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

I rise on behalf of the opposition to pay tribute to Kevin Andrews, who, in his final few years in the other place, was known as the Father of the House. Kevin was so much more than a colleague to so many of us. He was a friend, a mentor and an absolute gentleman, to say the very least. A man of integrity, he was always thoughtful and wise and always true to his beliefs. He was a great Australian with a passion for, and love of, our great country. He was a man of faith, a man with a strong sense of duty and service and, of course, a man of immense human decency. In fact, when I spoke to a number of colleagues after we received the news that he had passed, it was told to me that he was a guiding light for so many of us in this place and, even when I spoke to others on the other side of the chamber, they also agreed.

Kevin James Andrews was born on 9 November 1955 in Sale, Victoria. He was the son of Roy Gebhardt Andrews and Sheila Rosina O'Connor. Kevin was educated at the Rosedale Primary School, St. Patrick's College in Sale and the University of Melbourne, where he resided at Newman College and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1979 and a Bachelor of Arts in 1980. At university, Kevin was the president of the Newman College Students' Club and the National Association of Australian University Colleges. He later completed a Master of Laws degree at Monash University, in 1986.

In the 1970s and the 1980s, Kevin was a racing commentator, calling various sporting events, including athletics, cycling and motorsports. A little-known fact about him is that he wrote for a number of publications, including Australia's Auto Action. In fact, for those in the chamber—and I'm sure some of my colleagues behind did have the opportunity to hear Kevin call a race—if you did not have that opportunity to hear Kevin Andrews call a race, you have seriously missed out. It was actually quite extraordinary.

I was just looking online at a number of the articles about Kevin Andrews, and there was one some time ago where he was interviewed and he spoke about his childhood ambition, which was actually not to go into politics; it was actually to call horseracing. He said:

I grew up in a racing family; my father was secretary of a country race club for probably the best part of twenty-five years. We went to the races every Saturday when I was a kid … And from a very early age I used to go up the back of the grand stand and start practicing calling the races and eventually took it up for a while.

…   …   …

… if I didn't go to the races on Saturday I would sit down and listen to the radio stations, I'd study the techniques of, in those days Bill Collins, Bert Bryant, Joe Brown and the likes, and … I was very serious about it.

As someone who did have the pleasure of seeing Kevin literally transform from the quiet, humble, astute individual that he was so well known as, into Kevin 'You've got to be kidding me, is this actually really him?' the racing commentator, I can assure you he was utterly outstanding. Every so often, this quiet and humble man—and I'd been at a few functions with him—would shock people by transforming in a second into a professional race caller. It was quite spectacular, and it could literally stop a room. A little-known fact is that Kevin did some part-time race calling to help fund his way through university.

Kevin was also secretary of the Melbourne University Athletics Club and a director of the Victorian Amateur Athletics Association. At Melbourne University, Kevin trained with the legendary athletics coach Franz Stampfl.

After graduation, he worked for the Law Institute of Victoria, from 1980 to 1983, as a research solicitor and coordinator of continuing legal education. From 1983 to 1985, Kevin served as an associate to Sir James Gobbo, a justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria and, subsequently, the Governor of Victoria. Kevin then practised as a barrister from 1985 until his election to federal parliament in 1991.

He won Liberal Party preselection for the seat of Menzies against, at that time, 25 other candidates. That is no mean feat. In fact, some might say anyone could have come through the middle, but he actually wanted it and he got it. He was elected, as we all know, in the 1991 Menzies by-election. As we all say in this place, every election, particularly for a House of Representatives member, is one whereby you just don't know. But Kevin was re-elected by his constituents in Menzies 10 times as the federal member for Menzies. Elected in 1991, he held the seat until his retirement, just prior to the 2022 election. He spent a total of 30 years, 11 months and 11 days as a member of parliament, and that is one of the things that I remember so well about Kevin Andrews—30 years, 11 months and 11 days. He relished every single one of them.

Kevin was quite proudly and rightly a senior minister in the Howard and Abbott governments, and he held critical portfolios of aging, employment and workplace relations, immigration and citizenship, social services, and defence throughout what was, without a doubt, a significant ministerial career. As defence minister, Kevin himself implemented the First Principles Review to establish a single Defence Force structure in Australia. He also authorised—this is incredibly significant when you look back at our defence history. Kevin Andrews, as Minister for Defence, authorised the replacement of the entire Australian naval fleet. In his valedictory remarks, Kevin appreciated the increasingly precarious world in which we live, and he stated this:

We must stand economically, strategically and militarily with those nations and states, however imperfect, that seek to uphold the dignity and the freedom of the individual against totalitarian regimes …

Former prime minister Tony Abbott observed, after Kevin's passing, that one of his finest achievements predated his time as a minister—the 1997 Andrews private member's bill that overturned the Northern Territory's euthanasia legislation. Regrettably, his courage and principle were not appreciated by everyone in the local Liberal Party and led to an unsuccessful preselection challenge. Kevin was honourably and consistently committed to the sanctity of human life. He understood the critical difference between declining to keep someone alive who would otherwise be dead and deliberately killing someone who would otherwise be alive.

It's often quite humbling, when you see a person who leaves this place and then passes away, to go back and actually have a look at what others have said about them. The tributes to Kevin Andrews, without a doubt, were effusive. They were many, and, fittingly, for a man of such integrity, they were from both sides of politics. Opposition leader Peter Dutton described Kevin Andrews as 'a stalwart of the Liberal Party and a man of faith, family, intellect and service'. He said:

He was a staunch defender of the family unit and a true Liberal.

Former prime minister John Howard pointed to Mr Andrews's conviction as a politician, his devout Catholicism and his success as a backbencher in overturning the Northern Territory's euthanasia laws, as well as his service to the Australian people and parliament and his loyal support to him and the Liberal Party. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said:

Kevin Andrews dedicated his life to the things he cared for most: family, faith, community and nation.

Bill Shorten said:

While we were opposed on many political fronts, I respected that he always fought for his values: what you saw was what you got. He was a gentleman who wore his faith with pride. In his final term, he did excellent work charing the Joint Committee on the NDIS on a bi-partisan basis as an experienced parliamentarian committed to the best interests of NDIS participants.

Kevin himself was a believer, like so many in this place on our side, in the free market, aspiration and personal responsibility. In fact, in his maiden speech to the parliament in 1991, as Australia suffered through Paul Keating's 'recession we had to have', this is what Kevin said:

Australia's present social and economic woes owe much to the dead hand of socialism, which stifles individualism and withers enterprise in this country at its roots. Rampant unionism hinders the vaunted but little recognised and little realised micro-economic reform in this nation and continues to keep our economy uncompetitive with its wasteful work practices. A plethora of taxes, including a tax on employment itself, punishes anyone in this country who is foolhardy enough to invest the capital and to work around the clock. People such as that are the people who employ over half the Australian work force.

That was his maiden speech. Then, in his valedictory speech some 30-odd years later, he also spoke to his belief in service, saying:

Three decades ago I gave up a career in law to pursue a vocation. A career is about the individual; a vocation is about a cause, and my cause has been the peace, the welfare and the happiness of the people of Australia.

From a personal perspective, my view is that Kevin did just that. He did so much quietly, humbly to contribute to the peace, welfare and happiness of the Australian people during his time in parliament. As Senator Farrell has said, though, this is the type of incredible man that he was.

Despite his incredibly busy work, you'd often see Kevin first thing in the morning out in his lycra—we did have words once!—on his bike before parliament. He had an incredibly busy work and family life. He still found the time to write five books, and they weren't just books. They were considered books. They were well-thought-out books on marriage, on cycling and on Joe Lyons. One of them titled One People One Destiny was an early rebuke to identity politics. He literally worked right up until his death, and only weeks before his death he actually published his final book on his local Catholic church. He was quite literally working on the publication of his memoirs right up until the day he died.

For many of us on this side of the chamber who have been here for some time, we knew Kevin well and we counted on his wisdom and his advice. If Kevin spoke in the party room, it didn't matter who you were or what side of politics you came from, you listened. His contributions were always considered, and they were respected. He was truly a mentor, and, on a personal note, I am very happy to say and very lucky to say he was a mentor to me. He was always there on the other end of the phone with sage advice and much encouragement.

When I was the Attorney-General of Australia, we were dealing with family law, and Kevin had worked very closely with others on reforming the family law system. He would often, at the end of a night—the bells in the Senate would finish; the bells in the House would finish. It would be a late night, he'd wander around to my office, we'd sit down and he would share with me his wisdom on how we could change the system for the better. Even in the years after he left parliament, he was just one of those people who was always at the other end of a phone if you needed to run something past him. Quite literally he was one of the few people in life for whom nothing was ever too much. I know many others in this place drew on his knowledge in a similar way.

But of course the one thing that was clear whenever you spoke to Kevin—and this was throughout his 30 years in public life—was that he was supported by the love of his life, his wife, Margie. There is little doubt that—so many of tributes to Kevin said this, and I think Kevin would have been so proud of this—despite everything he had achieved at the highest levels of government, his greatest legacy is the family that he and Margie built together as the parents of five wonderful children and grandparents to seven grandchildren. No doubt the entire family must be immensely proud of the man Kevin was and the respect and admiration he received from not only his colleagues in parliament but also the people of Australia. It is not surprising a man of such honour, conviction, courage and compassion garnered admiration from those who knew or observed him.

On behalf of the coalition I offer my heartfelt condolences to Kevin's colleagues, friends, family and community. But our thoughts are especially with his wife, Margie; his children, Emily, James, Stuart, Catherine, and Benjamin; and his grandchildren. May Kevin Andrews rest in peace.