Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I would also like to associate myself with the incredible remarks of many of my colleagues in here today. I think every single one of them told their own personal story about how a great man impacted our lives. It's been a fun afternoon to hear them all. I rise to make my own personal contribution on the condolence motion for the late Senator Ronald Leslie Doyle Boswell AO. As everybody has mentioned, to most of us he was just Bozzie.

I was deeply saddened to learn of Bozzie's passing, at the age of 85, because, as many have said before me, it marked loss of a generation of politicians in this place—a generation of politicians that, in the eyes of many of us who are still here, were absolute legends. He was one of the most fierce and faithful champions for what's right and was prepared to go to the wall to make sure that what was right was defended.

Bozzie was an old-fashioned Nat who never shied away from a fight, and for more than three decades he became known not just as a representative of Queensland but as a tireless representative and advocate for rural and regional Australian communities right across the country, not just in his home state of Queensland. He understood instinctively the strength that the nation must place on our rural and regional communities. He was a tireless voice for people who work in the bush, who work hard every day to catch and grow our food, and for the communities that support our farmers. From the local pharmacist and the GP to the post office or the pub owner, Bozzie was always there supporting them. He never wavered from standing up for the little guy, and no issue was too small to fight for.

In this chamber, he never, ever wavered from being a steady hand—principled, practical and grounded. He brought a deep sense of loyalty to his party, to his constituency and to this place. But, above all else, the thing that I will remember of Bozzie is that he had incredible integrity. Even for those that disagreed with him—and there were many—they always knew exactly where they stood with him, and you could only respect somebody for their absolute commitment to honesty. He was committed to his values, he was committed to his faith and he was committed to the people that he represented. As I say, he was determined that rural and regional Australia would never play second fiddle or be disadvantaged by the actions of those of us in this place—a determination that I think is shared by many of us.

One of my favourite Ron Boswell memories epitomises his persistence when it came to an issue that he was really passionate about. Above all else, Bozzie hated hypocrisy and, in his own words, 'those virtue-signalling greenies'. When those greenies threatened the kangaroo industry in Australia, Bozzie went in to bat. Back in 2013-14, Bozzie decided he was going to take on the Californian government after they banned the import of kangaroo meat based on the argument that kangaroos in Australia were about to become extinct. Bozzie was so incensed by this thought that he decided to start his crusade against the Californian legislature. It was a completely futile task; one senator from Queensland taking on the entire Californian government and legislature was probably never going to end up in great success. But Bozzie never, ever gave up. He advocated against California on just about any issue he could get his hands on until the day he left this parliament, and I can assure you that, even after he left this parliament, he would make regular calls to me to make sure that I was still taking it up with the Californian government, because by that time I was assistant minister for agriculture and apparently it was my job to represent the roo shooters of Australia in his absence!

But Bozzie believed in service. He believed that representing people in this place was an honour and a responsibility, and something he never ever took lightly. He worked hard, he listened carefully and he fought passionately for the issues that matter most particularly to regional Australians. Those who, like me for a very short time, had the privilege of working alongside him know of his determination but also his incredible warmth, his humour and his sense of mateship.

I'm not going to disappoint and be the only person in this place not to mention his slogan and the title of his memoirs, Not pretty, but pretty effective, because Bozzie was effective. He was effective as a politician. He was effective as a parliamentarian. He was very effective as a representative of the National Party and of rural and regional Australians. And he was always on the lookout for a new recruit.

I became the subject of his recruitment drive when I came first to this place. I was sitting up the other end, immediately adjacent to the National Party, because I was the last person in, so I immediately abutted the National Party seats on this side of the chamber, because we were opposition back in 2012. I gave my first speech, and Bozzie was sitting with 'Wacka' Williams. They turned around and they said to me straight after the thing that my speech clearly indicated that I actually was a closet Nat. I assured them that wasn't the case. I came from a state, South Australia, where being a Nat was, in conclusion, probably something akin to being a kangaroo in California—close to being extinct. But that didn't stop Bozzie, because when I arrived at my desk the next day there was a National Party membership form sitting on my desk.