Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Tonight I want to pay tribute to Sir Robert Sparkes, born May 1929, died 6 August 2006—a significant day for me and the Nationals. Sir Robert Sparkes was once described as ‘the most important non-parliamentary member of any political party in Australia’. Widely regarded as Queensland Nationals’ patriarch, Sir Robert was a well-known and respected political operator.

Born in Dalby, Sir Robert cut his political teeth travelling around the electorate with his father, Sir James, the Country Party MP for Dalby. Sir Robert was to eventually hold the position of Queensland Nationals president for 20 years—from 1970—holding the party presidency longer than any of his predecessors without anyone contesting the post against him in his first 15 years in the role.

Sir Robert was also the local council mayor of Wambo Shire on the Darling Downs for 32 years and an architect of some of the Nationals most memorable and successful election wins, including the 1983 Queensland state election.

Sir Robert was a man of vision and strong leadership, helping Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen to drive Queensland’s economic growth during the seventies and eighties. And he was one of the main engineers of the Nationals organisation in today’s form. Recognising that the Country Party needed to modernise and broaden its support base across all of Queensland, Sir Robert guided the name change to the National Party in the early 1970s, which saw the party expand from its traditional bush roots to a party that also represented metropolitan interests and held seats in Brisbane.

I am a proud product of the Bjelke-Petersen-Sparkes ambition to extend the National Party’s reach into the state’s capital city. Coming from a small business background before politics, I committed to building the National Party’s vote in Brisbane, having success on my first campaign to win the seat of Wynnum for the National Party. The 1974 election validated the name change, with the party’s parliamentary representation doubling and the Nationals governing in their own right following the 1983 election and a further landslide in 1986.

Ever the behind-the-scenes decision maker and political powerbroker, Sir Robert never sought elected office for himself, yet as party president he wielded considerable influence as a close adviser and confidante of Premier Bjelke-Petersen. To his great credit Sir Robert used his influence to warn against the extreme right forces within the party.

Bob Sparkes was a man of great intellect and he dedicated his party position to advance and drive Queensland forward. He seized on the issue of maintaining viable, larger primary production properties when the lands department was trying to cut down property sizes. He fought hard at the time against the Minister for Lands. Thankfully, he was successful, or there would have been a lot fewer viable properties in recent times with the onset of a severe drought.

Sir Robert was also a great advocate for freeholding grazing properties, converting them over from leasehold to freehold for grazing enterprises, and he used his considerable political clout to make sure the land could be bought out and utilised. He was a great believer that, as far as possible, services available in the metropolitan areas should be available in regional Queensland. One of the National Party’s great achievements under Sir Robert was to ensure that the power grid extended right around Queensland and that nearly every property was able to rely on a Queensland electricity grid rather than a diesel generator thumping away all night in the shed. Now, only the most remote areas in Queensland are not serviced by the central electricity grid. Premier Bjelke-Petersen and Sir Robert drove decentralisation in Queensland.

Sir Joh and Sir Robert were two very strong people in their own ways. One of the greatest achievements overseen by Sir Joh was a campaign to abolish death duties, which Sir Robert’s own family experienced upon the death of his father in 1974. In 1976, with Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen as Premier and Sir Robert backing him as the party president, the Queensland government abolished death duties in the state, a move which was then replicated in every other state. Up until this stage, Queensland had been a cinderella state, but this gave impetus to Queensland to grow and continue growing.

In the 1960s and 1970s the coalfields in Central Queensland were developed, new train lines were put down, new ports were opened and Queensland as a state developed at a great rate. Of course, there was a downside for graziers. There was not proper compensation paid for the destruction of fences and houses, the loss of land or the inconvenience of having your enterprise financially disturbed. I can remember Sparkes arguing fiercely that proper compensation had to be paid, not only for the destruction of fences and other infrastructure but also for the inconvenience and loss of income. The relationship now between the mining and grazing industries has improved so much, and this is due largely to the intervention of Sir Robert Sparkes at the time.

His contribution to Queensland as a confidante of and adviser to the Premier, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, for 18 years should not be underestimated. It was a tremendous partnership. There was tremendous intent and wishes on both sides for a reconciliation of their long-time relationship. Unfortunately, both Sir Joh and Sir Robert became ill and, because of their incapacity to travel, this could never be achieved despite their mutual willingness. I know that Bob always regretted the differences that arose between them and that he wished to reconcile with Joh. Sir Joh and Sir Robert have been labelled as the titans of Queensland politics, and I acknowledge tonight Sir Robert’s political vision and contribution to the party, which he was a member of for longer than 50 years. Bob always did what was best for the state. He was knighted in 1979 for services to state and local government. Lady Sparkes passed away in 1999 and Sir Robert is survived by his two sons, Doug and Peter, and his four grandchildren.