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

I rise to make some remarks in response to Nick's final speech in the chamber. I think the speech highlighted what a loss he is going to be. It highlighted his strength and the contribution that he always makes to debates. I want to be clear, though: this is not a condolence. We do far too many of them in this place. In my view this is a very happy occasion because it is not often that we have members of this place go out on their own terms following a decision they have made while at the height of their career.

Nick resigned from the ministry late last year at his own initiative and has decided to leave the Senate to pursue a new career. I think it is a really happy occasion, because we see so few members of parliament go out in that way. Most are dragged out, defeated or stay far too long. Nick is an example of someone who has worked out that he has made a huge contribution and he needs to make a contribution in another field. Nick has had a fine Labor career. I was talking to him about it when he stepped down from the ministry. There are very few Labor members of parliament who can look back on a career where they have contributed so much, had such great experiences and been able to be a central part of political life in Australia. I do not want to run through Nick's career—it is well known to people—but when I came to this place Nick was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Primary Industries and Energy and was given all sorts of tough jobs as a junior parliamentary secretary in the Keating government. He impressed me from the start with how diligent, competent, effective and energetic he was, and that was noticed by most people. As a result, Nick held senior positions in the Labor Party in opposition and in government. He was Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate for a period and held many portfolios in opposition and in government. But, always, Nick seemed to manage to find a way back to the finance areas and invariably to superannuation, both in opposition and in government. He was Assistant Treasurer, Minister for Small Business, Minister Assisting on Deregulation and also Minister Assisting on Deregulation and Public Sector Superannuation.

It is very rare to find someone in this parliament who is so closely associated with an issue. If you said to anyone out in the street 'Nick Sherry', they would say 'superannuation'. He has probably developed a reputation as Australia's leading expert in the field of superannuation and public policy—I am not sure about investment, but certainly public policy. It is a great credit to him that he has developed that reputation through using the opportunities in this parliament, both in opposition and in government, to pursue that interest and to contribute to the development of our superannuation system.

I remember in the early days Nick and John Watson going around the country as members of the superannuation committee. John Watson is another famous Tasmanian. Cheryl Kernot was a member of that committee at the start as well. Many of us served on it. In my view, it was the parliament's and the Senate's best committee, because it focused on public policy work three, four, five years out and was able to stay out of partisan politics and made a huge contribution to public policy. Nick made that contribution as part of that committee and continued it in government. I know that he will pursue those interests in the coming years.

Nick is still a young man. He is getting out at a time when he can pursue a new career and I know he is enthusiastic about doing that. I do not think he will have time to read more ancient history; I think he will be too busy. Some of the books he reads are quite remarkable. I am not sure whether anyone else in the parliament has borrowed them from him, but he has had a long interest in those things.