James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Government Waste Reduction) Share this | Hansard source

In paying tribute to Kevin Andrews, I first acknowledge and associate myself with the remarks made in the contributions so far by other members. It's particularly difficult, when we have these condolence motions, to speak on them when they involve someone that you actually served with in this parliament. It was my honour to serve with Kevin in the 46th Parliament—his last term in this building and my first term in this building—and to be able to observe him and his great understanding of this building and of being a parliamentarian. All members, I think—even the Prime Minister—have referenced him being in a position of mentorship to everyone that served with him, and that was the case for me as it was for all members that have commented in this debate so far.

I describe Kevin as a parliamentarian, knowing full well that he made a very distinguished contribution to the executive of this nation as well—of course, serving as a minister in both the Howard and the Abbott governments, to great distinction. But in our Westminster system, which is quite different to many others around the world, obviously our executive comes out of our legislature. You can't serve in the executive government if you're not a member of parliament. But it does sometimes diminish the importance of reflecting on the role of a legislator and parliamentarian, and in the case of Kevin, even though it's quite warranted to talk about his service as a minister, I would like to focus on the great legacy he leaves as a parliamentarian and as having served in this place, in the House of Representatives, for more than 30 years. Of course, he was the Father of the House in the last few years of his career here, and that is extremely significant. The 30-year club is a very small and exclusive one. We have one member of the current parliament, the member for Kennedy, who is in that club, and there are times when not a single member of the House of Representatives has met the 30-year milestone, which says all we need to know about how significant it is that Kevin served for more than 30 years. But time served is not in and of itself the metric; it's contribution made.

I refer to Kevin as a parliamentarian. I think it's regrettable that we, in some ways, use the term 'politician' a little too often. Yes, I concede that we are politicians and that we engage in politics, but, when you're elected to this building, you become a parliamentarian. It is a worthy career, and one to be proud of. For too long, the things that are focused on and reflected on and dwelt on about parliamentarians are usually the negative sides of the process of what happens here. But, fundamentally, what we do here is a very good, important thing. We're a democracy. We represent our communities. We draft, debate, amend and pass legislation that the entire population of this nation becomes subject to. It's a very serious responsibility. And Kevin, when I think about his service, was first and foremost a person that embodied a career that should be looked upon with pride. He serviced in this place as a parliamentarian.

He experienced a lot, and there has been a lot of commentary about some of the brave causes that he took up as a legislator, bringing private member's bills that succeeded through the parliament. There are things that will always be associated with Kevin's service here. Other members have reflected on the great challenges that you can face when you stick your head above the parapet, when you take on a cause or an issue that has different views in your own community let alone across the entirety of the Australian community. The bravery of Kevin and the principles of Kevin and the values that he held were his guiding fundamentals for the long period of time that he served in this parliament.

I'm probably breaking important party room conventions by talking about the last meeting that Kevin attended in the party room, when he made the point that he was going to try and write a book on our party room. Particularly, he wanted to try and encapsulate the great mysteries of how the Liberal party room operates and maybe make it a little easier for some of us into the future to understand just exactly how we do what we do. I'm not sure how far along Kevin got on that project. When the time is appropriate, I'd be very interested to understand how far along he was. I think that would have been a very interesting and helpful project for those of us that are in the current party room—to understand more about the history of some of the decisions that were made and some of the ways in which we operate. From Kevin's point of view, the body of work would have been very much about how to make sure that the lessons of the past inform a great equality for our party room into the future, which was exactly the same approach he had to service in our chamber, to the service of the people of his electorate of Menzies and to his service of the people of Australia.

I thank Kevin, as the defence minister, for the decision he made to commit to the surface fleet vessel construction in Adelaide. With a very different hat on, I was at a press conference that was held out at the Osborne naval shipbuilding yard. In 2015, Kevin was the defence minister. The parliament was sitting. There was a degree of ambiguity around whether or not those vessels would be made in Australia, and Kevin flew to Adelaide that morning from Canberra—he made sure he was back in time for the parliament sitting—to make a very clear announcement of commitment to the people of South Australia around that project and those future jobs. That is one of many significant legacies he leaves behind as a minister. He also leaves behind a remarkable legacy is a legislator.

Most importantly, we've heard, from so many people who knew Kevin well, about the legacy he leaves behind as a husband and a father. I think, if Kevin were able to choose which he would most prefer to have as his legacy, husband and father would, beyond question, be at the top of his list. So to his wife Margie and to his family—it is an incredible loss to them. Having Margie in the chamber was very poignant and touching for the condolence motion's movement yesterday. Our hearts are with them. We're very grateful to the service of Kevin to our nation, to this parliament, to his community and to his family. Vale, Kevin Andrews.

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