Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I likewise rise to associate myself with the comments of colleagues this afternoon in remembering the former member for Menzies, Kevin Andrews. Kevin was a man who truly displayed courage in his convictions, and I think that the contributions that have been made here this afternoon reflect that. Senator Cash mentioned in her remarks that Kevin was elected as the member for Menzies in 1991. That was the year after I was born, so Kevin was one of the few people, when I was eventually elected to this place in 2019, that I had a fair few memories of seeing on television in the very lofty ministerial positions that he had held, particularly during the Howard government. I can remember feeling somewhat intimidated at the prospect of meeting Kevin and working in the same party room as him, but there was no way that I should have been so intimidated, because, as other colleagues have alluded to, Kevin did take a very active role in mentoring new members of the party room, in teaching us the mystical and wondrous ways of both how our party room and the parliament more broadly operate. I did want to reflect on that here this afternoon.

I had the pleasure of working with Kevin on the Joint Select Committee on Australia's Family Law System, which was constituted in the 46th Parliament shortly after I was elected to this place. I think it is fair to say that I and others who were appointed to that committee knew that it was very serious and difficult subject matter that we were going to be dealing with and that the reason Kevin would be chairing this committee, as he did so wonderfully, was partly to keep us all cool, calm, collected and focused on that subject matter. There were some incredibly sensitive issues that were presented to this committee, as anyone in this chamber and the other place who served on the committee would know, as we investigated, for not the first time in this parliament's history, ways that our Australian family law system could be improved so that outcomes were better for individuals and their own families when they were going through the difficulty of separation. For a first term backbencher such as myself, I had a front-row seat to the class act that was Kevin in dealing with the issues that that committee examined with his usual calm and understanding demeanour.

He also had a difficult job ahead of him in compiling the report for that committee. Such a sensitive issue is one that people on all sides of this chamber and the other place have many and varied views on. Speaking as a senator—and we in this chamber pride ourselves on our collegiality—I think Kevin displayed almost senatorial tendencies in how he managed the work of that committee and the numerous reports that the committee produced, endeavouring as much as possible to make the work of the committee not just bipartisan but as multipartisan as possible. That was a real testament to Kevin's work.

Kevin was also a fearless conservative. Whether it was as a minister—and I can't personally speak for that because obviously he was on the backbench by the time I came to this place—or as a backbencher he truly saw the value in encouraging our party room to embrace policy debate and engage in the exchange of ideas in a fearless way. He knew that that was not only the great tradition of the Liberal cause but a way that our cause could be progressed. I'm sure many of my colleagues were approached by Kevin at various points in time to contribute to his AustralianPolity magazine, which he produced once or twice a year and which contained his thoughts on the world. Occasionally he would ask colleagues to contribute as well, and I was very humbled that he asked me, in my first term, to provide an article for that piece as well.

My colleague Senator Paterson referenced the work that Kevin did in developing the report that eventually gave rise to the legislating of Magnitsky style sanctions. That is an incredible piece of work, and, again as we've heard here today, those sanctions have now been applied by the Australian government in an attempt to hold foreign regimes to account. That is something that I'm sure Kevin's family are, and Kevin himself was, incredibly proud of.

I attended Kevin's funeral in Melbourne at the end of last year, and, as I'm sure anyone else who was there would attest, it was a very full cathedral at St Patrick's. It was very clear from the number of people there that Kevin was a much loved member of his community, not just the Liberal Party community but the community of Menzies more broadly and, particularly, his local church. I want to extend my deepest condolences to his community, which I know would be hurting at his loss, and, in particular, to his lovely wife, Margie, his children and grandchildren, who have lost a wonderful husband and a loving father. Vale, Kevin Andrews.