Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is always a difficulty to speak on condolence motions in relation to people you have known and served with in the parliament, and Bob Halverson was a friend—as you will probably gather from some of the remarks that I will make. He had a history of engagement, particularly with our military, that reflected something that I knew in my own family. I have an uncle who was an airman. I    might say he may be a little more accomplished—he has only just given up his pilot's licence, and he was flying during the end of the Second World War—but he retired as a squadron leader and was promoted to wing commander, and I notice that Bob Halverson similarly left the service of our great nation as a wing commander.

He had a period in which he was a stockbroker and a businessman before he became, in 1984, the member for Casey in Victoria. He was a very accomplished member with a great deal of interests, particularly in relation to Australia and its role in the world. If you go through and look at the nature of the service he gave, it was very much reflected in the committee work and the delegations in which he participated. I went to his maiden speech. It is always interesting to look at maiden speeches to understand where people are coming from. While I gather some may be surprised that he later became a republican, in his early remarks were on the state of the nation he said:

… that patriotism and nationalism are becoming tainted and unacceptable words and that sacrifice, courage, discipline, loyalty, devotion to duty and love of country are, to many, unfashionable concepts or embarrassing cliches.

He had a strong commitment to our flag and its design, our history, and the fact that we were a British colony. He acknowledged the role of Australia as a member of the Commonwealth and acknowledged something that I acknowledge frequently—the importance of our parliamentary system, the separation of powers and the rule of law. These were safeguarded in our constitutional arrangements. In that sense, he was an Australian very committed to the values that we all hold as important.

I was challenged to raise a parliamentary delegation that I travelled with in 1988, in which Bob was a very distinguished member. It was to the former Soviet Union at the time of glasnost and perestroika, when we were wondering whether it was going to fundamentally change. We discussed the future of the Soviet Union at that time. We had the opportunity of visiting part of Central Asia. In other words, we were in Uzbekistan, and we had the opportunity of being in Samarkand, as I remember well. Later, we went to one of the Baltic republics, Lithuania, and were in Kaunas and Vilnius. Then we were in Moscow and St Petersburg. What we found out was that Russian cities are very different to our own. I was jogging regularly at that time—I was far fitter than I am now—and I might say that, as I came back to the hotel after having run round a park for something like 10 kilometres—I was training for the Sydney City to Surf—Bob Halverson was coming out. He looked at me in horror and said, 'There's no hot water.' I said: 'You really don't know what you are talking about. There'll be hot water; you've just got to let the tap run long enough.' So I went upstairs and let the tap run and run and run, and there was still no hot water. That was fine. We went down and we found our Russian guide. We all knew his name had to be Boris and that he had to be part of the KGB. We said to Boris, 'Look, Boris, there was no hot water—you will be able to fix it tomorrow, won't you?' and Boris said, 'Yes, there will be hot water tomorrow.' So I went out the next day and I think I did 15 kilometres. I came back and there was Boris, knocking on the doors of all of the members of the delegation, singing out at the top of his voice, 'Hot water, hot water,' as he handed each one of us a thermos flask. I did not know that in these Eastern European cities they closed the hot water system down for maintenance because it was reticulated through the whole city. It gave us some fascinating insights.

Bob, of course, became Speaker. I do not know whether our former Madam Speaker, who is in the chamber, will appreciate some of the comments I am about to make. Bob played a very important role in developing a more independent role for the Speaker. It may not necessarily have been acknowledged by all. He agreed at first instance that he would robe but he was not prepared to go back, as Billy Snedden had, and wear the wig, so in that sense he was already starting to define himself as someone who took a different view in relation to the role.

He elected not to participate in coalition party room meetings. He was pressed by the opposition of the time—that was understood—but he also found that his own colleagues were a little disappointed in some of his rulings, which led to a point where there was some questioning over it. In a sense that is disappointing, because I would like to think that in a robust parliament genuine debate and discussion should be facilitated and that the Speaker has a proper role in ensuring that there is appropriate decorum but also that debate is facilitated. I think Bob was one of those who saw a more independent role as the direction to take. Not all agreed with that, which I understand, and when he elected not to seek that role any longer—I think that happened around 1998—he left the parliament.

Bob then had a period as Australia's Ambassador to Ireland and as our representative at the Holy See. It was interesting to see some of the issues that he had to deal with. Diplomatic representatives find some of these matters challenging—particularly, for example, when you are at the Vatican and people want to raise with you issues of asylum seekers and other matters—and he obviously had to deal with those. But it is generally acknowledged that, after some questionable appointments to Ireland at earlier points in time, Bob Halverson was able to restore Australia's reputation as a country that appointed people of capacity and ability to fulfil that role on behalf of Australia. It was very appropriate that, after a distinguished parliamentary career and a period as Speaker, he was able to fulfil that role for our nation and in the nation's interest.

It was a great privilege to know him. To his wife, Maggie, I say, 'We regret very much his passing.' To his children and grandchildren we all express our condolences. He was a fine Australian. He had served this nation in our military. He served this parliament. He played a distinguished role in being the Speaker and he was later a very important diplomat for Australia.

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