John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I join other senators in wishing all our retiring colleagues well for their non-institutionalised futures. Between all 12 of them, they have chalked up a remarkable 154 years and one month of service in this place. I bet it feels like it at times.

I have known three of our retirees—Senator Kerry O'Brien, Senator Mike Forshaw and Senator Steve Hutchins—since I was a teenager. Senator O'Brien and I were allies in those endless Young Labor factional wars of the 1970s—allies most of the time. Senators Forshaw and Hutchins were my allies—never. But I forgive them. Kerry, let me say to you that I believe you have been a real contributor in this place, a serious and successful exponent of using the great accountability mechanisms of the Senate and using them to real effect. You have been a fine advocate for the cause of Labor.

I first locked horns with Mike Forshaw when I won a knock-down, drag-out battle with the then leadership of the left-wing steering committee in New South Wales to assume the exalted position as a member of the New South Wales ALP disputes committee. I remember arguing then, as the left operative on that committee, at one of the endless hearings into the alleged malfeasance of some hapless party member who had fallen out with the New South Wales head office, with Mike Forshaw that I was standing up for the rights of rank-and-file party members while Mike was just standing up for the rights of the right. It did not do me much good. But, 35 years later, with much water under the bridge, I want to acknowledge this evening on the occasion of Mike Forshaw's retirement what a fine parliamentarian he was and what a contri­butor he has been. Like Kerry, he was very unlucky not to have served as a minister in a Labor government.

If I were to say that Steve Hutchins and I were always in agreement, I would be summarily frogmarched into the Privileges Committee for contempt of the Senate. For nearly 40 years now, Steve and I have been prominent warriors in opposing New South Wales Labor tribes. Unfortunately, I am the one who regularly ended up in the cooking pot. Although I can report some success back in the late 1970s, when I managed to trounce Steve in a ballot for President of Young Labor, that is just about the end of the success story. Frankly, I must say that when you are my age it is disappointing to reflect that your most recent triumph in a ballot occurred when you were in Young Labor! Steve and I were still contesting ballots decades later.

I listened carefully and appreciated what you said today, Steve, about our most recent ballot at the New South Wales annual conference, which was an unnecessary ballot where we decided at the party conference the party's 2004 New South Wales Senate ticket. As a result of your speech, history will now record that it was not your wish to make that ballot the circus that it became, and I suspect, to be frank, we were all losers in the end.

Steve, you have been a significant figure in both the New South Wales branch of the Australian Labor Party and the federal parliamentary Labor Party. You are a tough player in this game but, as others have said, you have a strong sense of social justice and, of course, commitment to Labor's traditional constituency: working people. I think the term 'old-school Labor' might be an appropriate one for Steve Hutchins and something that he would say would be an appellation he would wear with pride. I read four weeks ago in the Sydney Morning Herald that you were having second thoughts about the New South Wales right. I suppose that all I can say to you on this occasion is that I had woken up to them 40 years before you did!

Steve and Mike are both sons of the Sutherland Shire, where internal Labor Party politics was and is played for keeps. I remember the 1984 federal election, when a left-wing candidate unexpectedly won the preselection for the federal seat of Cook. An extremely prominent right-wing figure was handing out pamphlets in the main street of Cronulla and used these absolutely immortal words: 'To support our candidate's cam­paign,' he said to the very startled passers-by, 'vote 1 for Labor's socialist left candidate for Cook.' Needless to say, it did not help and our candidate did not win—but that is the nature of the Labor Party in the Sutherland Shire.

This evening I would also like to say just a few words about Nick Minchin. Nick yesterday spoke of his 32 years full-time service to the Liberal Party. All senators, regardless of party affiliation, should acknowledge that this is a remarkable record of service and one he and his party should be proud of. Nick concluded his valedictory speech yesterday with some advice to us about earning respect for integrity, decency, passion, commitment to your ideals and your willingness to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. So much of our effective parliamentary and broader political management, particularly in the Senate, must be done outside the chamber, so over the years I have found myself on quite a number of occasions in a back room with Nick Minchin. While I have very little in common with his political philosophy—in fact, some of it appears positively extraterrestrial to me—I can say what I consider to be very high praise: Nick Minchin has always been honourable in his dealings, his word has been his bond and what you see is what you get. So, Nick, let me say as a political opponent: my experience is that, to your credit, you have always followed your own advice.

My best wishes go to my colleagues Mike, Steve, Kerry, Dana and Annette, and all who are retiring next week.