Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House records its deep regret at the death on 12 October 2007, of the Honourable Kim Edward Beazley (Snr) AO, a former Federal Minister and Member for Fremantle, and places on record its appreciation of his long and meritorious public service, and tenders its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement.

Kim Edward Beazley was a great public servant, a great man and a great representative of the people of Western Australia. He championed education in his time as Minister for Education in the Whitlam government, leaving a lasting legacy: opening up access to tertiary studies for working families and their children and substantially increasing investment in education.

Mr Beazley was born on 30 September 1917 in Northam, Western Australia. He won a place at the Perth Modern School, topping the state in history and English. He went on to study politics at the University of Western Australia. After graduating, he became a teacher and subsequently tutored in history and politics at the university before entering politics.

In 1945, at the age of 27, Mr Beazley won the seat of Fremantle at a by-election following the death of Prime Minister John Curtin. He entered the House of Representatives as its youngest member. He retired before the election in 1977 as its longest serving member. It was an extraordinary career. It spanned three eras: the Chifley Labor government, the long difficult years in opposition and divisions within the Labor Party and the party’s return to power in 1972. He was one of only four members of the Chifley caucus still to be a member of parliament 23 years later, when Gough Whitlam led the party back to power.

By the time of his departure from politics after 32 years service, Mr Beazley was affectionately acknowledged as the ‘Father of the House’. Kim Beazley Sr served with distinction and with dedication. He is remembered as the minister who abolished university fees, putting a tertiary education within the reach of all young Australians—including this then young Australian. He was also responsible for introducing needs based funding for all schools, both private and public, ending the bitter sectarian debate about state aid.

But his contribution went far beyond his time as minister and the education portfolio. He was instrumental in placing Aboriginal rights on the public agenda. He made a great contribution to improving welfare policies in relation to Aboriginal people. During his parliamentary career, Mr Beazley served with dedication and distinction on a number of parliamentary committees. His commitment to education and Aboriginal affairs can be seen in the other committees he served on—the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and the Joint Select Committee on Aboriginal Rights in the Northern Territory. He also served on a number of House of Representatives select committees including the committee on Specific Learning Difficulties; on Voting Rights of Aborigines; and on the Grievances of Yirrkala Aborigines and Arnhem Land Reserve committee, to name but a few.

Between 1964 and 1972, he was the parliamentary representative on the Council of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies. He was also Vice-Chairman of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs. His contribution to education policy and Aboriginal affairs was recognised when the Australian National University awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Laws in 1976.

After retiring from parliament in 1977, Mr Beazley remained involved in education. From 1981 to 1985, he was Pro Chancellor of Murdoch University, Western Australia’s second university that took in its first students in 1975.

In parliament he was highly respected as a fine orator—some say one of the greatest orators of his generation. He was a highly principled man, a man of great and deep intellect, a man of great and deep faith. He was a man who sought to bring his faith to bear on both the public policy debates of his time and his approach to politics itself. In recognition of his service to politics and government, Mr Beazley was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1979.

On behalf of the government, I offer condolences to his wife, Betty, and their children, Kim Beazley, the former Leader of the Australian Labor Party, and Merilyn Wassen and their respective families. Sadly, his youngest son, David, passed away in 2006.

If we reflect on the public career of Kim Beazley Sr and the contributions he made to education policy and Aboriginal affairs, these are the hallmarks of a truly distinguished career in this place—not just measured by the length of years he served here but by the quality of his contribution and his lasting impact on public policy, particularly in the area of higher education.

For any of us here to lose our fathers is a difficult time and, because Kim Beazley Jr is a friend to so many of us in this place on both sides of the aisle, we remember Kim at this time of the loss of his father as well. They were very close. They shared a lot of time together. Our thoughts in particular are with our friend and former parliamentary colleague and parliamentary leader, Kim Christian Beazley, at the time of his father’s passing.

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