Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wanted to be associated with this condolence motion in relation to Ian Wilson, known as the Hon. Ian Bonython Cameron Wilson, AM. Ian was a friend. I last saw him on 5 March at his home in Burnside. Very tragically, he was dying of cancer. On 2 April, that took his life. Ian, interestingly, was first elected to this parliament in 1966. He held his seat for only three years. What I remember of him is the campaign he undertook in 1972 in the election that Gough Whitlam won and Bill McMahon lost to regain the seat of Sturt. That was a very memorable campaign. I joined the parliament in September of 1973. I went to the Old Parliament House and was assigned an office. The office was at the back of the building in what was ostensibly the new block, where you had the largest rooms. But they were shared with three others. Ian Wilson had the window, David Hamer had the middle of the room and I was left closest to the door.

What I know is that he was a great mentor, albeit having only been in the parliament for a relatively short time. He was an extraordinarily intelligent man. He had been a Rhodes scholar, a barrister and a solicitor. His achievements in the law were considerable. I remember his ministerial career, but I will not regale people about that. I also remember the extent to which he spoke—and if people take the time to go through the notes the Parliamentary Library has prepared they will find the press comments on this—about issues that he took up personally. He was very much involved in the arguments in relation to income splitting in families. All of that has budgetary implications. But he was one who was out there running the arguments very positively when it was not necessarily the most popular thing to be doing. Given some of the matters we are discussing today, I will also mention that he was involved in debate about whistleblower protection, which I thought was another fascinating area of activity in which to be involved.

He was one of those who, when I make a judgment about my own political career, I know was on the same side. The most difficult time for me was in 1988 when I crossed the floor and voted for a motion moved by Bob Hawke affirming that Australia's immigration programs should be non-discriminatory. I am not going to go into the nuances of the debate. But Steele Hall, Peter Baume, and I were very strongly of the view that, regardless of what selection criteria you might use, country of origin, race or religion should never be a determining factor. On those matters, Ian Wilson and Michael MacKellar also saw fit to make known their concerns and they were not prepared to vote on that issue—they abstained from it.

When I look at that time when I served in the parliament, I served with a person that was a friend. I am glad I had the opportunity to be at his funeral. It was, in a sense, a celebration of his life. For me and my family there were other aspects of his life that brought us together, and they are recorded in the material that is before you. In 1999 he was the foundation chairman of the May Gibbs Literature Trust. With his wife, he worked as part of a team that saved and restored May Gibbs' home, Nutcote, in Neutral Bay. Where the Ruddocks became involved was that my wife Heather was invited to serve on the committee relating to the literature trust and involved in Nutcote and its continuing use. They were able to give awards to numerous young people for writing. The literature trust was about encouraging young people who wanted time and a secure location to be able to think about the issues that they were involved in and to be able to produce their works. This, I think, was a great credit to Ian and his family and was a great opportunity for him in his post-political career to contribute positively.

I have not mentioned all the matters raised by the Prime Minister or the Leader of the Opposition. I do not want to repeat them. I just want it to be known that Ian Wilson was a friend, that he was a considerable contributor to this parliament and that he was a man of principle. To Mary, who was a great host to me on 5 March when I last saw him, to his sons Keith, Richard, James and Nigel and their families: you should be very proud—and I know you are—of what he was able to achieve. He was a great Australian.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise as well to convey my condolences on the passing of the Hon. Ian Wilson AM, and, perhaps more importantly, to pass on the condolences of Noel Hicks, the retired member for Riverina, who served with the Hon. Ian Wilson during his time in parliament in the House of Representatives. Mr Hicks, who lives in Griffith, wanted me to pass on his very best wishes to Mr Wilson's family and to record his reminisces of Mr Wilson.

I was very interested to hear the member for Berowra talk about the way that Mr Wilson commanded respect in debates and certainly got his point across. Mr Hicks's recollection of Mr Wilson was of a quiet, reserved man who got things done in a very good fashion, who got things done because he knew there was a piece of legislation that needed his expertise and who knew that his constituents needed something to be done—and he certainly was in there fighting for them, sometimes in a very unassuming fashion but in a very effective fashion, as Mr Hicks wanted the parliament to know in his condolences remarks. Mr Hicks remembered Mr Wilson as a gentleman, a thorough gentleman and a true gentleman, and somebody who was, as he said, really nice. That comes from a person who was also regarded by this parliament as a gentleman. Mr Hicks certainly is a gentleman, and I am sure the two of them had many a great discussion on policy, on legislation and on the way that the nation should go forward.

Mr Wilson retired from politics in 1993, having held the seat of Sturt from 1966 until 1969 and then losing the seat and regaining it again despite the overwhelming tide of the Whitlam election. He then held the seat until his retirement. He was the Minister for Home Affairs and the Environment. He was also the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs in 1982, and he held that position until the coalition was defeated at the 1983 election. In 1993 Mr Wilson retired.

Certainly, whilst he has passed from this life his efforts in this House and in this parliament are not forgotten. I commend the father of the parliament for his eloquent words, and I know that the fine words of my other two South Australian colleagues, who are due to speak in a moment on Mr Wilson, will also bring some comfort to the family of Mr Wilson. He did a great and honourable job, not just for his electorate and for this state but indeed for this nation.

Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Primary Healthcare) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I, also, would like to speak on this condolence motion for Ian Wilson. I would like to put some other perspectives, without focusing on his parliamentary career. I first met Ian Wilson when I was on a trip to Canberra as a school kid. It was a year 7 trip, and we visited Old Parliament House. Ian spent some time with us; it would have been a small part of his day, but I remember him keeping the attention of 11-year-old school boys. At the end of it he gave us loose-leaf Hansards, as well. We were a pretty rowdy group and we found this thing called 'parliament' fascinating.

Some of his sons were at the high school that I attended and I remember, during the 1980 campaign, one of them—Richard—plastering 'Wilson for Sturt' stickers all over the prefects' year 12 room at St Peter's College. So I was certainly familiar with Ian Wilson.

The book Liberal Movement Story has an excellent chapter about the 1972 campaign. As the previous speaker said, Ian lost the seat of Sturt in 1969 to Norm Foster. In 1972, while there was a swing to the Labor Party and the Whitlam government came in, Ian retook that seat. The seat of Sturt was a different seat to the one it is now. I think it incorporated parts of Modbury, so it went into what is now the seat of Makin. So that was a tremendous political achievement, and it was through a lot of very hard work using all of the resources that the Liberal Party had to throw at it, the best of campaigning techniques and lots of visitors.

Other people have touched on Ian Wilson's parliamentary career, and I will leave that to others. My involvement with Ian Wilson and my getting to know him happened after he left parliament. I often saw him at various functions. The father of the House mentioned May Gibbs, and I remember seeing Ian Wilson at functions involving children's literature. He also had a long involvement and long interest in the area of aged care and retirement villages.

Ian's faith was very important to him, and he had an involvement, I think, with St Matthew's Church at Kensington. I last spent a fair bit of time with him about 18 months ago, at a meeting of the Pioneers Association of South Australia. Ian had just come from a commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the sixth trip of John McDouall Stuart, who I think was also one of his forebears. That sixth trip was the successful trip, which crossed the Australian continent from south to north and back again. Ian was a good attender of functions in the electorate of Boothby—as was his mother, Lady Wilson. Most recently he had an involvement with us in taking up our consignment of wine. And we were very pleased to receive, in return, the Wilson wine, which was called Kerijani after the first two letters of the names of each of his four sons. I probably knew Nigel best when I was at school and I had a number of mutual friends with Nigel. But in more recent times, I have got to know Keith really quite well. His daughter and my son have been in the same class. His daughter and my daughter have been in the same softball team. So I have got to know Keith, the oldest son, and his wife, Sheree.

I was very pleased to attend the funeral at St Peter's Cathedral. It was a tremendous celebration of Ian's life. Baden Teague and Jennifer Cashmore spoke at the funeral—both retired politicians who had been involved with Ian from the start. There were many people there, including Pam Oborn, someone who was involved in setting up the Young Liberals in South Australia with Ian. Each of his four sons spoke. I would like to, again, give my condolences to Mary, Keith, Sheree, India, Richard, James and Nigel. I will miss Ian Wilson. He was a true gentleman and his contribution should be recognised.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to join my colleagues the member for Boothby, the member for Berowra and the member for Riverina in speaking on the condolence motion to my predecessor, Ian Wilson. I knew Ian Wilson very well since I was a child. In fact, my mother and father were members of the branches in Sturt, the seat that I represent. I grew up knowing the Wilson family, the legacy of his father, Sir Keith, and his mother, Lady Wilson, and the contribution that the Wilson family, the Bonython family and the Bray family have made to South Australia since 1836. I have a very high regard for the Wilsons and all of their relations—anyone who has been associated with that amazing strain that have had such an indelible impact on my great state.

In fact, we are distantly related. John McDouall Stuart led an expedition across Australia and one of the members of that expedition was a man called Stephen King. Stephen King and the Wilson family were related. Stephen King is a forebear of mine as well. That is the nature of South Australia of course. The relationship is so distant that it barely bears repeating, but it did mean that we were both members of the John McDouall Stuart Society. Only relations of those on the expedition were able to be members of the John McDouall Stuart Society.

I joined the Liberal Party when I was 17 and I joined the Burnside branch and I joined the Young Liberals—both in Sturt. I was president of the Young Liberals and president of the Burnside branch. I was treasurer of Ian's Sturt federal electorate council, or committee as it was called then. I was his campaign manager in 1990 and I was also the vice president of the Sturt federal electorate committee. I worked on every campaign in Sturt from 1987 onwards, which was the first opportunity that I had to run. I defeated Ian Wilson in preselection in 1992 and became the member for Sturt in 1993.

Ian Wilson and I had a very close relationship because of the fact that I followed him in Sturt. We had a very chequered relationship. I think it is fair to say that I certainly was not the flavour of the month in the Wilson household for about 21 years, but I was pleased to attend his funeral and honour his commitment to public service. His commitment to public service was one that he inherited from his family and it was a very genuine one. He was a very good Liberal, in the small 'l' sense, and contributed to making sure that our party is a party that represents both the conservative and the liberal strains of political thought in this country.

He was also a courageous man in politics, and one of the things that was not mentioned in any of the eulogies given at the funeral was that he crossed the floor against the party—with the member for Berowra, in fact—to defend a non-discriminatory immigration policy in Australia, which did not make him popular with the powers that be in the party. But Ian Wilson was a man who put principle before preferment, in the great tradition of the small-L liberals in South Australia, who have had a real impact on our party for 60 years.

I am sorry that Ian Wilson's and my relationship never recovered from a bruising preselection—that is the nature of politics. I bear him and his family no animus. Can I say that his greatest achievements were his four sons and his marvellous marriage. His wife, Mary Scales, and his four sons, Keith, Richard, Nigel and James, gave marvellous speeches at the funeral. It spoke volumes for the kind of father, parent and husband that Ian had been that he has produced for remarkably great sons and South Australians, and I was pleased to be there to witness it. I thank the House for indulging me of this condolence motion on Ian Bonython Cameron Wilson.

Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I did not know the Hon. Ian Wilson personally, but I certainly knew him by reputation and by the history of his family. It is a great privilege for me to have sat and listened to the contributions of the honourable members in this debate, particularly—at the risk of singling one out—that of the father of the House, the member for Berowra. It is never appropriate for anyone to say that they enjoyed a condolence debate, but it is certainly a great thing for me, as a relatively new parliamentarian, to sit and listen to the stories and histories of those who have come before us. As parliamentarians I think we are enriched by learning about the lives of the stories of those who preceded us, whatever the political party they have come from, or none. What can be said about an individual can certainly be said about the entire parliament.

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I understand it is the wish of honourable members to signify at this stage their respect and sympathy by rising in their places.

Honourable members having stood in their places—

I thank the chamber.

Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That further proceedings be conducted in the House.

Question agreed to.