Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of the coalition to support the motion moved by Senator Ludwig and to extend our very sincere sympathies to the family of Peter Howson upon his sad passing on 1 February. Peter was indeed a wonderful servant of the Liberal Party and indeed of Australia. He had a very distinguished record of service to this parliament. He was, as Senator Ludwig noted, born in the United Kingdom—indeed only six days before my own father, who I am pleased to report is still in very robust health. He then of course served in the Royal Navy in wartime from 1940 to 1946, so he was one of the Liberals in the Menzies era who directly served for his country.

He came to Australia in 1946 after the war, like many others. Remarkably—and this is a great credit to him and to the Liberal Party—he became a member of this parliament just nine years after coming to this country. Senator Ludwig has highlighted Peter Howson’s significant achievements as both a minister and a member of the House of Representatives for two seats in the 1950s and the 1960s. Regretfully, he was defeated, like some other Liberals, in the 1972 campaign, when the ‘it’s time’ momentum defeated that very long-serving government. Peter was in five successive Liberal governments—the Menzies, Holt, McEwen, Gorton and McMahon governments. He was, as Senator Ludwig said, Minister for Air, Minister Assisting the Treasurer and our first Minister for Environment, Aborigines and the Arts until the time of his defeat. Prior to that ministerial service, he was an active committee participant. He was a member of the Select Committee on Voting Rights for Aborigines in 1961, so his lifelong interest in Aboriginal affairs was evident early.

He was a leader of Australian delegations to a number of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conferences throughout the sixties. He became notorious, of course, as a participant in the infamous VIP plane affair as the then air minister and subsequently recorded his view that his role, as inadvertent as it might have been, was the reason for John Gorton not including him in his ministry in 1968. A long-standing enmity existed thereafter between Peter Howson and John Gorton, most regrettably because both were colourful characters and great additions to our party.

After Peter left politics he published his own diary, which I think provides an interesting level of detail about both his time in the ministry and the internecine Liberal Party machinations over the leadership in the late sixties, which were of course fascinating to us all. In 1984, the redoubtable Alan Ramsey described Peter Howson’s diary as ‘a small but significant window on the day-to-day detail of a turbulent period of our political history and its principal figures. In this it excels for its insights, its information and its political uniqueness, at least in this country.’ I am not sure that it is good idea for us all to publish our diaries but certainly Alan Ramsey thought it was a worthwhile addition to public knowledge.

Peter to his great credit, unlike some others, did remain very loyal and active in his chosen party, and particularly in the Victorian division. Peter Costello, I think in a great tribute yesterday in the House of Representatives, referred to that and anecdotally to the way Peter would always turn up at Liberal Party state council meetings in Victoria and sit right in the front row, and do so on a regular basis.

As I mentioned, Peter was our first Australian minister for the environment. It was the Liberal Party that created the first environment portfolio. It is a great tribute to Peter that he was our first servant in that role. He was the first Australian minister with a portfolio specifically responsible for Indigenous Australians. As I mentioned, this was an enormous passion for Peter both in parliament and afterwards, and it was a passion that he retained right to his death. He had a very strong view about the importance of the nation recognising the plight of Aboriginal people. He did maintain and articulate a very strong and active opposition to the separatist policies, which I think we now all agree were so naively and, regrettably, destructively pursued in an earlier period. I think much of what Peter has written would echo and mirror what people like Noel Pearson now say about the more productive approach to Indigenous welfare.

Peter was a founder and Vice-President of the Bennelong Society, which I am pleased to note has bipartisan participation—Garry Johns, a former Labor minister, is very active in that, I think, very good society. It was in the period from 1996 to 1998 that I came to know Peter quite well, which was when I had ministerial responsibility for native title in the Howard government. Peter was a regular visitor to my office. He was a very valuable source of advice with his common sense and very wise approach to managing not only Aboriginal affairs generally but specifically the complexity of native title. I found his real passion for Indigenous welfare quite compelling. He remained an active participant in public debate, producing articles and commentary, particularly about Indigenous policy, right up until most recently. He frequently wrote opinion pieces and was, I think, greatly respected by many for that continued involvement in policy discussions. He has made an enormous contribution to public life in Australia.

We are deeply saddened that he has passed away but he had a wonderful life, nearly 90 years of life, and he made an extraordinary contribution. As I said, he was someone who came to this country from his home in England and managed to contribute to this country very successfully. To his son George, daughter-in-law Marie and grandchildren Natasha, Theresa, Rebeckah and Hannah, the coalition places on record our great appreciation of Peter’s tremendous public service, and we tender our profound sympathy to the family in their bereavement.

Question agreed to, honourable senators standing in their places.