George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, it occurs to me that this is the last occasion upon which you will preside over the Senate; when the Senate adjourns in a few minutes time it will be the last time we will see you in the chair. I want this evening on behalf of the government, but on my own behalf more particularly, to use this occasion to make a few acknowledgements of the service you have given this institution over a long and distinguished career. There is occasion for valedictory statements later in the week but I think the time limit for those valedictory statements will be such that not all of those who would wish to pay tribute to your public service will have the opportunity to do so, so let me take my opportunity to do that now.

Sir, you have been a great senator and a great President. Before you came into this place in 1987, you had already distinguished yourself in public service for many years as the Warden of Clarence, and at the level of municipal government I know that you made a very significant contribution to the people of Tasmania. You were elected to this place in 1987 and you have served for just over 20 years. For five of those years, almost to the day, you have been President of the Senate, and, before that, for a period of time you were the government whip. I have known you in both capacities. When I first came into the Senate in 2000, you were the government whip.

I will never forget, Sir, the first conversation we ever had when you were good enough to ring me to congratulate me upon being chosen by the Queensland parliament to fill the Senate position vacated by your friend former Senator Warwick Parer. You said to me words to the effect of, ‘George, the thing about the Senate is that we’re not like the House of Representatives; we believe in collegiality and we believe in teamwork. You’ll find when you get down to Canberra that the Senate is different. We government senators leave our differences behind us at state borders, and we work as a team and we’re all friends.’ I think that spirit, with a couple of exceptions—but very few exceptions—has prevailed in the Senate among the government senators in the years that I have been here. If I may say so, Sir, you are the person—not the only person but more so than anyone else—who has encouraged, inspired and nurtured that spirit among government senators very much to the benefit of the government, very much to the benefit of the Senate and very much to the benefit of the people of Australia.

As President, Sir, if I may say so, I think you have been exemplary. You have been fair, you have been firm and you have respected this institution and the individual members of it, and that respect has been appropriately, as it should have been, reciprocated. There is an old saying about politics, Mr President, that you can have respect or you can have popularity but you cannot have both. But your career has given the lie to that saying, because you have been both respected and liked—if I may say so, loved—by members of this chamber, and the affection that you have engendered has been in no wise at all in derogation from the respect in which you are held and the way in which you have conducted your office. So may I thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you have done. You have been an exemplary servant of the people of Australia and, to me, a wonderful mentor and a cherished friend. I cannot tell you how much I will miss you.