Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with deep regret that I inform the Senate of the death, on 1 June 2024, of the Hon. Gary Nairn AO, a former minister and member of the House of Representatives for the division of Eden-Monaro, New South Wales, from 1996 to 2007.

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate records its sorrow at the death, on 1 June 2024, of the Hon. Gary Roy Nairn AO, former Special Minister of State and former member for Eden-Monaro, places on record its gratitude for his service to the parliament and the nation, and tenders its sympathy to his family in their bereavement.

I'd like to talk about the career of the Hon. Gary Nairn. He grew up in Sydney. He attended Sydney Boys High School before going on to study surveying at the University of New South Wales. It's a profession that he excelled at, eventually starting his own business and taking on senior roles in the Association of Consulting Surveyors Australia and the Spatial Industries Business Association.

Spatial science and mapping would be a lifelong passion of his, and he would use his position in the federal parliament to bring awareness to what he saw as an underappreciated field. He would be the first to say that, without surveying, no major infrastructure project would go ahead. Mr Nairn's career took him to Western Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and as far as Switzerland and Alaska.

It was in the Northern Territory that he began to engage in politics, rising quickly through the ranks. Mr Nairn became President of the Northern Territory Country Liberal Party in 1990, after joining the party in 1987. Mr Nairn would go on to represent the federal seat of Eden-Monaro in 1996, remaining as the member for Eden-Monaro for more than a decade.

His time in parliament saw him rise to become Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister in 2004, with responsibility for water reform, and he was promoted to the frontbench in 2006 as Special Minister of State. It was as Special Minister of State that he launched the Australian government's e-Government strategy. He recognised that the demand for specialist, skilled labour in the tech sector would only grow, and set about actively promoting and encouraging more schoolchildren, women and graduates into tech. The Australian Public Service was particularly exposed, and, in response, Mr Nairn launched the Women in IT Executive Mentoring program. The program matches senior executive mentors with female public servants across the government, developing leaders in senior data and digital roles. Since its launch, more than 400 women have participated in the Women in IT Executive Mentoring program. That's a remarkable legacy.

Even after his political career, Mr Nairn continued to promote his passions and dedicate his time to community causes. He became involved in the Monaro Early Intervention Service, a not-for-profit helping young people with disabilities, and the Mulloon Institute, a not-for-profit promoting sustainable agriculture and environmental regeneration.

In 2015, Mr Nairn was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for his contribution to spatial sciences, the New South Wales and Northern Territory communities, federal parliament and disability support services. He would go on to become a national chair of the Duke of Edinburgh's awards of Australia, growing its profile by making it increasingly accessible to young Australians, and was appointed as a board member of the Biodiversity Conservation Trust of New South Wales.

I didn't have the pleasure of knowing Mr Nairn, but I wish that I had. He is rightly admired as a dedicated community advocate and a passionate individual. I extend my condolences to those parliamentarians that knew him and, of course, his many friends.

I also want to extend my most sincere condolences to his wife, Rose, his children, Ben and Deborah, and his grandchildren. The loss of a loved one is heartbreaking and I trust his family and friends will think of the happy memories and reflect on his great legacy for a long time to come.

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate for his fine words and rise to associate the opposition with the motion moved by Senator Farrell and, in particular, to honour the life of the Hon. Gary Nairn AO.

Gary was a dependable and duty-driven man. Throughout his entire life, he served our nation, his constituents, the Liberal Party and, most particularly, his community with great distinction. In this place, Gary was the federal member for Eden-Monaro for more than 11 years, but his service to our nation went far beyond the duties of the parliamentarian.

Gary was born in 1951. He attended Sydney Boys High School and studied at the University of New South Wales. He worked as a storeman and packer in wool stores, before beginning his career as a surveyor. Gary had great pride for his professional work, remarking on how rewarding it was both professionally and personally. With his business partner, Earl James, they built a small business that grew over 13 years of operation, from just the two of them undertaking surveying to a team of more than 20 staff by the time Gary was elected to the parliament.

Gary's profession took him to many places across Australia and overseas, but it was in the Northern Territory that his political interests began. He joined the Country Liberal Party in 1987, before serving as president of the CLP from 1990 to 1994. In that period, he oversaw election wins in both 1990 and 1994. Gary was rightly later made a life member of the CLP and was described by the giant of the CLP, Shane Stone, as a true stand-out for his contribution to politics in the Territory.

In 1995, Gary returned to his roots in New South Wales and became an active member of the Liberal Party. In 1996, he was elected as the member for Eden-Monaro. Eden-Monaro was then firmly a bellwether seat, as the saying goes. The Labor MP who held Eden-Monaro lost it in 1975 with the change of government from Labor to the coalition. The Liberal MP who held it lost it in 1983 with the change of government from the coalition to the Labor Party. And Labor lost it in 1996 with the change of government from Labor back to the coalition again. And so it was to be for Gary Nairn, who won the seat from the Labor Party in 1996 and served as the member for Eden-Monaro for every single day of the Howard government but, equally, served not a single day in opposition as he, too, was to lose with the change of government in 2007.

In his maiden speech, Gary spoke proudly about being a part of a decent, honest government that worked for ordinary Australians—the very traits that Gary embodied in and throughout his life. Unsurprisingly, given his own experience, he was a champion of small business, which he particularly saw as the lifeblood of rural and regional Australia, including in Eden-Monaro, which he described as a 'microcosm of Australia'. Gary knew firsthand that family businesses on the farm and the enterprise of people in the towns kept Australia going. Gary spoke with great passion in that first speech and throughout his career and life for Eden-Monaro and its diversity of agriculture and industry, from tourism on the coast through to the Snowy Hydro in the mountains. It is quickly evident to those who glance at Gary's first speech that he was more than ready to use his experiences and his passion to give back to his community.

During his 11 years in parliament, Gary's counsel and common sense were readily sought after by his colleagues and particularly by his Prime Minister, John Howard. I served but seven months in the same party room as Gary Nairn and did so knowing full well at that stage of his reputation as a minister and, more importantly, as one of the most decent members of that party room, one of the most trusted members of that party room and one of the figures upon whom Mr Howard and the government relied consistently. Gary's counsel, Gary's advice, Gary's friendship and Gary's engagement were valued by many. Any interaction with him, be it when he was in the parliament or in the years after he left the parliament, was always a thoughtful, friendly and considered engagement, and one where you left feeling happy for his service and for his contribution.

Gary was recognised in particular by former prime minister Howard for his enduring interest in resources and the environment. Gary held responsibility for water reform, chairing and serving on a number of committees. He most notably chaired the inquiry into the 2003 Canberra bushfires, which found that, while there was no one-size-fits-all strategy to bushfire risk reduction, there were a number of issues—appropriately regarding design of bushfire zones, insurance issues, community preparedness and the toll on emergency services—to which governments must respond. It was a landmark inquiry and a pointer to challenges that governments still must address and respond to to this very day.

In 2004, Prime Minister John Howard appointed Gary as his parliamentary secretary and then, two years later, as the Special Minister of State. Gary's decency, his clear principles and his thoughtfulness meant it was a shame that he did not have the opportunity to serve as a minister for longer, because there is no doubt that he had much more he could have given. Nonetheless, as Senator Farrell has identified, Gary's work in landmark ways in relation to government services, the delivery of the e-government strategy and the pioneering of the Women in IT Executive Mentoring program demonstrates that, in a short period in the executive government, Gary was well and truly able to leave a mark and make a positive contribution.

Unsurprisingly for somebody of Gary Nairn's nature and commitment to community, following his loss at the 2007 election, that commitment did not diminish one iota. Across a range of different sectors, he put his skills and knowledge to use in areas that even I was surprised to discover upon reading some of the comments about Gary after his death, such as his work with Alliance Francaise and its establishment and development within this region. There was also his work with not-for-profit organisations like the Monaro Early Intervention Service, helping young children with disability, and the Mulloon Institute, an institute established in 2011 by Tony Coote and his wife, Toni. Mulloon is recognised globally as a demonstrator of sustainable agriculture and environmental regeneration. It believes that long-term sustainability of both agriculture and the environment requires balance and working together in unison to benefit Australia's farmers and communities. Gary's work there was an important continuation of that interest in resources and the environment that he had brought to the parliament.

It was a testimony to Gary's character and his contributions in so many diverse ways to public life and to the communities around him that Gary was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2015, an accolade recognising not only his parliamentary service but also his work as a surveyor and his support for Australians with disability. Gary in 2018 was appointed chairman of the national board of the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, aiming to provide all young Australians with the opportunity to discover their purpose and passion.

So many organisations and voices have paid tribute to Gary for the work that he undertook, and his impact has been remembered with so many words of gratitude. The Duke of Ed program described his contributions in a way that I see as most fitting:

… Gary … was a wonderful citizen of our nation who gave so freely and willingly to enhance it.

It was not just the Duke of Ed. As I said, there were so many others, going right back to Gary's first career as a surveyor. The Geospatial Council of Australia described him:

… as a true statesman in our industry and to the wider community. He was renowned for his dignity and composure …

Critically, perhaps, for a member, particularly a local MP, who has served in this place, I also note the many kind, thoughtful and positive comments of tribute on the Queanbeyan Community Notice Board Facebook page. Local people whom he served were variously describing Gary as a good and wonderful man and paying tribute to his commitment to his local community.

Nineteen years ago this year, Gary rose in the House of Representatives for what must have been the most difficult speech he gave to the House. He spoke then about the death of his first wife, Kerrie, who had just lost her six-month battle with cancer. He bravely paid tribute to her contribution to Eden-Monaro and to her work and accomplishments as an author, an emcee and a speaker in her own right. Gary did not let such tragedy define him as he continued to contribute to his community, to work with his family and to make an impact in the 19 years that were to follow.

As he paid such thoughtful tribute to his wife, we today pay tribute to Gary. On behalf of the opposition and all members across, particularly, the Liberal Party, and, I know, our National Party colleagues too, we extend our heartfelt condolences to Gary's second wife, Rose, to his children with Kerrie, Ben and Deborah, and to his grandchildren. Thank you for supporting Gary and thank you for sharing him with a nation that is grateful for his service.

Perin Davey (NSW, National Party, Shadow Minister for Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Nationals in this place, I rise to acknowledge and pay tribute to Gary Nairn. Gary Nairn, while Liberal, was also a regional member of parliament, and he was the epitome of a good and hardworking local member.

In his community, he was much loved, and he was a highly respected member for Eden-Monaro, a federal seat that was always regarded as a bellwether seat, and it was challenging to make sure that he continued to retain that seat. The fact that he held it from his election in 1996 through three elections until the change of government in 2007 is absolute testimony to his ongoing popularity and the hard work he did for his constituents on the ground.

But his interest in politics predated his election to parliament by some years. He started in the Northern Territory, which is an unusual place for a Sydney boy to end up and commence his working career, but that's where Gary Nairn started his interest in politics. He joined the Northern Territory Country Liberal Party and, through his work behind the scenes with the grassroots membership, he was elected party president, a position he held for four years before he returned to New South Wales in 1995. Indeed, his work as party president was rewarded when he was made a life member of the Country Liberal Party following his retirement from that position, a party award that was well deserved.

He returned to New South Wales and, fortunately for the Eden-Monaro electorate, he moved to Queanbeyan, where he joined the Liberal Party. Then he fought the election in 1996 and was successful in being elected to the House of Representatives. Typical of his commitment to the region, Gary was appointed to head a federal inquiry into the 2003 bushfires, which was a tragic event for the district. As mentioned earlier by my colleague Senator Birmingham, the inquiry was far-reaching and in-depth and was really the first of its kind in the federal sphere. The following year, he was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, John Howard, and in January 2006 he was promoted to the front bench as Special Minister of State, prior to losing his seat in the Kevin 07 federal election.

But his life after parliament was just as impressive and just as devoted to public service. He maintained an interest in his local community in Eden-Monaro, and his activities that he was involved with covered a range of issues and organisations, including the local Rotary club, the Monaro Early Intervention Service for children with disabilities and the work that has been mentioned with the Duke of Edinburgh's International Award Australia.

Gary was also appointed board member of the Biodiversity Conservation Trust of New South Wales, and it was this interest in landscape, biodiversity and soil conservation that led Gary to his association with the Mulloon Institute, for which he was appointed chair from 2018 to 2023, when he stood down due to his ill health. The Mulloon Institute is widely known, very well respected and dedicated to landscape rehabilitation and rehydration. It epitomises what we hear a lot of people talking about when they talk about regenerative agriculture and rehabilitating the landscape. Gary has been widely respected in that role as chair of the Mulloon Institute. In fact, as late as last weekend I met with people from the Mulloon Institute, and I'm meeting them again this week. They paid tribute to the work that Gary had done in his role as chair and they expressed their sadness and sorrow at the passing of Gary.

The Mulloon Institute's work in research, education and advocacy is testament to the passionate support of people like Gary and the institute's founder, Tony Coote, who are all supporters of sustainable agriculture, and this is what we in this place—and certainly through the Nationals—strongly support recognising: that agriculture is part of the solution for an environmentally friendly, cleaner, greener future. The Mulloon Institute, which is recognised globally, is an absolute demonstrator of sustainable agriculture and that form of environmental regeneration through landscape rehydration and restoration, recognising the important role of carbon soil sequestration in our cleaner future. The institute fitted perfectly with Gary's interests, and his professional expertise absolutely helped with his contribution to the institute and will no doubt be sorely missed.

On behalf of the Nationals, we pass on our sympathies to his wife, Rose; his children, Ben and Deborah; and all his grandchildren; and also the people of the Eden-Monaro, who have lost a great citizen who continued to represent their region well beyond his years in this place.

Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today in honour of the former member for Eden-Monaro, the Hon. Gary Nairn AO. Gary was elected to the House of Representatives in 1996. He was then re-elected in 1998, 2001 and 2004. He served as the member for Eden-Monaro for 11 years, losing his seat in 2007. I was a staffer at the Liberal Party and in this place throughout his tenure, and I had the great privilege of working with him and his wonderful team during this time. I came to greatly respect him as a man and also as a very, very passionate local representative. He carried himself with great respect and great passion and commitment for anything he turned his mind to. He was an incredibly passionate representative and member of his local community in Eden-Monaro.

In his first speech, he acknowledged the many battlers in Eden-Monaro whom he personally identified with, being from a rural and regional electorate. In that first speech, he identified the importance of rural and regional Australia. He provided a number of very important reminders to us all here today. There is a great tribute I saw today from a former member for Monaro, Nichole Overall, who said 'He was a well-respected man, a great friend of our family for many years, and, like many others, particularly in Eden-Monaro, we have such fond memory of Gary both personally and professionally.' I know that those sentiments reflect the widespread sentiment of his community.

He truly did care about his electorate and remained a committed community advocate, as we've heard from other speakers here today. He was also very passionate in this place, in parliament, and was a member of many committees, including chair of the electoral matters committee in 1997, chair of procedure in 2000, and chair of science and innovation in 2022, and we have heard several times here about the importance of the report that he delivered as chair of the recent Australian bushfires report in 2003. I think it is such a shame that so many of the important observations and recommendations of that report have not yet been fully implemented. The same recommendations have been the subject of many reviews since then, not just in New South Wales and the ACT but across the country, and I think that was something that he no doubt felt very sad about.

Gary was also a parliamentary secretary to the prime minister John Howard, and they had a very close bond, as I suspect Senator Fawcett will be talking about shortly in relation to that relationship. He served with distinction as a special minister of state. Gary was appointed chairman of the national board for the Duke of Edinburgh awards in 2018 and for six years was its leader. His personal endeavours were keenly focused on ensuring as many young Australians as possible would have access to the Duke of Edinburgh awards. In 2023, in recognition of this commitment, His Royal Highness Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, acknowledged the awarding of the gold Distinguished Service Medal to Gary—the most prestigious recognition of eminent service to the Duke of Edinburgh's International Awards in Australia. It was well-deserved, and another demonstration of Gary's commitment and his passion.

I extend my deepest condolences to Gary and his family, including his wife, Rose, his children Ben and Deborah, his grandchildren, his friends, his former staff, and his former colleagues. Thank you for your service to your country and to your community—you will be greatly missed. Vale, Gary Nairn.

David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to make a few brief remarks. My colleagues have covered much of Gary's background, his education and his service before, during and after parliament. I wish to comment on three personal observations. Firstly, we have a couple of points of connection: we both left the lower house in 2007 thanks to Kevin 07 and that campaign. We had the privilege of working with John Howard as prime minister, and I had engaged with Gary on a number of occasions in that process, and developed a respect for him and the way that he worked. Secondly, he had a close relationship with the prime minister, to the extent that when the Socceroos in 2006 were playing against Croatia in the World Cup, at some unearthly hour of the morning, the Prime Minister said to Gary the night before, 'You should get a few colleagues to come around and watch the game.' So Gary did a bit of a ring-around. I was one of the few people remaining here to attend a committee meeting the next day, so Gary and I ended up with the prime minister. There is a famous photo which constituents still send me on occasion, saying 'You're that bloke!' Gary is sitting on one side of John Howard, with me on the other—wearing one of John Howard's tracksuit tops because it was a bit cool at 5 o'clock in the morning—and John Howard is leaping in the air as Australia scored the first equalising goal against Croatia. There's a point there where he and I will be forever connected through that, at least in image.

But the main thing I wanted to comment on was that, during that time, having left the military and come into the parliament, I was looking around at the people who were working, looking at people that I saw as role models. There were the obvious ones like the prime minister and John Anderson, but one of the things Gary taught, through the way that he worked, was—to use the soccer analogy—that he played the ball and not the man or the woman. He was very focused. He was very passionate. He would pursue things with vigour, but he always fought on the basis of the issue. He didn't attack people. He was respected. He sought to find common ground to get outcomes that were good for his community and for the nation.

So, as a fairly new parliamentarian at the time, Gary was one of the people that I looked to as a role model for how to be a parliamentarian, not a politician just with an eye on the next election—to go right back to Abraham Lincoln and Burke and some of the statements that they made—but with an eye on the next generation. That was how he worked. We saw that as he continued with his duties as he mourned the loss of his wife, Kerrie. That was a very difficult period for him. He continued with his empathy for other people. He mourned, he grieved, but he still served and was empathetic. He still worked with dignity. There's a lot that people from all sides can learn from someone like Gary and the legacy he has left. Vale, Gary, and my sympathies to his current wife, Rose, and his children, Ben and Deborah.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to add some words to the contribution of my colleagues to acknowledge the service and pay condolences to the family of Gary Nairn AO, who has just been described very effectively. He was a very considered, sound, calm, not-always-quiet-but-mostly-quiet contributor. One who, when he spoke, people stopped to take notice.

Gary made a significant contribution to this place during his service from 1996 to 2007, and those of us who continued to serve on post 2007 were very sad to lose someone of Gary's calibre. Of course, Gary continued on with his public service. He continued to work in the public interest. That was a feature of who he was. I was looking through some of the notes earlier and saw that he was appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia for his contribution to spatial sciences. That brings an interesting connotation. But, of course, Gary was a surveyor. He was a practical guy. I suppose that's one of the reasons that I related to him quite well, having worked in the building industry and having used the services of the surveying profession during my time in that industry before coming into this place. He was a practical guy who brought practical solutions to the problems that his electorate raised with him. And he had an enormously diverse electorate, as those who have made contributions to this debate already include, from the southern end of New South Wales to the outskirts of the ACT and everything in between, with fishing, forestry, farming and a whole range of industries supporting those communities and, of course, this community here in Canberra.

Gary always brought a very practical and respectful approach to his work. He indicated his engagement and acknowledgement of Howard's battlers in his first speech. It was quite evident from his contributions that he had empathy and understanding of those people, making him such a valuable local member. His service as the parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister and as Special Minister of State have already been mentioned by my colleagues and so have his recognitions in the work he did post his time in this place. It was extremely well deserved to have been acknowledged in the way that he was. It was humbly received by Gary too, I might say, because he was that sort of person—not necessarily one for much fuss but one about doing the job and getting it done properly and effectively, and, as has been indicated, not necessarily about being flashy but about understanding things properly and getting the job done. It's already been mentioned that that was the approach that he brought to his inquiry into the 2003 Canberra bushfires, which was an extraordinary event to be close to at the time, but Gary did an extraordinary job in his assessment of that very, very difficult event for people in this community.

Can I add my condolences to his wife, Rose, and his children, Ben and Deborah. He talked in his first speech about how important his family was to him and how his first wife, Kerrie, was such an important part of his campaign to get here in the first place. I think there are plenty of us who would understand those sentiments and would probably express them ourselves, but it was a clear demonstration of the importance of his family to him. So can I extend to them my sincerest condolences as a part of this debate and express my sadness that we have lost someone of the calibre of Gary Nairn AO at the age of 73, which is way too soon.

Question agreed to, honourable senators joining in a moment of silence.