Daryl Melham (Banks, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to remember a genuine and independent man who contributed much to this place and the electorate he represented. He was a man who, in the words of the member for New England, was ‘the conscience of the parliament’. Peter Andren was born in Gulargambone in 1946 and spent his early life moving around the countryside with his family. He eventually moved to Sydney, where he studied at Macquarie University and Alexander Mackie Teachers College. Peter taught for three years and then changed careers to move into journalism. It was during the time of his next career change that I came to know and admire Peter.

Peter was elected to the federal parliament in 1996 as an Independent. At that election he received 29 per cent of the primary vote, while the ALP received 28 per cent, the Nationals 22 per cent and the Liberals 15 per cent. After preferences, he received 67 per cent of the two-party preferred vote against the Nationals candidate—a remarkable victory in what people have described as a conservative electorate. What is even more remarkable is that Peter continued to increase his primary vote in every subsequent election such that there was no need to go to preferences by the 2001 election. The seat was described as ‘safe Independent’.

In his first speech, on 9 May 1996, Peter laid down his marker—as do many people entering this place, as we have seen in the past two weeks. In Peter’s case, there was no doubt as to his commitment and honesty and his intention to well and truly represent the people of Calare. He stated in part:

In a world that is becoming more confusing, more threatening, far more violent and less personal by the day, people need leadership from politicians who will hear their calls regardless of the political implications.

Peter Andren provided that leadership not only to the people of Calare, to whom he was staunch in his representation, but also to the broader community.

The seat of Calare, while Peter was its representative, was in the central west of New South Wales and included the towns of Bathurst, Orange, Lithgow, Oberon and Blayney. As the member for Calare, Peter did not always share the views of his electorate; he considered each issue on its merits and then made his position known. The electorate obviously respected him, even when they did not necessarily agree with him, and his polling results bear testament to that. One of his staff, Tim Mahoney, described him in an interview with the Western Advocate as:

... a man of great integrity, a principled human being. More often than not he was referred to as a parliamentarian because he was above being a politician. He avoided politics. He dealt with issues on their merits.

Like Peter, his staff focused on resolving issues for the constituents of Calare. That was the heart and soul of his role as a local member. His first speech focused almost exclusively on the needs of his electorate and of regional Australia more generally.

On the broader political stage, Peter took great pains to think matters through so that he could arrive at the right decision. In recent years we witnessed his stand against the previous government on the war in Iraq, its treatment of asylum seekers and the sale of Telstra. Peter continued a campaign against what he saw as politicians’ perks, arguing against salary increases, and he felt that they were out of line with community standards. He felt that incumbents were unfairly advantaged in election campaigns because of this—and I think he would have been pleased with the government’s decision last week. In his obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald on 5 November 2007, a story was told about a cartoon Peter had on the window of his office in Parliament House. It is worth recounting because it is indicative of the man. The cartoon depicted:

... a man being kicked out of Parliament with a speech balloon coming from inside the building declaring: “The cheek of him! Coming in here representing the mob.”

Peter Andren brought with him to this place a rare dignity, honesty and integrity. I offer my personal condolences to his family: his first wife, Jenny; his partner, Valerie; and his sons, Greg and Josh. I also offer my commiserations to his staff, who were as committed as Peter to the work that he did. It is appropriate, as I head to the end of my contribution today, to use Peter’s own words—a worthy epitaph for any member in this place. These were his words a few weeks after he announced his decision to retire from the House of Representatives:

I look back on the past 11½ years with great pride, having forever silenced the sceptics who say an Independent is a wasted space in the political system.

Peter did prove his sceptics wrong. I, for one, favour the two-party system. I am not necessarily a great fan of Independents because I believe stability is brought to government if one side or the other is in control. I do not like the idea of Independents holding the balance of power. Peter Andren, however, was a rare exception because you knew that he could not be bought. If he was to decide that a government was to fall or survive on his vote, it would be on the merits of the vote not on what was in it for him or what was in it for his electorate. I think those of us who had dealings with him saw that integrity shine through. That integrity is there in other members of the House; it is not unique to Peter.

I went to Peter’s funeral, together with the federal member for Reid, Laurie Ferguson. The member for Calare, Mr Cobb, and the former member for Macquarie, Kerry Bartlett, were also there. So both sides of the parliament were represented. I think the Independent member Tony Windsor was there as well, and Senator Bob Brown gave a eulogy at the funeral. So the parliament was well represented in the middle of an election campaign, as it should have been.

Another of my experiences with Peter was when he opposed the preamble to the Constitution that was proposed by the then government in 1999. He opposed it at the time because of the lack of consultation. Whilst the Labor Party supported it in the end in the referendum, it was Peter, because he voted against it in the House, who was able to, in effect, help write the ‘no’ case for the preamble in that constitutional referendum. I had some discussions with him in relation to that, and during that campaign I spoke out against that preamble because of its lack of consultation, which I was entitled to do as an individual member of this place. In the end, less than 40 per cent of the people voted for that preamble, as against 46 per cent for the republic, which was the second question in the referendum. Peter got it right there as well. Even though the major political parties were supporting the preamble—and the Labor Party at a federal level did support the preamble—less than 40 per cent of the people supported it, and it failed. I think that is an indication of how Peter generally had a knack for where the people were.

Peter Andren retired from this place as an Independent. He was not defeated, so he picked his own manner of leaving. That, again, is testament to an Independent because the truth is that, as much as most of us might think we represent our constituents and are popular or whatever, very few people can get elected to this place as genuine Independents and not as refugees from a major political party. Peter was one of those people. He kept getting re-elected with bigger majorities. I salute him. I will miss him and his contributions to this place. I was very pleased to see the cross-party support, the cross-party attendance, at his funeral during an election period. That says a lot as to how we in this place felt about him.

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