Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of the opposition to speak on this condolence motion. Many words can be used to describe Grant Tambling, but two that immediately come to mind are commitment and conviction—commitment to the service of the public over a long career and conviction to political beliefs.

Grant Ernest John Tambling was born in Wondai, near Kingaroy, in Queensland, on 20 June 1943, and he was the eldest of three children. His parents, Ernest 'Tam' Tambling and Edna Williamson, were school teachers who were married in Darwin in 1941. The couple returned to Darwin to work after the Second World War. Grant himself was named after the USS President Grant, the US Navy transport ship used to evacuate his parents out of Darwin to Queensland during World War II. Grant attended Darwin Primary School, Darwin High School and, finally, Adelaide Boys' High School.

After matriculating, Grant returned to Darwin in 1960 to study accounting. Later he moved to Sydney for three years to join the AMP Society as an insurance sales agent. Whilst in Sydney, he met trainee nurse Sandra McDowall. The couple were married in 1969 and moved back to the Northern Territory. Back in the Territory, Grant continued to work with the AMP covering Darwin, Arnhem Land and Gove. Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin on Christmas Eve 1974, and, as we know, that changed the course of life for so many Territorians.

Grant's interest in public life had already begun before Cyclone Tracy. He served as alderman with Darwin City Council from 1972 to 1974, before being elected to the seat of Fannie Bay in the first ever Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1974. After serving at those two levels of government, he would go on to represent the Territory in both the House of Representatives and the Australian Senate. Grant was, in fact, a founding member of the NT Country Liberal Party and was the deputy leader of the party in the early years after its formation. He was elected to the House of Representatives as the member for the Northern Territory in 1980.

Grant was a fierce advocate for the Northern Territory during his time as a backbencher. In fact, in his maiden speech, Grant said:

… it is necessary to challenge the Government and the Parliament on many of its attitudes to the Northern Territory.

He challenged those Australians who stereotyped the people of the Northern Territory, pointing out:

Our Northern Territory community now comprises people of 40 different nationalities, including many descendants of the Chinese who came to the Territory as labourers, miners and merchants in the years after the gold rushes in the early 1870s. As well 30 per cent of Australia's tribal Aboriginals, some 25,000 in all, the majority living on their own tribal lands granted to them under Commonwealth statute, are determining their futures as Aboriginal Australians.

Grant advocated for the rights of Indigenous Australians but also preached personal responsibility. He said:

Aboriginals are, firstly, Australians with the same rights, privileges, opportunities, accountability and responsibilities as all other Australians.

He said that in his maiden speech.

After serving one term as a backbencher in the Fraser government, Grant lost his seat at the 1983 election, which saw, of course, Bob Hawke elected as Prime Minister. He spent the next four years running a newspaper in the Darwin suburb of Parap and serving as the Deputy Chairman of the Northern Territory Planning Authority. But, in 1987, he was returned to Canberra by voters as a senator for the Northern Territory. He held his seat in the Senate from 1987 to 2001 when he retired with the expiration of his term. As a Northern Territory senator, he was re-elected in 1990, 1993, 1996 and 1998. His Senate service combined with his service in the House of Representatives meant that he had served in federal parliament for a total of 16 years, eight months and 22 days.

Grant was appointed to various shadow ministries while in opposition, including regional development, external territories, northern Australia, community services and public housing. When the Howard government was elected to office in 1996, he was made Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Transport and Regional Development and later served as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social Security and then to the Minister for Health and Aged Care. Grant served as National Party Whip in the Senate and Deputy Leader of the National Party in the Senate during his time.

Grant was renowned as—and I have mentioned the word 'conviction' earlier, but there was no doubt Grant was—a conviction politician and, indeed, he was a true champion of Territory rights. After politics, he was Norfolk Island administrator from November 2003 to September 2007.

Grant is survived by his wife, Sandy; son, Coryn; daughter, Amalia; and grandchildren, Reuben, Hamish and Castiella. On behalf of the coalition, I offer my heartfelt condolences to Grant's family, colleagues, friends and community. Our thoughts are especially with his wife, Sandy, and his children and grandchildren. May Grant Tambling rest in peace.