Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I support the condolence motion moved by the Prime Minister with regard to Sir Allen Fairhall and Sir Harold Young. Australia has a great history of inventors and engineers and people who start the most remarkable businesses from home. Every Australian knows the story of Merv Richardson and how he made the first Victa lawnmower in his garage and the story of Lance Hill, who famously built the first Hills hoist. Sir Allen Fairhall has to be counted amongst their company. In 1931 he founded 2KO in Newcastle. He built his own transmitter, studio and a 13-metre timber mast in his own backyard. I cannot help wondering what his power bill must have been in those days!

In the first month he sold only 80c worth of advertising, but he persevered until 2KO became one of Australia’s leading regional radio stations. During the war he was co-opted by the Ministry of Munitions as the supervising engineer of its New South Wales Radio and Signals Supply Section. Sir Allen entered parliament as the member for Paterson in 1949—indeed, the year that the electorate of Lyne was first constituted. He stood for parliament because he was concerned about the Chifley government’s plan to nationalise the banks. Throughout his parliamentary career he maintained his interest in technology and his vigilance against socialism at home and the threat of communist expansion overseas. It was not surprising that he ended up in the defence portfolio. Sir Allen held the supply portfolio from 1961 to 1966 and was then commissioned as the Minister for Defence. As you would expect, Sir Allen understood the difficulties involved in getting cutting-edge technologies into production. After all, he was responsible for building radar sets in the war at a time when radar was at the outside edge of what was technologically possible. He was a staunch advocate of the F111, even though Prime Minister Gorton was dubious about it and the Labor Party regarded it as a waste of money. At one point he described the F111 as the ‘Cadillac of the skies’. The passage of time has shown that he was right.

Sir Allen was a strong advocate of forward defence and had a series of disagreements with Prime Minister Gorton about Australia’s defence policy. He retired in August 1969. He was unwell and evidently tired of his constant disagreements with John Gorton at the time. Sir Allen was knighted in 1970 and returned to his private business interests, which included a printing firm that he operated with his son. Sir Allen also wrote two books, including a coffee-table book about Newcastle, called Newcastle: symphony of a city. His love for the city shines from every page of that publication. On behalf of my party, I express my condolences to his wife, Lady Monica Fairhall, his family and friends.

Sir Harold Young was a wheat farmer and a grazier before he entered parliament as a senator for South Australia in 1968. He was a great advocate for Australia’s primary producers. Most notably, he was a member of the Federal Exporters Overseas Transport Committee. This committee had the job of negotiating freight rates with the shipping industry, which was essentially a British monopoly at the time. The Australian shippers and the government had very little negotiating clout, and there was no way to rebut the shipowners’ claims about their costs because we just did not have the evidence. Today we would run a computer model of the trade between Australia and Europe, but that option was not available in the 1960s. In the end, the Australian government took over some empty watersheds and simulated every movement of the British and European merchant fleets, using model ships. The operation ran 24 hours a day for several months until it generated the figures that were needed by the Australian negotiators. As a result, freight rates fell substantially and shipping lines became much more efficient.

Sir Harold maintained his interest in primary industries after he entered the Senate in 1967-68, but he developed a strong focus on the procedures and management of the chamber. He served as Government Whip from 1971 to 1972 and then as Opposition Whip from 1972 to 1975. He was the Chairman of Committees from 1976 until 1981, so he was ideally placed to become the President of the Senate in 1981. It was a difficult time. The Australian Democrats had just won the balance of power in the Senate and made it clear that they were going to use it to ‘keep the bastards honest’, as they said many times. It was Senator Button, however, who said that Sir Harold’s success as President would be measured by the extent that they were ‘touched by the wand of tolerance, firmness and complete impartiality’. There is no doubt that Sir Harold had that magic touch.

The Prime Minister has already noted that there was not a single motion of dissent moved against any of his rulings during his time in office. He was knighted for his contribution to the parliament in 1983 and retired later that year. On behalf of my party, I join with the Prime Minister to express our condolences to his wife, Lady Margaret Young, his family and his friends.

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