Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

Can I thank the member for Chisholm for paying her respects to Tony Staley. Can I also commend the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition for their words on the sad passing of Tony Staley. I had the great honour and privilege to be at the funeral, and to hear the speakers talk of Tony Staley's life was truly remarkable.

Tony was someone who lived life to the absolute full. He had some very interesting loves. He loved poetry, he loved drama and he loved politics, and the poetry and the drama, I think, helped in his very, very successful political career. I got to hear about that unique success in two facets of politics. First of all was his success in being a parliamentarian and being able to shape the very nature of the parliament in which he operated. He was able to do it with regard to who ultimately led the Liberal Party, and who very successfully led the Liberal Party, Malcolm Fraser. He was also able to do it as a successful minister, as Minister for the Capital Territory and as Minister for Posts and Telecommunications. Being able to set up and establish community radio in Australia was something that he was very, very proud of.

He also was able to do it on the administrative side of politics as well, and it's a rare talent that is able to mix all those parts of politics. When he became the Liberal Party federal president, it's fair to say that the party was down on its luck. It had been in opposition for quite some period of time, for over 11 years. Once again he was able to shape, this time from the administrative ring, the very nature of the political party, which saw John Howard take on the opposition leadership and ultimately, in 1996, defeat the Keating government. He was very much able to change Australian political history and our nation forever, because John Howard went on to become the second most successful Prime Minister that this nation has ever seen. That was the mark of Tony Staley. He was able to see leadership and values in others like no-one else could, and that's how he was able to identify who the Liberal Party needed as its leader, whether it be in the time to defeat the Whitlam government or in the time to defeat the Keating government. Through that, he has left a lasting legacy on our party.

Having had the privilege of being at his funeral, while there were a lot of politicians from both sides there, and while there was a lot of reminiscing of the legacy that Tony left to the Liberal Party—and it is an extraordinary legacy—the most telling thing was the eulogies given by his children. The love, the admiration and the respect that Tony's children had for him and that he had for them was something that you had to be there to see. I don't think there was anyone at that funeral who didn't leave thinking that if you could get half the send-off that Tony Staley was given, you would have lived a very good life—a life where love was absolutely central to it.

So, to Tony's children, Richard, Sam, Ali, Jon and Lucinda, I pay tribute to you for the way that you paid tribute to your father, because, although our nation is much the richer for his life through what he was able to do through politics, the legacy he was able to leave through you, his children, is without doubt his greatest achievement, and that was on display for all of us to see. The way that you paid tribute to your father was absolutely commendable. He lived an extraordinary life. You told the many parts of that extraordinary life so very well. We have lost a great Australian, and it's wonderful to be able to pay my tributes to the extraordinary life that he lived.

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