Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is my great honour to rise in this place today to pay tribute to the former member for Barker, Dr Alexander James Forbes. The Hon. Alexander James Forbes—or 'Jim' to almost everyone I've ever met—served as the member for Barker from 1956 to 1975. Like everyone in this place, I feel a great privilege of being a member, and I do so, as I indicated in my maiden speech, as someone who stands on the shoulders of giants. Dr Forbes was one of those giants, and I hope that in my contribution today I'll make that clear to this place.

Dr Jim Forbes was born in Hobart on 16 December 1923. Having graduated from the Royal Military College Duntroon the day before turning 19 years of age, he went on to serve in the Second World War with the 2nd Australian Mountain Battery and was deployed to New Guinea, Bougainville, Japan and Germany. In recognition of his gallant service in the South-West Pacific, Dr Forbes was awarded the Military Cross in 1945. It should also be noted that the same award was bestowed upon his father and brother.

After the war he continued his service within the Citizen Military Forces Adelaide Universities Regiment until 1956. He graduated with honours at the University of Adelaide, was awarded his PhD from Oxford and subsequently worked as a university lecturer. Following the death of the House of Representatives Speaker the Hon. Archie Cameron MP, Dr Forbes successfully contested the by-election for the federal seat of Barker, a seat which it is my great privilege to hold today. Dr Forbes was promoted to the Menzies government frontbench in December 1963, when he was appointed Minister for the Navy, Minister for the Army and Minister Assisting the Treasurer. It was in his defence related roles that he visited the Australian military forces deployed in Vietnam in 1965 and introduced a defence bill into parliament which enabled conscription for overseas military service. He later served as Minister for Health from 1966 to 1971 and Minister for Immigration from 1971 to 1972.

Following the McMahon government's defeat at the 1972 election, Dr Forbes transitioned to become the opposition spokesperson on defence, and he served in that role until March 1975. He retired from the parliament at the federal election held in December of that year. Upon leaving parliament, Dr Forbes remained active within the Liberal Party and served as the South Australian vice-president, moving on to be the South Australian division's president from 1979 to 1982 and federal president of the Liberal Party from 1982 to 1985.

The Liberal Party of Australia will celebrate the 75th anniversary of its foundation this weekend. In doing so, we'll celebrate the modern link between our party's forefathers and those of us who have the privilege of parliamentary roles on behalf of that party, being the Hon. John Howard. It's sad that Jim didn't live to see that anniversary—he died on 10 August—because Jim was the actual link. When he entered parliament, he served as the last minister in the Menzies government alive. He served prime ministers effectively across the ages. He served under Prime Ministers Menzies, Holt, McEwen, Gorton, McMahon and caretaker PM, Malcolm Fraser. His life, as you've heard, was segregated in four distinct parts: his military service from age 16-24, his academic service at Adelaide University until the age of 33, as a member of parliament until he retired aged 52, and then his much celebrated retirement.

He was an incredibly humble man. His advice to me on being given the great privilege to represent the Liberal Party at the 2013 election—indeed before my election—was to ensure that I always retained that deep humility. Effectively, Jim's thesis was that hubris in politics was Kryptonite, and he lived his life that way. He had provided so much and yet he was so humble about his circumstances. This was an individual who worked through some of the most difficult periods of our Federation. It was acknowledged that when he left the parliament he had the view that for every year of service in this place, he needed two years to return to normality. Having spent six years in this place, I think I can, perhaps, appreciate what it is he was saying.

He beat a field of 30 candidates at his pre-selection. Before that, he was president of the university Liberal Union, and he remained humble throughout his time in this place and, indeed, after it. During his time in parliament he was a strong voice for Barker and for our national interests. He was well ahead of his time, albeit unsuccessfully, when he campaigned for anti-smoking campaigns as health minister. He was integral in the design of the selective conscription scheme during the war in Vietnam and became notable, of course, when he was immigration minister for deporting Joe Cocker for possession of marijuana in 1972. While these decisions may not have been popular at the time, they were made with the conviction that underscored Forbes' time in this place. He never shied away from taking responsibility and acting on the basis of a whole-of-government response.

The electorate of Barker back then was slightly different in size and shape than it is today, but its economic character remains. Agriculture is at the heart of industry in Barker. In Dr Forbes' maiden speech he noted that Barker produces many of the finer wines in South Australia and contains the entire state's forestry industry, as well as crayfish, sheep and beef. These remain vitally important industries in Barker today. While reading Dr Forbes' maiden speech, something else struck a chord with me, and I would like to read a section of it which highlights a similarity. When speaking about the developments in sheep grazing, Dr Forbes notes:

It is a development which has been brought about by marrying the hard work and practical knowledge of the farmer to the researches of the scientists. This is the modern pioneering technique. The frontiers of settlement in Australia have been pushed back nearly as far as they will go … The new pioneers are those who, in their practical work on farms and their researches in institutions and universities, are pushing back, not the frontiers of settlement, but the frontiers of knowledge. This work is so vital to the future development of the country that they deserve every ounce of support and encouragement that we can give them.

It was when I read this that I felt a real sense that Dr Forbes and I are doing the same job and working towards the same thing—albeit, at a very different time. Ultimately our role is to better the living standards of those living in the electorate of Barker. The growth of productivity in agriculture, forestry and fisheries is how we ultimately succeed in that goal. It's our responsibility to leave the parliament having improved the lives of our constituents, and by growing our agricultural sector, we will go a long way to achieving that goal.

Dr Forbes was a dedicated representative of the people of Barker. He worked hard to represent his constituents. For a large part of his political career, he was a member of cabinet. In his words:

One of the things about life in politics, with a large country electorate and with ministerial responsibilities, is that you lose touch with a normal life.

I pay tribute today to Dr Forbes as a former member of this place, as a former member for Barker and as a man who made great sacrifices in doing so.

His humility, I think, was probably best brought out at his 90th birthday. His family had gathered, his wife, Margaret, children Sarah, Emma, Alexander and David—sadly, Anne had died the year before. When he was asked to speak he simply proposed a toast, and in proposing that toast he simply said, 'To my wife, Margaret.' This is a man who was awarded the Military Cross; who was an academic at university; who served in this place both as the member for Barker and in cabinet with various portfolio responsibilities; who, through the Vietnam War, was health minister; who was working towards a universal health system; and who bore the difficult decision around conscription in and around the Vietnam War. And who, by the way, reflected before his death to a journalist—there are very few people in Australia, indeed he was the last individual, who could say this from the first person's perspective—and these were Jim's words:

I can remember when the die was cast and the decision finally taken, Menzies sat back in his chair and just looked around the table—

of course, that's the cabinet table—

and said; 'There comes a time in the life of any government where it just has to make decisions which it believes are in the best interests of the country, even if they believe they are committing political suicide.'

This was statesmanship at its highest order from the great founder of our political movement and recorded in the words of Jim Forbes, who sat around that table and was responsible for driving that decision—remembering, of course, that Menzies had had previous history with debates around conscription at the end of World War II.

A little known fact about Jim is that he was also an innovator when it came to campaigning. Those of us in this place who conduct meet-and-greets on street corners and other things might do well to learn that, in fact, Jim Forbes who was the first individual ever to do so. Jim would come into a community in the electorate and present himself at the local post office just before closing time, because he knew everyone would come and post their mail. He knew that he could meet a lot more people doing it that way. Indeed, people in my electorate still remember that campaign technique, it being so effective that 50 or more years later people remind me that Jim did that.

Jim was also an egalitarian. When he spoke about conscription and how difficult it was and that people mocked the idea in Australia of putting marbles in a ballot box. He said it was a lot better system than the US used, where people of wealth could avoid poor outcomes.

Colleagues, I began by talking about giants, that we stand on the shoulders of giants. To be honest, when the Prime Minister spoke in glowing terms of Jim Forbes in the parliament on this very motion, I was embarrassed. It is very hard for someone like me to live up to one of our nation's great political giants, and I don't think it's too much to say that of Jim. He would suggest that this motion is unnecessary and that we don't need to be fussing about his life and career, but I don't share that view. He was also someone who understood that in government there needs to be a whole-of-government approach.

I mentioned earlier the deportation of Joe Cocker. It was not a decision that he supported, but it was one that was taken by the Prime Minister of the day and one that Jim defended. He defended it even to his daughter who thought it outrageous. I understand that it wasn't till much later in life that his daughter was made aware that he didn't support the decision but that he had to defend it.

The last thing I want to say in relation to this is as follows: it's my fervent wish that we remember Jim for all times as Dr Alexander James Forbes, and we should do that by renaming the seat of Barker to Forbes. Why do I say that? No individual has had more impact in relation to this seat—my seat, the great seat of Barker—than Dr Forbes. Others will suggest that perhaps it is inappropriate to rename a Federation seat. I remind those that in fact Barker is not a Federation seat. It was created in 1903 and that, in my view, paves the way for us to properly acknowledge and remember one of the great Australian members of this place who, sadly—and I think because of his deep humility—is underremembered for his service to this nation. Acknowledgements and thank you to Margaret and the family. Vale Dr Alexander James 'Jim' Forbes.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

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