David Bushby (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the retirement of a prominent Tasmanian from public life, a Tasmanian who has spent 44 years in the service of his fellow Tasmanians and Australians, 35 of those years in parliamentary service. Of course, I am speaking about one of the greatest characters in Australian politics over the last 50 years or so, the Mouth from the South, the Hon. Michael Hodgman QC MP. I wanted to add my comments to those made in this place some weeks ago by Senator Barnett. There is much that can be said of Michael—his time in public office; his passion for Tasmania, for Hobart, for regional Australia, for the law; his antics, his stunts, his legendary rhetoric; and his loyalty to our sovereign, Her Majesty the Queen of Australia.

Michael Hodgman is the longest currently serving member of any Australian parliament. He was first elected in 1966 as an Independent member of Tasmania’s upper house Legislative Council—it is a quirk of Tasmania’s electoral system—in the seat of Huon. In an ‘only in Tasmania’ moment, he was re-elected unopposed in 1972. Michael resigned in 1974 and was elected Liberal federal member for Denison in 1975. He was re-elected in 1977, 1980, 1983 and 1984, before being defeated in 1987 following a redistribution of electoral boundaries. During this time, he served as a minister in the Fraser coalition government. After one further, unsuccessful shot at the federal seat of Denison in 1990, Michael decided to run for state parliament and in 1992 he was elected as the member for the state seat of Denison in the Tasmanian House of Assembly, a position he successfully defended in the 1996 state election. He was subsequently defeated in 1998 but came back again in on a count-back in 2001 following the retirement of former state premier Ray Groom, whose son, Matt, is campaigning to replace Michael on 20 March in the state election. He was then re-elected in 2002 and again in 2006.

As a Tasmanian growing up in a political family—like Michael, my father was a politician—the spectre of Michael Hodgman has always loomed large for me and I am proud to have the opportunity to pay tribute to this great Tasmanian this evening. But Michael’s impact has extended far beyond someone like me who grew up with politics within Tasmania. Indeed, there are very few political observers across Australia who are not aware of Michael’s work, his oratory and passion for Australia and for its sovereign. Michael Hodgman is a politician of the old school and, now aged 71, his time in politics has seen him part of a momentous period in Australian life. He has known many of our nations and, for that matter, the world’s leaders. Most famously, his oratory earned him the title of Mouth from the South, as mentioned already, and his passion for Australia earned him the title of Patriot. He has an incredible memory—an amazing ability to recall people’s names, their background and an issue they might have brought up with him years ago.

Whether it is his passion for the horses, his beloved football club Geelong, the navy, boxing or tennis, Michael has always led an active life and, therefore, it is a tragedy that the reason for his retirement is his health and a sad lesson to us all on the impact of long-term smoking.

Michael has been a champion of many causes. He was resolute about the Indonesian presence in East Timor, to the detriment of his own career advancement in the Fraser government during the late 1970s. He was one of the first politicians to speak out vehemently against apartheid when many others were conveniently looking the other way. He fought for the Huon naval base in Hobart, the retention of the historic Anglesea Barracks, the establishment of the Antarctic Division headquarters in Kingston, south of Hobart, and the CSIRO moving to Hobart.

He was proud to be Minister for the Capital Territory and in that role to be involved in the construction of this building and working closely with the chairman of the Parliament House Construction Authority, Sir John Holland. Michael and his Canberra flatmate, Bruce Goodluck, who held the neighbouring seat of Franklin, were known at the time as the ‘odd couple’ and were well known nationally for their antics in seeking publicity, and sometimes some of these antics involved taking the micky out of each other. Bruce Goodluck told a story where he bought pink paper, sprinkled it with Chanel No. 5 and wrote on it: ‘Dear Mr Hodgman, I have had my eyes on you since you first came to parliament. If you are interested wear a red carnation. I usually frequent the press boxes.’ Of course, the next day Michael Hodgman was seen frequenting the press gallery and boxes wearing a red carnation.

But behind the pranks was a very serious message to governments—ignore the outlying states and the regional seats at their peril. Michael was a ferocious fighter for what he believed in such as tackling the Hawke socialist government, states’ rights, East Timorese freedom and immigration. He is known for his pressure to speed up the development of Hobart’s Southern Outlet, lobbying for Hobart’s second bridge, railing against the Soviet Union and above all fighting for the battlers.

Many of Canberra’s older residents would remember Michael’s reign as Minister for the Capital Territory. He was also known as the ‘Minister for Opening Doors’ because, if there was an opening occurring, he would be there. In fact, press coverage at the time sometimes speculated whether Michael actually spent any time away from Canberra. Once when Michael was criticised for removing protesters from the Parliament House lawns in his role as minister he explained that it was to give other demonstrators more room.

When Michael Hodgman was Minister for the Capital Territory his departmental officials found him excellent at raising the profile of Canberra and promoting the national capital, but sometimes the routine paperwork was neglected. After the ministerial in-tray had grown to the dimensions of a small mountain one senior public servant, a Mr Dempster, suggested ever so mildly to the minister that he might want to deal with some of the submissions. Michael got on very well with Mr Dempster and had given him a nickname, and responded: ‘Look, Hamster, you worry about the paperwork, and I’ll worry about the politics!’

Notable incidents seemed to follow Michael. There was a story that during the 1990 federal election campaign at an election fundraiser some of the women taking part in a fashion parade started to auction off their clothes to the highest bidder. By all accounts at least one Michael Hodgman t-shirt and one bra were removed and auctioned off. The auction was only a week after a reported wet t-shirt contest, again involving a Michael Hodgman t-shirt. The stories made the front page of the Hobart Mercury a week before the election.

I can clearly remember the notoriety Michael received for his comments that caused the leadership spill which saw Andrew Peacock take the Liberal leadership from the then leader John Howard. I do not think Mr Howard ever quite forgave Michael for that. There were also Michael’s own leadership ambitions. At one point he was widely reported as a potential leader of the Liberal Party and in one ballot finished only 12 votes behind John Howard for deputy leader. Michael was also touted as a potential leader in the Tasmanian state parliament but, despite putting his name forward, this was not to be.

There is no doubt that Michael has led a colourful career and life; that description is one I repeatedly found when researching this speech. Even though he has been colourful he has been compassionate and he has delivered real outcomes for his constituents. Michael has served Tasmanians and Australians with absolute dedication often to the detriment of his life and time with a family that he loves deeply.

On 20 March 2010 Michael retires from active service in the Tasmanian parliament. I have no doubt that this will be with a very heavy heart as so much of his life has revolved around service to Tasmanians and Australians. Despite this, I suspect Michael is looking forward to that day, not because it will provide him an opportunity to wind down and spend more time with his grandchildren and his family or to pursue pastimes that he has not had time for since first entering parliament some 44 years ago, but because it will, with a fair wind, be the day that his son, Will Hodgman, will become Premier of Tasmania.