Andrew Gee (Calare, National Party, Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to pay tribute to the boy from Boree Creek today. I speak of course of Tim Fischer, a man who served his country in so many ways. He was born in the Riverina and hailed from Boree Creek, with all of its 212 residents. Tim was an example that a kid from the country, and a small country town, can achieve anything. Whenever I speak to school groups who come to parliament from our country communities in the central west, one of the things that I tell them is that it doesn't matter where you're from; you can go and achieve in life whatever you want—and Tim was the embodiment of this ideal.

I first met him when he came to Yeoval in 2014 to open the Banjo Paterson Museum. He loved the work of Paterson. He loved Australia. He loved its poetry and its people. That day he told the crowd about Paterson's contribution to poetry, journalism and also the war effort. The crowd were absolutely enthralled with what he had to say. He was one of those people that folks just wanted to be near. They wanted to come and have a chat to him about poetry, about Banjo, about trains.

His life was a life of service in so many ways. We know that he was conscripted to serve in Vietnam in 1966. True to that ideal of service, he elected to go to officer training school. He served with the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, between July 1966 and March 1969. Of course, he was wounded at that famous engagement of Coral-Balmoral in 1968. At the time, he referred to his conscription as 'the great door opener', such was his dedication to service in whatever capacity—and that's what he looked upon it as: an opportunity to serve his country, to serve his community, and he did it with distinction.

That service continued upon his return to Australia. At just 24, he was elected to serve in the New South Wales parliament. He then made the transition to federal politics 13 years later, in 1984. This began a 17-year commitment to the people of Farrer, to the National Party and to the Australian parliament. His achievements were well documented. He was truly a man of the people. Some of the things he achieved are well known. Some were spoken of at his recent funeral. One incident occurred in 1986, when a desperate Laotian refugee pulled a hunting rifle at the immigration office in Albury, quite near to his office, creating a siege situation. Tim walked in alone, defused the situation, without a lot of concern for his own safety, spoke to the man and reappeared with the rifle in one hand and his arm around the shoulder of the young man. He was a man of the people. After that incident, it was widely reported that he travelled to Thailand in an attempt to get the man's family out of the refugee camp in which they were stuck.

He was a patient man. He was a kind man. He wasn't without fallibility—none of us are—but he always stayed very close to his community and the needs of the community. All of us in this place could probably heed the way that he dealt with his constituents—the way he engaged with them; the way he made sure they were looked after in every way possible. He responded personally through his correspondence to them, he addressed their concerns, and they loved him for it. When Tim took the leadership of the National Party, we as a party were at a low ebb. I think it's now widely recognised that at the time he ascended to the leadership position he was able to give the National Party a clear and distinct image because of the ideals that he personified. In some ways you could call it differentiation. He certainly had that. People related to it because they could see that he was human, that he was one of them; he wasn't just another politician.

Perhaps his greatest challenge came after the devastating Port Arthur massacre, in 1996, when he and John Howard decided to bring all the states together and make sure, through the National Firearms Agreement, that something like that would never happen in this country again. In some ways, John Howard had the easy part of trying to get that reform through, because he had a city constituency. Tim Fischer had to deal with the folks in the bush. It was very difficult for him, but he did it because he knew it was the right thing. John Howard recalled his support, saying:

He never tried to talk me out of it but he made it plain how difficult it was going to be in certain parts of the bush.

He chose to do what was right—despite, I think, an effigy of him being burnt by the gun lobbyists—and he persevered.

Tim continued to serve his country until 2001, when he ultimately finished his service in the parliament, having resigned from the ministry in 1999. That year, Charles Sturt University awarded him an honorary doctorate, and the citation captured much about his personality. It read:

Tim's life has been about dogged adherence to goals. It has also been about risk-taking, grabbing opportunities and perseverance.

I could add that to me his service was all about his humanity and his dedication not just to the people of his electorate but to the people of his country.

Farewell, Tim Fischer. You left an indelible mark on politics. I celebrate your contribution to the National Party, the Australian parliament and our nation. I extend the condolences of the Calare electorate to Tim's family.

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