Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

It is indeed a sad and different day when I rise in this place to see so many of my colleagues leave. One gets used to turning up and seeing them—they are all a part of the furniture. Everywhere you look there they are, day in, day out. So losing so many will very much change the way I will spend my time here.

I have a very great colleague in Senator Sandy Macdonald. He has been a National Party senator from New South Wales since 1993, as the previous speaker indicated, bar a short siesta, after which he was re-preselected and returned in a casual vacancy in 2001. I think that the party at that stage and in those circumstances saw the value of Sandy Macdonald. All I can say, Sandy, in regard to this most recent occasion is that it is my very strongly held view that they have made a mistake.

In terms of his work in the Senate, I think that he has done an absolutely outstanding job. That is shown particularly in his ministerial appointments as both the parliamentary secretary for trade and the parliamentary secretary for defence. When Senator Minchin indicated that he thought that some of the National Party people would have done just as good a job as a minister, I am quite sure he was referring to me. The terrible irony was that, had Sandy not lost his preselection, I certainly would not have become minister. I do not think I should offer my thanks for that, Sandy, but it is certainly something to be noted.

During his first term he was very heavily involved in the native title and the Wik debates. I was actually in the Senate gallery at the time in 1993; I cannot say that I actually remember Sandy Macdonald crossing the floor on the matter, but I do remember the passion under which those debates were held and I followed them as a much younger man very closely. It is that sort of commitment to what he believes in that I think has provided Sandy with such an insight into his community. A man with such an insight and such a vast experience, his coming to the Senate has enabled him to put a great deal of work into the Senate, particularly through the committees. His committee experience has been very broad over the years. As I indicated, his particular preference has been with regard to the areas of trade, defence and security. All in this place—on both sides—would know and respect very much the wonderful contribution he has made to those areas.

He was a member of the Australian delegation to Gallipoli in 2001, where he read the call for commemoration at the Anzac Day service. I can recall seeing him very proud with his two sons at the most recent Anzac Day service in Gallipoli. I know how pleased he was that he was able to go there with his two sons to commemorate in that very special place. As chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, he also visited the Australian troops in East Timor in 2001, in Bougainville in 2000 and more recently in the Middle East. If anybody has been around Sandy when he is talking to the Defence Force—and probably in many other parts of many other communities—they would know he has a certain knack: you can always find him sitting in a corner with someone having a yarn about where their kids go to school or what the particular issues are that affect them. I think that is where his really insightful questioning and input, particularly into defence matters, came from—because he had this fantastic, intimate knowledge.

I can recall, when he was working as parliamentary secretary for defence, one of his responsibilities was to be in charge of the Defence Force Parliamentary Program. I know quite a few of the people who run the defence parliamentary program and I have to say they speak with great affection and great delight of the time that he provided their leadership.

Sandy also represented Australia as part of the Commonwealth observer group at the Zimbabwean elections. He has also been very interested in the diplomatic process, as anyone who has ever had a discussion with him about his very passionate feelings on the matter would know. He also represented Australia prior to that at the Indonesian elections of 1999. He represented Australia at the European Parliament in 1996 and at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association meeting at Mauritius in 1997.

He led a delegation at the re-inauguration of Taiwan’s President Chen in May 2004. I travelled to Taiwan, and it was amazing. It did not matter which party they were from, and I cannot recall who they were, but probably on at least five occasions at different meetings someone came to me and said, ‘Do you know Sandy Macdonald?’ As my old mate Senator Parry steps out the door he is nodding wisely, but he was there with me at the time. It was amazing to have such a range of people remember the individual, and I think it is an absolute credit to him.

As I have said, he has been very interested in trade policy and the free trade agenda, and particularly in his role as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Trade he made some outstanding steps forward in that regard. For his personal community he has secured funding for major facilities in northern New South Wales. In his valedictory speech a moment ago he referred to the Tamworth equine centre, which is completely due to Senator Sandy Macdonald. I know how hard he fought and lobbied for it. Madam Acting Deputy President Troeth, you would understand that when we come here we think it is all about belting up the people on the other side, particularly when they are in government—and I am sure Labor are starting to understand that at the moment. It is more about belting up your own to ensure that you can elicit the right program for the right areas, and Sandy was particularly adept at that. He has assisted in getting a centre for national science, IT and maths research. He has also assisted in the development of the $3 billion telecommunications package and the development of telecommunications generally to the benefit of all regional and rural Australians. Whilst he was a member and former chair of the New South Wales black spot consultative committee he helped secure more than $15 million to fix black spots in New South Wales. Over that period of time he was fighting others for the same place, and we have to acknowledge what fantastic work he has done.

I could spend all day talking about Sandy MacDonald’s achievements in this place. But one of the things he certainly has been to me is a very good mate. He always says Australia is the place of the long goodbyes, and I know he would probably like me to end up there. We all know, mate, that nowhere in Australia is too far from Wallabadah.

My good mate Senator Watson is in the Liberal Party and is a pure coalitioner. It is interesting that perhaps I have not been long enough in this place to know of the original divides, but I see him as my natural colleague, in the same way as I see the National Party. Senator Watson—Watto—you have become a superman in the area that I have absolutely no interest in at all. I have to say that superannuation, income tax and public accounts and audits send me to sleep, but you are somebody I have always been able to rely on either for personal advice, which you have given so freely, or for advice on matters that confuse me. I am no rocket scientist but I am certainly much better served than before I met you, mate, so thank you for that. You said, ‘Come on down to Tassie, Nige. I understand you know a bit about the seafood industry. You should have a yarn to them.’ I can tell you that if he knows as much about the seafood industry as he does about other aspects of his community it is not a wonder that he is so loved there. You have made a great contribution to this place, and I know you will make a great contribution to life in Tasmania in the future. Thank you.

Much has been said about Senator Patterson. A common theme is what a contribution she makes to the private lives of people in this place, and that is very true. Senator Patterson is an exemplar. She mentioned in her speech that she was, I think, the eighth female senator to come to this place. She slipped straight into being the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, became the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, went into cabinet as the Minister for Health and Ageing and then became the Minister for Family and Community Services. In my very short time as a minister it was a fantastic thing to have Senator Patterson tap me on the shoulder and say, ‘You really should think about that, Nige,’ and ‘Have you thought about that?’ When I needed to ring someone to explain and unwind the intricacies of the particular portfolio, you were there; I appreciate that very much. You went on to be the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women—we had a name change, and then it was the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women’s Issues. Obviously you have maintained that passion throughout this place.

What is perhaps not particularly well known about Senator Patterson’s predilection for helping out and generally looking after the health of the Senate community is that she also tends to keep the moral standards of the Senate alive, and that is how, I will have to confess, I have had a lot of my less than favourable meetings with the senator. When I first came to this place, she came to me and said, ‘Senator, I’ve heard that you’ve managed to stay on your feet now for some 50 hours—and not much of it has been in this place—but I think that if you are going to make any contribution at all you have got to stay sober.’ It was about a week into my being a minister. We had a few of those conversations. She has been lovely to me. Probably in my first week as a minister I remember that I made the dreadful mistake of sharing a couple of bottles of wine with Senator Ian Campbell, which can be very dangerous. The next day I was in question time on the front bench. Someone liked me, because I did not get a question. She said, ‘You’ve really got to smarten your act up,’ and it is as a consequence of that, I think, that I did not drink throughout the entire time. We will definitely miss you, Senator Patterson, and I am quite sure you will continue to make a contribution to all those aspects of life that you have made a contribution to here. I am looking forward very much to your contribution in the future.

When I came into my very first question time I was absolutely miffed—I am sure we can all remember our first question time—because it was so impressive; all this intellect! I was sitting down the back. One of the Labor Party senators stood up and asked a question of Senator Kemp—I did not know who he was—and there was a huge roar: ‘They’ve asked Kempie a question!’ It was not until a couple of months later, probably, that I realised what a foolhardy thing that was to do. If somebody were to say, ‘How would you describe Kempie?’ I would say he is a brilliantly funny man. He is funny; he is humorous. It does not matter how serious the situation is; he always has the time to be humorous. I think that is a great attribute you have brought to this place, mate. I spent a bit of time with you when you were the Minister for Arts and Sport. It was a very complicated place, particularly in Indigeous arts. You did an absolutely fantastic job and made such a hardworking contribution to that particular space. I know you have done many other things but, as a Territorian, I think it was absolutely fantastic. It is a testament of the sort of legacy that one would want to leave. When we had an opportunity to put forward a whole range of different standing committees, you decided that you would support the Senate standing committee on the intervention in the Northern Territory. So thank you, mate.

Chappie, you have always been a bit of an odd bloke—odd, because I was in the corridor and I said, ‘Who’s that?’ People said, ‘That’s Chappie.’ I said, ‘I have never seen him before.’ I went and introduced myself. You, Senator Kemp, will remember me saying, ‘Where have you been? I haven’t seen you. I have been here since 2002.’ He said, ‘I’ve been heading up this parliamentary delegation’ or whatever it was. And there were always the guarded remarks about ‘Chappie doing the travel’. But, as I travel around the world—in my own time, I might say—whether it is in South America, Thailand, Europe or wherever, most people who have been anywhere in the parliamentary world know you, Chappie. You have been a great ambassador because, as a consequence, they speak very fondly of Australians. Well done! I am quite sure that you will go onwards and upwards and I am also sure that you will take that great character with you.

Senator Lightfoot, again, is one of the great characters of the Senate. He is one person who, I think, lied about his age and became a mounted police officer; the other was my father. I knew Senator Lightfoot personally through his work on the Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories. At the time, Norfolk Island was a very difficult area to deal with. I recall with great fondness that, when I first met Senator Lightfoot, which was on the external territories committee, he was cross-examining the Antarctic Division about this myth of global warming. I think that was in 2001. It was a very interesting conversation. The theme was: if you expect us to stop driving cars and stop using coal, do you know what that will cost us? Many people were thinking: if you have just parachuted from Mars, we should be a bit more reasonable than that. But the great irony is that, as these conversations go around, some of the same issues do come up and they were probably very prophetic questions. But to all my coalition senators who are leaving today, I say: thank you for your great friendship and thank you for your contribution to this place, to these communities and this country.