Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm really pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to the condolence motion of the Honourable Kevin James Andrews, AM. It is important that we stop, recognise, both as a former member of this House for the division of Menzies over a long period of time and as a former minister, and place on the record our appreciation as federal representatives for his long a meritorious public service to our nation. We also tender our sympathies and condolences to Kevin's family in their bereavement. As the Prime Minister said yesterday:

It is a measure of the man that we honour today that, throughout the wealth of tributes paid to his life by his colleagues, his opponents, his loved ones and his friends, the same three pillars stand tall in all of them: his deep faith, his belief in public service and his devotion to his family.

To that, I would add his devotion to family, as in the concept of family and the importance of family, and I will touch on that a little bit. The Prime Minister 's words touched on his deep faith—which I share, as a practising Catholic—but also his belief in public service as being a very important good, and certainly I see my own service in the military and continuing into this place as a continuance of public service to the nation. I was always impressed by that with Kevin.

As the PM also said, we all see issues from different perspectives and we don't always agree, but it's the way in which we conduct ourselves, and the way in which Kevin conducted himself was noteworthy. I certainly didn't agree with some of the principles that Kevin held, but I did agree with a lot of others. For instance, he and I shared a common belief in the primacy of palliative care and the importance of making sure palliative care is available to people that need it during end of life. There were principles of his that I disagreed with, and it is true that he made a mark on the Northern Territory through his principles being applied in the overturning of NT legislation. I don't offer this part of the condolence in any way as a criticism, but he was following his beliefs with the 1996 euthanasia laws bill, known later as the Andrews bill. The Leader of the Opposition commented yesterday on how infrequent it is to have a private member's bill succeed, and Kevin Andrews managed to do that. From my perspective, although I held different thoughts on that issue and successfully brought a private member's bill to extinguish the Andrews bill, I appreciated that he always respected the fact that I was doing that out of a different principle, that being to protect the democratic rights of Territorians. I did appreciate that he was always open to having those discussions.

But it does reflect the conviction that he brought to public life, and I hope that conviction is always here and present in this place. There were all those issues over a long period of time, including when he was working as the defence minister and in other truly honourable and important roles that he was able to navigate—and they are difficult roles. But I was also really impressed when I turned up to a Pollie Pedal, as someone who was quite a bit younger than him, because I thought it was important that our side of politics was present. The member for Hume was also there. I distinctly remember being impressed by Kevin's fitness for an older fella—indeed, the Father of the House, as many people have commented on—but also his resilience. Some people might remember that he had a fall during the Pollie Pedal in the year 2017. We were absolutely flogging it down this hill, very tied up behind each other. We were going fast, and Kevin had hit some gravel and fallen from his bike. He actually broke his collarbone in that fall. I was two bikes back, and I distinctly remember thinking, 'Am I going to run over this bloke?' I couldn't see who it was on the ground, but there was some divine intervention, and, instead, I decided to take a fall to the left-hand side into the bush—which I would have done for anyone. I was pleased when I got up, and he was already getting to his feet. He would have been in a little bit of shock and a lot of pain, and he said to me later, 'I'm going to have to pull out.' I said: 'Yeah, mate, no worries. You've broken your collarbone in a big fall.'

The fact that, in his advanced years, he was out there raising money for Soldier On, was mixing with the member for Hume, Tony Abbott and others and was a lot fitter than some of the rest of us was impressive. His depth of faith—and I look forward to reading his memoirs—was something that was also impressive to me, as a person of faith. I've mentioned some of the things that I think he can be proud of in relation to being the Minister for Defence and trying to do his best according to his beliefs and his principles. I, too, see this job and politics as a vocation, and I'm lucky to be a member of this place with people of the calibre of Kevin Andrews and to have had experiences like being in the Pollie Pedal with him.

Finally, his focus on the family—I haven't read his 2012 book,Maybe 'I Do'. In defending marriage and the family as being such important parts of society's building blocks—that is part of my commitment, too, in this place and as a leader in public discourse. The family is so important. We need to support Australian families in every way we can. I'm sure Kevin is up there, very happy, that there are people in this place that will continue to support Australian families and the institution of marriage, as important as it is. In saying that, I pass from my family, from my wife and children, our condolences to Kevin's wife, Margie, and to their children, Emily, James, Stuart, Catherine and Benjamin. Kevin Andrews, rest in peace, and God bless you.

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