Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

This is an occasion where I felt that I really should try and say a few words with respect to the passing of Peter Andren. Peter was a good bloke. I knew him in the time that he was here. I was elected in 1993; he was elected in 1996. We had cause to deal with each other on a number of issues over the years. In fact, over the last few years in this place I sat on the opposition front bench, around near the horseshoe, and Peter sat behind me, and we would often engage on the issues of the day.

I felt that it was important to acknowledge his time here and him as a man and a politician. He was very much a good bloke and a man of strong convictions. I have read his book, The Andren Report: an Independent Way in Australian Politics, which I have with me today. For those who would like to learn more about what it is like as an Independent in this place and in the electorate and also something more about a man whose life has been in its own way quite extraordinary, it is quite a reasonable read. It is very much a stream of consciousness book in some respects, but it does give you an inkling of what motivated him, what put him on the road to this place and how he saw this place and how it operated.

Peter and I would disagree on things on occasions. On some of the issues and some of the stands that he took, I would have to say we parted ways to a degree. The one thing you always knew with Peter was that he genuinely believed what he said. He genuinely held the views that he held. He was forthright about stating them in a manner which was always articulate and strongly held, and with a good deal of passion. He backed that up in his dealings with his electorate and in his public dealings generally. The public rewarded him for that. His results were quite phenomenal.

In the context of Peter’s life in this place, much has been said about Independents in the parliament. I think it is recognised and acknowledged that his achievement in being elected in the first place and being re-elected was in itself quite significant. It is particularly significant when you look at the history of Independents in the House of Representatives. There have only been 10 members elected to the House of Representatives as Independents since 1950. Five of those were originally elected as major party candidates and later switched to being Independents as incumbents. They were Paul Filing and Allan Rocher, who were ex-Liberals; and Bob Katter, the current member for Kennedy. Then there were a couple of ex-ALP guys: Graeme Campbell, a former member for Kalgoorlie; and Sam Benson, back in the sixties, who was a former member for Batman.

One was originally elected at a by-election, being Phil Cleary, who was elected to the seat of Wills after a former Prime Minister at that time, Bob Hawke, resigned from parliament. Phil was elected firstly at a by-election and subsequently at a general election. One Independent had been a major party candidate and was expelled, leaving no official Liberal candidate. That was, of course, Pauline Hanson. There have been two who were existing state MPs who then went federal: Ted Mack and Tony Windsor, the current member for New England. Only Peter Andren was elected as, as I call it, a cleanskin candidate; everyone else had a significant base to work off, one that they had developed through their involvement in parliament—the New South Wales parliament in the case of Ted Mack and Tony Windsor—or there were particular circumstances regarding the focus of a by-election, as in Phil Cleary’s case. So the rest actually came out of the major parties.

So Peter’s achievement in being elected in the first place—and being elected subsequently, but I refer in particular to being elected in the first place—was in fact quite phenomenal. That does highlight the difficulty that faces Independent candidates in federal seats in being able to campaign across large population areas or, as in this case, large geographic areas, and actually be successful. He is the only one in modern political times to have really done it—having done it in the situation of having been completely outside the system. It is true that he had, through his role as a newsreader, a significant local profile in the area in which he stood. Nonetheless, his was a real achievement that ought to be taken into consideration in terms of his success and popularity in the electorate. After Peter got here he stuck to his guns. He held to his views and stood up for those views day in and day out all of the way through his time here.

The parliament is the poorer for his passing. The public debate in this country will also be the poorer for his passing. I know that he was a man who had strong links to his family and I pass on to its members my condolences on their loss. Although having known Peter for just a bit of time, I do understand that their loss has in fact been very great—and with that I wish them all the very best.

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