Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate records its deep regret at the death, on 10 April 2015, of the Honourable Peter Alexander Walsh, AO, former Senator for Western Australia, places on record its appreciation of his long and highly distinguished service to the nation and tenders its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement.

Peter Alexander Walsh was born on 11 March, 1935 at Kellelberrin, 200 kilometres east of Perth. He grew up in the town of Doodlakine and went onto the land, farming in the wheat belt and becoming involved in the Farmers' Union and later in the local branch of the Australian Labor Party. It is said that he had one of the best eyes for estimating the yield of a crop of wheat as it was growing and that he was able to predict the crop very accurately. So he brought that very practical experience to this place. He contested the seat of Moore in both 1969 and 1972 and then entered the Senate at the double dissolution election in 1974 as a Labor senator for Western Australia. He was elected to the shadow ministry under Mr Hayden in 1977 and held a variety of shadow portfolios. In 1983, on the election of the Hawke government, he was appointed Minister for Resources and Energy. He served in this portfolio until the 1984 election and then was moved to become finance minister. As far as the finance ministry goes, it was an inspired appointment.

Peter Walsh had a very healthy disdain for big government. He did not—and he readily acknowledged this fault—have an ear well-attuned to the political consequences of certain decisions, but he was resolute in two tasks: protecting the integrity of the nation's revenue, and scrutinising government spending.

Many ministers of that time have written of the trepidation they felt when facing the expenditure committee of cabinet and the critical analysis of Peter Walsh. This is easy to believe given his robust language in public and in the Senate, especially against my side of politics. This led not only to headlines but also to suspensions from the Senate. I will not provide examples. Suffice to say, it was neither pretty nor rare. The positive aspect of this approach was that no-one was ever left in any doubt as to what he thought. On one occasion, he bizarrely, from my perspective, snubbed Chief Justice Barwick but quickly rose to his feet to acknowledge Justice Murphy—an indication of a set of values with which I personally could not identify but which were indicative of his fierce, tribal loyalties. The sequel to that was media coverage with a picture of Senator Shirley Walters, from our home state, as opposed Senator Peter Walsh, who was alleged to have undertaken this snub. I think that both were as offended as each other with the mix-up by the media.

It is said that he had a four-drawer filing cabinet with the fourth draw simply labelled 'dirt'. It is alleged that that drawer was the most frequently used. Walsh was the first minister censured in 10 years in 1984, and the second in 12 years. Indeed, such was his robust conduct in this place, that a contingent notice of motion was moved by Senator Chaney—if I am recalling this correctly—and Senator Don Chipp from the Australian Democrats, so that he could be readily removed if there was another egregious breach of Senate standing orders. Indeed, as I understand it, some of his robust commentary also led to this Senate allowing private citizens to have a right of reply to that which was said about them in this chamber.

It is as finance minister that we remember him now. One paper reported, on his appointment, 'Walsh finds a new target for his cutting edge.' He recognised the concept of budget repair and applied himself fully to the task, often butting heads with the then Treasurer, Paul Keating. His approach was that reining in waste and unnecessary expense provided funds to do more for those in society who were disadvantaged. He was at the vanguard of governmental economic reform in the 1980s.

After leaving parliament in 1993 he began writing the 'Cassandra' column for the Australian Financial Review, and penned one of the enduring political memoirs of modern Australia, Confessions of a Failed Finance Minister. The current Minister for Finance, also from Western Australia, Senator Cormann, last month described that book as remaining 'the compelling manual of choice for any finance minister today'.

The book is well worth reading, or re-reading. It describes not only Peter Walsh's tough upbringing in rural Western Australia and his introduction to politics, but his angst at what he described as treachery against his leader, Mr Hayden, with whom he remained close throughout his life. It is also frank about the failings of the Whitlam years and the temptations always before government—any government—to spend.

Famously, he reprints a letter he sent to Prime Minister Hawke, in 1989, following a routine request by the Prime Minister to all ministers for ideas to save government expenditure. The letter was, as he writes, prepared entirely by him and not his department. It showed two things—that he hated sectional interests, and that he had no care for the political effect of some decisions. Just for a taste, the letter suggests cutting immigration; recovering nursing home costs from deceased estates; opening up all of Kakadu for mining; abolishing the Law Reform Commission and the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission; ending cabotage; reforming the waterfront; cutting local government grants to larger cities; and stopping funding so-called public interest groups, who were sabotaging government projects such as the third runway in Sydney. That is only a selection of his suggestions, many of which, I must confess, I find quite appealing.

In his valedictory speech, a good friend of mine who was himself an impressive Minister for Finance, former senator Nick Minchin, said that the honour of the best finance minister in Australia 'rightfully belongs to Peter Walsh', the Labor identity whom he most admired.

In 1996, Peter Walsh was appointed an officer of the Order of Australia for his service to the parliament, particularly as Minister for Finance, and to journalism. I do question whether his contribution to journalism was for the copy he provided during his career, or the columns he wrote after his parliamentary career.

In 2009, Peter Walsh co-authored a booklet about the Rudd government's proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme for the Lavoisier Group. The booklet is called Back to the 19th Century, and the cover photograph depicts a 1930s farmer driving a horse-drawn plough. In his foreword, Peter Walsh was brutal in his assessment of the CPRS, which he declared would send Australian agriculture right back to the 1930s. He was, of course, correct. Given his political allegiances, it was a brave position for him to adopt, but he did so without any compunction. It is clear that he held that very strong approach to all of his views right through to the end. The honourable Peter Walsh AO was respected for his legacy of rigour in spending that stands as a guide to us all.

On behalf of the government, I offer to his wife, Rosalie, their four daughters, Karen, Shelley, Anne and Deborah, and their 11 grandchildren our sincere condolences—and, if I might also say, to his son-in-law, whose presence I recognise in the chamber.