Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I support the motion moved by the Prime Minister and add to the remarks that he made. Sir Reginald Swartz was one of the last two surviving ministers of the Menzies government—Sir Allen Fairhall, who retired from parliament in 1969 on the grounds of ill health, still lives. Reginald Swartz was the member for Darling Downs for 23 years. He was first elected in 1949 and served as a minister in the Menzies, Holt, McEwan and Gorton governments. He was Leader of the House of Representatives from 1971 until 1972 and he held a range of portfolios, including Repatriation, Health, Social Services, Civil Aviation and National Development.

Obviously, I do not have personal memories of Reginald Swartz in quite the same way that the Prime Minister has—he was of the Prime Minister’s party. But I can remember him, as a young person, when I visited this parliament—or the other parliament, I should say—every August and watched the performances at question time. There was an audible groan whenever Reg Swartz rose to his feet because there would be an answer given, but it would not be a read answer; it would be an answer that had an incredible amount of factoids added to it that made the various points that he wanted to make. He would absolutely be guaranteed to comatose any question time he involved himself in.

I remember with some pleasure, when I got to my feet early on as a minister in this place and was able to make the statement that I wanted to dedicate my answer to the memory of Reginald Swartz, being gratified by the groans that broke out in the then opposition on the Liberal side, who knew exactly what I meant when that question was going to be answered. But he was widely regarded on both sides of the House as being a man of decency and integrity. I know my father thought the world of him. One of the attributes of politics in those days, particularly when you held the sorts of portfolios that Reg Swartz held, was that you had many issues that members of parliament were, in a constituency sense, interested in. He was one of those ministers who, when you had a bit of an issue with repatriation or social services, it was not a bad idea to give him notice of your question. If he had a favourable answer, whatever side of the House you were on, he would give it to you—at length, in detail and totally to the satisfaction of your constituent, provided you had taken the trouble to arrange things beforehand.

Sir Reginald Swartz won election after election by sizeable majorities. That was probably a result of his practice of insisting that he visit every single town and village in his electorate every year between elections, despite the fact that he had a very substantial majority. He was well served by his press secretary, the late Mort Nash, who used to boast that he was firmly of the view that his job was to keep his boss out of the Sydney Morning Herald and in the Toowoomba Chronicle. By and large, the press secretary succeeded in his objectives. All of us in this place, whenever an occasion arises to do so, ought to express gratitude to the generation from which Reg Swartz came. It was undoubtedly the most significant, stoic, effective generation in Australian history—the people who lasted the Depression, the people who won the war.

Reg Swartz was a member of that generation. He did it as hard as any member of that generation did. After being enlisted in the 2/22nd Infantry Battalion, 8th Division, and participating in the Malayan campaign—which, despite the fact that it has been overshadowed by the surrender at Singapore, had many features that demonstrated effective delaying actions—he was captured, became a prisoner in Changi and had the most horrible of all wars as a result of that. Nevertheless, it needs to be noted that that generation came back with a sense of personal solidarity, a sense of the ability of the government to achieve things and a sense of national responsibility, which made them such effective participants in the political life of this nation. On behalf of the Labor Party, I extend my sympathy to his second wife, Lady Muriel Swartz, and his children, Barbara, Graham and Rodney.

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