Andrew Nikolic (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to pay tribute to the Hon. John Beswick, a former deputy premier of Tasmania, who recently announced his retirement as a councillor on the Dorset Council in my electorate of Bass. John was elected to the Tasmanian parliament in 1979 as a Liberal member for Bass, and served in that parliament for 19 years. He was a councillor on the old Ringarooma Council for 10 years, and has been a Dorset councillor for the past five years. John Beswick has always been prepared to take on an enormous workload. As a state politician he oversaw an impressive range of ministerial responsibilities, including primary industry, forests, fisheries, water resources, education, lands, national parks, arts, libraries, employment and training, housing, labour and industry, consumer affairs, police and public safety and forests and mines.

After the fall of the Gray government in 1989 and two years of Tasmania's first Labor-Green government, Ray Groom led the Liberal Party back into power with John Beswick as his deputy. Shortly after this, John had to deal with the tragedy at Port Arthur and worked closely with the Howard government on the formulation and introduction of tougher gun laws. Few politicians can claim to have made a more distinguished contribution to their state and their local community than John Beswick. I thank John for his service, and I wish him well for the future.