Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a great privilege to follow the member for Menzies in this condolence motion to the great late the Hon. Andrew Peacock AC. Andrew Peacock, among many of his distinguished achievements, was the leader of our great party on two occasions. He was the member for the federal electorate of Kooyong from 1966 to 1994 and he had an illustrious ministerial career as foreign affairs minister and, later, as ambassador for our great country to the United States.

As foreign affairs minister he was distinguished in his role, particularly in taking strong stands in defence of free people everywhere. As the Prime Minister noted in his press release at the sad passing of Andrew Peacock:

He was a distinguished minister for foreign affairs who built deep relationships across the region.

He was vocal in his denunciation of the Pol Pot regime in Kampuchea, despising what he called that 'loathsome regime'.

Andrew Peacock was also critical in discussions on the formation of the independence of Papua New Guinea. At every point, he was a man who understood principle and understood the importance of our common humanity.

He also understood the very nature of centralised political systems and the risks that they pose. If you go back and look at his first speech in the House of Representatives, he made a particular point of talking about what was occurring at the time in Vietnam, particularly the relationship and objectives of China in the region. He said: 'In September 1965 Lin Biao, the Vice Premier of Red China'—as it was then called, at least by some, rhetorically—'and the Minister for National Defense said, "Win Asia, Africa and Latin America through wars of national liberation, and the United States and its Western allies will be surrounded, will be encircled, and will be overwhelmed." Where is all this to begin? It has already begun, and the place in which it has begun is in Vietnam.'

What Andrew Peacock understood was that central political systems that are focused on empowering the state at the expense of individuals and families and communities only have one ambition, which is to bring other people encircled within their net, and to empower those central systems. That's one of the reasons, among many others, he was a Liberal. Andrew Peacock was a Liberal because he understood the power and empowerment of the individual and of families and communities as the ballast against the state but, more critically, as the foundation of the success of a nation.

I only ever met Andrew Peacock once. It was at the farewell to my predecessor, Andrew Robb. Andrew Peacock and other luminaries attended the farewell at the Sandringham Yacht Club to say goodbye to Andrew Robb from his position as the member for Goldstein. The one thing that struck me when that occurred about five years ago was that everything that everyone says about Andrew Peacock was there: the panache, the style, the humanity and his warmth towards others. As people have remarked, he made others feel good.

He also probably felt at home. Everybody knows full well that he was the 'Cult from Kooyong', something that the present member for Kooyong likes to highlight from time to time—or at least seeks to replicate. But everybody forgets—at least some of his obituaries properly acknowledge this—that Andrew Peacock's first primary school was Elsternwick, which is in the great electorate of Goldstein. He was a Brightonian at heart. He carried the values of the Goldstein electorate: a forward-looking, modern liberal vision for Australia, and the values entrenched in the idea of building the success of our nation from the citizen up. He was a forward-looking modern liberal who understood and was a successor in many ways to the great Menzies—not just in name and not just in office but also in the values that he aspired to and carried forward for the success of our great nation. That is one of the many things that we are indebted to him for.

Andrew Peacock was known by many other titles, some of which sometimes seemed to be dismissive. But when you actually go through his speeches, it's quite clear that he was a man of substance, principles and values. It's just that at the time, perhaps, other people saw them as less important than other ones that came along. Again, going back to his first speech, and again talking about the context of Vietnam, he said at the time, 'We cannot learn from history unless we are free to learn and we cannot act upon these lessons unless we are free to act. The question that arises, therefore, is whether our freedom is in danger. That is the basic question and issue between the government and the opposition from which all other issues flow.' He was a man of principle who understood that public policy and the objectives of our country must flow from that foundational principle. That is something we should recognise and celebrate.

In his first speech, he also acknowledged the intellectual traditions and foundations not just of our great party but of the liberalism that sits at the heart of the Australian compact, of the Australian social contract. He referred to John Stuart Mill, who, he made the point, embodied the principle that:

The doctrine of non‐​intervention, to be a legitimate principle of morality, must be accepted by all governments. The despots must consent to be bound by it as well as the free States. Unless they do, the profession of it by free countries comes but to this miserable issue, that the wrong side may help the wrong, but the right must not help the right.

What Andrew Peacock understood was that Liberalism was a reflective proposition; it reflected on humanity and people's capacity to be able to live out the full success of their lives.

He also understood the darker side of humanity and that we needed to recognise the threats that occurred and the challenges that have been faced as part of addressing the future of our country, but it should not come at the expense of celebrating our own nation's achievements. In one of his Australia Day messages he said, 'The building of modern Australia has been an extraordinary achievement to which the Aboriginal and European settlers have contributed unique qualities from their civilisations. It has been an achievement attained by hard work, courage and faith and not without pain. Racism and other forms of discrimination and environmental damage have been part of that pain'.

The Speaker read out a note from Andrew Peacock's daughter Ann Peacock at the condolence motion in the House earlier in the week, making the point that Andrew Peacock demonstrated his values not just in the debates of his time when he served in this place; he continued to advocate for causes that he believed in and held dear following his time in this place, including on an issue that you and I were involved with, Deputy Speaker Zimmerman: marriage equality.

At heart, Andrew Peacock lived that Menzien value of liberalism, which is for a 'lively mind and a forward-looking heart'. Those values continue on through his successors and his family, who hold those values today. I see them every day, living with a lively mind and a forward-looking heart, particularly his daughter Ann—not just on her Instagram page but when she visits the Goldstein electorate, as she often does. She is always welcome and we love seeing her at local events. Ann, as well as the rest of the family, continue the Peacock tradition, which they should be so proud of. While the memory of Andrew Peacock will live on in our minds and hearts, it lives on in practice in their values as a family, and we wish them all the best and offer our condolences through this difficult time.

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