Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When the former Senator Nick Minchin retired from politics, he was sure to let everyone know that he was doing so as the country's longest serving finance minister. When asked who was the best in this role in Australian history, Minchin named Peter Walsh.

I rise to pay tribute to a man who, through his stubbornness, rigor and commitment to Labor values, changed Australia for decades. As the finance minister for the bulk of the Hawke-Keating period in government, he provided the fiscal foundation for one of the most successful economic reform periods in Australia's history. The decisions made during his time as Minister for Finance set Australia up for 25 years of rapid and consistent economic expansion.

The Hawke government is well known for its bold economic reforms—the floating of the Australian dollar, financial deregulation, compulsory superannuation, the accord, substantial tax reforms. These bold and difficult economic reforms shook Australia out of its protectionist hibernation. However, the effectiveness of these reforms would have been greatly undermined if they had been accompanied by fiscal profligacy; the Australian economy of the 1980s could not have handled the additional stress of an out of control federal budget. As the Member for Brand told the House yesterday:

Significant expenditure cuts were required from 1986 in order to weather collapsing terms of trade. The government adopted a simple trilogy: not to raise taxes as a share of GDP, not to raise outlays as a share of GDP, and to reduce outlays in real terms. For four years, using IMF expenditure definitions, Peter fulfilled that trilogy. He produced four budgets which reduced outlays in real terms—something no other government or finance minister has done more than once.

Peter Walsh was the king knife in the Expenditure Review Committee; Paul Keating called him the 'Sid Vicious of Australian politics' and his fiscal discipline in the ERC imposed rigor throughout the policy design and implementation process.

On Walsh's retirement from cabinet in 1990, The Australian ran the headline: 'The man who made Keating look soft'. Rent seekers and ministers having a try on with a weak program were in for a tough time when Peter Walsh was in the room. In many cases it was this fiscal discipline that drove many of the Hawke-Keating governments' greatest policy innovations. For instance, Walsh insisted that the funding for the explosion of university demand, triggered by a rapid growth in high school completion rates under the Hawke-Keating governments, needed to be met from other revenue sources and not from existing on-budget spending. This led to one of the great policy solutions of the period, the introduction of HECS—income-contingent deferred repayment for higher education loans—an innovative policy that delivered fiscal responsibility while also creating a more equitable system of higher education funding.

Walsh despised populist politicians, fashionable causes and political correctness. He did not like what he called the 'compassion industry', where money was funnelled to the disadvantaged only to further entrench that disadvantage. He hated rent seekers in all their forms; he saw them as stifling the creation of rational public policy. Instead, Walsh was committed to fairness and decency. After his passing, politicians from both the left and the right praised the man who earned the respect of his colleagues and his adversaries.

A view was expressed by some after his passing that: 'Peter was such an outstanding finance minister, and I think would have been accepted as the Minister for Finance by the coalition parties as well as the Labor Party.' And, with respect, I would have to disagree with this sentiment, though I take it in the spirit that it was given. As the Member for Watson recently said:

It must not be forgotten the fiscal discipline from Peter Walsh was always underpinned by a fierce determination to deliver priorities for those who needed help most. His commitment to responsible savings and eliminating wasteful expenditure lay at the heart of his commitment to a Labor agenda.

Walsh showed how important it was to embed progressive values within the constant task of fiscal responsibility.

Comparisons with Thatcher's UK government at the time are symbolic. Both Australia and the UK had simular structural economic problems in the 1980s. Whereas Thatcher's policies tore at the fibre of British society, the Hawke-Keating governments delivered economic reform and fiscal responsibility in a way that protected equity and equality of opportunity. On the one hand, Walsh tackled the government's fiscal problems through innovative revenue measures like the petroleum resource rent tax. At the same, he was able to accompany those changes with improving support for people on low incomes and extending fee relief to parents with children using private child care, all the while reducing Commonwealth budget outlays in real terms—four times, as noted by the member for Brand.

Our progressive community, our economic prosperity and our fair society we owe today in no small part to the work of Peter Walsh.

Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was a time of great excitement and expectation: Bob Hawke, the cricket-loving, former ACTU head, was the Prime Minister and it seemed the whole nation had drawn its collective breath and held on—anything was possible. 'Any boss who sacks someone for not turning up is a bum,' was how we saw the country. I was 23 when Labor came to power after the grey Fraser years. Fairly soon, it became very real that they still had to govern and reform. That is where Peter Walsh came in. From a young man's perspective, it just seemed that everyone in Canberra was waiting in fear of getting their heads knocked off by this man from Western Australia. It seemed that he did not care what he said or whom he insulted; he had a job to do and he was going to do it.

I never met Peter Walsh, but he reminds me of the military leaders from my home town of Townsville like Dave Morrison and Mick Slater, who both served in Townsville. Both men are said to be good blokes and good men; it is just that there is this air about them that says that you will pay dearly if you waste their time. I reckon they shared this trait with Peter Walsh. What I do know is that he meant business. What I do know is that he loved his country and his state in that order. What I do know is that he never took his foot off the pedal and always pushed for more.

As Prime Minister Tony Abbott said, Nick Minchin is lauded on our side of politics for being a hard man economically and a great finance minister. I had only a short time with Nick in this parliament, but you knew you had to dot your i's and cross your t's whenever you went to see him. Still, Nick would admit now that he was a hard man economically with the exception of the South Australian car industry, where he became a protectionist. Peter Walsh never suffered that. Peter Walsh never seemed to play favourites. He seemed to judge things entirely on whether they were right or wrong. Again, I say this never having met the man and attending this place 17 years after he left. For someone like me to still feel his presence in these halls and in the way he approached his work speaks directly to the massive shadow cast by this man.

In a speech just before he left the Senate, Peter Walsh spoke of the then level of national debt. He lamented that we may never pay that debt back. His warning then is as valid today as it was then. He said: 'The first thing you lose is your economic sovereignty. Once that is gone, the next thing you lose is your political sovereignty.' Those words guide me every day in this place. We are fortunate to have had a man of the calibre of Peter Walsh in this place. We are fortunate that he was part of a government that was focused on reform. We are fortunate that leadership of that government saw fit to put him in a position where he could exert his influence and impose his values and will on others who may not have come from the same upbringing and background as him. Rest in peace, Peter Walsh. You were a good man, a man of your time and a great man for Australia. I thank that House.

Alannah Mactiernan (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to participate in this remembrance of Walshie. Peter Walsh was someone who was a very significant player in my political life. He was a very dominant figure in the Australian Labor Party in Western Australia from the time when I first met him in 1975. What I always loved about Peter is that he really was an iconoclast. He never hunted with the pack. He always had a very individual view and a view that he had developed after a very incisive consideration of the facts. And this related to matters of the economy, as we have heard expressed in this place today and on other days, or to internal party matters. Peter Walsh was always a person who had a very individual view and a view that was very much determined by his consideration of the innate justice, fairness and common sense of the matter.

I first met Peter at a uni ALP function in 1975. I do not think he had a particularly high regard for university students at that time, but he came along because we were having an event to mark the end of the Vietnam War. Peter felt very strongly about that war. He used to talk about the 'death lotteries that were being held'—the Australian conscription process—which many young men of his age were potentially subject to. We met Peter and got on exceptionally well with him. He had been a friend of my father-in-law, Henry Schapper, another iconoclast in agriculture and agri-economics in Western Australia. I note that Henry Schapper was indeed quoted by Peter in his maiden speech. One can get a lot of insights from Peter's maiden speech. There has been a lot of recasting of him, almost subtly, as someone who maybe could have been in the Liberal Party. I would like to quote a part of Peter's maiden speech that I thought was exceptionally good. He said:

It is near tragic that the self professed partisans of a market economy and a free enterprise system who face us across the Senate chamber … seem to be completely unable to grasp the crucial role of a pricing system in a market economy. So often it seems that the only people who fully comprehend the internal logic of a capitalist system are socialists, although I concede that there are a few notable exceptions … I do not know whether the ability to see into the heart of a capitalist system is a cause or an effect of a person having socialist political beliefs.

We would not say Peter was a socialist, but he was certainly someone who had a very strong sense of fairness and a very strong sense that the work of government should be very much directed to providing fairly for those in need and providing them with the capacity not to remain dependent but to build their individual future.

He made another comment in his maiden speech that I think defines the way he went about his task as finance minister. He said:

I am neither for nor against government intervention in the economy per se. But I think that we must insist that the objectives behind such intervention be clearly defined and that the policies as they finally emerge are compatible with the clearly defined objectives.

He was a man who brought incredible rigour, focus and intellectual discipline to his work, together with an innate sense of fairness and justice. But Walshie was not, as many people have commented, just a machine for the production of good economic policy. He was an incredible individual, a fantastic person to have around the Labor Party and a great testament to the need for us to have a diversity of people within every political party to bring together a great and strong family borne out of diversity.

I think of the many great nights that I shared with Walshie, like the 1975 'end of the Vietnam War' night. In 1977, three or four of us ended up at the party office commiserating Whitlam's dreadful second defeat. We were trying to chart a course forward and work out where we were going wrong and what radical things we had to do to get the show back on the road. In 1980, I had a particularly memorable experience with Walshie. I was working up in Carnarvon at the time. Walshie brought Graeme Campbell up to Carnarvon on a plane. We had never been exposed to Graeme Campbell. He was the freshly endorsed candidate for the federal seat of Kalgoorlie at that stage. That was a momentous night for many people in the Carnarvon Labor Party, and indicated the absolute enthusiasm with which the Labor Party was going to reclaim and reposition itself in rural Australia. Walshie was very much part of that group that saw us build great success in representing rural and regional Western Australia. Indeed, we must look to the work that he did to rebuild our presence in regional WA. It was a great night at the 1994 national conference, where four of us managed to stay up all night entertaining, talking politics until nine o'clock the next morning. For us much younger ones, we felt that we needed to go to bed only to learn that Walshie was heading out with his grandchildren to a chocolate factory.

Walshie, as I said, was a great personality, a great family man and an absolute ornament to the Labor Party. He was a man who delivered impeccable public service, insight and capacity to the exercise of governance and ensuring that Australia remains a strong and vibrant economy and a place where there is a place in the sun for all. Thanks, Walshie; we will miss you big time.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with great sadness that I speak about Peter Walsh in these circumstances, but it is with great pride that I am able to do so holding the portfolio within my party that he is so renowned for. I think a lot of mistakes are made in respect of Peter Walsh's manner and his determination to deal very seriously with issues at the Expenditure Review Committee. He was determined to ensure that there was not waste; he was not determined to ensure that government spending be curtailed at all costs. He was determined, when making choices about where cuts needed to be made, that the cuts would find themselves with the people who could most afford to be able to do with less, and that sense of priority was at the core of how Peter Walsh viewed the finance portfolio.

It is important to remember with Peter Walsh that he was somebody who was largely self-educated. There is something that often forms its way into the newspapers where they deal with members of parliament, or sometimes with our staff, and judge the quality of who we have around us by the level of tertiary education that individuals have. Tertiary education is something that deserves to have the highest level of respect, but it should not be turned into a form of snobbery. We need to remember that when the budgets were being formed then, we had that period were neither the Treasurer nor the finance minister were in situations where they had had the benefit, for various personal circumstances, of tertiary education. They did their jobs well, they applied their intellect well, and we need to ensure that we do not regress and change a level of respect for tertiary education by turning it into an unfortunate form of snobbery.

Peter Walsh entered parliament as a senator for WA in May 1974. He had not expected to make it into parliament that early. Because it was a double dissolution he found himself on the ticket when he had not expected to be—somebody else had ended up being not eligible because of an age rule that Western Australia had in place within the party; he found himself at No. 4 on the ticket at an election where we had five elected. He served with distinction as the Minister for Resources and Energy and assisting the Prime Minister on public service matters, but it is his time as Minister for Finance where Walshie really made his mark and cemented his legacy in those Hawke-Keating years.

The finance portfolio is, without doubt—and I learnt this years ago, listening to an interview that Kim Beazley did on Triple J when he was finance minister—the job where, by definition, you are guaranteed to be hated by all of your colleagues, and Walshie managed to fill this role pretty well. He would be the person saying no, and he would be the person applying principles absolutely rigidly. Bob Hawke said that 'his highly principled, no nonsense and at times acerbic approach as finance minister made him ideal for the position'. His long-time friend Bill Hayden said, 'I'm one of his best friends, as he is one of mine, but I knew better than to ask for mercy or favour in the pre-budget process.' That is important because, when we form the friendships and allegiances that we have as members of parliament, ultimately every decision is about the people outside the building—and Walshie made sure everybody knew that.

Peter Walsh's book Confessions of a Failed Finance Minister was a tribute to his success. He kept an absolute focus—not on whether something is in government ownership or not, not on whether there is a particular mechanism being used or not, but simply on the outcomes and how decisions will affect the rest of the community. When I was agriculture minister I had the absolute privilege to visit his farm when we were discussing wheat deregulation and doing away with the old AWB monopoly. I had the privilege to be there at the property that Peter Walsh called his own. This was no hobby farm—as some members of parliament have and then tick the box as farmers—it was a serious agricultural operation.

Peter Walsh established the practice of budgeting over the forward estimates, something we now presume in the whole lexicon of budget week and the ongoing debate. His passion for economic and fiscal reform continued long after he had retired. When he retired from cabinet, The Australian ran the headline 'The man who made Keating look soft'. That says a lot. When Gary Punch came to see Keating with a submission for the Museum of Australia, Keating said, 'I'm not your problem, it's Sid Vicious over there'—pointing to Peter Walsh. People would make fun of just how hard this person was. But let us make no mistake, it was because he had an absolute heart for social justice. That drove him, it drove his passion for his own state and for the rest of the nation, and it found him a natural home in the Labor Party. He is someone the Labor Party is very proud to have called our own and to have provided the pathway for him to be a gift to the nation.

Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Peter Walsh was a true son of Labor. He was an outstanding member of parliament. He had the respect of both sides of parliament. He was a first-class finance minister. He had social justice values and was a true advocate and champion for Western Australia and the nation. He was somebody the ALP is extremely proud of. He was an integral part of the Hawke Labor government and he has left an indelible mark on the Australian nation.

I can remember sitting at conferences alongside someone who was perhaps the greatest sceptic in the Labor Party within my area. We were at Parramatta and he was analysing every single thing that was said. After hearing Peter Walsh speak, he said, 'That's the most sense I've heard spoken by any person.' That common sense approach really marked Peter Walsh's approach to politics and to life. He will always be remembered in Labor circles for the fantastic contribution he made to Australia. With that short contribution, I want to pay my respects to his family and thank them for giving him to the Australian parliament for the time he was here and say that he will always be remembered for his contribution.

Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a privilege to say some words in condolence for Peter Walsh, a dedicated and talented senator for Western Australia and a key member of the economic team within the Hawke-Keating Labor government—which is the same as saying that he was one of the chief architects of Australia's greatest period of economic reform and budget management in the modern era.

At the outset I want to thank my Western Australian colleague the member for Brand for his reflections on a man who was not only a political mentor but also a father-in-law, a dad to Gary's wife, Deborah, and grandfather to Gary's children.

Peter Walsh entered the Senate in 1974 and in his early years was an unstinting opponent of the war in Vietnam and a white-hot critic when it came to the bastardry of John Kerr and Malcolm Fraser in 1975. As Minister for Resources and Energy he presided over the introduction of the petroleum resource rent tax, which currently provides around $2 billion dollars in precious annual revenue. Remember that John Howard had previously dumped the Fraser government's consideration of a proposal to derive a fair return for all Australians from the higher than usual profit achieved through the development of resources like petroleum that belongs to all Australians. But of course Peter Walsh is best known as the best finance minister Australia has ever had and the fact that this status is accorded to him unchallenged is a mark of the incredible public service contribution he made. Indeed, the strongest theme in all of the reflections on Peter Walsh's very significant contribution to the Australian government is his steely adherence to good policy and rational budgets, irrespective of the surrounding populist noise and the special pleading. I love the quote from Bill Hayden about Peter's discipline and disinterested rigour when it came to assessing budget proposals:

He took no prisoners, gave no sanctuary, recognised no neutrality. I am one of his best friends as he is one of mine, but I knew better than to ask for mercy or favour in the pre-budget process.

In Geoff Kitney's colourful obituary it is noted that:

In Paul Keating's reflections on those years ... Keating recalled the back-breaking, health-wrecking tediousness and thanklessness of the endless hours of meetings of the Expenditure Review Committee. For every hour that Keating spent in those meetings, Peter Walsh spent two.

I did not have the good fortune to know Peter, but as a Labor person from country WA, I feel an affinity with his background and with his related concern for the interests of hard-working people who are subject to the buffeting of macroeconomic forces that are generally shaped by others or else held back by rural and regional leaders with a head-in-the-sand attraction to an irrational status quo, which is just as bad. Having said that, there are many areas in which Peter and I probably would not have agreed, especially when it comes to environmental conservation and climate change, and, despite his having been part of the Left faction of the Labor party, I suspect he might have assessed me as belonging to a category of Labor people of which he was not particularly fond—but who knows?

I do know that Peter Walsh's example has influenced the conduct and work ethic of parliamentarians from all sides. He really was a person who gave his all, who brought all his energy and intellectual capacity to bear on some of the most difficult and complicated matters of economic policy in the best interests of all Australians. At times that effort put a strain on Peter that must have stretched his physical and emotional wellbeing to breaking point, but he never broke and he never shirked the hard work that needed to be done. No-one can ask or expect more than that from our political representatives.

As a loving family man, Peter will be greatly missed by all of his family. As a parliamentarian of the highest quality Peter Walsh set an example to be remembered and honoured. As a Labor senator and cabinet minister, his life and work reminds us that progressive, rigorous, fair and evidence-based economic policy is at the heart of the Australian Labor project.

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal 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 Federation Chamber.

Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That further proceedings be conducted in the House.

Question agreed to.