Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with deep regret that I inform the Senate of the death on 1 May 2025 of the Hon. Peter James Nixon AO, a former minister and member of the House of Representatives for the division of Gippsland, Victoria, from 1961 to 1983, and I inform senators that Mr Nixon's family are in the gallery.

Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate records its sadness at the death, on 1 May 2025, of the Honourable Peter James Nixon AO, former Minister for the Interior, Minister for Shipping and Transport, Postmaster General, Minister for Transport and Minister for Primary Industry, and former Member for Gippsland, places on record its gratitude for his service to the Parliament and the nation, and tenders its sympathy to his family in their bereavement.

I rise on behalf of the government to acknowledge the death of former minister and member for Gippsland Peter James Nixon AO, and I want to begin by offering, on behalf of the government, our condolences to his family, friends and parliamentary colleagues. I want to also acknowledge his family here today: children Chris and Joanne, and her husband Peter, as well as his grandchildren Toby, Amanda and Katrina. You are welcome here.

Peter Nixon was a proud regional Australian, born in Orbost, Victoria, in 1928. As a young man he left his family farm to attend Wesley College in Melbourne. After completing his studies, and recovering from an unfortunate football injury, he went straight back to Gippsland to continue work on the family farm. A fourth-generation farmer, Peter eventually was joined on the farm by his wife, Jacqueline, and his three children, Joanne, Mark and Christopher.

It was this region of Gippsland that Peter Nixon would go on to represent in the other place from 1961. Elected at just 33 years old, he served as the Country and then National Party member for Gippsland for over two decades. Peter wasn't the initial candidate for preselection in the seat. He stepped up and put his name forward when the presumptive nominee sadly passed away just days before nominations closed. From then, he served as the member for Gippsland from 1961 until 1983 under five different prime ministers, dedicating an admirable 22 years of service to parliament and to his community. Under Prime Minister Harold Holt, Peter was appointed Minister for the Interior in 1967. His portfolio included a broad range of responsibilities, including immigration, railways, and public works and services. A news article from that time quoted public servants from the department who said that Peter was the most down-to-earth politician they'd ever worked with. Many colleagues shared that same view throughout his many years of service.

Peter entered cabinet as Minister for Shipping and Transport in the McMahon government in 1971. He later served as Minister for Primary Industry and Postmaster-General. He made significant contributions in his ministerial career, including negotiating with British Airways to provide more flights into Australia. He also pioneered many initiatives that provided support to farmers during periods of drought that threatened their livelihoods. From his first day in parliament and into his ministerial career, Peter was a tireless advocate for farmers and for the regions. An extract from his first speech reveals just that. He said:

…it is as a farmer that I, a newcomer to this House, would like to direct attention to the fears that are in the minds of farmers, not only in my electorate but generally throughout the nation.

Peter's primary commitment was always to the people of Gippsland. Indeed, he once turned down an invitation to attend a dinner with the Queen during an Australian visit, opting instead to participate in a local sporting club event in his community. Peter's view was: if he were invited as the member for Gippsland, he would be there for his constituents. He was also known to enjoy a friendly chat within parliament, and made lifelong friends in this place. Notably, at a time of heightened partisanship, some of his closest friendships were from across the aisle, including with Fred Daly, a Whitlam government minister.

After retiring from parliament in 1983, Peter made more significant contributions to the business world. Peter served as chairman of the AFL Commission and held senior positions in radio and television broadcasting. In 1993 Peter was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for his extraordinary services to the Australian parliament and to the community. His commitment to the Gippsland region shaped Peter's contributions to public life. Gippsland was home. Gippsland was where his family had lived and farmed for four generations through times of bushfires, drought and hardship. While he served with distinction under those five prime ministers in multiple ministerial and cabinet positions, Peter was always focused on Gippsland and the people who sent him to Canberra for over two decades.

Peter's commitment to his electorate reminds us of the immense privilege it is to serve our communities and to make a difference in this place. Once again, on behalf of the government, I extend my condolences to his family and to his friends following his passing. Vale.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of the opposition to pay tribute to the Hon. Peter James Nixon AO, a distinguished servant of the Australian parliament, a true champion of rural and regional Australia and a proud son of Gippsland. I also acknowledge members of his family who are here today joining us in the chamber in the gallery—our condolences to you. I'll make a contribution on behalf of the coalition but I do also acknowledge that the leader of the National Party here in the Senate will be making personal contributions in relation to the condolence.

Peter passed away on 1 May 2025. He lived a long life and was aged 97. His was a life defined by public service, loyalty to his community and a commitment to the National Party and to the coalition more broadly. Born in Orbost, Victoria in 1928, Peter's roots in Gippsland shaped the entirety of his public life. A grazier by profession and temperament, he held a deep belief in the dignity of rural communities and the necessity for government to serve them faithfully. Peter entered the Australian parliament in 1961 as the Country Party member for Gippsland, a seat he would hold until his retirement in 1983. In an era before modern communications, Peter was known for travelling vast distances across Gippsland to ensure that the voices of farmers, the voices of small business owners and the voices of local families were heard here in the Australian parliament.

He was elected, as I said, in 1961, and in 1967 he was appointed to the ministry. This marked the beginning of what would become an influential and highly respected ministerial career across both the Holt and the Fraser governments. As Minister for the Interior from 1967 to 1971, he dealt with the complexities of governing Australia's territories at a time when the nation's population and infrastructure were rapidly expanding. He later served as the Minister for Shipping and Transport in 1971 and 1972 in the McMahon government, where he worked to ensure that regional Australia remained connected to the nation's commercial life through robust transport networks, a cause that he championed throughout his life.

It was during the Fraser government from 1975 to 1983 that Peter's reputation as one of the most formidable advocates for regional Australia was fully realised. As Minister for Transport from 1975 to 1979, and later as Minister for Primary Industry from 1979 to 1983, Peter helped shape key areas of national policy. He worked to strengthen rural and regional Australians. They fundamentally get this. He worked to strengthen the road and rail networks that kept our regions moving. And he brought his agricultural portfolio and understanding from his own experience on the land. He understood the practical realities faced by primary producers and he fought for policies that provided stability in what, as we know, are often volatile markets. When dealing with drought policy, market access or the structural challenges that rural communities face, Peter was renowned for bringing common sense, resilience and, more than that, a willingness to listen.

Across the breadth of his service, Peter remained loyal to the principles of the coalition partnership. He fundamentally believed in its strength, its necessity and its unique capacity to reflect the interests of both urban and regional Australians. He was known within government and across the parliament—this is something to be proud of, in particular for his family—as a man of his word. He was known in the parliament for that. He was unpretentious, determined and pragmatic.

His parliamentary career may have ended in 1983, but his contribution to public life did not, and he just continued. He chaired the National Transport Planning Taskforce in the 1990s, delivering reports that shaped infrastructure development well beyond his years in office. In 2015 he was rightly appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in recognition of his distinguished service to the Parliament of Australia, to the transport and primary industry sectors and to the people he loved, the people he served, the people of Gippsland.

Away from politics, Peter was perhaps more passionate, I'm told, about two things: his beautiful family, representatives of which have joined us in the chamber today, and his beloved Richmond Football Club. That is the only marking down I'm going to get to give him. I have to mark him down for that one; I'm a Western Australian! As a lifelong supporter of the Tigers, Peter was actually celebrated by the club not just for his loyalty through good seasons and bad—something my husband needs to learn about!—but for his example of integrity and perseverance. That's beautiful. Following his passing, Richmond paid tribute to him as a cherished member of the broader Tiger family, someone who embodied the club's spirit of resilience.

Closer to home, in Gippsland, Peter remained a towering figure long after he left Canberra. He was celebrated for his ongoing connection to the region through agriculture, through civic leadership and through the countless relationships he maintained across generations. He was a respected elder, a mentor to so many and, perhaps more fundamentally, a reminder of what principled leadership looks like. Peter's passing is the end of a remarkable chapter in Australian political and regional history.

This is an interesting fact: he served under six prime ministers. Some say it was five, but it was actually six, for the record. This is incredible. There are not many who can say they served under six prime ministers. Peter served under Robert Menzies, Harold Holt, John McEwen, John Gorton, William McMahon and Malcolm Fraser. That is actually extraordinary from an historical perspective. This of course meant that, when you look at the breadth of those prime ministers, he navigated periods of significant change, but, as I said, he never lost sight of the people he was sent to Canberra to represent. His legacy is not only one of policy achievements and ministerial titles but also one of quiet influence, of community service and of dedication to the people of Gippsland.

On behalf of the opposition, I extend our deepest condolences to Peter's children, his grandchildren and his great grandchildren. His was, without a doubt, a life exceptionally well lived. His service leaves a lasting mark on this nation and on the regions he loved. May he rest in peace.

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It gives me extraordinary pleasure to rise today to speak on this condolence motion for a giant of the Country Party, now National Party; a giant of regional Victoria; and an absolute champion for our nation. I associate the National Party senators with the comments from both the government and the opposition leader.

I want to set the scene with the words to follow:

Oh, we're from Tigerland.

A fighting fury,

We're from Tigerland.

In any weather you will see us with a grin,

Risking head and shin.

If we're behind then never mind.

We'll fight and fight and win.

For we're from Tigerland,

We never weaken til the final siren's gone.

Like the Tiger of old,

We're strong and we're bold.

For we're from Tiger,

Yellow and Black.

We're from Tigerland.

As a strong and sad Saints supporter, it was very tough for me to actually read that, but the man that we honour today in this chamber never gave up. He fought through thick and thin for the things he believed would make a difference for his communities, tiny towns in Gippsland—farming, fishing, forestry and, particularly when Peter was representing them, mining—and for our nation and particularly for the fighting force which is the National Party in the federal parliament.

To each of us in this place is granted an inch of time to use each day as representatives of the people to the best of our talents and abilities. Peter James Nixon's inch of time was longer than most—97 years. He was sharp as a tack till the end, giving advice frequently, fiercely and freely. From 1961 until 1983—21 years as the dedicated member for Gippsland—he served under six prime ministers: Menzies; Holt; McEwan, a National Party prime minister; Gorton; McMahon; and Fraser. His good fortune was that 19 of those years were in government, enabling him to be one of the most influential and consummate politicians of his generation—not just a tiger but a lion of our party.

Peter was born in Orbost on March 22 1928. A fourth-generation Gippslander, he grew up farming near Orbost and went to school in the district, apart from a couple of years of attending Wesley College down in Melbourne. On 27 July 1952, he married the love of his life, Sally, a member of the prominent Dahlsen family from East Gippsland. Sally was Peter's rock in a very successful partnership that lasted 60 years.

When the sitting member for Gippsland, George Bowden, retired in 1961, Peter was prompted by Sally to stand. She said: 'It'll be over in six weeks. It's a big field. You won't win, but I don't want you complaining that you didn't at least try, as your late father had done all his life. The family honour will be intact.' Peter vividly recalled the first night of preselection. There was a roaring fire on a winter's night in a cold hall in Noorinbee. Gippsland is a bit like Canberra when it comes to temperature—very cold. Peter had drawn last speaker in a field of 12 candidates. Sally's words of encouragement were, 'I told you you wouldn't win.' A fire inside the hall roared, candidates droned on and on—I'm not sure, but I bet there wasn't a woman there—and, according to Peter, nearly all the party members were asleep by the time he stepped up to the plate at midnight. Right at that moment, a huge clap of thunder above the shed woke everybody up, and, let's just say, a political legend was born.

Peter Nixon's first days as an MP were inauspicious. Sir Robert Menzies, of whom Peter was in awe, asked him how his maiden speech went. The Prime Minister was cross that Peter had only used 12 of his 20 allocated minutes. 'Dreadful,' came Nixon's reply, knowing how nervous he'd been. 'You should always be the same,' counselled Menzies, 'and if you're not, you're actually not doing justice to the big occasions.'

Peter quickly learned his tradecraft and went on to be a highly respected parliamentarian and minister. He was Minister for Primary Industry, Minister for the Interior, Postmaster-General, Minister for National Resources, Minister for Shipping and Transport, and he acted in other portfolios, including trade, industry and natural resources. He navigated droughts, commodity price collapses and shifting global trade patterns with a steady hand and a farmer's pragmatism.

As Minister for the Interior from 1967 to 1971, Peter drove change in Aboriginal affairs, for education, housing and inclusion, against the views of Labor adviser Nugget Coombs, who had argued the case for funding to maintain traditional ways of life, an intractable dilemma that's never actually been resolved. He had to deal with the busy Sydney airport problem and noisy flight paths. He helped shape the Australian national railways policy, port authorities and coastal shipping long before 'supply chain resilience' became a buzzword. He tried valiantly to establish an Australian ship manufacturing capacity but was up against militant unions and endless demarcation disputes that made it unviable. He was involved in the contentious proposal to build a nuclear power plant at Jervis Bay, of which Liberal prime minister John Gorton was an enthusiastic proponent. If only they had got the job done. Nixon built on McEwen's trailblazing work in export trade. He was responsible for the first nationwide rules for roads, for major electoral redistributions and for this very building in which we sit today, which was once called—would you believe it!—new Parliament House.

He was a key member of Fraser's famed 'razor gang'. In July 1970, there was a push by a US senator for higher import restrictions on Australian beef—note that aggressive US trade tactics were not the invention of Donald Trump; this is an old story. Nixon happened to be at the Katherine Show when the news came through, and he went to the centre of the arena, grabbed the microphone and announced that the US senator should be hung, drawn and quartered and roasted on the altar of high protection. Amen! Nixon's comments caused a stir, and he received a request from the US ambassador to see him about how much it had upset a very senior, respected US senator. 'Well, all I could say in response was that the Americans preached free trade but did not practise it, and therefore I could not apologise,' Nixon wrote in his memoirs many years later. Indeed, Peter was known as one of the hard men of politics.

In the days when there were no mobile phones and no television, and communications were only a landline, Peter would fly to and from his farm in Gippsland and Canberra. Peter's family always knew when their father was arriving home, because the phone would start ringing about 10 minutes before he arrived. Peter had a personal, unbreakable rule: he would always return a call made to him. But, if he didn't catch you, if you didn't pick up—and he wouldn't stop returning calls until late in the evening—if you missed that call, he didn't ring you back. That's on you!

Menzies gave Peter another piece of sage advice, which he took on board. Sir Robert said:

When this ride is all finished, the only thing you will have left is your family. So, make sure you look after them.

It's a great privilege that Peter's daughter, Jo; his son Chris; grandchildren; and family members are in the chamber today and have been able to hear the condolences and the respect from across the parliament, in both chambers, for this great man. In 1967, with Nixon's first ministerial appointment, his family was packed up from Orbost and went to live in Campbell in Canberra, where Peter was able to keep his family closer, heeding Menzies's advice, and he was able to attend some netball and footy games and speech nights.

Peter Nixon was described by one journalist as 'the man who gets things done, a completely tough political animal who's earned his place in the ruling triumvirate of the National Country Party through hard work, professionalism and an astute political common sense'. The 'Country Party's lethal troika' was how journalist Paul Kelly described them, referring to Doug Anthony, Ian Sinclair and Peter Nixon, the lieutenants of Sir John 'Black Jack' McEwen—arguably our party's greatest leader. The Sydney Morning Herald referred to the trio as the 'Mulga Mafia', claiming in 1984 that they were regarded by many as 'one of the shrewdest political alliances Australia has ever seen'. If you could encapsulate the three, Anthony, anointed to follow McEwen, would be the affable one; Sinclair, the silver tongued, urbane one; and Nixon, the arm wrestler—unrelenting, implacable, unafraid to get in a fight. These were characteristics that earned him deep respect across the political divide. Later, when Australia's most famous union official, Bob Hawke, was mulling over whether he would come to Canberra, he sought advice from Peter Nixon on how to go about it. Others, too, sought his counsel over the years: Paul Keating, Kim Beazley and Simon Crean.

In a profession where true friendship is rare, Nixon was Malcolm Fraser's best friend, and his eulogy at the passing of former prime minister Fraser was touching to say the least. When Fraser had to sack his deputy and treasurer, Phillip Lynch, who was seriously ill in hospital at the time, Fraser actually sent Peter Nixon to do the job. Imagine that phone call from the Prime Minister—'I need you to go sack my treasurer, Nicko.'

Upon learning of his passing, former prime minister John Howard, who was at the memorial service, described Peter Nixon as possessing one of the finest political minds he had encountered in his years of public life. Former prime minister John Howard never forgot Peter's sage advice to him on the need to have a balance in the relationship between departments and private office staff.

Historian Geoffrey Blainey said that, in an era before opinion polls, no politician had a better feel for what the majority of Australian people were silently thinking than Peter Nixon, which was all the more unusual, he said, because Nixon held a safe rural electorate, far from capital cities.

Peter Nixon learned his political trade at the feet of two giants, Menzies and McEwen. He was a senior member of the National Party, supporting McEwen when he intervened to block Billy McMahon from being elevated to the leadership of the Liberal Party and, as a result, the prime ministership following the tragic disappearance and death of Harold Holt. Sally received a call while Pete was out fishing off Cape Conran, saying, 'Get to Canberra; Holt's disappeared.' McEwen called his lieutenants, and they swiftly went to work while McMahon was still sipping champagne at King's Cross. It was Anthony who went knocking on the door of a pyjamaed Senator Gorton at the time, and it was Peter Nixon that was sent by McEwen to go drinking Scotch with the Liberal Party members to hear the gossip and report back to McEwen so that the National Party could work out their next move in what was one of the great plays in political history—which he did. He was a quiet young lad. He just sat at the back of the room and listened well. Anyway, all's well that ends well!

Nixon recalled in his memoir that, in 1973, after the arrival of the new Whitlam government—the first Labor government since 1949, remember—both Liberal Party and Country Party organisations thought it was best to temporarily go their separate ways. Nixon recalled that there were to be no joint meetings, no combined strategies for question time or for legislation and so on.

During the Whitlam interregnum, Nixon recalled his approach to his opponent, Labor transport minister Charlie Jones. Jones's leg would shake in question time in anticipation of questions informed by Nixon's considerable contacts across the road, transport, aviation and shipping industries. They would be calling in with what the minister should be asked. Nixon said: 'I used to go into the House and verbally belt him around the head just to soften him up. Then I'd ring him after with the amendments that I actually needed.' Gough Whitlam asked Nixon to come down to his office and gently requested that he lay off his minister, to which Nixon politely declined—politics was politics.

There was one telling event leading into the 1974 election which demonstrates Nixon's tough but straightforward approach. The Victorian division of the Liberal Party was divided, and there was debate about Liberals running against the Country Party and the Country Party running against Liberals. But both Peter Nixon and Phillip Lynch knew that this would be a disaster at the upcoming election, so they tried to sort their organisations out. They knew it would be harmful to their chances at the election that was only months away. They both agreed that Lynch should sort it out within the Victorian Liberal Party but needed time to talk the party elders around, saying, 'We can't deliver if this thing blows up any more.' Peter Nixon hit the phones to keep Country Party officials in Victoria, issuing instructions that no-one was to make big statements. He was actually reported as opening discussion with, 'The first bloke who opens his mouth is going to get punched.' The Liberals backed down, all kumbaya, and the coalition went on to the election. Ah, memories!

Many Australians are familiar with the 1975 dismissal of the Whitlam government. On 15 October 1975, in one of the most historic decisions in Australian political history, the coalition leadership group—the leadership group that has been going for a long time and that Senator Cash and I have sat on together for a long time—decided to block the budget and force Whitlam to the polls. Political commentator Paul Kelly later wrote, 'It took this decision only after the tough-minded Country Party shadow minister Peter Nixon asked what would happen if the budget was blocked and Whitlam stayed in office, as he had threatened.' It was Nixon who asked the pivotal and fatal question during question time in the House, according to Paul Kelly. 'Wouldn't that situation be left for Kerr to resolve?' The Prime Minister gave a different answer. Fraser felt Kerr's response would be dictated by his obligation as the Governor-General, not his past association with the Labor Party. Nixon was also in the room on the day of the Dismissal, on 11 November 1975, when Fraser received a phone call from Sir John Kerr, the Governor-General. He only heard one side of that historic phone call, the monosyllabic responses of Fraser to the Governor-General, but Kerr later denied that call ever happened.

Late in his career, Peter Nixon, faced with controversy, was named in the Woodward royal commission. For Peter, it was a matter of honour, telling a journalist later that 'in his heart he knew that he'd not breached his ministerial responsibilities and that the essential point was that, having been named in the royal commission report, I very sincerely believe that I had no option but to offer my resignation. I offered it without qualification so that the Prime Minister and his colleagues could make a judgement.' His offer of resignation to the Prime Minister was rejected.

Peter never lost sight of being the member for Gippsland, once turning down an invitation to dine with the Queen. Instead, he presented a flag at a sports meeting in Club Terrace, which has a population of fewer than 100 people. His guiding principle as a minister was always: is the decision I'm about to take good for our people and good for our country? They didn't have to be popular if they were right.

Recalling his love of politics, Nixon later recalled: 'I think it's the pace, the sudden pressures. Handling the sudden crises, the emergencies that crop up, is what I like about it. I enjoy the power of making a decision, seeing a decision flow through and backing my own judgement.' He described politics as akin to a 'damn drug'.

Peter was instrumental in shaping the modern National Party. The Nixon review following the 'Joh for PM' experience has served our party well. He was a bridge between the Country Party of old and the party we are today—modern, pragmatic, fiercely regional and proudly independent. He always saw the Country Party not as a faction within the coalition but as a party with our own soul, our own mission and our own voice. He mentored a generation of National Party leaders, and it is a significant honour to serve in his footsteps as the coalition spokesperson—albeit in opposition; hopefully one day as a minister—for shipping and transport. I will be forever personally grateful for his quiet counsel, his wicked sense of humour and his unflinching honesty.

He always displayed an enormous humility. Despite being a nonagenarian, he was a great optimist for our wonderful country. Following his retirement, he enjoyed a highly successful second career taking up board appointments at Southern Cross Broadcasting, Linfox, as a VFL commissioner and an inaugural AFL commissioner, and as a committee member of his beloved Richmond Tigers football club.

It was great to see former Labor finance minister Tanner and former prime minister John Howard there when Peter's memorial service was held at Punt Road. It was great to see the breadth and diversity of men and women whose lives had changed as a result of their relationship with him.

The list of organisations he was involved in is too many to mention, but ranged from a landmark report into the Tasmanian economy to the chair of the Victorian high-speed train committee. When asked if he loved his business career or politics the best, he said he loved both in equal measure. And in 1993, he was deservedly made an Officer of the Order of Australia.

To his beloved children Joanne, Mark and Chris; his grandchildren Katrina, Amanda, Anna, Texas, Toby, Meg and Hugh; and his great-grandchildren Freddie, Mimi, Percy and Archie: on behalf of our great party, I want to offer my deep condolences and thanks for the service of your father and grandfather. He was a great man, an extraordinary man who did extraordinary deeds for our country, and we are forever grateful. Vale, Peter; may he rest in peace.

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I simply want to echo the sentiments that have been raised very eloquently by my leader Senator McKenzie. As she said, Peter Nixon was a giant of the National Party. I only had limited interactions with Peter, but I am forever thankful for his responding to me early in my career as, indeed, only a senator-elect, when I was putting together a new edition of John McEwen's autobiography. I got in touch with Peter to ask for a quote about John, and Peter was very polite and very prompt in coming back to me, saying that John McEwen had been a great mentor of his.

There's no doubt in my mind that Peter was taught well and deservedly sits in the pantheon of National Party giants alongside his mentor John McEwen. He's a great loss, therefore, for our party and for our nation, and I pass on my condolences to his family. Thank you for coming here to pay tribute to your dad, to your grandad, who we will all miss.

I did want to just briefly put into Hansard some great stories. It's good to put these down on the record. I'm indebted to another giant of our party, Mr Paul Davey, the father of former senator Perin Davey, for these stories from his great history of the National Party. Bear with me; I won't be too long.

Peter Nixon, like many who start in this place, made friends with other young, newly elected parliamentarians, one of whom was Doug Anthony. He found himself, during a late-night session at Old Parliament House, with not much to do—as often happens—so they decided to start kicking a football around in King's Hall. You probably know where this is going. Somebody—I don't know if Paul found out who—kicked the football into an old painting. It fell to the floor, and the glass shattered, making a huge noise that echoed through Old Parliament House. As Doug Anthony later recounted:

We swept up the broken glass and picked all the bits out of the frame and straightened the painting. It stayed like that for years before anyone noticed there was no glass in the frame!

They weren't too good at kicking actual goals, but Peter Nixon was very good at kicking political goals. He played an integral part in the 1980 federal election when, 17 days from the poll, he found himself in a live television debate with then Western Australian senator Peter Walsh, his shadow ministerial counterpart. During that interview, then senator Walsh said, 'The Labor Party believes that Australia ought to have some form of capital taxation.' Peter Nixon immediately interjected and accused him of 'wiggling too much', saying, 'What do you mean by that?' Walsh responded by saying: 'I'm not wiggling. Whether it will be a capital gains tax, a wealth tax or a reintroduction of inheritance taxes, that is yet to be determined.'

Peter immediately recognised the gravity of that situation. He sent a media release out straightaway. That wasn't picked up, so he sent another one out a couple of days later. That wasn't picked up by the media either; they weren't interested. Eventually he contacted the Liberal Party's famous federal director, Tony Eggleton, and convinced him to record a TV advertisement on the issue, which eventually ran in the penultimate week of the campaign. It is now commonly recognised—and I knew this part of the story, but not of Peter's involvement—that that ad played a very big role in the Liberal-National coalition being returned comfortably at the 1980 election.

There was probably a good reason why the media didn't pick up Peter Nixon's press releases; he wasn't always that popular with the press gallery. He had actually developed a career of especially getting stuck into the ABC about its left-wing bias—which, of course, he ended and no longer exists! During this part of his career, he thought he needed to look like he was across all types of media regulation, so he got his office to get a bunch of thick volumes on the history of broadcasting in Britain. He also got a number of annual reports of the ABC, and he formed a phalanx of these books in his bookcase behind his shoulder for when he was doing TV interviews in his office so that, when he was getting stuck into the ABC, behind him it looked like, 'Well, this guy knows what he's talking about.' He later confided that he never once opened the books or reports, but it did the trick.

Finally, on a more serious note: Senator McKenzie did, through the chair, outline how tough Nixon was with other Country Party ministers. There is another famous story that Minister McMahon once brought forward a proposal to revalue the Australian dollar. It was going to be very injurious to farming interests, and the cabinet ended up meeting over three days to discuss this one issue. Doug Anthony, Ian Sinclair and Peter Nixon walked out from the cabinet meeting on three separate occasions, and they demanded a revaluation of no greater than 5.2 per cent. Eventually, 6.3 per cent was decided upon, and McMahon did admit that that actually led to an overall depreciation, relative to our trading partners. As Mr Davey recounts in his history of the National Party, it was a victory for the Country Party.

While we have lost Peter Nixon, we have not lost his example, his principles, his strength and his determination to stand up for many in this country that don't have access to this parliament or a voice to influence matters. We will always, as a team, seek to work in tune with the actions of the likes of Peter Nixon. Again, I pass my condolences to his family. Vale, Peter Nixon.

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

As a member of the Nationals family, I express my sincere condolences to the family and friends of the Hon. Peter James Nixon AO, who represented Gippsland in Victoria as a member of the Australian Country Party, the National Country Party and the National Party of Australia from 1961 until 1983.

We've heard much on this, but I love hearing the stories of the men and women who've come before us, and so I'll repeat his great loves: Gippsland—and specifically his home soil of Orbost, where his great-grandparents settled in 1865—and his family. His beloved wife, Sally, of almost 60 years, sadly passed in 2013 and was his absolute gem. To Peter and Sally's children, Joanne, Mark, and Chris; to their grandchildren, Katrina, Amanda, Anna, Texas, Toby, Meg and Hugh; and to their great-grandchildren, Freddie, Mimi, Percy and Archie: I am so sorry for your loss.

Peter Nixon was born in 1928. He didn't just observe the evolution of Australia over almost 100 years until his death on 1 May this year; he was a key decision-maker in its progress, as a farmer and a grazier, as a parliamentarian and a minister for 21 years, and through his contributions to the corporate sector, particularly as founding chair of Southern Cross Broadcasting and as foundation commissioner for his beloved AFL. In recognition of his service to parliament and to the community, he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1993.

During his political career, Peter was Minister for the Interior, Minister for Transport and Minister for Primary Industry, and we have heard how he served under six former prime ministers: Robert Menzies, Harold Holt, John McEwen, John Gorton, Billy McMahon and Malcolm Fraser. He was known for his toughness and professionalism and to have an impenetrable grasp of his portfolios. He enjoyed the rough-and-tumble of politics, arguably creating some of it himself at times. He once referred to politics as a 'damn drug', rated common sense 'as a rare commodity' and complained that the worst part of his job was 'travelling and wasting time in ruddy airports'.

Having read Peter's maiden speech from 1961, I reminisce on the unwavering focus of the National Party in defending and fighting for the livelihoods of generations of regional Australians and how today's news regarding trade relations between Australia and the United States, specifically in relation to beef, echoes Peter's concerns from 65 years ago. I quote from Peter's maiden speech on 20 February 1962:

Gippsland is … in the main a primary-producing electorate, and it is as a farmer that I, a newcomer to this House, would like to direct attention to the fears that are in the minds of farmers, not only in my electorate but generally throughout the nation. They want to know where they are heading and what their long-term prospects are.

He goes on to express concern regarding the economic strength of the European common market, which at that time had an external tariff barrier against the free entry of Australian goods. Peter's words on that day were:

To read in the newspapers of the possibility of a common tariff arrangement between the Common Market and the United States of America chills my blood.

And, he warns, 'This prospect is just as alarming for secondary industry as it is for primary industry.' He wishes the best of luck to the Minister for Trade in his upcoming overseas delegation, as, he says, 'There is no doubt that the whole economic security of Australia depends on the results they achieve.' As we are honoured to currently be witnessing and congratulating the maiden speeches of new senators, it is interesting to reflect that Peter Nixon's words could well be appropriate and relevant again this week.

Like many of us from all sides of the political spectrum, Peter Nixon was introduced to politics by driving his father to party meetings and later handing out how-to-vote cards at state and federal elections. He entered politics with the encouragement of his wife, Sally; served with vigour, determination and honour; and had the rare dignity of leaving politics on his terms.

I will just add that, as a very new senator from Queensland, I was very interested in the survival of the dairy industry and the terrific tribulations that they were going through, thanks to dollar-a-litre milk being introduced by the supermarkets, amongst other trying times, and I was doing my very best to try and negotiate an improvement for dairy farmers across Australia when I received a call from Peter Nixon, who, at this point, I estimate, was 92. With clarity and concise advice, he did provide some very good advice to me. He was frustrated that we weren't able to be as hands-on-the-levers as I think he and his colleagues were, as ministers in previous generations. But I do always appreciate that he took the time to ring and educate a new young senator on something that we both equally were so passionate about.

So I am incredibly grateful for the service of a man of Peter's calibre, for the sacrifice that his family made in giving up so much of his time and his life. Australia is the better for it. And I say vale, Peter Nixon AO.

Ross Cadell (NSW, National Party, Shadow Minister for Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also rise to honour the Hon. Peter Nixon AO, a giant of the National Party, a champion of the bush and a man whose legacy is etched not only in policy but in the lives he touched right across this nation and throughout regional Australia.

I am the newest of the Nats in here, so I guessed all the good stories would be taken by the time I stood up! So I'm going to take a slightly different view of what we're going to do. I'm going to shine a light, from the seniors of our party I've spoken to, on what he meant to them and the feelings on that. They say that they reveal the heart of a man who never lost sight of the people he came here to serve. He was a master of connection. He carried the spirit of the bush into every room he entered. He had an uncanny ability to make the complex machinery of Canberra feel human, and he went back and he translated that policy into the language of farmers, of small-town mayors and of families across the land. He didn't just come here to represent regional Australia; he embodied it in everything he did.

What set him apart, when I talked to these people, was his refusal to let power dim his humility. He was a minister who answered the late-night calls, as we heard, from country councils; who drove the dusty roads; who went to see the farmers and met them on their terms. These weren't gestures; that was his genuine way of life. He was authentic all the way through.

I think of the tireless work—little things I didn't know about, like trying to get a shipping line to go down to Bass Strait or his early push for air service to remote towns. Again, these are things we're still fighting for now—proper connectivity to regions. We've heard he was generous with his time. He was a mentor to so many young MPs and not-so-young MPs, including a future prime minister—not even all National MPs. I didn't know things like that. They all tell me he'd listen, he'd advise and he'd often challenge them with a dry wit. There is something that came through in a couple stories I was told from New South Wales. He had a pause. You would know him better than us. There would be a pause in the conversation which would tell them they'd potentially done the wrong thing, without him saying they'd done the wrong thing.

He didn't chase headlines; he just fought for hard-earned truths. His approach to reform was uniquely Australian but grounded, ambitious yet inclusive. Whether on modernising technologies or strengthening rural postal networks, he always pursued progress that lifted communities. He took communities with him because that was his passion. He didn't want to leave anyone behind, and he knew lasting change required trust, not just policy.

Even in retirement, he remained a man of principle. He watched politics with a clear eye. We're hearing of the phone calls that came through. He was never afraid to call out his own side—us—when integrity demanded it. To him, public service wasn't just about popularity; it was about doing right by the people, from the smallest station to the largest city. As Peter once said, you don't do it for the thanks; you do it because people depend on you. Peter Nixon's legacy lives on in the roads that still carry our goods, the services that still bind our regions and the example he set to us all—that politics at its best is about building bridges between communities, between people, between places and between possibilities.

To his family I offer the New South Wales National Party's deepest condolences. To this Senate I offer a challenge: let us honour Peter by striving to serve with the same humility, the same purpose and the same unyielding commitment to those beyond these walls. May he rest in peace.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to rise to add my voice and associate myself with the remarks of my colleagues across the chamber in this place for a servant of the nation that I never met but that I did have the opportunity to see the influence of in my home state of Tasmania. As Senator McKenzie indicated in her remarks, Peter Nixon completed a report into the economy of Tasmania in the late nineties, and I recall my good friend the then premier of Tasmania, Tony Rundle—who, sadly, also passed away only very recently. I was sitting in Tony's office one day, and Tony was saying to me that when the Nixon report was tabled, when it was brought down, the community were effectively marching in the streets, seeking the introduction of the measures that were contained in the report. Such was the respect that the Tasmanian community held for Peter and the work that he'd done.

There is a bit of a theme that runs through the presentations here tonight, which is that, the more things change, the more they stay the same with respect to the issues, because the key issues identified by Peter in that report with respect to the Tasmanian economy included overgovernance, and we have a continuing debate with respect to the number of local government areas that exist within Tasmania. The chestnut of actually getting things done in our state, which remains today, is parochialism—we hear a lot about north and south, but sometimes we don't hear about north, south and north-west—bureaucracy, resistance to change—and that is as valid today as it was in the late nineties, when this report was issued—and polarisation of issues. People hold very close to the issues that they find in our state and they fight for them very hard, and nothing is more evident than that in the politics of Tasmania today.

One important recommendation that he made and that has progressed is the importance of tourism to the island of Tasmania. Peter recognised that in his report, and it now contributes over 10 per cent of our economy—the importance of tourism infrastructure and the development of that. That goes to some of the points that my colleagues have already raised that were extremely important and have played a huge role in the development of the tourism industry in Tasmania. For example, the development of MONA, although it's a purely private piece of infrastructure, demonstrates how right Peter was when he made those recommendations, because that was another one of the elements of the importance of the development of the tourism industry in Tasmania.

He also recommended the continuation of the Freight Equalisation Scheme, which remains an extremely important part of the Tasmanian economy, recognising the importance of Tasmania's sea freight disadvantages. He recommended an annual review of the parameters to keep it up to date, and we just had a debate in the lead-up to the last election about that and addressing bureaucracy, promoting innovation and change. Part of the conversation that I had with Tony on that occasion was that, although people were marching in the streets to see the implementation of the reforms recommended by the Nixon review, every time he tried to implement one of those reforms—going back to the point about resistance to change—they were marching in the streets to try and stop him. The only things that didn't receive pushback were the support for the Freight Equalisation Scheme and tourism infrastructure. In fact, the attempt to reform local government was one of the things that led to the downfall and the loss of the Rundle government in 1998, and the resistance to change in that space remains as it was today.

I think it just goes to reinforce the strength of the stories, the strength of character that someone like Peter brought to the tasks that he was given—that the report that he made into the Tasmania economy was so highly regarded. After Tony Rundle lost government in 1998, Jim Bacon, the new Labor Premier, picked up a lot of the elements of the Nixon review and quietly implemented them as his own, demonstrating the strength of the work that was done across the parliament. They have obviously gone on to become important parts of the Tasmanian economy.

To broaden out the recognition that has been provided by my colleagues but also to express the appreciation of the Tasmanian community for the contribution that Peter made to our state, I am very, very pleased to be able to stand in this place today and recognise that. It's fantastic that members of his family are here to be able to hear us make the recognition. I know that he and Tony Rundle became great friends during the period of time of preparation of the report and the work that Tony did in looking to implement the recommendations. I'm very pleased to add my voice and associate myself with the remarks of my colleagues across the chamber in recognising someone who was not only a powerful voice for regional Australia but an important voice for all of Australia in his public service. I'm very thankful for that. You as his family can be proud and thankful for that. I'm very pleased to add my voice to those of others in the chamber expressing our condolences to you for the loss of a great Australian and thanking him for his service. May he rest in peace.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I just have a brief personal reflection. I grew up on a family farm in Pemberton. I admit that my dad was a political tragic, but the influence of Peter Nixon is demonstrated right across Australia in that I well remember the name Peter Nixon and his role as minister both for transport and primary industries in discussions with my father across the kitchen table. If you have a look at the distance between Gippsland and Pemberton, it does show you the breadth of influence that Peter Nixon had.

Question agreed to, honourable senators joining in a moment of silence.