Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I am honoured to speak on this condolence motion for the late Peter Howson, who was a member of this parliament and a minister in a number of governments. For most of his career Peter was the member for Fawkner but, for his final term in parliament, he was the member for Casey. He was in fact the first member for Casey. The seat was created in a redistribution which meant that his seat of Fawkner was abolished, and he took the opportunity to offer himself as a Liberal Party candidate for the new seat of Casey for the 1969 election. He served as the member, winning in 1969 and losing in 1972 when the tide took out a number of seats with the election of the Whitlam government.

I had the privilege of meeting Peter on a couple of occasions. Others, particularly the member for Higgins, who knew him very well, have said in the House that he remained a very active and vibrant member of the Liberal Party, of which he was so proud. I met him shortly after my election as the member for Casey at a Liberal Party state council. Following meeting him I took the opportunity to read his diaries. I had heard about the Howson diaries and he motivated me to have a look. They are extensive diaries and a wonderful political read, I would say, for all members of this House. They cover all the major events throughout his time as a member of parliament.

I found the diaries to be fascinating reading on many levels. They are very candid. The member for Higgins said in the House yesterday that he was one of the first to read them because he read them in his capacity as a lawyer and he had to clear them for defamation. I found them fascinating inasmuch as they illustrate how some things never change about electoral politics. In those diaries he goes through in some detail the difficult tasks of preparing for election day. He talks in great detail about moving out to the electorate of Casey, campaigning in that first election and preparing for the next one. He talks about some of the great volunteers for the Liberal Party, some of whom are still there as great supporters today. He talks about the suburbs and the public meetings he had and how the suburbs were very different at that point. There has been a lot of growth and urbanisation in the period since he was the member for Casey. Peter talks fondly about going to a meeting of the North Croydon branch of the Liberal party, which was a very active branch then and still is today.

His story, which is told so well in his diaries, is a great story about the Australian parliament. He was part of the generation that fought in the Second World War. Born in England, he came to Australia immediately after the war and became interested in politics. He arrived in Australia at the time when the Liberal Party had just been formed, and he worked tirelessly and ran as a candidate a couple of times before he was successful as the member for Fawkner. The measure of the man was very much in his great contribution as a member of parliament and in his wonderful dedication to public policy, not just in his ministerial career but also after his time as a member of parliament. He remained politically active and dedicated himself to the issues he believed in, particularly Aboriginal affairs. He did that every day of his life.

We are sad that he has passed away, just short of 90 years of age, but in this condolence motion we pay respect to him for everything he did here in this parliament and everything he did for his constituents in both the electorates he represented in Melbourne.

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