Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Obviously I rise to concur with the remarks of Senator Conroy and Senator Abetz and also to pay tribute to one of the greatest senators of the Country Party and the National Party. The intrigue of this person still has a connection here because you might find that the person sitting behind me had something to do with the reason Ron did not actually get preselected! Ron lived an extremely colourful life. For so many of us, long after we leave here, when they give our obituaries they are really going to be scratching for things to say. But that is not the case with Ron. Ron had a remarkable pioneering career both as a grazier and serving our nation in the Air Force. He was part of the occupying forces, I think, on Morotai Island, which is now part of Indonesia.

He is well known, of course, by reason of a certain night, and what happened next will go down in conjecture. It is funny how things change. We now suggest that it was well planned and that those on the conservative side of politics knew exactly what they were up to, but Ron adamantly rejected that. In his speech he said he was just having a night with a friend and things that happen happen.

I thought Senator Conroy might have been more interested in Senator Maunsell’s position on television and the statements that he made about getting television out to regional areas by coaxial cable, which he mentioned in his maiden speech. I will be so polite as to quote him:

As 1 said, 85% of the continent does not have television. 1 do not suggest that television stations should be built in the Simpson Desert, on the Nullarbor Plain or in places such as that. Referring particularly to Queensland, the railway lines run directly west from the coast and towns are dotted along the lines. To give people in those towns television per medium of a coaxial cable would not cost a fortune. I hope that the Government when it has the funds available in the future will see fit to provide television for such areas.

One might suggest that Senator Conroy is now endeavouring to fulfil Senator Maunsell’s dream for broadband but not so much for television. Rather than coaxial cables, he is going to do it by optic fibre. So Senator Conroy, in a fashion, is a living legacy of Ron Maunsell. It is interesting how these things move on.

Another thing Senator Maunsell was known for is something that is very dear to my heart and dear to those in the National Party and, I am proud to say, is now part of the coalition platform, and that is zonal taxation. He said even back in the 1970s that the party’s position on zonal rebates was way out of date. If it was way out of date in 1974, I do not know what it is in 2011. It would be great to see this parliament updating the zonal rebate system to make it a better reflection of the privations of those who live in remote areas.

Ron was always a champion of the people who lived in remote areas. He also believed in a more egalitarian role. As an ex-serviceman, he tried very much to bring officers and other ranks into the greater largesse of government and to involve them in changes he pursued in regard to veterans’ affairs entitlements. Ron was also a great advocate and a fervent fighter against the advent, as he saw it at that time in the early 70s, of drugs coming into Australia. That is a curse that is still with our nation, but it was very fortuitous of him at that point in time to look over the horizon and see the problems that this was going to cause for the youth of Australia.

What we see with Ron Maunsell is a person who was a dynamic tapestry of the things that made him up. He was not easily pigeonholed as a person holding certain views. A lot of the things he did were quite visionary in how he pursued them. He was obviously a person who was very engaging—Vince Gair would have vouched for that—and who had an extremely good tactical mind. He was also a fundamental part of the tactics committee—now they meet in the morning but then they met the night before—and played a dedicated part in how coalition tactics were going to play out the next day in the chamber.

Ron passed away peacefully in Cairns, as has been stated, aged 88 years. He was a loving husband to Joan, a father to Joanne, Margaret and Barbara and a grandfather to Richard, Catherine, Alexander and Elizabeth. Ron has earned his place in the annals of this nation. As I think he was a committed Anglican, no doubt he has gone to a better place. I am sure, if he is watching us now, that he is involved in some intrigue where someone is going to be tossed out from upstairs and sent downstairs, but he will just be having a scotch and a few prawns while it happens.