Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am honoured to speak today about one of the gentlemen of this House, Mr Alby Schultz, who sadly passed away on 13 July this year.

Born in Melbourne in 1939 to a working class family, Alby did not have an easy start. At the age of 14, he ran away from a violent home and was found by Jimmy Betts sleeping under a bridge. Jimmy became an influential figure in Alby's life, helping him with a home and a job. In turn, Alby was quite taken with Jimmy's daughter Gloria, who would later become his wife of 52 years.

He worked as a meat processor at the local abattoir before starting his political career in 1983 as a member of the Cootamundra Shire Council. Following a tough fought preselection, he entered the New South Wales parliament as the member for Burrinjuck. His son Grant said, 'He was very proud of winning that preselection. He told the panel that if they selected him, they'd get two for one: he and Gloria. They were absolutely dynamic as a political pair.' On entering state politics , Alby pledged to represent people of all political persuasions and he did just that for the decade he served as member for Burrinjuck.

In 1998, Alby stood for and won the federal seat of Hume. He went on to become its longest serving member and staunchest advocate. Alby readily admitted he came from a staunch Labor family. In his maiden speech, he said:

An uncle recently told me that my grandfather would turn in his grave, knowing I was a Liberal member of parliament—and he is absolutely right.

In explaining his conversion, he said:

… I was converted to conservative politics at a very young age because extremely well paid union officials, similar to those members opposite, had me out on strike more times than I worked.

That really speaks to the value Alby placed on hard work. Through his own determination and dedication, he worked his way from wheeling manure carts at the abattoir to factory manager. He put himself through night school and completed a business management course. His progression from councillor to state member and from state member to highly respected member for Hume did not happen by chance.

Alby described himself as a 'strong advocate of mainstream values' and 'fierce defender of the traditional family unit'. In his maiden speech, he said:

I intend to defend the mainstream family values which have been pushed aside for political expediency; and I will never compromise my principles, honesty and integrity, no matter the cost.

He was not afraid to cross the floor on matters he felt strongly about and was often described as a maverick MP.

Alby was a family man and it was clear that he adored his wife, Gloria. His reference to her in his maiden speech shows the deep dedication they had to each other. He said:

To my lovely wife, Gloria: thank you for your love, your quiet inner strength, your comfort and support, and for just being beside me; 'the team', as we are known within the region, has been a close successful combination in everything we have done together all our married life.

He spoke often of his sons Dean and Grant, referring to them as being brothers rather than sons. He adored their wives, Debbie and Rebecca, and his five grandchildren.

In his valedictory speech, Alby said:

I stand here in this House content in the knowledge I have given my all as a privileged individual who is here because of the generosity of my fellow Australians.

He absolutely gave his all, a life dedicated to representing those who needed it most, with honour and integrity. I am grateful to have shared the chamber with Alby. My thoughts are with his family at this time. I will miss him and we will all miss him.

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

I miss Alby; I miss him a lot. When I first arrived here, I think there were five of us who had formerly been members of the New South Wales parliament: Bruce Baird; Tony Windsor; the member for Werriwa, who is still here; and Alby Schultz. Alby was very kind to me from the time that I arrived, but I probably got to know him best during my time as Minister for Agriculture. I think it is worth noting the one member of the then government—so his opposite—that he acknowledged in his valedictory speech was Simon Crean, also a former Minister for Agriculture.

In that final speech, Alby gave one of the most emotive descriptions that I have ever heard of what people go through during times of drought. I quote:

I have watched with a great sense of anguish and sadness the heart-breaking sight of farmers, emotionally drained, when they have to put down badly burnt animals, bury them and take into their homes the smell of the charred countryside and what they have had to do to their suffering animals. They are the epitome of the true Australian rural spirit, which is replicated year in and year out across our sometimes harsh, unforgiving landscape. It is something which sadly is forgotten too quickly by people in this place.

Alby engaged a lot, in particular during my time as Australia's Minister for Agriculture. He had passionate views on wheat. It was at that time that I was responsible for bringing into the parliament the legislation to end the AWB monopoly, which was an issue that ultimately saw Brendan Nelson make the decision that the Liberal Party would back the legislation we had and the National Party decided to oppose it. That suited Alby down to the ground. In almost every interaction I had with Alby, there would be a reference to the National Party. For him, every election that came around, that was the battle that he would often focus on at the both a federal level and a state level. On his passion over wheat, he would acknowledge that it was not necessarily the view of his own wheat growers in any big way. But he had a policy view that if you grew it, you had the right to decide who you would sell it to. He would follow his beliefs there to the letter.

There was also a particular personal significance for me with Alby in that his electorate is where those ancestors of mine who are not convicts—and there were a few—settled. Alby was fascinated when I brought the old family Bible from Tumut to be sworn in on. He came around to my office and we sat down together, looking through the pages and looking through the family history. Whenever I visited the graves of Michael Burke and Bridget McInerney, there, at a tiny little church of what our family reckoned was called Burke Hill but was probably more officially known as Wagra or Wagragobilly, the interest that Alby would show was second to none, for one very simple reason. He viewed the history of the properties in his electorate as an important part of the history of Australia. He understood that a big part of Australia's story rested within the land that he was responsible for within this parliament. With that in mind, I know that, among the different people around the chamber, a lot of people spend a lot of time socialising across the chamber with the other side of politics. I probably do not; but there are a few people who I have formed very strong relationships of trust with over the years. Alby Schultz was one of them. People look at today's politics and say, 'Where are the great personalities?' When we lost Alby, we lost one of them.

Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I speak on the condolence motion for Alby Schultz. Alby was elected as the member for Hume in 1998. One of the interesting things about that electorate is that when he came in it had previously been represented by the National Party, by John Sharp. Of course, Alby held it for the Liberal Party and my colleague the member for Hume has held it for the Liberal Party as well since Alby retired.

On our side of the House, there are some seats that are Liberal Party seats and some that are National Party seats and have been ever thus, but Hume is the sort of seat where, depending on the candidate, it can be represented by the Liberal Party or the National Party. Alby had worked as a meatworker and as an abattoir worker. I remember hearing people often say that nothing would really faze Alby Schultz because of what he had gone through in his early life. He would not blanch at anything.

I know that some of Alby's fights with the National Party, on our side of politics, were quite legendary. I want to recall a couple of spirited fights that he had with cabinet ministers, including Liberal cabinet ministers. The first one I remember happened very soon after Alby was elected. Alby being elected to Hume meant that there was a vacancy in the New South Wales electorate of Burrinjuck. His wife, Gloria, was the Liberal Party candidate. The National Party candidate was Katrina Hodgkinson, now a minister in the New South Wales government. Katrina had worked as an adviser in this place for Nick Minchin, industry minister and finance minister and a formidable political operator. After the by-election, which was won by Katrina Hodgkinson, I well remember a party room—

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

It was not a by-election.

Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I stand corrected. Thank you, Member for Shortland. I well remember, after the election in Burrinjuck, Alby came into the party room and was tearing strips off Nick Minchin because a couple of his ministerial staff had handed out for Katrina Hodgkinson because they had a personal relationship with her and had worked with her in the office. He was furious at that. As everyone knows, Nick Minchin was a formidable political operator, but Alby Schultz did not take a backward step in confronting him.

I also remember that, a couple of years later, there had been a possible redistribution in the electorate of Macarthur. John Fahey was the member for Macarthur. He had been a former New South Wales Premier and was finance minister at the time. There was speculation in the paper about whether John Fahey would move to the seat of Hume. This was around 2000 to 2001. Alby, once again, was very much up for the fight. I remember that friends of mine from places like Yass regarded Alby as really one of them. They recognised Alby as a fighter. In my limited sample of three or four, they would definitely have preferred a fighter like Alby over someone of very high calibre such as John Fahey.

I well remember the pool accident that Alby had with the chemical fluid, which led to the loss of his eye. A school in his electorate would make eye patches, and every day Alby would wear a different eye patch to parliament. Before he had his prosthetic eye he did have very much the appearance of a pirate.

He was a quintessential local member—a very good local member. People I knew in Yass and Murrumbateman related to me that the personal attention that Alby would show to his constituents was legendary. I remember once that a couple were moving from Murrumbateman to Kingswood in my electorate of Boothby. Alby rang me up to say that they were coming to my electorate and to facilitate introductions. They were good people and would I look after them? He never ceased to amaze me with how good he was with those personal connections. By the same token, to gain Alby's approval was something that you felt you had earned. It was a very good thing.

There are a number of members on this side who, when the sitting hours were a bit different, would take the opportunity to get out of this place on Tuesday and have a lunch, most recently at Timmy's Kitchen in Manuka. Before that I think it used to be at Belluci's, still in Manuka, just down the road. I think the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection did touch on this group. Sadly, just in the last month two members of that group have died: Alby Schultz and also Don Randall, the member for Canning.

I always found Alby very straightforward. For about four years I had the job of doing the party room briefing to the media, and Alby would always take a great interest in what has been briefed and what had been leaked by others. I think he certainly approved of the way that I did that role and took an interest in what was going on.

Alby was a great member of the Liberal Party. He had enormous life experience before coming to parliament. I appreciate all the time that he gave me as a member and colleague and I do express my sincere condolences to Gloria and also to his family.

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

Before the member for Boothby leaves, will explain the reason I interjected on him. Alby Schultz and I were both members of the state parliament, and we both left the state parliament to run for election in 1998. It was a parliament where Bob Carr's Labor government had a majority of one, and at that time neither the opposition nor the government were too keen on having a by-election. So what happened, because we both wanted to stand for the federal election, was that those seats were not filled until the next election, in March. It was less than six months. So to some extent I would not be in this parliament if it was not for Alby Schultz and vice versa, I think. I apologise for interjecting. It was just that Alby and I both were elected in 1998 and there were no by-elections. After my history lesson, I will go to the point of this important notice of indulgence on the death of Alby John Schultz.

Alby was unique. He was the kind of member of parliament that you do not see so often these days. He did not go to the standard politics or member of parliament school. He was a person that had very strong points of view on many things—and very, very different to my own on just about everything—but I respected Alby because of the fact that he was so forthright, because you always knew exactly where you stood with Alby.

But you could work with him as well. One of the reasons I really wanted to speak in this debate was Professor John Forbes, who is a specialist in Newcastle. He has led the Australian and New Zealand breast cancer trials. Alby worked very hard in the area of raising funds for breast cancer, as did his wife, Gloria. We both came together to actually work to get Professor Forbes an Order of Australia. We got support from a lot of other people because people thought he was a pretty good guy, but there had been rumours that there had been a previous attempt and it had failed. When the two of us put together our information and sent it in, Professor Forbes was not awarded the Order of Australia; instead he was made an AM, which really attests to the quality of Professor Forbes. To me it demonstrates the passion that was Alby Schultz: the ability to reach across the parliament when he chose to work with the other side to achieve good outcomes.

I miss Alby. I miss his tenacious manner. I miss the fact that I cannot have a good argument with him—because we tended to argue a lot about things. But at the same time I had great respect for Alby. He really cared about his electorate. He really cared about each and every person in his electorate and, if they did not vote for him, it did not matter; he still cared about them. He was what I see as a really outstanding grassroots politician, a member that came to this place to represent his constituents and a member who did that each and every day that he stood here.

My condolences to his family—Gloria in particular, and the boys. I know that you must miss him very much. I am sure that the last little period of his life was quite a painful period, but Alby would have approached it with the same tenacity as he approached everything in his life.

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

I want to be associated with this condolence motion. I have been in the parliament for the whole of the time that Alby was with us. I very much admired him and also his wife, Gloria. It is to Gloria, Grant, Dean and his grandchildren that I want to speak, because he has had a remarkable career. He has not been the minister; he has not been the person who has led at the highest level; but he was the person who gave service, I think, beyond the call of duty.

And it was not just him; it was Gloria. I used to see them coming and going from this place. We have talked a lot about families recently. I think the Schultz family acknowledge the work of a family in public life. I often observe that a good local member is like a parson: you get two for the price of one. Gloria would drive him everywhere. She was out delivering the parcels in his constituency that he would often take to people in need. He was a remarkable member.

As noted by the previous speaker Alby was the member for Burrinjuck between 1988 and 1998, a 10-year term. He was 15 years with us, from 1998 to 2013. He had an unusual career. He had been a field officer of the Liberal Party and he had been a meat-processing consultant, but he had also been involved in local government. You can see how somebody like him would be equipped to undertake the role of a federal member in a rural seat.

I was interested in looking, again, at his maiden speech because it outlined, very fully, the nature of his electorate, one that contributed to the economy through agricultural, viticultural and horticultural industries, including wool, fat lambs, pigs, cattle, wheat, cherries, apples, stone fruits, timber and wine. This was the electorate he represented, here. He spoke about it. He informed us about it. He wanted people to be aware of the burdens. He wanted people to be aware of the need to understand the impact of fees and levies that can have an impact on demand for these sorts of products. He was a forceful advocate for his rural producers, as you would expect. He also took up other issues. If he had been here today he would have been talking about NBN Co. Then, he was talking about Telstra and the extent to which they were able to adequately serve rural Australia.

For me, what was particularly interesting was that he noted his own background was unusual. He was the son of a wool-store labourer. He came from a low-income working-class background. His grandfather on his mother's side was a personal friend of John Curtin's. An uncle had recently told him that his grandfather would turn in his grave knowing that he, Alby, was a Liberal member of parliament. He wanted to establish his family's bona fides and he wanted to assure members of the Labor Party that he was converted to our side of politics—at a very young age—because of extremely well-paid union officials. He likened them to some of those opposite. He noted that they had had him out on strike more times than he had worked. As a young slaughterman in the meat-processing industry he learned rapidly that people lining their pockets at the expense of the working classes were not only the employers but also the union officials. I thought they were extraordinary comments made by him, at that time, in the context of other matters that we were having to address.

He went on to say—as a member of the Liberal Party, which is the largest rural based political party in Australia—that he wanted to assure the House his politics differed from others. He saw rural people being represented as much by Liberals as by our friends in the National Party. I think they would acknowledge that he had some very strong views about that. I was certainly appraised of them.

I was not able to be at his funeral. I was overseas at the time. I felt very deeply about that because I noted, again, his own observations in his maiden speech. They are worth quoting. He said:

To my lovely wife, Gloria: thank you for your love, your quiet inner strength, your comfort and support, and for just being beside me; `the team', as we are known within the region, has been a close successful combination in everything we have done together all our married life.

He went on to note his two sons for their strong support and assistance.

This was a remarkable man, but it is a remarkable family. I have admired Gloria enormously and I wanted to be associated with this condolence motion just to say that.

Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the great myths we often hear peddled around by the chattering classes is that members of this parliament, especially members of this government, members on this side of the chamber, somehow generally lack life experience before they come to politics. Alby Schultz's background shows just what an absolute myth that is.

We know that Alby as a young kid worked at night-time selling newspapers to raise a few extra dollars for his family. We know that Alby's father, a World War II veteran, suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome—something that was not recognised back then—and that when Alby was 14 he left home because of the violence in his family household. Alby went and lived—and slept—under an old iron railway bridge, across the Murray River, at Echuca. That is Alby's background. He was taken in by a local family and given a job in an abattoir. The first job he had was sweeping out the waste and mess from the abattoir. You could not think of a more lowly beginning or lowly start in life, but that is the background that gave Alby his character. That is the strength he brought to this parliament: that determination to stand up; that understanding of the real issues of life.

On one occasion during the last parliament there was a debate about live-cattle exports. For many people in the city there is a disconnect between the food in our supermarkets and the fact that someone has to kill an animal along the way. I remember during this debate that everyone was getting upset about a poor cow that had been killed. Alby got up and said: 'What absolute rubbish! I remember, when I was a slaughterman, sometimes the stunning wouldn't kill them and you had to take a sledgehammer and belt them over the head,' and he did all the great actions. That was the life experience that he had. That is what made him such a great parliamentarian. That is what made him stand up against political correctness in this place.

For all of us in here, something that happens in our lives determines why we are sitting on one side of this parliament or the other. I would like to quote from Alby's speech about why he was a Liberal:

I am the son of a wool store labourer from a low-income working-class background. My grandfather on my mother's side was a personal friend of John Curtin. An uncle recently told me that my grandfather would turn in his grave, knowing I was a Liberal member of parliament—and he is absolutely right. Having established my family's Labor Party bona fides, I can assure members on the opposite side of the House that I was converted to conservative politics at a very young age because extremely well paid union officials, similar to those members opposite, had me out on strike more times than I worked. … As a young slaughterman in the meat-processing industry I learnt … that the only people lining their pockets at the expense of the working class were not the employers but the union officials on executive levels of pay driving company cars.

Those were the words of Alby Schultz, in his maiden speech, about why he followed Liberal Party values. When I first came to the parliament, it was a rather overwhelming experience. And Alby was one of those existing members who took me under his wing, talked to me and made sure I was comfortable. I remember Alby showing me all the stationery that he had ever had printed and saying, 'This is what I have done.' He said something along the lines of: 'What I do isn't right but you might be able to learn or pick up one little point from these documents.' And I did. He was a great man to sit next to in the chamber on the opposite side during the previous parliament.

Alby gave a very emotional valedictory speech when he was suffering from cancer. We knew that he did not have much time left. In fact, there was a chance that he might not have been able to give that speech. But apparently he wrote two valedictory speeches—and I quote from the valedictory speech that he gave:

This valedictory speech that I am going to read to you tonight is the second valedictory speech I have written over the past six or eight weeks. I wrote one, and my wife read it and she said to me, 'You're not seriously going to bring that into the chamber, are you?' She said, 'You really do have to write something a little bit softer than that, love.' So I have succumbed to that wise counsel from my wife, as I have done for … the 51 years that we have been married, and I have written something a little bit different to what I would normally put pen to.

So somewhere out there in Cootamundra, in the electorate of Hume, lies that original valedictory speech. And I would suggest that we should find it, frame it—

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Table it!

Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

table it—or perhaps hang it up in our party room to see exactly what Alby thought! As I said, we know that Alby was not one for political correctness. But, even in that valedictory speech, he brought up something that I know was of great concern to him—the appalling waste of our limited and precious resources on wind turbines. I again quote from Alby's valedictory speech:

Wind turbines have cost the electricity consumer approximately $2.25 billion from 1 January 2011 to 30 March 2013. That is $1 billion per year—think about what that could be used for in our communities.

And Alby was right. He understood. He wanted to do the very best he could for the communities he represented.

I think sometimes in the cities we get a little bit disconnected from the lives our country cousins live. I travelled to Alby's funeral down in Cootamundra. I remember driving through the town of Harden, which is part of Alby's patch. The shops there were closed down. There is probably less prosperity in that town today than there was 100 years ago. We talk about the housing affordability crisis in our cities, but in the window of the real estate agent in Harden I saw a three-bedroom brick house on a large block of land for sale for $210,000. These were the people that Alby Schultz represented in parliament. These are the people that he stood up for. I will miss Alby. He was a good friend. May he rest in peace.

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

Mr Deputy Speaker Hawke, it is a little fortuitous that I rise to speak on the death of Albert John Schultz in the presence of you and the member for Hughes, as we all used to sit as quiet as church mice, at the back over there, side by side behind one Albert John Schultz. A lot will be said about Alby Schultz—that he was rough and tough, that he knew what he wanted, that he was fire and brimstone and all that. But he knew this place, and he could pick things before anyone else could. You would be sitting there and someone at the dispatch box on the government side would say something, and Alby would say: 'Watch Joel. He's going to go and talk to Laurie Ferguson. And then he is going to have to talk to Chris Hayes because this is what has happened'—he would be able to tell you exactly what was going on. And then Joel Fitzgibbon, member for Hunter and Chief Government Whip, would get up and do exactly those things. We would watch those things happen and we would sit back in awe.

A story I will forever tell about Alby Schultz is that I was the first member of the class of 2010 who was mentioned, warned and then punted by the then Speaker, Harry Jenkins—and it was Alby's fault. Soon after the election, Alby was in question time and I had been warned for interjecting. I said something that you, Mr Deputy Speaker, had told me to yell out, I am pretty sure—certainly it would not have been up to me!—

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member will not reflect on anyone!

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

Alby turned to me and said, 'Listen, mate. I'm going to ask a question about this money that Labor has promised for the hospital. They're going to say that they didn't promise it. I want you to hold up the front page of the Post to show that they made the promise.' I said, 'No worries, mate. Will I get into trouble for this?' He said, 'No. Don't worry about it.' So he asked the question and I held it up. Harry Jenkins, the then Speaker, looked up and said, 'The member for Herbert shall leave under 94(a).' I turned to Alby and said, 'What do I do?' He said, 'You have to go, mate.' I said, 'What happened here?' He said, 'Just don't make eye contact with me'—which was reasonably funny because I was on his blind side anyway.

There is a special place for the vitriol he sent to the Labor benches, but there was a special level of chat that went towards our friends and cousins in the National Party, and especially towards the crossbenchers. He was merciless in his words to Messrs Katter, Oakeshott and Windsor, but, to their credit, every time you went out and came back in, either Tony Windsor, Rob Oakeshott or Bob Katter would be sitting there having a chat to Alby. It was like a traditional football game in that, during the heat of battle in here, it was full on; but, with Alby, outside of here it was just the same. He gave no quarter and expected no quarter. In the party room, he was pretty much like that as well. His refrain was: 'We are the party of prime ministers.' He had a special place in his heart for that ideal. He wanted to make sure that it kept rubbing off on everyone in that Liberal party room and that we understood exactly where he was coming from. He asked for no quarter. He was fearless, ruthless and fun toward everyone there.

It was his turn of phrase that always got to me. I am a man who has been known to crack a joke and that sort of thing. I am pretty much the 'pull my finger' kind of guy, but Alby Schultz was very clever. When we were discussing the carbon tax, we were asking questions because the then Labor Northern Territory government was against the carbon tax and the then Victorian Labor government was against the carbon tax. The question was being asked repeatedly: 'Could you name a Premier who is in favour of Australia adopting a world-beating carbon tax?' The voice came from the back: 'Hu Jintao'—the Premier of China! It was just one of those moments. No-one else saw it coming except for Alby. It was just an absolute cracker.

We will hear during this debate about Alby's eye—how he lost it in an acid accident and how he dived into the pool and the thing was out in his hand before he came up. In relation to that, I want to talk about how he was not only a political warrior but also a great bloke. My family came to Canberra for my maiden speech, we were at a Chinese takeaway restaurant and Alby Schultz came in. My son was particularly interested in his glass eye. Whilst my daughter, Abbie, was pretty much horrified that this man had a glass eye, Andrew was completely and utterly besotted by the story of how he had lost his eye. You could see what a great parent and, especially, what a great grandparent he must have been, given the amount of time he gave us and the softness of his voice in his approach to my wife and my children. He was an absolute gentleman in that regard.

You cannot mention Alby Schultz without talking about his wife, Gloria. Whilst a lot has been made about Gloria—that you got two for the price of one; I do not think there is a married person in this place for whom you do not get two for one—Gloria was a bit special. Senator Ian Macdonald will always tell the story about when he was trying to get elected in 1990, well before Alby was in this place, and Alby had rung up from Cootamundra and said, 'I'll come up and help.' He and Gloria drove at their own expense and stayed in a motel at their own expense to help Ian Macdonald in the campaign that got him elected in 1990. That is the measure of the person. It is not so much what we do in this place; it is the stuff you do behind the scenes that really stands out for you. Like the member for Hughes said, Alby would always bring in stuff that he would distribute in the electorate. He would never tell you that it was right; he would always just say, 'Have a look at it; have a read of it. If there's something there that you can use, that would be great.' That was the making of the man. That is what I believe.

The other thing with Alby is that, just because you were a friend of his, it did not stop him of giving you a full and frank character assessment if you stepped over the line. Whilst I was never a recipient of the poke in the chest, I was not too far away on a couple of occasions. He did say that what he wanted was very serious and that what we were trying to do here was very serious. I cannot claim to be close to him, but to know Alby and Gloria was to understand the passion with which he represented his family, his workmates, his council, his state and his country. Peter FitzSimons has been in the papers lately. To paraphrase him: politics does not build character; it reveals character. Vale, Alby Schultz. You are already missed, mate. We really need you back. Cheers.

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the very genuine contribution of the member who has just spoken. I am really pleased to be able to stand and talk tonight on this motion of condolence for Alby Schultz. Much has been said about Alby—all of it genuinely true. He was one of the true characters of the Australian parliament.

When I first entered parliament in 2007, Alby took one look at me, sat down and had a yarn about the fact that I was a farmer. He was one of the few people who probably saw being a farmer as a real positive. As a farmer, it is amazing how many people you meet who, perhaps, see you as some sort of second-class citizen. But not Alby. From day one, Alby sat down and had a yarn. He was particularly supportive of the rural sector. You were never in any doubt as to what Alby thought. He shared a particularly close relationship with Wilson Tuckey. Alby and Wilson were of the same generation, in a sense, and of the same historic school of thought.

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

Not a day goes by that I do not miss being in that party room.

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There you go: not a day goes by, as the member says, that he does not miss being in that party room with both of those gentleman. And of course it was always very straightforward and very genuine. But their passion and commitment to rural, regional and remote areas, to farmers and to regional economies was second to none. They encouraged us all to stand up for what we really believe in in rural and regional Australia. I think Wilson would really like me to acknowledge not only his relationship with Alby but some of the good work they did as part of the agricultural committee. When you think about the fact that Alby came in in 1998 and served right through to 2013—a 25-year career—that is an extraordinary effort.

Alby served his community; he served the farming and rural sector. But you always knew Alby loved his wife; none of us were in any doubt of that. He loved his wife—Glo, as he called her—and he spoke so beautifully of her. Anyone who thought Alby was a hard nut—and he was—only had to listen to him talk about Glo to know that he loved Glo in a way that only those who are part of a couple who are married for probably around 53 years can love each other. They shared a wonderful partnership. To Glo, and to Dean and Grant and their five grandchildren and their daughters-in-law, we in this place really want to offer our sincere sympathy to you all and our condolences on the loss of Alby. And yes, I know that you would have known this was coming and prepared for it, but nothing prepares you for actually losing someone, no matter how much you share their journey and you know their time is coming—nothing. Nothing prepares you for actually losing them or for the day after, when you can no longer have that last word, when you can no longer say hello or goodbye, when there is no more. So, to Glo and all the family, our condolences to you. I really hope the support you have given each other through Alby's illness and since losing Alby continues, and from your friends and family. And, knowing Alby, you have plenty of friends and certainly a very close family.

Alby would talk about his lost eye. One day he said to me, 'I'm not one-eyed in just one sense; I'm one-eyed in every sense'—meaning he was a one-eyed Liberal. And he was never backward in letting you know that—the strong and fearless character that we knew Alby to be. But what I respected so much about Alby was that he was an absolutely fearless advocate for rural and regional Australians and farmers. We need more Albys, because it is very difficult for us to get our voices heard. We are a diminishing number of representatives in this place, and we are a diminishing number of Australians, in a sense. Our history has changed the role of farmers. Our farmers still manage the majority of the land. They are still family owned and run businesses. And they bear the brunt of weather and circumstances and the volatility of prices. But they are the salt of the earth, and that is what Alby was, which is why he could represent them so well. Even if you did not agree with Alby, you could never question his genuine commitment. I think that is what everybody in his electorate saw from him and Glo and the work they put in when there were hardships—delivering food parcels and support parcels to people throughout their community and simply being on the ground with people who were doing it tough.

And of course Alby, being the meatworker he was, could talk to anyone. He did not really mind whether it was someone who was very well educated—perhaps far better educated than Alby was—or whether it was the bloke with the shovel: Alby treated them the same way, and he was a genuine bloke. He had friends on both sides of this place. Another person, who is not here now, who was a friend of Alby's was Dick Adams. They did a lot of work together on the committee, along with the likes of Wilson Tuckey. All of those gentlemen were very genuine in what they were there to do, and I know Alby had friendships on both sides of the House.

When I looked at Alby's valedictory speech, one of the things he talked about was:

… 'The Team',—

He called it 'The Team'—

which Glo and I committed to in my first slogan: `You get two for the price of one.' Little did I know that she was a bigger draw card for my ongoing success at the ballot box than I was!

That commitment was to all constituents. Alby never pretended to be all things to all people, but he certainly understood that Glo was one of the greatest benefits he had, and he certainly loved her very much.

I went and had a look at Alby's maiden speech in the local news at the time. He said:

In short, rural producers, despite their best efforts to maintain their well-earned reputations as the most productive farmers in the world, are reeling from one setback to another, much of it outside their control.

When you consider that this was his maiden speech 27 or 28 years ago, the question has to be asked: for rural and regional, nothing much as changed, has it? The article went on to say that Mr Schultz did not 'subscribe to political correctness'. That's a shock, isn't it! Alby did not subscribe to political correctness. Well, if anybody in this House has any doubt about that, I do not have any doubt, because I was on the receiving end on a regular basis. He said:

I intend to defend the mainstream family values which have been pushed aside for political expediency; and I will never compromise my principles, honesty and integrity, no matter the cost. I seek no favours and I ask only that my rural constituency be given a `fair go'.

I say to Alby's rural constituency of Hume: Alby did exactly that in his time here in this parliament, and I think every one of his constituents knew that. Even if they did not agree with him, they knew Alby was out there batting for them.

My final word goes to his family—Gloria, his two sons, his daughters-in-law and his five grandchildren. We express our deepest sympathy to you and our condolences on the loss of Alby. He certainly will be missed. He was very proud of Angus. He recruited Angus and he saw Angus as a suitable replacement. The gesture that I remember Alby doing—and I do not know if other members in the House remember—was having his arms crossed. You would have to just deal with Alby when he had his arms crossed. He was always a very genuine Australian. He had no fear and he represented his electorate very well. I offer my condolences to his family. I know that he will be sadly missed.

Dennis Jensen (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have to say that it has been a sad couple of weeks in this place. We recognised the loss of Don Randall last week and now we are recognising the loss of another of our colleagues, Alby Schultz. There was a certain amount of similarity between Alby and Don, in that both were quite happy to call it the way they saw it and they were both very strong advocates for their constituents and very good grassroots campaigners.

I first met Alby when I came to this place in 2004. Alby was a very interesting looking character in those days because he had the black eyepatch on. He had recently lost his eye due to a swimming pool acid accident. He told me that as soon as he got the acid in his eyes he shouted and Gloria came and got the hose on him. He said, 'How does it look?' She said, 'You have one eye popping out a bit.' He said: 'Forget about that one. It's gone. Do the other one.' He went on to say that Gloria blasted the hose at his eye and he felt it going around behind the eyeball itself. He was actually comparatively annoyed with her for blasting it so hard but he said in retrospect that she had actually saved his eye. When I first knew him Alby would have been a very suitable character, in terms of appearance, for one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. He would have fitted the part very well.

The member for Forrest spoke about Alby's bipartisanship. It was probably just as well she was talking about bipartisanship because Alby was not particularly forgiving about us being in a coalition. He had a very strong view of the National Party—he certainly was not a coalitionist. He had some very strong things to say during Liberal party room meetings, let me tell you.

Another thing that I thought was great about Alby was that he was very forthcoming with his opinion. Quite frankly, there are too many who are not forthcoming with their opinion when it runs counter to what any particular group might think. There was mention of Alby being not politically correct, and that is exactly correct. It is one of the things that I very much respected about Alby because it takes guts to run against the crowd.

Sometimes Alby's dislike of the Nats would colour his judgement. If there is one particular piece of colouring of judgement that Alby regretted ever after was when we got the news that Rob Oakeshott had just won Lyne as an Independent and Alby said, 'That Rob Oakeshott is not a bad bloke.' I think that the only basis for that was that he had beaten a Nat, and I think he really came to regret that statement afterwards.

Alby represented in this place a significantly broad diversity, having coming from a background as a meat worker and not having had anything like a privileged background. This is something that we are starting to lose too much of in this place. We are getting too many professional politicians, where politics has been the lifeblood that people have had ever since school days, then going through university, then becoming staffers and then becoming politicians. There is too much of that and Alby was very much the antithesis of that. Alby was someone who had worked very hard for a living and then he came to work in this place to do what he saw was in the best interests of his constituents. He used those significant life experiences that he had.

Alby had some views that I agreed with. He was against the hard renewable energy targets and saw them as hugely costly to people in terms of the price that they paid for electricity. He was also no lover of wind farms. He felt very personally affronted by the fact that he had a very large wind farm imposed on his electorate of Hume. In my view, like Alby's, you have to have a situation where electricity is affordable and your alternatives are affordable. Alby was very much against people having to pay large amounts of money for other people's ideology. He was also an anthropogenic global-warming sceptic, which is something that I agree with, as people here would know.

He was an extremely strong local member and, as I have said, when people talk of white-bread politicians, Alby was anything but. He certainly made his presence known. There are quite a few people on our side of politics who came to know it—never mind those sitting on the opposition benches. One of the things that has not been brought up enough in this place and one thing he felt particularly strongly about and fought for was—and it is something that I mentioned in my first speech—the issue of fathers who had separated from their wives having to pay child support, as well as the access they had to their children and the very significant health problems they suffered. Indeed, as Alby would point out, significant numbers of those men—lonely, with no or completely inadequate access to their children, having to pay out a fortune so they were left very short of money and then committing suicide. Alby fought very hard for them, and I was very pleased with some of the changes that we managed to initiate while in government in 2006 to bring about the view that parenting post separation should be a mutual obligation—that there be a 50-50 shared parenting presumption, not the immediate presumption that the ex-wife got the custody and the ex-husband was meted out scraps of access. There is still a lot of work to be done in this area, and that is something that Alby was championing in this parliament right until the time he left.

What has been said is that Alby was very committed to his family, and that is something we all knew only too well. He certainly spoke of Gloria a lot and he saw them as a very strong team, and indeed they were. To Gloria and the family, I would like to express my deep sympathy for the loss of Alby. Alby is someone that I will miss, and this place will miss greatly.

Russell Matheson (Macarthur, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I stand today to pay tribute to Alby Schultz, a great man of conviction who always had his family and his community at heart. I came to this parliament in 2010 and I really appreciated Alby's friendship, his company, his advice and the mentoring he gave me when I first arrived here—it was a hung parliament. It was invaluable for me to go forward as a federal politician. I have to say that I did not share his views on the Nationals, but obviously I have never been caught up in a three-cornered contest. I have a lot of friends in the Nationals, and we are a coalition.

Alby retired from his 33-year career in politics in 2013, following a diagnosis with liver cancer. Alby was a towering figure in the federal parliament. He commanded as much admiration and respect in this chamber as he did in his community. Alby was a true conviction politician and always spoke from the heart. He stood up for what he believed in, even if it brought the wrath of the powers that be. He was a tenacious man with a fearless heart and he will be sorely missed.

We have heard many warmly remembered stories of Alby's days in this chamber as one of the federal parliament's great characters. Whether friend or foe, Alby touched the hearts of many here. Alby's passing was a devastating loss to the Hume community and to this place. My thoughts and prayers are with Alby's wife Glo, and their family. I was privileged to know Alby through our shared community of the Wollondilly Shire, which both Hume and Macarthur border. He was a formidable neighbour to have; he was much loved and respected in the community, as is Glo, his lovely wife, and their two sons, Grant and Dean.

One of the most poignant memories I have of Alby is the work he did during the droughts, where he and Gloria personally collected and delivered drought relief packages to farmers in his electorate.

Alby was also a fierce advocate for the Lone Fathers Association, as he saw the impact firsthand: the pressure that drought placed on farming families, the separations and family breakups that all too often followed. Alby was committed to helping families through this, particularly fathers, who after the stress of losing a farm, also lost their families.    I distinctly remember a story that demonstrated to me Alby and Glo's love and commitment to their community: they received a call from a worried relative that a young man in the community was considering suicide. It was 2am, and they both jumped in the car and drove to this young man's house and stayed with him until he was okay. That was their compassion and dedication to their community, and they shared it together.

Alby was a fighter in politics and in life. He never gave up—whether it was helping a local farmer, assisting a family or, indeed, his own health. He held on until the very end with great dignity. Alby had a long and difficult battle with cancer; however, his focus was still squarely on his family and his community. Just weeks before his passing, he was passionately advocating to help men with prostate cancer.

I have always been a great admirer of Alby. He started his working life as a meatworker, working his way up into management. However, he never once forgot his origins as a working man. He was, as my colleagues before me have said, as comfortable in an abattoir as he was in the corridors of power. That character in him touches me deeply. Starting his political career in local government as a councillor on Cootamundra Shire Council, Alby quickly rose in politics, winning the 1988 election to become the New South Wales state member for Burrinjuck Alby served in the New South Wales parliament for 10 years before being elected to represent Hume in 1998.

I was reading through Alby's maiden speech today, when contemplating this speech, and two paragraphs stood out and sum up who I believe Alby to be as a man and a politician. I quote the great man, Alby Schultz:

I am simply saying that I do not subscribe to political correctness. I intend to defend the mainstream family values which have been pushed aside for political expediency; and I will never compromise my principles, honesty and integrity, no matter the cost.

Alby went on to say:

I seek no favours and I ask only that my rural constituency be given a 'fair go'. Should there be any occasions during my time in this place when my constituents are penalised because of any action undertaken by me on their behalf, then I will vigorously respond on their behalf accordingly.

Alby was just that. He was a fierce advocate and defender of the family, but, importantly, he fought tooth and nail for families in the bush and regional Australia.

Alby was never one to walk away from a task that was too hard, or one that might get him out of favour with the government, and even at times with his own party. Alby never sought to gain national fame or attention, however he certainly received it in the lead-up to the privatisation of Telstra when he was a vocal critic of the Howard government's plans as he was gravely concerned about the impacts on families in the bush. More recently, Alby was a staunch advocate for rural families suffering from the health effects created by nearby wind farms. When no-one else would go near the topic, Alby met with families, did research and looked into the issue then advocated strongly for the victims. His actions have helped to keep discussions about the possible health impacts of wind farms on the national agenda. I am sure he will be looking down to see what occurs in the future.

As strong a warrior as Alby was, he also had a gentle heart and a huge soft spot for his five grandchildren, of whom he would speak often. They were the apple of his eye and he was immensely proud of them. Alby was also very close to his two sons Grant and Dean, who he always referred to as mates rather than sons, and he cherished his two lovely daughters in law.

I never cease to be amazed at how many people in my electorate of Macarthur have fond memories of Alby and Glo—because when you got Alby, you can be sure that you got Glo as well. Together they were a great and formidable team—Alby and Glo. I can remember on a couple of occasions in my electorate when I first got elected some people said, 'We are here to see you, Glo—Alby, you be quiet!' It is with great sadness that we say vale Alby, who was truly an inspirational man. I look up to Alby in many ways, particularly for his tenacity, or, as he would put it, being a tough old bugger. Nothing could stop Alby when he was on the warpath—well, to be honest, only Glo. Gloria was the steady hand for Alby, always supporting him, always helping and always at his side. I would like to pass on my condolences to Alby's wife Glo, their two sons Grant and Dean and their wives, and Alby's five grandchildren. His passing has left a gaping hole in their hearts as it has in the Hume community and in the hearts of all Australians.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak of a man who was a friend, a colleague and someone who is greatly missed. I first met Alby Schultz when I became vice-president and then president of the Liberal Party of New South Wales. Alby worked for me as a field officer—a field officer who understood what it meant to connect with people in order to get a political message across. He was by far the most effective field officer I had. It was no surprise that he was then preselected to become the candidate for the seat of Burrinjuck—a seat that had almost been a Labor fiefdom, having been held by a particular Labor family for a long period of time. Alby went into that contest fully in the knowledge of the people of Burrinjuck because he had connected with them when he was working as a field officer. He was elected and he served in that seat in the state parliament for 10 years. He was part of the great Nick Greiner election in 1988. For various reasons the seat of Hume became one the Liberal Party could contest, and Alby sought preselection. He was successful, and he then fought a strong election and was successful in becoming the member for Hume.

We have heard time and again in these speeches about Alby's life and about his service that he had humble beginnings, that he had worked as a slaughterman. He went on to get a Diploma in Meat Industry Management from the University of New South Wales, and he was a meat processing industry consultant from 1953 to 1984. He had seen that education could expand his knowledge and his ability and improve the way in which he could work. I have to say of Alby that he was a man who was just as much at home in the working environment of any workplace as he was aboard that luxurious liner the world. He was a man who was natural because he was honest in his opinions and his approach. But he was an enormously loving family man. Gloria—'Glo' as she is affectionately called—is a wonderful woman. The two of them loved each other with a passion. Glo, too, served as an endorsed candidate in a state election, and that was far from a pleasant experience. But they stuck together and they fought it well.

Alby's children Grant and Dean were adored by him, as were his grandchildren. He believed in family values, as we have heard others say. He was also a man who sought to ensure that the things that he believed in he carried out in his life. He understood the importance of the individual and opportunities for individuals to reach their maximum potential. He lived his life in this way. He was a man who could deal with adversity when it came in such an unfair way, first with the accident with the pool chlorine when he lost his eye. The courage that he showed in dealing with that and making it a new persona—the wearing of the black patch, the connection with children—was an inspiration to so many. But it was the unfair cancer that finally took him from us. He fought it with every fibre in his body, and he and Gloria together had a strength that enabled him to live several years when people said he only had months.

Alby was someone who would not stand for being unfairly treated. I remember well when he was passed over for the chairmanship of a committee when he thought he should not have been—and others shared that view, including those across the aisles and those sitting beside him. The net result was that, when the nominations for the chairmanship of that committee were called for, it was not the one that had been directed from on high but Alby, who was supported by the committee in total, who was elected as chairman of that committee. It was unfair that he had been passed over, and his resilience and his ability to persuade other people—or because other people saw that it was unfair—ensured that the support went to him. He chaired that committee, and chaired it damn well.

Alby's passion and tenacity on a subject, once he got his teeth into it, was legendary. He was one of those who are standing up strongly for those in their electorates who are adversely affected by windmills, by so-called wind farms. When he was looking for someone to take his place in this chamber, to become the new member for Hume, it was these things that he looked for in that replacement, and he was enormously proud to have Angus Taylor become the endorsed candidate.

Friendships develop over long periods of time. As I said, I first met Alby in the mid-eighties—1985 is when I became very close to him. It is a friendship that endured. It is a friendship that I enjoyed with a glow, a friendship that in a way goes beyond earthly ties. Memories of that friendship stay with one and enhance one's friendships with those who loved him and those who knew him in a way that can only be said to enrich one's life.

Gloria Schultz, Grant Schultz and Dean Schultz, you are missing a wonderful member of your family, but the love he bestowed on you, and you in turn bestowed on him, is an example to us all. I am lucky to have known him as a friend and I recognise that this chamber is the poorer for his no longer being here with us. Vale, Alby Schultz.

Mal Brough (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to make only a few brief comments. I feel privileged that I knew and served with Alby Schultz. At a time when people lament the bland nature of politicians, Alby was not that—and he was not from a bygone era. He was there in the Howard times and of course also in the previous parliament. So he was not from some time way, way back that people look back at through rose-coloured glasses. This was a bloke with passion. This was a bloke with beliefs. This was a bloke that lived those passions through compassion.

It is probably not something that a lot of people have spoken about here, but he would pull you aside—sometimes when I was a minister, as well as at other times—and tell you what he thought of the job you were doing. He would be frank, but you could tell from his conversation that it came from a belief system about what was good for humanity. It did not matter whether it was about his electorate or whether it was about something in my area of either Indigenous affairs or disabilities; there was always a passion mixed with compassion.

We all regale each other with stories about the great Alby shaking his head and storming out of meetings, about him telling the Prime Minister what he thought of him and about his colourful turn of phrase. But, if you distil all that into what people want from their elected representatives—that is, they want to know that their representatives are real people with lived experience and that they are willing to put something of themselves into what they do—Alby Schultz encapsulated that in everything he did.

I did not know him as a state parliamentarian, but you can see from the results he achieved in the polls that he was one with his electorate, and all 150 of us, regardless of political persuasion, should want to be as much one with our constituents, to know what they are feeling and to be able to articulate that here without fear or favour. That is what makes a genuinely good local member, and local members are what we are, after all. We are all, first and foremost, private members of parliament.

There are many lessons that every member of parliament, present and future, could take from the passing of Don Randall and Alby Schultz—members who did not just give to their electorates but worked with their electorates, who were passionate and compassionate about what they believed in and had no self-interest. It was not about where they were going but about what they could do for others. It is such personalities that give a rich vein to the Australian parliament. It is those rich backgrounds of lived experience without which you cannot represent the Australian population and have a broad cross-section of the Australian population's viewpoints focused on in this place. Alby brought that here without fear or favour. For all of us here, it was a privilege to know him.

We all know that he suffered great illness. Before that, of course, he had that awful accident with the pool acid, but he never once seemed to feel sorry for himself. He just took it in his stride: 'Yep, I was lucky I didn't lose my other eye,' and, 'What a silly thing for me to do.' Boy, there is a lot for us to learn.

We give thanks for the life of Alby Schultz, for his contribution to public life and for the wonderful contribution he made to the people that he loved, literally, in his electorate and that he stood up for. He spoke on behalf of those who did not have a voice. We say thank you and we thank his family for the commitment that they showed him and the contribution that they made. We are all the better for having been part of the life of Alby Schultz. May he rest in peace.

Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Like the member for Fisher I also will be quite brief. Like the member for Fisher, I did not know Alby in his life as a state member. Most of the association that I would like to refer to, because so much has been said about him now, is the heartburn and the trauma that he constantly created when as the Chief Opposition Whip I tried to manage Alby on a daily basis down here. He was quite amazing. If something was happening that Alby did not agree with, you knew about it and you knew about it very quickly. As many people have said here, he was passionate about his electorate. He was absolutely, totally committed to his electorate. The only commitment greater than that was of course to Glo, to the boys and to his family, which he held on the highest pedestal. I guess from his background you could expect that.

There were some very interesting scenarios in the party room. We have spoken about shirt fronting and expressing his passion, if you like, for a particular point of view, but there was a softer side to Alby. When he had the patch after that accident, he actually had children painting different coloured patches. There was a bit of a competition in his electorate. He would get kids to paint different things on patches. He would wear these different patches on his eye. I have to say—and I often reflected on this to Alby—that he was well suited to the patch and, of course, the fact that he had lost an eye because he was so one-eyed on almost everything that he did. There was no middle ground.

We had some confrontations. He was well known for his views towards our coalition friends in the National Party and at one stage he almost created a riot when he demanded of me as the whip that every week we have a Liberal Party party room meeting—not once a fortnight but every week—because Alby wanted the opportunity to stand up and give our coalition friends a blast. We had to abide by that request because Alby was making all sorts of threats about what he would do.

I was just looking here at my diary and saw that 29 May was Alby's birthday. As I have done for quite a few years, I rang Alby on 29 May and sang him happy birthday. I was rather saddened this time because I actually rang him on 29 May and did not get him, but I sang nevertheless to wish him a happy birthday. At that stage I was not aware that he was as ill as he was. Nevertheless, I got the satisfaction of doing that.

His protege, who sits beside me, is Angus Taylor. When Alby decided that Angus was the man that he was going to hand over the reins to he came down here and was as proud as punch. He would tell anybody who had a moment to listen—and even those who did not want to listen—that he had found the perfect candidate. As a mentor for a candidate Alby was extraordinary. You would have almost thought that Angus was part of the family. He was so proud. He was so convinced that Angus was going to win that seat and he was so proud when Angus did so. I have got no doubt at all that it was the bit about the windmills. He certainly found a similar view in that area.

The colour and the character of this place are defined by individuals like Alby. It is sad that we do not get enough people like him. Sometimes they are a little bit difficult to manage and sometimes we can be a little bit embarrassed by them, but I have to say to you that the passion he had for his electorate, the passion he had for his job and the passion that he had for his family are the sorts of attributes that we can only aspire to.

With those few words I would like to wish all my love and my best to Glo and the family as they continue to deal with this sad loss. To my old mate who was a bit of a sparring partner, Alby Schultz: we certainly loved you while you were here and we certainly miss your colour. I can assure you that he will never be forgotten.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Alby John Schultz would be horrified because it appears as though the last say on the condolence motion is going to go to a National Party member wearing a National Party tie—country Party tie indeed!. But I think Alby would also see the humour in it because he was a man of humour. There was a funny thing at his funeral, if you can call it funny. There was this wonderful slide show of Alby. It covered his life. There were some tremendous pictures of Alby doing what he did best—that is, being the local member for Hume. They were wonderful pictures, fantastic images, of Alby with schoolchildren, of Alby with his beloved family and of Alby fiercely representing his electorate of Hume and the state seat of Burrinjuck, which he held from 1988 to 1998, and also as a councillor with the Cootamundra Shire Council.

Right at the very end of the loop, which played over and over again, was a picture, believe it or not, of the wind turbines at the wind farm in his electorate. During the service I leant over my wife, Catherine, who was sitting beside me, to Craig Kelly and we mused over this image which kept appearing over and over again. I said, 'That's the funny side of Alby.' The member for Hughes, Craig Kelly, said, 'Yes, but if you actually look closely at that image I think down in the corner is Alby taking to that wind turbine with an angle grinder,' because Alby could not stand wind turbines.

He was fiercely proud of his electorate. At the risk of saying that the Prime Minister was wrong, because that is career limiting, I will take him up on a point which he made in his speech on this condolence motion, which started things off on 12 August. He said that Alby's successor had to have two prerequisites. The Prime Minister said, first, he or she had to be a potential cabinet minister and, second, he or she could not be a member of the National Party under any circumstances. In the Hansard it says: 'Honourable members interjecting'. I was one of those honourable members interjecting on my Prime Minister, because I think the Prime Minister actually got it wrong. I think the two prerequisites should have been the other way round. The first prerequisite was surely the fact that Alby's successor could not be a member of the National Party. That was certainly No. 1. Perhaps No. 2 was the fact that, as the Prime Minister said in his wonderful eulogy on 21 July, his successor needed to be able to go a long way in public life. I am sure that Angus Taylor will certainly do just that. Alby was justifiably proud of Angus and justifiably pleased with the fact that Angus was not a National Party member.

One of my favourite stories is when Angus had been preselected. There was a comment made by one of my colleagues—indeed, it was Senator Fiona Nash—about certain things. I was unaware of these comments, which were quite well publicised at the time. We had our usual Thursday morning tea in, as it was, the opposition lobby room—just out there. I walked in and Alby fronted me. You could tell he was hostile. You could tell he was angry. He came up and all but shirt-fronted me. He was going on about 'my colleague who said this; my colleague who said that'. I had no idea what he was talking about. I hadn't actually read the article. I hadn't heard the comments. I said: 'Well, Alby, if it is a colleague of mine then surely it has got to be a colleague of yours.' 'It's no colleague of mine!' he thundered. 'It's no colleague. It's a National Party member.' I said: 'As I will say again, Alby, in case you've forgotten: we are in a coalition. The Liberals and the National Party are in a coalition.' Alby again stormed at me, 'It's not a colleague of mine,' and with that he took a step towards me. I thought, 'Well, I can either end up copping it from Alby for the rest of my parliamentary career and I can back off, or I can also take a step forward.' So, me being me, I took a step forward and I ended up nose to nose with Alby Schultz. It was like that famous State of Origin Rugby League picture. For a moment, I actually thought it was going to be like a State of Origin Queensland versus New South Wales match during the early settling down period where blows are traded. Here I am nose to nose with Alby. In the back of my mind I am thinking, 'This is not such a good place to be.' It was John Cobb, the member for Calare, who came and sort of separated us. I could actually see out to the back of the lobby where Labor members were also assembling and doing what they always did in their tactics meeting, and they were looking in. They could hear us going toe to toe, arguing.

Later on that morning Alby apologised, because word had got back to then opposition leader Tony Abbott that there had been words exchanged at the morning tea and that perhaps it was not such a good thing for the coalition spirit that this had taken place. Alby rang to apologise, but he said it in such a way that you knew he was doing it through gritted teeth. I said: 'Alby, you and I have been mates for years. We're both passionate people. In the heat of the moment, we both said things that perhaps could have been better left unsaid. But, look, we're in a robust debate. We're both adults. You don't need to apologise to me, Alby. It's all good.'

That was May 2012. Fast forward to December 2012. It was the last parliamentary sitting week. I had put in a motion of disallowance on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. This was not well received within the Liberal Party. Indeed, it was probably not well received within the National Party. It was going against not so much the policy; rather, it was being viewed that we needed to have made Labor and its failings the focus of the week and not the fact that we were divided over the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, which had been a coalition policy since 2007, when it was put forward by then water minister Malcolm Turnbull.

I had moved my Murray-Darling Basin motion, and it came down to the vote. It was the very last thing that we were doing in the parliamentary sitting year. You need five speakers to get the whips to count the vote—and here we were. We had the member for Melbourne sitting right up the back there. He had a completely different, opposite, view to mine. He wanted more water for the environment; I wanted less. We had the member for Kennedy, Bob Katter, sitting down with us. At the time, he was not at all enamoured with me. I had my good mate the member for Murray, Dr Sharman Stone, who had seconded my motion. And there was Alby, sitting right beside us. Everyone else—Labor, Liberal and one or two Nats—were over on the other side. The motion was lost. It was 95 to five, or whatever the vote might have been. It was of that proportion, anyway. And so parliament retired for the year. I caught up with Alby just up here. I said, 'Look, Alby, please give my love to Gloria'—because I have always had a soft spot for Gloria—and we shook hands. I said, 'Alby, I have to ask you: why did you side with me? I can't understand it, given we're sort of argy-bargy on most things and, at the end of the day, I am a Nat and you are a Lib and you don't like my party.' He said, 'You know, I can't stand the Nats. That's a long-held view, but there is something about you I like. You've got a bit of spirit. You've got a bit spunk about you. Keep it up.' I think that was Alby's way of saying: I accept you.

I have to say that, in February 2012, when Warren Truss was sent out for the first time in his long and distinguished parliamentary career by then Speaker Peter Slipper, I led a Nats walk out—so disgusted were we that Warren had been thrown out for what we felt were unjustifiable reasons. Later on that year—in fact, it was 20 August—Tony Abbott was thrown out by then Speaker Anna Burke. He was the first opposition leader to be thrown out in 26 years. Alby got up and was going to do his own walkout—and no-one followed him! It was just Alby on his own! He came up to me after that and said, 'Well, I'll give you credit. At least you Nats stuck by your leader. I can't understand why they didn't all walk out with me!'

Alby was a great bloke. He made his very fine valedictory speech on 25 June 2013. He was sitting just over there opposite. I well recall the long line of members from both sides going up to shake his hand or kiss him, as is traditional with a retiring member. I waited patiently in the queue. He shook hands in a perfunctory way with most of the Liberals who went up to shake his hand. When I went up, not only did he shake my hand; he gave me a hug. I do not get very easily moved or very moist-eyed too often, but I did on that occasion. He gave me a hug, and I thought, 'Wow! There's Alby Schultz—National Party hater!' That really was his way of saying how much he respected the fact that I was as passionate as he was. Even when we came to blows, he respected me as a rival but also as a person.

My association with Alby goes back a long way. I am certainly not criticising any of my National Party colleagues, but their relationship with Alby probably did not extend in the way that mine did. When Alby first became a councillor for Cootamundra, I was a journalist at The Daily Advertiser in Wagga Wagga. I came to know him then. I was the editor when he was the state member for Burrinjuck. I was still the editor when he became the federal member for Hume. We, as a newspaper, supported his—and perhaps, even more so, Gloria's—campaign to get more breast cancer services for the Riverina region, the central west region of New South Wales and those areas that he fiercely represented, because they were needed and because it was a good idea—and that remains so. The work that Gloria did in that regard was second to none.

Up until the time I nominated for National Party candidacy, Alby and I were really close. After I put my hand up to replace the retiring Kay Hull, that was when Alby started! I well remember how he went to the Wagga Wagga media and rubbished me over a policy position I had taken when I was campaigning to win the seat of Riverina. Alby was the first one there when the Liberal candidate, Andrew Negline, had his launch and other events to get his name out there. Alby was very supportive of the Liberal candidate. To Alby's credit, when I arrived here, he shook my hand warmly, but perhaps that was where the friendship stopped until he sided with me on the Murray-Darling Basin motion and hugged me when he made his valedictory speech.

I was very saddened when Alby passed away. He was a very good man. I liked, in particular, the eulogies that were delivered on that day by the Prime Minister, the member for Mackellar, his successor Angus Taylor, the current member for Hume, and his good mate Josh Frydenberg, the Assistant Treasurer, who sat beside Alby in the 43rd Parliament. I picked up Josh from the Wagga Wagga airport to take him to the funeral at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Cootamundra, and Josh and I put the finishing touches to Josh's eulogy for Alby. I was very pleased that, even as a Nat, I had a little bit of a say in one way, shape or form in that measure of respect too.

Alby earned respect. He did everything he could, as other speakers in this condolence motion have pointed out, to help lone fathers, drought stricken farmers and those who did not have a voice for whatever reason. Whether you voted Labor or Liberal—I am not quite sure about those who voted National Party!—it did not matter what your political affiliation was; if you were a person who lived in the seat of Hume, Alby Schultz would staunchly and steadfastly stick up for you in this place. As the member for Leichhardt has just said, we sometimes are a little bit too bland these days in politics. Alby was a colourful character and 'bland' was a word which you would never, ever associate with him!

I pay my respects to Gloria, his widow, and to his sons, Dean and Grant, their wives, Alby's beloved grandchildren and all who knew him, whether they be Liberal, Labor or, indeed, National Party people. We will miss Alby's contributions in this place. We will miss Alby's support of all the things he so proudly believed in. We will perhaps not see his like again, but I know that he will be sorely and sadly missed. He is missed now. Vale Alby John Schultz! You were a fine man and I greatly appreciated our friendship.

Brett Whiteley (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank all members for their contributions. I understand that there will be an opportunity for further statements tomorrow.