Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to associate myself with the remarks that have already been made and to honour the life and service of former senator Ron Boswell AO, a man known affectionately to his colleagues and friends as Bossie. Of course, I never called him Bossie in the time that we were here together. But his passing marks the end of a remarkable chapter in the history of this chamber and the federal parliament.

Senator Boswell served this nation for more than three decades from his election to the Senate of Queensland in 1983 until his retirement in 2014. In that time he became one of the longest serving members of this chamber, the Leader of The Nationals in the Senate for many years and ultimately the father of the Senate. His was a career defined not by titles alone but by conviction, loyalty and an unwavering commitment to the people he represented.

Although he came to represent Queensland, it is worth remembering that Ron Boswell's story began in Western Australia, where he was born in Perth in 1940. That connection was something that I always quietly appreciated. Western Australians who head east often carry with them a certain independence of mind, and Ron Boswell certainly did. Of course, leaving Western Australia was also an astute political move, noting that the National Party has not had a senator elected from Western Australia since 1975.

While our time serving together in this chamber was brief, it was long enough to observe the deep respect he commanded across party lines. He was a parliamentarian who understood the institution, respected its traditions and believed profoundly in the responsibility entrusted to those elected to serve. Ron Boswell entered politics from small business, and he never lost sight of those roots. In his first speech he promised to be a voice for small business, primary industry and family values, and, by any fair assessment, he kept that promise. He understood that farming, fishing and small enterprises were not abstractions in an economic model but the lived reality of Australians working hard, often in difficult conditions, to build a future for their families.

That lived experience shaped his politics and gave authenticity to his advocacy. Over his career, he fought many battles, some policy driven, others political, but always guided by what he believed was right. He was proud of his work improving telecommunications in rural and regional Australia, ensuring communities in the bush have access to services many in our cities take for granted. He championed primary industries, stood up for regional jobs and advocated strongly for competition policies that protected small operators against concentrated market power. These were not fashionable causes in every political season, but he pursued them with persistence and determination.

To echo the remarks of Senator Scarr—importantly, Senator Boswell also demonstrated moral courage in confronting extremism when he saw it. I came to know a man called Ron Boswell, the political person, in the 1980s, as a young Liberal not in Queensland but in Western Australia. In 1988 he took on the League of Rights, a far-right antisemitic organisation attempting to exert influence within sections of the community at a time when doing so carried real political risk. He later reflected that this was the defining moment in his career because, to be taken seriously in public life, you must stand for something. This willingness to draw a clear line against intolerance speaks to his character and his understanding that democratic institutions must be defended not only through policy but through principle.

As we've heard today from many, those who worked closely with him speak of not only his strength but also his warmth, honour and loyalty. Ron Boswell was effective because he worked hard, built relationships and understood that lasting outcomes often require persistence rather than headlines. He mentored younger colleagues, contributed more than 1,100 times in this Senate chamber and never lost his sense that serving in parliament was both a privilege and a responsibility.

Beyond politics, Ron Boswell was a man of faith, family and resilience. The personal dimensions of his life remind us that behind every public figure is a private life marked by love, hardship, perseverance and loss. In 2020, he was appointed an officer of the Order of Australia—as Senator Colbeck has said, fitting recognition of a career dedicated to public service and to the communities that he represented. Yet I suspect that, for Ron Boswell, the greatest honour always was the trust placed in him by the voters who returned him to this parliament time and time again over seven elections. Ron Boswell once quoted the words of St Paul in reflecting on his own career—that he had fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith. Few could dispute that assessment. He served with conviction, he stood by his principles and he left this parliament having made a lasting contribution to the nation.

On behalf of Western Australians, particularly those who take pride in one of our own making such a significant mark on national life, I extend my deepest condolences to his family, his friends and his former colleagues in the Nationals. May he rest in peace.