George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, it occurs to me that this is the last occasion upon which you will preside over the Senate; when the Senate adjourns in a few minutes time it will be the last time we will see you in the chair. I want this evening on behalf of the government, but on my own behalf more particularly, to use this occasion to make a few acknowledgements of the service you have given this institution over a long and distinguished career. There is occasion for valedictory statements later in the week but I think the time limit for those valedictory statements will be such that not all of those who would wish to pay tribute to your public service will have the opportunity to do so, so let me take my opportunity to do that now.

Sir, you have been a great senator and a great President. Before you came into this place in 1987, you had already distinguished yourself in public service for many years as the Warden of Clarence, and at the level of municipal government I know that you made a very significant contribution to the people of Tasmania. You were elected to this place in 1987 and you have served for just over 20 years. For five of those years, almost to the day, you have been President of the Senate, and, before that, for a period of time you were the government whip. I have known you in both capacities. When I first came into the Senate in 2000, you were the government whip.

I will never forget, Sir, the first conversation we ever had when you were good enough to ring me to congratulate me upon being chosen by the Queensland parliament to fill the Senate position vacated by your friend former Senator Warwick Parer. You said to me words to the effect of, ‘George, the thing about the Senate is that we’re not like the House of Representatives; we believe in collegiality and we believe in teamwork. You’ll find when you get down to Canberra that the Senate is different. We government senators leave our differences behind us at state borders, and we work as a team and we’re all friends.’ I think that spirit, with a couple of exceptions—but very few exceptions—has prevailed in the Senate among the government senators in the years that I have been here. If I may say so, Sir, you are the person—not the only person but more so than anyone else—who has encouraged, inspired and nurtured that spirit among government senators very much to the benefit of the government, very much to the benefit of the Senate and very much to the benefit of the people of Australia.

As President, Sir, if I may say so, I think you have been exemplary. You have been fair, you have been firm and you have respected this institution and the individual members of it, and that respect has been appropriately, as it should have been, reciprocated. There is an old saying about politics, Mr President, that you can have respect or you can have popularity but you cannot have both. But your career has given the lie to that saying, because you have been both respected and liked—if I may say so, loved—by members of this chamber, and the affection that you have engendered has been in no wise at all in derogation from the respect in which you are held and the way in which you have conducted your office. So may I thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you have done. You have been an exemplary servant of the people of Australia and, to me, a wonderful mentor and a cherished friend. I cannot tell you how much I will miss you.

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can only but echo the words of Senator George Brandis in everything he said. I am not going to detain the Senate, because, as you appreciate, Mr President, sitting there, and I sitting in this seat, the seat you once occupied, this is—dare I use the terminology?—‘the graveyard shift’ of the Senate. The public of Australia do not realise the hours we spend here in debate and the length of time we spend in the chamber, and normally it is the President of the day who presides until the Senate adjourns each evening, which has been you for the last five years.

Senator Brandis also mentioned the telephone call, but I am not going to use the language that was used in a telephone call and the way you reminded me that I had been elected to the Senate, but it is a moment that we will share together for a long time. I too have a lot of personal memories and I am very thankful for your mentorship and your guidance. You have certainly placed me on the straight and narrow from time to time, and I thank you for that. The Parliament of Australia will be indebted to you for what you have done and the service you have given. One-quarter of your life in the Senate has been in the chair of the President, and that is no small feat. I think we understand and comprehend that that length of time, with the burden of office that you have shared, combined with the whip’s duties before that, is indeed a great service to this chamber. So, with that, Mr President, without detaining the Senate any further, could I just say from a Tasmanian to a Tasmanian: congratulations and well done; I will deeply miss you not being in the chair from this moment on.

George Campbell (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I wish to make a few brief comments in respect of your imminent retirement from the chair of the Senate. It is probably the last late evening you will ever spend in this place and, as we all do, you are probably thinking, ‘Thank God for that!’ I do not want to take a lot of the Senate’s time. Other people will have things to say about your performance in this chamber. I have been here probably half the length of time you have, and I do not think I have ever had a cross word with you, Mr President, throughout that period of time. I think the measure of the contribution you have made to the Senate is probably not in what you have done in this chamber but in what you have done outside this chamber in the role of whip, which we know can be a very demanding job; in the role of President; in the role of consultation; and in the role of helping people set up structures—in doing a lot of the things outside this chamber that probably raise the esteem of our politicians much more than the things we do in the chamber, which tend to actually lower the esteem of politicians in the long term. I think you should walk away from this place proud of what you have achieved as an individual, proud of what you have done for the community of Tasmania and proud that your name will live on as someone who has actually contributed to the development of our society and community through the political system. I want to take this opportunity to wish you and Jill well for the future. I know you have set yourself up pretty well. If I ever get down that way, I will bring my clubs with me and we will see if you can still hit a ball straight.

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank everybody for those kind comments.