Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise as Leader of the Nationals in the Senate to contribute to the condolence debate on the passing of the Rt Hon. Doug Anthony. I want to thank Senator Kenneally and Senator Birmingham for their heartfelt words and what I think were some colourful turns of phrase that really did capture Doug, his love of his country, his love of his nation and his love of his family. Our thoughts and condolences go to Margot, Dugald, Jane, Larry and their families. It's obviously a sad occasion for the National Party family, as it is for many people across Australia.

He was a giant of our party. He wasn't just the Deputy Prime Minister or the member for Richmond. He very much was the Leader of the Country Party and then the National Party. He was part of an iconic era, really, for our party, post John McEwen. The fab four—Doug Anthony, Peter Nixon, Ian Sinclair and Ralph Hunt—were a force to be reckoned with on behalf of regional Australia but also within the coalition.

It's fitting to repeat the words of Doug himself when he spoke at the passing of another giant of the then Country Party, John McEwen, in November 1980. Doug Anthony said:

McEwen was a strong man. He was, at times, a hard, tough, demanding man. … He was a man of integrity—a man of honour. He was a powerful negotiator. He was a persuasive advocate.

I believe Doug Anthony may well have been describing himself, as he was all that.

In recent weeks, Doug has been described in many ways: a true statesman, a man of honour and integrity, a humble man, ever positive and ever connected to the Tweed region around Murwillumbah in the Northern Rivers region. The man from Murwillumbah did not set out to become a household name, and it very nearly didn't happen. But Doug Anthony is a household name, and John McEwen played a significant role. He picked him out early from this group of new young men who arrived in Parliament House as a restless young backbencher, promising him a ministry. And I think it would have been a great loss to the nation had Doug left early. When I was chatting to his son, Larry Anthony, who is also the current National Party federal president, about Doug's experience with John McEwen, he recalled that there was a time when Menzies considered promoting a very young Doug Anthony to Minister for the Navy before McEwen intervened. He believed Doug was too young and would not be respected in the portfolio by the chiefs of defence, and that he needed time to grow into the role to become everything that McEwen knew this young man would be as a leader. So McEwen pushed for a portfolio he thought he could thrive in as Minister of the Interior, and that's what happened. As it goes, at that time, Doug was actually looking for opportunities beyond politics because he had been catapulted, if you like, so early into parliament following the death of his father. So we can be very, very thankful for Black Jack's mentorship.

Doug Anthony was born on New Year's Eve in 1929, and, after his schooling at the local secondary college, The King's School in Parramatta, and Gatton College in Queensland, he became a dairy farmer. It was his deep and abiding passion. All he wanted to do was be on the farm and produce milk at that time. That changed in 1957, when his own father, Larry Anthony Sr, a minister in the Menzies government, died and Doug was elected at the by-election to the federal seat of Richmond at just 27. His parliamentary career spanned more than 26 years, 16 of which involved service as a government minister. Doug held a variety of portfolios, serving as Minister for the Interior, and as minister for primary industry, trade and industry, overseas trade, minerals and energy, national resources and trade and resources—all very hearty National Party or Country Party portfolios! He was made deputy leader of the Country Party in 1966 and, at age 41, became our party's youngest leader following the retirement of John McEwen in 1971, a record that is yet to be broken. He was Deputy Prime Minister to three Liberal Prime Ministers: John Gorton, Billy McMahon and Malcolm Fraser.

During his time as the minister for primary industries and then trade, he drove significant reform, opening up new trade opportunities for agriculture and mining. Just as our current government leadership sets out to expand trade markets amid growing Chinese tensions, it was Doug Anthony's trade ministership and that of his predecessor John McEwen that laid the foundations to help make this happen. Along with fellow National Ian Sinclair, Doug Anthony was one of the two last survivors of Sir Robert Menzies's last ministry. Ian Sinclair, Minister for Social Services in the 10th Menzies ministry, who replaced Doug Anthony as National Party leader upon his retirement, said of his predecessor:

As members of The National Party, we were proud of his leadership of the party. Peter Nixon, Ralph Hunt, and all those of us who were members of the party remember him kindly for the way in which he led, and kept the party together.

There's no doubt that as we look back on him, those times were different but looking at modern Australia so much of it began in the days when Doug Anthony was deputy prime minister. And so much of all those things that we cherish today Doug had a hand in.

Australia has vibrant trade orientated farm and mining industries today, delivering huge improvements to living standards for all Australians because Doug Anthony saw the opportunities in the 1970s and the 1980s. In The Spectator, Terry Barnes wrote, 'It is a cliche to say we will never see his like again, but it certainly is so.'

Backed by his loyal deputy, Sinclair, Doug Anthony oversaw the transformation of the Country Party to the National Party. He said the name change reflected Australia's changing political scene. Announcing it, he acknowledged the importance of farming to rural Australia, saying farmers' prosperity was the basis of prosperity of many rural towns and of industries and employment outside the cities, but he stressed that the party works for all people outside the major capital cities. The former federal director of the Liberal Party, Brian Loughnane, described Doug Anthony as a 'committed coalitionist'. That was in evidence at his state memorial last week in the Tweed, where we saw icons of the National Party and Country Party gather. There were former state premiers, ministers and the former Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss, alongside our current Prime Minister and the former Prime Minister John Howard, who spoke so eloquently of the time he served with Doug in parliament.

It was the likes of Doug Anthony and his colleagues, Peter Nixon and Ian Sinclair, who demonstrated to both parties what would be achieved through the partnership of two very proud and independent political movements. It has been noted amongst my National colleagues that while Doug Anthony was a committed coalitionist in front of the opposition, he was fiercely committed to the National's cause in joint party room and cabinets.

Former Prime Minister John Howard was a minister with Doug under Malcolm Fraser. He said Doug Anthony's contributions in cabinet discussions were always direct, understandable, informed and unshakeable. He recalled a particular situation—and he assured me that it had been more than 30 years so he could talk about it—at the memorial service last week. Whilst Fraser had been overseas, he'd left Doug in charge. Doug had made a decision around parliamentary salaries and remuneration which then the opposition seized on, and it was overturned by the PM when he got back. It was a very furious and forthright Doug that made it very clear to the then PM that if he were left in charge, he expected to be able to exercise that with full authority. So no-one was ever in any doubt about what he thought.

But he was very generous and likeable. One of the stories I've read was that he was a very, very handsome man. He was on the TV campaigning and women were kissing the TV when he actually came on for his campaign messages. This was a great thing for his son, who was doorknocking the seat of Richmond at the time, to hear that—he was Doug's son and that's what women thought of his dad! His affable style endeared him to his colleagues and, most importantly, to the farmers and other constituents he represented.

Former leader of the Nationals in the Senate, Senator Ron Boswell, described Doug Anthony as:

… a strong, popular and decisive Leader who understood the power he had within a Coalition, to be wielded only when necessary.

Senator Boswell recounted being summonsed to Doug Anthony's office immediately after delivering his own first speech in this chamber. Doug told him:

Ron, you got into the Senate on Flo's petticoat tails by being the gopher boy for the Queensland National Party, but that won't cut anything down here. You will be a one termer unless you understand Canberra and how the system works to assist rural and regional constituents.

Clearly from his long and very, very successful career on delivering, Senator Boswell paid attention to his leader's words. He represented the Nationals and Queensland for over 30 years.

My deputy in the Senate, Senator Canavan, tells a story of Doug Anthony reading through his papers on a flight to New Zealand and asking his advisers: 'Why am I going over here? I'm checking this agenda and there's nothing on it to discuss'. By the time they landed, Doug had made an addition to the agenda and the Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relationship was born. Never one to waste an opportunity—typical of a farmer and a great leader—he regarded the economic relationship as a major achievement. It became a blueprint for future trade agreements. He negotiated with China and he was the first senior Australian minister to negotiate the live sheep trade with the Middle East. Doug built a strong import and export relationship with the emerging industry powerhouse of Japan, building on the strong work of his former mentor, John McEwen.

He understood the need for strong rural and regional representation at the highest level of government and was a fierce advocate for the opening of new trade opportunities. Whether it was in defence of the wool floor price, opposition to increasing the value of the dollar or his defence—which I think is the only thing he and John Howard ever disagreed on—of single-desk selling, Doug Anthony stuck to his intent to deliver for rural Australia. He was also heavily involved in the development of Canberra.

The Anthony family is synonymous with the Country and National parties. Doug; his father, Hubert Lawrence Anthony; and current Nationals federal president Larry Anthony all represented the federal division of Richmond, for a combined 67 years. Doug retired from federal parliament in January 1984, returning to the farm, Sunnymeadows, which had expanded beyond the dairy to include a piggery and cotton and cereal operations. He held several corporate positions in retirement.

It was around this time of his retirement that a trio of buskers on the streets of Canberra actually adopted his name. Upon meeting Doug via the TV show Video Hook-Up, Doug Anthony All Stars member Paul McDermott said he found Doug generous, kindly and accepting. Doug, with his trademark country smile and tongue firmly in cheek, said of this particular meeting: 'An auspicious occasion; it's the first time I've met these plagiarists who've made my life miserable ever since I retired. I hope to keep out of the public limelight. What happens? I walk down the street and people say, "That's a great band of yours!"'

Was it was those iconic pictures of the Acting Prime Minister running the country over the summer holidays from a caravan at New Brighton up the New South Wales coast that made him a household name? He did say:

When the nation heard I was running the show from my caravan it sent a message that it was Christmas, time to relax, everything was on hold, but also everything was being looked after.

I think it was also a demonstration to all of us of his commitment to his family in what was an incredible public life. Larry also told a great story that Prime Minister Fraser was very keen to keep in touch with his deputy quite regularly, but the only way to do that was the public phone down the road. So, armed with a stack of 20c pieces, Larry would be sent to wait in the line with the locals until it actually got far enough up to get Dad up from the caravan to take the Prime Minister's call until the 20c pieces ran out. It got very, very frustrating, shall we say, for Prime Minister Fraser, who then ended up giving the caravan a fantastic upgrade so that it could have a direct line. I think that said that Doug was not for moving in January, and the Prime Minister paid attention. He got the best of both worlds, a great example for us all.

In 2014 he said, 'I don't see the purpose in people remembering me much,' but I don't think he got his wish, because he's very much well remembered by all of us. He was a statesman of the highest degree. He was a giant of our party. He's left a lasting positive impact on modern Australia and, in particular, regional Australia. Our sympathies to his family and to the wider Country Party. Decency, intelligence, humility, generosity. He and Margot, the love of his life, retired to the Tweed, where he enjoyed listening to her play the piano on the farm; fishing, often with Peter Nixon; spending time with family; and supporting the arts and the wider community. He was a very proud country man and someone we are also very, very proud of. Vale, Doug Anthony.