Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a real privilege to be able to associate myself with comments about the three retiring Liberal senators and, indeed, all retiring senators. I want to talk briefly about each of them and concentrate on some personal reflections.

First of all to my friend Nick Minchin. Nick's rollcall of achievements on entering the Senate has been very well described. To my mind, his most accomplished role was his appointment to cabinet by the Prime Minister, John Howard, as Minister for Finance and Administration, a position he held from 2001 to 2007. I believe I am the only sitting senator remaining in this place who was also a cabinet colleague in the Howard government, able to observe Nick firsthand as he applied his sharp intellect and attention to detail to every cabinet discussion, sometimes much to the chagrin of colleagues.

Also his role in the Expenditure Review Committee, that exacting task of examining in detail every portfolio bid, would no doubt remain forever in the minds of ministers with visions of being big spenders. Quite rightly, no-one left the cabinet room without Nick running the ruler over and the red pen through any excess. I think he was only outwitted on one occasion, by the former senator Richard Alston, who was well known as the thief of the ERC.

Quite apart from cabinet and the ERC, I also served as ministerial shareholder with Nick in Telstra Corporation and Australia Post. I have to say we had some rather interesting meetings with the board and management of both Telstra and Australia Post, some volcanic and others much more calm and focused—and I will leave the Senate to conclude which were which. I also enjoyed working with Nick as Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate. I had the great privilege of participating in the coalition leadership team, where Nick was always a sound contributor, always forthright and possessed of keen political instincts.

People have talked about Fergie being a great mentor and always giving great advice. I remember some advice he gave me when I first came to this place. He said: 'Keep quiet for a while in the party room. More people talk themselves out of a job in the party room than they do into a ministry by making a goose out of themselves.' It was extremely good advice, as, indeed, is most of the advice that Fergie gives and it is much valued by colleagues. He has really made the most amazing contribution in the Senate. I do not have time to go into all of his achievements, but, as a delegate to a CPA conference just this year, I must say that Fergie's fame in that conference is worldwide, so successful has he been throughout his years of contribution to the Senate and elsewhere. He is a truly great man, although sometimes I think he has been known to lead a few of us astray with his great friend Gordon Broderick. I rather suspect there might be a farewell perform­ance coming up very soon.

That leaves me with Julian, who, in his own way, has made the most amazing contribution also to the Senate. He was deputy whip a long time ago when I was also deputy whip, back in the mists of time. I think he only had about four people to look after and sometimes he managed to lose them! That was Julian at his finest. I must say that perhaps the other thing I have in common with Julian is that I think we might be the two people in the Senate who ever did track work, and I know he once worked for Bart Cummings.

What a wonderful trio of senators with an amazing and diverse range of experiences. In many ways, I think it is a very melancholy task to try to capture the essence of such diverse and talented senators—three lives spent largely in public service, furthering the interests of those who elected them. What finer way to make a contribution in your life. Well done, everybody, and don't be strangers to us.