James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Cyber Security) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to associate myself with the outstanding speech of our leader and with yet another speech by Senator McKenzie and to add some of my own brief reflections on our former colleague and friend, Kevin Andrews. In just thinking about Kevin, there are three things that really sum him up for me. Firstly, he was a parliamentarian, secondly, he was a patriot and, thirdly, he was a family man.

In thinking about Kevin's role as a parliamentarian in that distinguished and long career, I can say that it is often the case—you hear it in valedictory speeches in this place, as well as in eulogies for our colleagues who have left us—that some the best and most impactful work they can do is while they're on the backbench. All of us aspire to have the honour of serving in a ministry one day and doing great things in those portfolios, but often you can have remarkable public policy impact from outside the industry. Kevin achieved both.

As a backbencher, in his early parliamentary career before he was promoted, he secured the successful passage through both houses of parliament of one of the only private member's bills to pass the parliament. It is very common in this place to introduce a private member's bill, but it is much rarer to successfully pass a private member's bill. Whatever your view is on the substance of that issue—my own views on euthanasia are close to Kevin's and I support what he did—that is a remarkable achievement of which he should be proud and of which his family should be very proud. It came from a place of very sincere and genuine belief.

At the other end of his career, when he was again a backbencher after having served as a minister, he played a very significant role in the passage of significant legislation in the final term of our time in government, under the Morrison government. That was the passage and introduction of the Magnitsky human rights sanction regime. Kevin worked very diligently as the chair of the Human Rights Subcommittee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, working particularly closely with our other former and sadly departed colleague, Senator Kimberley Kitching, in a bipartisan way to build consensus for these reforms and to convince the then government that it was necessary. Upon receiving that agreement, he then worked with our former minister for foreign affairs, Senator Marise Payne, to successfully legislate that scheme, which is now being utilised by this government. That is a really great achievement that I think will stand the test of time and, because of the work that Kevin did in that respect, it will be of great value to future governments and future foreign ministers.

In thinking about Kevin as the patriot, I know that the ministerial post in which he had the greatest honour of serving was the defence portfolio. I think he long aspired to serve in that portfolio. He was very honoured to be called upon by Prime Minister Tony Abbott to take up that portfolio and he immensely enjoyed working with our men and women in uniform. He brought to that role his typically thoughtful, diligent style, but he was also very clear-eyed about the challenges that Australia faced, and I know he would have loved nothing more than to have had the opportunity to have served longer in that portfolio, but, as Senator Cash outlined, he achieved significant things in that time, and his family should also be proud of that.

Finally, I want to reflect on Kevin as a family man, because, although his achievements in public life were significant, I think he would be most proud of his family and the achievement that that represents. To sustain a loving marriage over 31 years of political service is a remarkable thing. To raise children who love and respect you is an extraordinary thing. He was an example to us all. We should be inspired by his example to commit to and honour our own families in the same way that he honoured his. It is a tragedy, as others have said, that, in retirement, he did not get to spend more time with them post his parliamentary life, but I know he wasn't someone who neglected his family when he was a parliamentarian. He made sure that his parliamentary and political life didn't detract from his family life, and that is a reminder for all of us to try and emulate that in our roles as well.

Kevin was a great Victorian, he was a great Liberal and he was a great Australian. We will miss him.