Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

In starting this speech and in listening to the previous contributions, I am struck with the same sort of feeling as must have come before Elizabeth Taylor's eighth husband on their wedding night: you know what to do, but you just do not how to make it interesting! There have been a fair few things said about Joe Hockey.

I first met Joe Hockey when I was a candidate in 2010. Like the member for Wright, the first thing that struck me was that the persona of the man on the TV and that of the guy sitting next to me in the car were exactly the same. That is the mark of Joe Hockey. He is who he is, and he is proud of it, but he is also not very quick to admit to making an error.

Soon after hopping in the car in Townsville—we were heading in from Kirwan towards the city—he was telling me about his property near Atherton in Far North Queensland and said, 'We're heading in that direction.' I told him we were going the wrong way. Joe twisted and turned and debated the point until he convinced himself that he was right. He is a man who loves an argument and who is willing to stand up for what he believes, and to berate people until they give up.

The thing about Joe Hockey that not many people outside this place actually saw was his innate goodness. He has as many friends on the other side of the chamber as on this side. He will pose for photographs with anyone at any time, most of the time suffering less than glorious invitations. He understands his place in Australia and that perception is reality.

After I was elected in 2010, I was struggling with my maiden speech. I always admired Joe Hockey so I had a look at his maiden speech. Now, my seat is a marginal one and, while Joe Hockey's maiden speech was a very good read, for me to stand there and talk about the three principles of liberalism and the Battle of Beersheba was not going to go over real well in my electorate and was a step too far.

Soon after that I was part of a conversation with him and I mentioned that I was having all sorts of trouble with my speech. He suggested a cup of coffee and we talked about what it means to give a maiden speech. He gave me a good hour of his time. He asked me if I had a story about my life or an event around which you could say what you stood for. I told him a story about being left behind at a service station when I was a child and how that had affected me throughout my life. He got me to link that to a narrative that, while I was the member, no-one would get left behind. I remain proud of that speech. It remains relevant and essentially outlines my core values and what I want to achieve here for my community. That is exactly what Joe Hockey told me it should be about.

Joe Hockey, to me, was what a senior member of the team should be. He was accessible, forthright and supportive. He was the man who rang me when I first won my seat. He was the man who said, 'Oh, I'd love to,' when I told him my teenage daughter was there and would like to talk to him. Oh, how he must have enjoyed that conversation.

Joe Hockey was the man who calmed me when, in my second campaign, I rang him, shrilling down the line at him about the latest attack on me. He said, 'Mate, mate, calm down, calm down; you've got this.' He spent 25 minutes talking me down from my nervous peak when he was going to be the next Treasurer of the country and he was the busiest man in the world. He talked me down from the nervous peak in which I found myself. He had a way about him where you could just sit there and see his smile and nature coming through the phone line at you.

I am unashamedly a fan of Joe Hockey. This place will greatly miss him. He has the ability to be normal when all around him want to be something else. That ability is to be admired. It is an honourable trait. I remember when we were debating the Malaysia Solution. Some accused Joe of hyperbole, of overreach. I saw the son of an immigrant talking about his children and would not countenance, under any circumstances, sending children to Malaysia.

As Treasurer, I saw a man who wanted the best for his country, a man who tried to address the errors of past governments, a man who tried to get our structural deficit in some sort of order. He gave a speech to the Australia Institute where he said you have to do three things when you have a problem. You have to tell people what the problem is, you have to explain to people what you are going to do about it and you have to take them with you.

I saw a man who was beset by a Senate crossbench which was solely interested in promoting the single cause of their own celebrity. I saw a man who was beset with bad timing and a re-run of the Western Australian Senate election which ruled out all the ground preparation which would normally be associated with telling the people what the problem was around the first budget of a new government. But I also saw a man who never gave up. I think history will be a lot kinder to Joe Hockey when the books are written about what John Howard, Paul Keating and Julia Gillard had to contend with with the crossbenchers in comparison to Joe Hockey and the eight disparate crossbenchers of the 44th Parliament and the problems he had to endure.

I remember John Lennon being asked whether he agreed with the proposition if it was not for the Beatles, Ringo would not be famous. John Lennon answered that Ringo was always going to be famous. Ringo was just too big a person to be caught in the mundane, the every day.

Joe Hockey will continue to be a famous Australian. His place in our country will continue to grow. He will touch many more lives in this country and he will continue to make this country a better place. He will, because he is a great Australian. He loves this country and he wants the best for it and all Australians.

Joe Hockey has not died. He lost his job and is now looking for other employment. The thing I like most about Joe Hockey is that he understands, better than most, that he is not the first, nor will he be the last, Australian to fall to such a fate, certainly not in this place. Certainly it happens to hundreds and thousands of people every day. Joe Hockey left here with his head held high.

He loves a joke, even at his own expense. He loves his family. He loves his community. He loves a cigar. He loves his wife. He loves his sense of duty to his country. I count myself lucky to have known him and to have worked with him. I thank him for the time he has given me and for the suits, including the one I wear at this moment. I thank him for the time he is yet to give me, the advice he will supply and the example he will set. I will always be a Joe Hockey fan. I will miss him dearly from this place but I will not miss him from my life because, whether he likes it or not, he is now a part of it.

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