Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

There is no pub; just the post office. But it was full the night that John arranged this campaign meeting there. He has made a great contribution, as others have said, and I repeat that I wish him and Jocelyn all the very best in the years ahead.

Senator Kay Patterson has had a very long and distinguished career and is a very committed Liberal. We will miss her in many ways. A lot of those ways have been spoken about, but her prowess with the camera and as the keeper of records of coalition social functions will live for many a year. I suspect that Kay’s farewell gift to the Liberal Party will be a volume of her photographs that she has taken over many years.

Senator Chapman has also had a long and very significant career in this parliament in both chambers. I have always been impressed with Grant Chapman’s understanding of economic matters. I mentioned this at his last attendance at an economic committee that I was involved with just last week. He certainly does have expertise in that area, which I think will ensure that he has somewhere to go when his term in this place finishes. I am very confident that he will have a big future in business and industry and, again, I thank him for the contribution he has made.

Senator Rod Kemp was sworn in the same day as I was, almost 18 years ago, so I have had a lot to do with Rod over that time. We have shared some of the highs of life in this business, and we have shared some of the lows. We both agree that our considerable talents were not properly recognised at all times, and at times we have shared the same prejudices for people whom we will not mention. I know Rod and others recount fondly his answers to the GST questions when he was Assistant Treasurer in this place, carrying what was a very, very difficult GST debate. Whilst a lot of people joke about it, to a very substantial degree the success of the GST, the way that it was implemented and the way it was made possible to be implemented is in no small measure due to Rod Kemp. As I said, people make light of those days, which always had a purpose, and in this business we know that a wrong word by the Assistant Treasurer at the time could have just about destroyed the GST work. So, on a serious note, I want to mention that the success of the GST was in no small way due to Rod Kemp.

As others have said, Rod is also a very entertaining speech giver. I have heard a lot of good speeches over my time, but one of the best speeches I have ever heard in my life was Rod Kemp’s speech to the Scottish gathering in Melbourne last year. It is a pity it was not recorded; it would go down as one of the best after-dinner speeches with a meaning that has been delivered in this country, certainly in the time that I have been in public life.

Rod has had a long involvement and made a real contribution to the Liberal Party. For that we also thank him. He mentioned his brother being a very good environment minister. Of course, newer members may not realise that Rod Kemp was the shadow environment minister in the run-up to the 1996 election.