Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

In supporting the condolence motion of Senator Abetz, I extend my condolences to Kathi and the children. Kathi, of course, will be feeling the loss enormously. She was always a very strong supporter of Warwick through all of his life in the parliamentary sphere that I can speak of, and certainly a lot of what Warwick achieved was achieved with the support of Kathi.

I remember, in thinking about their children, that when I joined the Senate with Warwick, former Senator MacGibbon and former Senator Herron, there were in the Queensland Liberal Senate team 22 children and I did not have any. It meant that, amongst the other three, there was a great breeding line! Senator Parer's seven children certainly contributed to that 22. I had the pleasure and honour of serving with Warwick in this chamber for 10 years, from 1990 to 2000 when Warwick left.

I associate myself without repeating all the very fine words of both Senator Abetz and Senator Brandis about our friend Warwick Parer. I learnt a hell of a lot about the Senate from Warwick in my early days here. I also learnt a lot about Queensland, because Warwick was one who travelled extensively. As has been mentioned, he played a very significant role in the expansion and significance of the Bowen Basin coalfields. That was very important to the north of our state and very important to the Queensland and Australian economies. Warwick certainly played a major role in the significance that the coal industry had to our state and our nation.

Senator Brandis mentioned that Warwick was also an expert on Japanese and Japanese business ethics and procedures at a time when Japan was a very important part of Australia's export economy. Again as has been mentioned, as chairman of Stanwell Corporation he assisted in recent times with progress, attending to some of the difficulties experienced with electricity production and distribution in my state.

Warwick served some time as President of the Liberal Party. As I recall, he was specifically asked by John Howard to come to Queensland and sort out some differences of opinion which were occurring at that time. We do not have factions in the Liberal Party, but at the time there were various people with different views on how the party in Queensland should be going. I am not sure this is official, but I do know, and those of us involved know, that it was John Howard's choice and desire that Warwick might come in as a stabilising influence on the party. He was, again as Senator Brandis mentioned, instrumental in the amalgamation of the Liberal and National parties. I sat on a very small committee that first started looking at the amalgamation issues. Whilst Warwick was a very proud Liberal, he and most of us understood that if we were ever going to achieve anything in the state arena in Queensland there had to be an amalgamation of the Liberal and National parties. It was the work done by him and, as Senator Brandis mentioned, Bruce Scott, who started that process, that led to the amalgamation and, in effect, led to the remarkable victory that the Liberal-National Party of Queensland achieved at the last state election.

I had quite a lot to do with Warwick during our mutual years in the Senate. I was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and in charge of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean when the Patagonian toothfish issue started, as Senator Scullion mentioned. Almost on different sides of the fence in those times, we worked to eventually protect the fishery and remove the pirates that were then rife in the Southern Ocean from our radar. I certainly congratulate Warwick on his role there.

My leader and deputy leader have said all of the things that I think need to be said, and I certainly want to associate myself with the fine words of my two colleague senators. In concluding, I simply indicate that, although I have not checked this, I can say without fear of contradiction that the Queensland Liberal senators who served with Senator Parer during my time in the Senate—that is, former Senator MacGibbon and former Senator Herron—would also want to be associated with this motion of condolence.