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

I wish to be associated with this condolence motion. Michael MacKellar was a friend, a friend that I served with in this parliament till he left us in 1994. I served with him for some 20 years in public life. He was previously the member for Warringah. He served as Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs, between 1975 and 1979, and latterly served as Minister for Health, between 1979 and 1982. He was later a member of the then opposition's frontbench. That does not tell you much about this man that I regard as particularly special.

If you go to some comments made by former member for Gwydir and Leader of the National Party, John Anderson, you will appreciate that Michael was a very unusual member for a metropolitan electorate. He was a young man who left correspondence school, was able to get to Shore school in Sydney for a time, entered Sydney university and studied agriculture, graduating as a Bachelor of Agricultural Science, and worked in that field before he went to the United Kingdom, where he gained a Master of Arts in Oxford. So here is a man interested in issues relating to agriculture and sustainability being elected to one of our very significant metropolitan seats. He first stood for Liberal Party preselection in 1966 and was defeated.

The comments that John Anderson made that I was particularly interested in and which I wish to be noted were his comments about Michael MacKellar's 'secret weapon' that was ultimately to lead to his selection as the member for Warringah. Michael, in March 1969, married Robbie. The leader went on to say that, as so many of us have discovered in this place, our wives—or husbands, as the case may be—are so often our greatest assets, unsung heroes though they may be. Michael, Robbie was soon to prove yours. After they were married, the news broke that the member for Warringah was to retire. Michael and Robbie were on honeymoon at the time, but he came back for preselection and won. My own wife used to say of Robbie MacKellar what a remarkable lady she was. With a son with disabilities, she had very significant responsibilities not only as a member's wife but also as a mother. That was part of the challenge that the MacKellars had to cope with when Michael was a member in this place.

Michael was interested, as I have been, in the way in which this country develops. He had some very interesting observations to make about population issues, and he was speaking about these matters in the 1970s. He said then: 'Because Australia is so big, some people put forward the view that we can accept hundreds of millions of people.' But, if you actually read his speeches, you will see that he had a compassion for helping refugees, a focus on bringing to Australia skilled migrants that we need, accommodating proper family reunion, but an integrity in migration. In that sense, for me as a later minister for immigration, he was a role model.

I can say truthfully that this parliament is a very different place to the parliament that I entered in 1973 and he entered in 1969. He was the first of those people who entered the parliament a little earlier than me—people like David Connolly, Alan Cadman, John Howard—when the parliament was still occupied by what we affectionately referred to as 'the 49ers'. They were the people who entered the parliament with Menzies in 1949 and were there for those 23 years of the Liberal government and were still making a contribution when I entered the parliament in 1973.

When he retired in 1994, Michael made some interesting comments about the way in which this parliament conducts itself. It is a place where spontaneity has been largely lost. I am forever amazed that the people who come into this place and into the other place have to read everything they say. There was once a time when we had rules that prevented members from reading speeches. People would take points of order—I would love to take a point of order—that the member is reading a speech. I must say to be able to engage as we did in the old chamber with others in debate where you could flesh out issues in a way that was positive and beneficial has largely been lost. I notice that Michael McKellar said, 20 years down the track, said:

We are debating changes to the standing orders. I do not think that at this stage of the debate we have addressed the problem of an attitude towards this place.When I came into the parliament—and the right honourable member for New England (Mr Sinclair) was in the parliament—question time was a vital, active, involved time for the chamber. People were jumping up on both sides of the House. Since that time the chamber has become sterile, there has not been the participation that used to be evident, and its public impact has diminished to an extraordinary degree. That has been brought about by successive leaders of governments and leaders of oppositions.

I must say that I could not agree more, when I think of the way in which the parliament conducts itself these days. There was a time when I first came here that The Sydney Morning Herald would write up question time, with the questions asked and the replies given. It was a matter of public interest. When do you last recall questions being written up in that way and when our parliament was seen to be contributing substantially?

This brings me to the point I wanted to make in this debate today. Michael McKellar was an extraordinarily positive Minister for Immigration and, probably after me, the second-longest serving Minister for Immigration in the last 30 years. Most have never contributed more than two or three years; Michael was there for four; I was there for seven and a half—not that that is of great moment. But the point I wanted to make is that I think immigration is one of the most important portfolios that you can have. It is about nation building. It is about putting in place the building blocks for Australia and its future, and the non-discriminatory principles that were instituted by Michael MacKellar as part of the Fraser government have been absolutely crucial to its success.

That success is demonstrated today, when I think we can say that we have the largest proportion of overseas-born people in our population of any country in the world, except for Israel and Luxembourg—a fact not well-known, particularly about Luxembourg. If cultural diversity were a problem, we would have the biggest problems in the world, and yet it works extraordinarily well. I think it has a lot to do with the policies that were put in place and administered by Michael MacKellar, and I think at a time when we acknowledge his passing we should thank God that we were able to have somebody like him in that role.

In August 1988 we had some difficult debates in my party about immigration. It was not the first time; it was the second. Some people thought that there may be circumstances in which you might wish to discriminate against people on the basis of their race or their country of origin. I am just looking at an extract from The Canberra Times as I say this. It records that there were six Liberals unhappy with the party's immigration policy. The article leads with two former ministers for immigration, Michael MacKellar and Ian Macphee; a spokesman for our party at that time, Philip Ruddock; Senator Peter Baume; the late Ian Wilson, who was the member for Sturt; and Steele Hall. It was Macphee, Baume, Ruddock and Hall who crossed the floor on a very difficult issue of principle. MacKellar and Wilson each abstained. He continued to play a leadership role in relation to these matters.

I think his contribution has been greatly undersold, if I can put it that way. I think he has been a very significant contributor to this nation. I am sorry that I had not seen him of late—he moved interstate. I am equally sorry that Robbie had passed away. I did want to be associated with this motion, and I simply observe that Australia is the lesser for his passing.

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No doubt many members will pay tribute to Michael MacKellar's outstanding service to this parliament, as we have just heard from the member for Berowra. But I also want to speak about the time leading up to his election. I actually knew Michael before he became the member for Warringah. Indeed, Michael MacKellar was one of the reasons I first joined the Liberal Party, albeit as a junior member without voting rights at the time. Many years ago, following the premature death of John Cockle, Edward St John QC became the new Liberal member for the Sydney North Shore seat of Warringah. He was a very well regarded senior Liberal practitioner with excellent business and community connections, who had won his preselection against a large field of candidates with less high profiles.

These were the days of party unity and discipline. So when this new member chose the opportunity of his maiden speech to directly criticise the government of the day, his government, and then Prime Minister Harold Holt, contrary to the practice that still exists today in this place, an enraged Prime Minister actually interjected, in defiance of parliamentary convention that maiden speeches are heard in silence. But the Prime Minister was not the only one who was outraged. So too were the Liberal Party branch members and indeed constituents of Warringah. These were the days of Kevin Martin, Bill McPhee, Malcolm Beveridge and many more—loyal, long-serving Liberal Party members, who worked hard without the expectation of political reward. My own mother, who had not been involved in politics since moving to Sydney some years earlier, immediately joined the local branch of the Liberal Party.

Before party members could express their displeasure and challenge the first term member's preselection, they needed to find a candidate prepared to take on this controversial challenge. And who did they support, but local agricultural scientist and unsuccessful candidate from the previous preselection, Mr Michael MacKellar, supported by his wonderful wife Robbie. As history records, Michael was endorsed by the Liberal Party. But, of course, nothing in politics is that simple. The sitting member resigned from the Liberal Party and chose to run as an Independent, and he had the connections to raise the funds to do so. Members of the local Liberal Party branch worked hard to raise money, but had very limited funds compared to the high-profile Independent. Michael and Robbie ran a grassroots campaign. They turned up to any local event and campaigned relentlessly. I remember my mother collecting my friends and I from school and we would do letterbox drops around the hills of Mosman; with Mum leaving afternoon tea snacks and the brochures for the next street at key points along our route—it was actually safe to do in those days.

Michael was an excellent candidate, and that election highlighted to me the importance of underpinning any campaign with a strong foundation of local involvement—lessons that are still relevant today. And the rest, as they say, is history. After an exhausting and determined campaign, Michael MacKellar was elected as the federal member for Warringah with a comfortable majority. Michael always benefitted from the devoted support of Robbie and later their children: Maggie, Duncan and Cameron, who, being born into a political life, knew nothing different. From that first campaign as a schoolgirl, I worked on all Michael's campaigns and served on his executives, through to 1977 when I moved to Brisbane. And that is yet another connection, as the then member for Ryan, John Moore—for whom I also campaigned—like Michael, was a champion tennis player. And just as John Moore beat Rod Laver is the early days of his tennis career, so did Michael defeat John Newcombe when they were both students at Shore—although Newcombe was five years younger at the time. But when John Moore and Michael Mackellar teamed up, they were unbeatable. In 17 years, they never lost a doubles match against the Senate.

Michael served a record 25 years as the member for Warringah and made an outstanding contribution over his time in public life in several ministerial portfolios. I note that Dr Hewson, the party leader at the time of Michael's retirement, also recognised his role in founding the parliamentary wine appreciation society. Importantly, Michael was not just a great member and minister; he was also a good and inherently decent bloke. While Robbie was Michael's greatest asset, any tribute to his political career would not be complete without acknowledging the unswerving support and loyalty of Helen Ovens, who worked with him from his first days to his retirement.

My sympathies to Maggie, Duncan and Cameron and their families.

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 member s having stood in their places—

I thank the Federation Chamber.

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

by leave—I move:

That further proceedings be conducted in the House.

Question agreed to.