Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too would like to honour the memory of the Hon. Kevin Andrews. I got to know Kevin well first during the gay marriage debate; we were on the losing side. As others have remarked, he was an incredibly courageous and brave but also very principled advocate for his cause. He was an absolute gentleman, he was respectful, and he kept us very focused. He kept everybody very focused. If only we could have cloned him and had more of him, maybe we would have done better. It was an honour to serve next to him during that unique process.

The first time I noticed Kevin from the outside, before I was in parliament, was when he challenged for the Liberal leadership. I'm not sure anyone else has mentioned it yet. He was a bit of a trendsetter, I believe; he was the first to challenge Malcolm Turnbull for the Liberal leadership, and many others followed. I think the interesting thing to remark about that was that he clearly didn't do it for himself. I think he probably understood that he wasn't going to be Liberal leader, but he challenged because he wanted to change a policy. He had a principled position about the policy position of the Liberal and National parties at the time and wanted to change that. It takes a lot of courage to do that. It takes a lot of courage. We all know that. It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out in front of the media. As I said, he probably expected a loss, so that's obviously somewhat embarrassing, but he had the courage of his convictions and acted on them. He didn't just speak about them; he acted on his convictions.

While he failed in his leadership tilt, he did succeed in changing the policy of this nation on that issue. He did turn around the position of his party room on the proposed emissions trading scheme, and he turned around the country's attitude on it. Ultimately, within months, the then prime minister dumped that policy. Not long after that, he himself was gone, in part, at least, because of the efforts of Kevin Andrews to go against a policy that was popular at the time but which he, as I said, thought wasn't right for the country. It shows the importance in this place of fighting for what you believe in. You can make a difference by doing that. We could all just follow the weathervane of focus groups and opinion polls, but that's not really what we are here for. Anyone can do that; it takes someone of the stature, courage and statesmanlike behaviour of Kevin Andrews to make a difference in this place.

I want to finish by commenting on the fact that his greatest legacy is his family. He spoke often of his kids but probably more often of Margie. He loved his wife, and it's a great testament to him. I also would like to comment that I hope people continue to read his book on marriage, Maybe 'I Do'. I think it's the greatest Australian book on the importance of marriage and especially on the importance of marriage for children, which—coming back to where I started—I fear we have lost focus on a little bit in all of these debates. Ultimately most people get married to have kids. As Kevin writes eloquently in that book, it makes a big difference if we can keep people married, and kids should be the centre of everything we do. To Kevin's family and to Margie, I hope you find some solace in the legacy that Kevin has left for all of us. Vale, Kevin Andrews.