Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to express condolence on behalf of the opposition following the passing of Michael MacKellar. The Honourable Michael John MacKellar AM served the Australian parliament as a member of the House of Representatives for nearly 25 years. He also served as a minister in the Fraser government.

Born in 1938 in Sydney, MacKellar came from a farming background and was an agricultural scientist before his election to parliament. He worked in the New South Wales Department of Agriculture and was also a lecturer in this field at the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales. He drew on this experience when he made his first speech in a contribution on the Wheat Industry Stabilisation Bill. This was not appreciated by his coalition colleagues in the Country Party, who believed they had a monopoly on rural policy and rural debate. Mr MacKellar entered the parliament as the member for Warringah on Sydney's North Shore in 1969, two days before his 31st birthday. He continued to hold this seat until his resignation in 1994, being elected 11 times in total. The ensuing by-election resulted in the election of the now Prime Minister.

The highlight of Mr MacKellar's parliamentary career was undoubtedly the time he spent in the ministry from 1975 to 1982, in particular as Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs from 1975 to 1979 and as Minister for Health from 1979 to 1982. He also spent a short period of time in other portfolios, including assisting the Prime Minister, assisting the Treasurer, home affairs and the environment. In his valedictory speech Mr MacKellar agreed with another departing member, Labor's Dr Neal Blewett, that a parliamentary career is capped if you are privileged enough to become a minister. He said:

Becoming a minister gives you the opportunity, as no other position does, to put into practice some of the things that you would like to see done. I remember my ministerial role in a couple of ministries with very great affection because it gave me the opportunity of proving not only that I could work long hours and hard but also that we as a government could do many things for people which otherwise they would not be able to hope for.

For Mr MacKellar, being a minister was about achievement. As Minister for Immigration, he oversaw the resettlement of thousands of Vietnamese migrants. He reflected on a time when:

… Australia faced a challenge which it had never faced before—the potential arrival of hundreds of thousands of distressed refugees from Indo-China in small boats. We as a government and I as the minister helped to deal with that situation in a way which, I believe, did Australia a great credit.

The Fraser government is rightly acknowledged for its sensitive leadership in this area. Handled in another way, this issue could have been a political and social disaster given the pressures that existed at the time, but this was thankfully not the case.

Mr MacKellar was involved in the organisation of two United Nations conferences on refugees, demonstrating the importance of multilateral cooperation in this area and in initiatives to truly recognise Australia's multicultural community. Policies he implemented or set in train include the establishment of the Special Broadcasting Service, SBS; support for new arrivals; creation of the Migrant Resource Centre; and what became the Office of Multicultural Affairs. Mr MacKellar later reflected:

We led the world in many areas and proved to be a model for other countries.

However, he also stated that Australia is not part of Asia and should 'pay more attention to migration from traditional sources' to 'maintain balance in the face of regional pressures'. These statements reflected the policy challenges he was grappling with at the time—the policy challenges of the time. Later, in 1988, he was one of six Liberals who challenged the hardline immigration policy of opposition leader John Howard.

As health minister, Mr MacKellar inherited a policy that was 'one of the biggest political hot potatoes of 1980' as the Fraser government attempted to wind back the Whitlam government's Medibank. He saw his role as ensuring that there was a discernible connection between expenditure and health standards, that all Australians had proper access to high-quality health care at a cost that the individual and the community could afford. Prior to his ministerial service, Mr MacKellar also served as the Commonwealth parliamentary representative on the Council of the ANU from 1970 to 1976.

As his parliamentary career came towards its conclusion, he made clear his view that the Liberal Party should not concentrate on the rights of some with little regard for society overall. He stated:

It is not good enough to concentrate solely on the rights and benefits of individuals, important as that is. An equal role for government is to protect the public good and enhance the national interest.

When he made his valedictory speech in the House of Representatives in February 1994, Mr MacKellar made a concerted effort to set out what he saw as some of the challenges of the future for those he was leaving behind. He identified the necessity of engaging with young people, developing policies that foster 'a sense of personal worth, a feeling that how they live their lives and the contribution their lives can make to the greater good really matters'. He also spoke of the importance of looking after Australia's fragile environment, of understanding it and adapting policies to take this into account, or else risk losing it for future generations. He identified the role of population policy and good urban and regional planning in this area. Of course, as Minister for Immigration, he had to see different sides of this debate and the role that migration choices played in population policy.

He recognised the significance of parliament as an institution that must be guarded by those who are privileged enough to serve in it. He saw that when the public standing of parliament diminishes, the future of democracy in our country is weakened. Members of parliament needed to be active and engaged if the institution was to be strong.

In his post-parliamentary career, Mr MacKellar served with a wide variety of organisations including on the Board of Vasey RSL Care; the Plastics, Chemicals and Allied Industries Association; the Australian Institute of International Affairs; the Australia New Zealand Food Authority; and the Sydney Paralympic Games Organising Committee.

In expressing the condolences of the opposition following the death of Michael MacKellar, may I particularly extend our sympathies to his family and friends, and to our Liberal Party colleagues.