Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with deep regret that I inform the Senate of the death on 1 February 2009 of the Hon. Peter Howson CMG, a former minister and member of the House of Representatives for the divisions of Fawkner and Casey, Victoria, from 1955 to 1969 and 1969 to 1972 respectively.

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate records its deep regret at the death, on 1 February 2009, of the Honourable Peter Howson, CMC, former federal minister and member for Fawkner and Casey, and places on record its appreciation of his long and meritorious public service and tenders its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement.

Mr Peter Howson was born in London on 22 May 1919. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and graduated with a masters degree in arts. In 1940 Peter enlisted in the Royal Navy as a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm and progressed to the rank of lieutenant. In 1946 Peter was discharged from the Navy and moved to Australia. Before entering politics, Peter worked as a company director in Melbourne for several years before being elected to the House of Representatives in 1955 as the Liberal Party member for Fawkner. Peter served in five successive Liberal governments from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. He was the Government Whip from 1963 to 1964 before being appointed to his first ministerial position during the final Menzies ministry as the Minister for Air. He held this position from 1964 to 1966. With the transition to the Holt Liberal government in 1966, Peter retained his position as Minister for Air and also became the Minister Assisting the Treasurer. These ministerial appointments were also retained during the McEwen and Gorton governments. In 1969, the seat of Fawkner was abolished and Peter was elected as the first member for Casey.

As part of the McMahon government, Peter was appointed as minister in charge of tourism activities in 1971. He also became the first Minister for the Environment, Aborigines and the Arts. During his parliamentary career, he served on a number of committees, including the Privileges Committee and the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs. In particular, he was elected to the House of Representatives Select Committee on Voting Rights of Aborigines in 1960. The committee travelled around Australia over the following year, gathering much of the evidence that informed the 1967 referendum on the constitutional status of Indigenous people. Peter was also an active participant in the work of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, both internationally and nationally at the Commonwealth of Australia branch level. He was instrumental in the creation of the executive committee of the General Council of the CPA and became the first chairman of the executive committee. Serving in that role from 1968 to 1971, Peter led a number of delegations to CPA conferences, including to Jamaica in 1964, Canada in 1966 and Trinidad in 1969.

After he left parliament in 1972, Peter retained a strong interest in CPA matters. He continued as an associate CPA member and was made a life member of the branch in 1983. Through his ministerial and committee work with Indigenous people, Peter developed a lifelong passion for Indigenous affairs and remained active in the area long after retiring from politics. He regularly wrote newspaper and journal articles on Indigenous issues and was a founding member of the Bennelong Society, a think tank that focuses on Indigenous policy. Until his death, Peter was an office holder with the society. The society president, Dr Gary Johns, is quoted as saying that Peter was tireless in trying to help Australian Indigenous people. He said, ‘I think his greatest achievement was to persist in the knowledge that Aboriginal people were to become part of Australian society.’

On behalf of the government, I offer my condolences to his family, particularly his son George, daughter-in-law Marie and grandchildren Natasha, Theresa, Rebeckah and Hannah. I thank the Senate.

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of the coalition to support the motion moved by Senator Ludwig and to extend our very sincere sympathies to the family of Peter Howson upon his sad passing on 1 February. Peter was indeed a wonderful servant of the Liberal Party and indeed of Australia. He had a very distinguished record of service to this parliament. He was, as Senator Ludwig noted, born in the United Kingdom—indeed only six days before my own father, who I am pleased to report is still in very robust health. He then of course served in the Royal Navy in wartime from 1940 to 1946, so he was one of the Liberals in the Menzies era who directly served for his country.

He came to Australia in 1946 after the war, like many others. Remarkably—and this is a great credit to him and to the Liberal Party—he became a member of this parliament just nine years after coming to this country. Senator Ludwig has highlighted Peter Howson’s significant achievements as both a minister and a member of the House of Representatives for two seats in the 1950s and the 1960s. Regretfully, he was defeated, like some other Liberals, in the 1972 campaign, when the ‘it’s time’ momentum defeated that very long-serving government. Peter was in five successive Liberal governments—the Menzies, Holt, McEwen, Gorton and McMahon governments. He was, as Senator Ludwig said, Minister for Air, Minister Assisting the Treasurer and our first Minister for Environment, Aborigines and the Arts until the time of his defeat. Prior to that ministerial service, he was an active committee participant. He was a member of the Select Committee on Voting Rights for Aborigines in 1961, so his lifelong interest in Aboriginal affairs was evident early.

He was a leader of Australian delegations to a number of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conferences throughout the sixties. He became notorious, of course, as a participant in the infamous VIP plane affair as the then air minister and subsequently recorded his view that his role, as inadvertent as it might have been, was the reason for John Gorton not including him in his ministry in 1968. A long-standing enmity existed thereafter between Peter Howson and John Gorton, most regrettably because both were colourful characters and great additions to our party.

After Peter left politics he published his own diary, which I think provides an interesting level of detail about both his time in the ministry and the internecine Liberal Party machinations over the leadership in the late sixties, which were of course fascinating to us all. In 1984, the redoubtable Alan Ramsey described Peter Howson’s diary as ‘a small but significant window on the day-to-day detail of a turbulent period of our political history and its principal figures. In this it excels for its insights, its information and its political uniqueness, at least in this country.’ I am not sure that it is good idea for us all to publish our diaries but certainly Alan Ramsey thought it was a worthwhile addition to public knowledge.

Peter to his great credit, unlike some others, did remain very loyal and active in his chosen party, and particularly in the Victorian division. Peter Costello, I think in a great tribute yesterday in the House of Representatives, referred to that and anecdotally to the way Peter would always turn up at Liberal Party state council meetings in Victoria and sit right in the front row, and do so on a regular basis.

As I mentioned, Peter was our first Australian minister for the environment. It was the Liberal Party that created the first environment portfolio. It is a great tribute to Peter that he was our first servant in that role. He was the first Australian minister with a portfolio specifically responsible for Indigenous Australians. As I mentioned, this was an enormous passion for Peter both in parliament and afterwards, and it was a passion that he retained right to his death. He had a very strong view about the importance of the nation recognising the plight of Aboriginal people. He did maintain and articulate a very strong and active opposition to the separatist policies, which I think we now all agree were so naively and, regrettably, destructively pursued in an earlier period. I think much of what Peter has written would echo and mirror what people like Noel Pearson now say about the more productive approach to Indigenous welfare.

Peter was a founder and Vice-President of the Bennelong Society, which I am pleased to note has bipartisan participation—Garry Johns, a former Labor minister, is very active in that, I think, very good society. It was in the period from 1996 to 1998 that I came to know Peter quite well, which was when I had ministerial responsibility for native title in the Howard government. Peter was a regular visitor to my office. He was a very valuable source of advice with his common sense and very wise approach to managing not only Aboriginal affairs generally but specifically the complexity of native title. I found his real passion for Indigenous welfare quite compelling. He remained an active participant in public debate, producing articles and commentary, particularly about Indigenous policy, right up until most recently. He frequently wrote opinion pieces and was, I think, greatly respected by many for that continued involvement in policy discussions. He has made an enormous contribution to public life in Australia.

We are deeply saddened that he has passed away but he had a wonderful life, nearly 90 years of life, and he made an extraordinary contribution. As I said, he was someone who came to this country from his home in England and managed to contribute to this country very successfully. To his son George, daughter-in-law Marie and grandchildren Natasha, Theresa, Rebeckah and Hannah, the coalition places on record our great appreciation of Peter’s tremendous public service, and we tender our profound sympathy to the family in their bereavement.

Question agreed to, honourable senators standing in their places.