Rod Kemp (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

My longstanding friend Kay Patterson. Thank you for that correction. All of these senators have made a very important contribution to this chamber. Kay was my great rival for Senate and ministry positions. For every post that Kay went for—whether it was No. 1 or 2 on the Senate ticket or a post in the ministry and the cabinet—I was her rival and vice versa. I know it is hard to believe, but our rivalry never got in the way of our friendship.

John Watson and I worked very closely when I was Assistant Treasurer. He would visit my office very regularly and was a great contributor to the government’s superannuation policies. It was very wise for the Assistant Treasurer in those days to take note of what John Watson said because, if you did not respond in the privacy of your office, he would certainly get up in the party room and make sure your life was not as comfortable as it might otherwise have been. So thank you, John, for all your advice.

I would also like to acknowledge the contributions of the retiring Labor, Democrat and Green senators. When a Liberal like me starts to think that a class warrior like George Campbell is really a good bloke, it is certainly time to leave! This is of course a historic day, when the last Democrat senator departs this chamber. Lyn Allison and Natasha Stott Despoja are here with us. Seeing they are with us, I would say that I have over the years said one or two unkind things about the Democrats. I unreservedly withdraw them now.

On a number of occasions we were able to negotiate with the Democrats on key legislation. From the perspective of today it seems extraordinary that the GST caused such agony in this chamber. When you think of the overblown comments that came from the other side of the chamber—that the world as we knew it was going to end, that Australia was going to be plunged into a recession, that unemployment was going to rise and that the incomes of working Australians were going to be cut—how strange it all seems now. In order to carry the GST debate through, we did need allies, and I for one would like to praise Meg Lees for the leadership that she showed to get this very difficult reform through the Senate. I know it was very difficult—and I make no judgements on those who had a different view—but, in the end, she took a stand and she paid quite a heavy political price. So it is appropriate that I mention her name today.

The greatest missed opportunity in my time, I believe, was the failure of the Greens to negotiate over the sale of Telstra. Instead, they threw the passage of the bill to the Independents in the chamber. If the Greens had been able to talk and negotiate on that bill, I believe it would have delivered billions of extra dollars to the environment and great projects like the Murray-Darling Basin may have been brought forward five to eight years. I will not be here to say this to people, but I do hope that the new Green senators will not miss the opportunities that this chamber presents in the future.

I stood for parliament at the urging of my very good friend Michael Kroger. Michael has in fact persuaded quite a number of people to enter this parliament. One of my failures has been an inability to persuade Michael to take the jump himself. It has also been a great experience to work as Assistant Treasurer with Peter Costello, who undoubtedly is the ‘Don Bradman’ of the parliament. One only has to see question time in the other place today to appreciate the dominance that he had in that forum. I am also delighted that two of my close friends, Scott Ryan and Helen Kroger, will be senators in just a few days time.

I had the privilege of working for five years as a staff member with a former senator and an outstanding minister in the Fraser government, Dame Margaret Guilfoyle. No person could have received a better apprenticeship in politics, and I am grateful to Dame Margaret and her husband Stan for their continuing friendships.

As I was going through my files—and, in over 18 years, you do make quite a pile, I have to say—I was astonished to learn that almost 120 people have worked in my office, though not at the same time, naturally! Many of those, of course, were students, getting some work experience during vacations. A number of them have gone on to political careers. My replacement in this chamber, Scott Ryan, is one of those. A number of staff members have served me for a very long period of time: Melissa Houghton, Julie Reid, Roger Brake, Adrian Chippendale and Bill Rowe. To Adrian, who is with us in the gallery: it is wonderful to see you here, Adrian. I know that you have taken enormous efforts to get here this evening. Thank you for coming. Adrian came from Treasury. He knew nothing about the arts and he was thrown in to be my arts adviser. He left that job with the respect of the arts and film community. Thank you for all the magnificent work that you did.

My current staff, headed by Felicity Giles, Andrew Baker and Tim Singh, have done an excellent job in making sure that I sprint to the finishing line. They have been joined by Elise Parham and Adam McKee. Along the way, as a backbencher, a shadow minister and as a minister, I have met and worked with many wonderful Australians. Peter Bartels, David Gonski and James Strong all chaired major agencies in my arts and sport portfolio and their advice was always valued. There are many effective advocates for their industries and community sectors that have crossed my path. Richard Gilbert of IFSA, who is well known to many in this chamber, and John Faulkner’s best friend in the Wilderness Society, Alec Marr, are just two who have made a very effective contribution in promoting the interests of their members.

One of the pleasures of being a minister is the opportunity to work with outstanding public servants like Ted Evans and Ken Henry at the Treasury and Helen Williams at DCITA. I have benefited enormously from the advice of Harry Evans and the Senate staff—and it is great to see Anne Lynch here as well. Thank you for your help.