Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

No, Senator Kemp was the world’s best; there is no question about it. His good humour and his love of a debate and contest here will be missed. I look forward to him enjoying his retirement in Wagga Wagga. We wish him the best for his future.

The father of the house, Senator Watson, is retiring. John has had an enormous career, and he is a real example of someone who has been able to pursue a policy interest throughout his career to great effect. He proves that someone can work on the backbench in government and opposition and really contribute to public policy debate in a meaningful way. Certainly from Senator Watson I learnt the value of committee work as a young senator here. The contribution he made to the superannuation committee will always be remembered in this place, but his capacity to work in a bipartisan way and pursue good policy was a really good lesson for a young senator. I congratulate him on a tremendous career and wish him and his family all the best for the future.

I left Senator Patterson till last because, from my point of view, Senator Patterson is one of a group of feisty women that the Liberal Party selected in the late eighties. I hope she does not mind me using the word ‘feisty’, but I think it is a fair description. Senators Knowles and Vanstone fitted the category. I think the Liberal Party had a flash of brilliance around that period in terms of preselecting women with attitude. It lost the plot there for a while but seems to have picked up its game again more lately.