Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

Many members of parliament in the House of Representatives adorn their front windows next to their office doors with all manner of posters—some are propaganda, some deride the other side of politics and some are promotional material for their own electorates. If you walk down the corridors, you'll see some Liberal members have put up a blue poster with the words 'Liberals for regional Australia'. It's in exactly the same font and in the same fashion that the National Party has long had its material printed in. The reason I say this, rather cheekily, is that my predecessor, Kay Hull AO, always considered that the late Gary Nairn was some sort of Nat—a closet National Party member—because he was so very much in tune and aligned with the issues, feelings and concerns of regional Australia. That's not to say that Liberals aren't—they indeed are, and we know that.

Kay served with Gary Nairn for some time, and, as such, I reached out to Kay the other day, to ask her to express her feelings about the late Gary Nairn, and she had this to say. 'It was a huge shock when, at 9 pm on the first of June, I received a message that Gary had passed away a few hours before. I had the privilege of serving with Gary from 1998 to 2007, when he lost the bellwether seat of Eden-Monaro that he had held, through enormous dedication and commitment, since 1996. He was a shining example of a true gentleman who treated everyone with respect and value. We were quite close, as his beloved Kerrie, who, sadly, passed away in 2005, was a Leeton girl. Gary attended every National Party Christmas party with me, often claiming he was really a true National'—and she's emphasised that with a couple of exclamation marks! She says: 'I was so happy when he married Rose and together they took on enormous family responsibility.' And I love this—her last line: 'Gary Nairn epitomised what we all aspire to be: that is, a decent, respectful individual; a great loss to his beautiful family and to our entire nation.' Lovely words; beautiful words—typical Kay Hull words.

Gary Nairn was an AO. He was awarded that high honour, on a similar level with Kay Hull, because both of them—both of them—contributed mightily after their parliamentary careers were over.

As Kay pointed out, the late Gary Nairn was elected to the House of Representatives in 1996. He was re-elected in 1998, 2001 and 2004. He came into the parliament with Kay Hull—or Kay came into the parliament with Gary, pardon me, in 1998. And they were good mates, as Gary was very close to many National Party members, and, of course, his own Liberal Party family.

Not only do I express my condolences for his widow; I also express them for their children, Ben and Deborah.

When the last drought was at its worst, I was the Deputy Prime Minister. Scott Morrison was the Prime Minister—the former member for Cook. On the eve of the National Drought Summit, Scott and I visited Mulloon Creek, near Canberra. It runs through the Southern Tablelands near Bungendore, 50 kilometres or so east of here—east of Canberra.

Mulloon Creek had been recently promoted on the ABC's Australian Story, and those Australian stories are so insightful. We went to see a creek that was still flowing, despite the drought; green with vegetation, in spite of the drought—which had been going for seven months, I might add.

Mulloon Creek was the legacy of a very long collaboration between prominent agriculturalist Peter Andrews and the owner of the property, Tony Coote, who had died that August, 2018. For decades, Mr Andrews and Mr Coote had implemented the natural sequence farming system, that Mr Andrews was so fond of, at Mulloon Creek.

I say all this because Gary Nairn, continuing on his fine public service, was the chairman of the Mulloon Institute; he was giving back. That is a powerful legacy, when a member of parliament—having done their utmost to serve their local communities, to represent the interests of local people, in this place—can then, after their parliamentary careers, continue to give, continue to contribute, continue to turn up and continue to advocate, fiercely and passionately and proudly, on behalf of local people. And that was Gary Nairn. That is Kay Hull. And I pay tribute to his record of service. I pay tribute to him. He very much welcomed both Scott Morrison and me on that day. He declared that the Mulloon Creek was a model that should be replicated across the nation.

Of course, now, with the member for Paterson, as the co-chairs of the Parliamentary Friends of Soil, we know firsthand that the answer to climate action is in the very dirt that we stand on. We can do so much. Gary knew that. He identified that. He was a fine regional member, an outstanding human being and a friend to all. He will be very greatly missed not just by his family but by all of those who knew him. Vale Gary Nairn.

Debate adjourned.

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