Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to farewell the six Liberal colleagues who are departing us very soon. Their valedictory speeches and their great diversity of views, attributes, back­grounds, achievements and skills really do demonstrate how great our Liberal Party is. For four of the retiring senators, I have selected some quotes—some from well-known individuals and some from less well-known individuals—to draw from. I will start with my South Australian colleagues and Senator Nick Minchin. This quote is perhaps appropriately, or perhaps not, from Napoleon Bonaparte:

The people to fear are not those who disagree with you but those who disagree with you and are too cowardly to let you know.

Nick, I have never feared you. I have always known where you stood. Even when you were seated, directly behind me, I knew exactly where you stood and never had cause to fear you. In fact, my respect for you has grown, especially since I came to this place and since I have seen you lead our party. I have had cause to seek your advice from time to time. Your advice and counsel have always been sound; indeed, I expect that even when you leave I may still seek your advice on occasion.

To Senator Ferguson, Alan, from the influential French renaissance writer, Michel de Montaigne:

We can be knowledgeable with other men's knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men's wisdom.

It is Alan's wisdom, I think, that we will miss most in this place. As evidenced by his contribution tonight, the words that he speaks—whether in this chamber, in our party room, in the Senate, in the joint party room, or indeed in private—usually get an attentiveness and focus that is rare in this parliament, and that shows how wise Alan's contributions are and how much they are valued by so many people.

For Senator Judith Troeth I chose, perhaps appropriately, an Eleanor Roosevelt quote:

A woman is like a teabag. You cannot tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.

Judith has been tested with plenty of hot water throughout her career and she has been found to be very strong. She is compas­sionate, engaging, understanding, determined and principled, and JT—as I like to call her—will be missed and missed sadly, certainly, by me.

For Russell Trood, a perhaps lesser known quote from the early 20th century American writer Carson McCullers:

There is nothing that makes you so aware of the improvisation of human existence as a song unfinished.

Russell is perhaps not a song unfinished so much as a book unfinished—a great classic novel—whose intelligence, capacity and knowledge deserve to be in this place longer and should be making a longer contribution. It will perhaps fall to the rest of us to improvise and to live up to the issues that Russell highlighted in his contribution.

To the other retiring senators from this side, Julian McGauran and Guy Barnett: Julian, your wit, charm and great capacity for debate have been highlighted already; Guy's diligence and passion for causes was highlighted last week. To the other South Australians, in particular, who are leaving from the Labor side, I wish you every success in the future. It has been a pleasure to serve in this place with each and every one of you. Each of you adds to the dynamic of the parliament. You learn a little bit from everybody, and indeed it is debates like these valedictories that show us the great diversity of contributions in this place. I wish all of you well for a very happy and prosperous future.