Senator Boswell's fierce and determined spirit for Australian small businesses, like tobacco, fisheries and farmers, did not fizzle out after his retirement. In the words of my colleague Senator Canavan, he was always on the phone, fighting to protect the livelihoods of fishermen, for stronger competition laws to protect small businesses, to help vulnerable Australians overseas and to defend life. Senator Boswell strongly believed in an egalitarian Australia, where every Australian, regardless of their level of education or where their home is, and every Australian business, regardless of size or location, gets a fair go.

As I said before, my first contact with Senator Boswell was answering the party line to Devonport, looking for dad. My brothers and I made it quite the competition to see if we could get him to give us some more details of his call, and it was mostly to our disappointment that we never broke him. His calls around Queensland, though, were legendary, campaigning and speaking to people on every issue possible. Later on I worked with Senator Boswell as State Secretary of the National Party, but he was the true fighter for important places in parts of Queensland and Australia that most politicians never went to. His funeral, as Senator McKenzie said, was an extraordinary gathering—in the words of Banjo Paterson, 'a gathering of the fray'. From prime ministers to party presidents and party members, people gathered from around the state and country to farewell such a great man. And Cathy's tribute to him was extraordinary.

Finally, I will tell you that, as a younger woman, I bought a house based entirely on Senator Boswell. I was walking around, unsure if this was the right place for me. And a cupboard door swung open, and across it was the big campaign sticker: 'Boswell—not pretty but pretty effective.' I said, 'It's a sign!' I bought the house very happily.

Senator Boswell was a great Australian. He will be respected as a great man, a campaigner for everyday Australians and one of the great characters in Australian politics. Vale, Senator Ron Boswell AO. Thank you for your most honourable service and your contribution to our nation.