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

by leave—I move:

That the Senate records its deep regret at the death, on 14 May 2011, of Mr Andrew Murray Thomas, former senator for Western Australia from 1975 to 1983, places on record its appreciation of his long and meritorious public service and tenders its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement.

I did not know former senator Andrew Murray Thomas, but when I read the available information about him, a picture emerges of a hardworking, happy and caring family man who worked very hard to represent my own state of Western Australia at the federal level, as well as pursuing achievable objectives for his state at the regional and local level. Perhaps the measure of the man is best illustrated by his first Senate speech on 25 February 1976. Then, he stressed:

It seems obvious to me that if I try to apply myself to all of the matters that come before the Senate I will be of little value to anyone.

I think we all concur that we cannot possibly keep up with everything that comes before the Senate. He then drew attention to the importance to the future of Western Aust­ralia of Commonwealth-state relations, the state's agricultural potential and its very important export rural production, and these formed the framework for his future political contributions.

Former senator Thomas was born on 14 March 1936, in Blyth, South Australia. He was educated at the one-teacher Stanley Flat school and then attended the Clare High School for three years, leaving in 1951. He subsequently followed in his father's and grandfather's footsteps to become a farmer and stud sheep breeder. At 18, he was the youngest official judge for the South Australian Stud Merino Sheep Breeders Association. He married wife Jenny in 1958 in Adelaide and within four years they moved to Western Australia, having pur­chased a property in the Northampton district just north of Geraldton. It is amazing how many South Australians have moved to WA and then entered the Senate. There are a number of them, and he was obviously one of the first. Senator Bishop was one and Senator Cook was another, and there is member Julie Bishop, so it sounds as if former senator Andrew Thomas set a bit of a trend and saw the wisdom of moving to Western Australia. Someone coined the phrase that he was a joiner. He joined the executive of the Stud Merino Breeders Association of Western Australia and yet became president of the rival Australian Merino Society. He was on the advisory board of the Muresk Agricultural College, was a member of the national advisory council of the CSIRO and was elected to the board of the Westralian Farmers Limited, now known as Wesfarmers. At the local level he was active in the P&C Association, the local historical society, sporting clubs and the Freemasons, but his politics developed more pragmatically. I quote him: 'I joined the Pastoralists and Graziers Association only because their representative approached me and the farmers union didn't. I joined the Liberal Party because they had a branch in Northampton and the Country Party didn't.'

By 1974, he had become vice-president of the Western Australian division of the Liberal Party. In 1975, he was elected as senator for Western Australia after an unsuccessful bid a year earlier. He was re-elected in 1977 and served until 1983. He spoke with authority on aspects of primary industry, north-west development and government services to remote areas. He promoted the order-of-irrigation scheme, citing its suitability for the production of sugar cane. He also promoted the development of the Pilbara region with the commencement of the Woodside gas project on the Burrup Peninsula.

He was an industrious member of Senate committees, serving as chair on the Standing Committee on Natural Resources. Many of the committee reports touched on environmental issues such as solar energy, plant variety rights, water resources, rural research, alternatives to petrol based fuels and the aluminium industry. His committee's report on the aluminium industry contro­versially recommended a resource rent tax. His term of appointment as Deputy Government Whip in 1981 was not without tension. He threatened to cross the floor to vote with the Labor opposition on sunset amendments to the proposed two-airline agreement, but it seems that his decision to resign as deputy whip was the result of his decision to oppose the retrospectivity clauses of legislation which the Fraser government introduced in 1982 to outlaw the bottom-of-the-harbour tax schemes, which of course was a huge issue in Western Australia.

It is also clear that his association with the resource rent tax added to the pressures that he was experiencing not just in Canberra but also within the Liberal ranks in Western Australia. He was relegated to fifth position on the Senate ticket and was not re-elected after the double dissolution of parliament and the subsequent election of March 1983. He never sought a political appointment again and eventually went into business as a cabinet-maker rather than continuing his work as a stud sheep breeder. During this time of reflection, he produced his autobiography, entitled Her Five Husbands. It tells how his wife had five husbands in one man. He was in turn a farmer, a stud merino breeder, a senator, a cabinet-maker and, finally, an author.

Let me finish by quoting former Senator Fred Chaney's valedictory words, which surely position Andrew Thomas as a Western Australian senator: 'I draw attention to the great length of time that Senator Thomas spent travelling in the remoter parts of Western Australia during each parlia­mentary recess. It was a unique contribution. Wherever I went during the last election campaign, I received expressions of apprecia­tion for Andrew Thomas's representation of those people.'

I am sure that, on behalf of all senators, I convey our sincerest condolences to Andrew Thomas's widow, Jenny; his three children, Kim, Christopher and Elizabeth; and their 10 grandchildren. He obviously lived a full and productive life, and the Senate pays due tribute to that life.