Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House expresses its deep regret at the death on 1 February 2009, of the Honourable Peter Howson CMG, a former Federal Minister and Member for Fawkner and Casey, and place on record its appreciation of his long and meritorious public service, and tender its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement.

Peter Howson was born on 22 May 1919 in London to Major George Howson and Jessie Howson. He was educated at Stowe School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he received a Master of Arts. He enlisted in the Royal Navy as a pilot and in the Fleet Air Arm in 1940 and progressed to the rank of Lieutenant. He left the Navy in 1946 and came to Australia.

Mr Howson served in five successive coalition governments under Prime Ministers Menzies, Holt, McEwen, Gorton and McMahon from the mid-50s until the 1970s. He first entered parliament in 1955 as a Liberal Party member representing the Victorian seat of Fawkner. After the abolition of that division in 1969, he represented the seat of Casey until his defeat in the 1972 election. Peter Howson held the position of Government Whip from 1963 to 1964, before being appointed as the Minister for Air, a defence portfolio that oversaw Australia’s air defences. He held that portfolio from 1964 to 1968. In 1971 Peter Howson became Australia’s first environment minister when he took responsibility for the portfolio covering the environment, Aborigines and the arts.

Through his parliamentary life Peter Howson served on a number of parliamentary committees, including the Privileges Committee and the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs. In 1960 in particular he became a member of the House of Representatives Select Committee on the Voting Rights of Aborigines, which travelled extensively around the country amassing a great deal of evidence that laid the foundation for the referendum on the constitutional status of Aborigines. This was important and very good work. That committee work lead to an enduring interest in Indigenous affairs, and Peter Howson continued to contribute to policy debates in recent years in newspapers and publications such as Quadrant.

Peter Howson was an active participant during his parliamentary career in the work of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association both in Australia and internationally. After he departed Canberra in 1972 he continued as an associate CPA member. His contribution to parliamentary affairs was recognised in 1980 when he was awarded a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George. Throughout his life he retained a strong interest in parliamentary matters and was in touch with the Parliamentary Relations Office as recently as December 2008 seeking assistance with some research that he was undertaking. Peter Howson also made an important contribution to the political history of his era and in particular of conservative politics when he published The Howson Diaries: the Life of Politicsa publication that was put onto the bookshelves of the book stores of the nation back in 1984. Peter Howson was a true veteran of the Liberal Party. He was a great contributor to the life of this parliament and I make particular mention of his contribution to the great work of extending proper recognition to Aboriginal people in this country. On behalf of the government I offer our condolences to his family.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to join the Prime Minister in offering the condolences of the opposition on the passing of Peter Howson, former minister. One Canberra journalist recalled Peter Howson as ‘active, energetic, ambitious and full of confidence’. I think that all those who knew him would regard that as an understatement—he was a true enthusiast. He settled in Australia, coming from the United Kingdom, in the 1940s and believed passionately in his adopted country, Australia, so much so, that in his maiden speech to parliament on 6 March 1956 he suggested that we should promote Australian products to British housewives by coining the slogan ‘Get Australia on the Front of the Can’.

He then went on to serve in this parliament in many capacities, including as the Minister for Air, the Minister Assisting the Treasurer and the Minister in charge of Tourist Activities. However, his most notable appointment—his most memorable one—was, as the Prime Minister noted, his appointment as the first minister for the environment and also, as part of that role, as the first minister for Indigenous affairs. His title was Minister for Environment, Aborigines and the Arts. We on this side of the House are very proud that it was a coalition government that appointed Peter Howson as the first minister for Indigenous affairs. We are proud of his record, and indeed our record, in leading the support for creating equal rights and opportunities for Indigenous Australians. We are proud that it was a Liberal government, under Prime Minister Harold Holt, that in 1967 took the vote to the people in a referendum that was carried to remove the impediments for the Commonwealth government to make special laws with respect to Aboriginal people and, on removing the impediments, to count Aboriginal people in the census. We are also on this side proud to have elected Senator Neville Bonner in 1971, who in 1972 became the first Indigenous Australian to be elected to any parliament in Australia, serving the good people of Queensland for 12 years until 1983.

Peter Howson, in recognition of his services to the parliament and to the community, was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in December 1980 and in 2001 was awarded the Centenary Medal in recognition of his long and devoted service to improving conditions for Indigenous people. Peter Howson was Vice President of the Bennelong Society and he campaigned tirelessly for real outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

Peter Howson led a long and full life of public service. He made a great contribution not just to this place, not just to the many issues and responsibilities he took on as a minister but, after he left this parliament, to the cause of justice for Indigenous Australians, and he continued that hard work right up until his death. It was a long and good life and our thoughts and prayers are with his family.