Dr Brendan Nelson’s speech on the occasion of
David Hawker’s 25th anniversary as Member for Wannon

Mt Sturgeon Woolshed, Dunkfield

Saturday, 3 May 2008

Well, thank you very much Marilyn. Thank you for your leadership here in Wannon and the Liberal family in support of David and of Penny, and thank you for your role this evening in this recognition of David’s 25 years of service to the people of Wannon and to the people of Australia.
I’d also like to recognise and very warmly welcome here this evening Malcolm and Tammie Fraser. And, of course, as you know much better than I, Malcolm for some 28 years before David served this community in an exemplary way and ensured that it was and would remain a Liberal seat.
I’d also like to welcome Paul and Jill Calvert. Paul is the recently retired President of the Senate and a great friend of David’s. There are a number of our current and former parliamentary colleagues who are here this evening and I won’t recognise and mention all of them, but I would like to especially welcome, and it’s a reflection of the high regard in which David is held by all of us in the Federal Parliament - those who work with David now and those who have - that Philip and Heather Ruddock have come here from Sydney. Also, of course, Julian McGauran and Michael Ronaldson. I think Judith Troeth is here. Fran Bailey, if you ever think you are having a difficult and challenging political day, you just think of Fran. I hope this is not affecting her own electoral fortunes being here, but it’s wonderful to see you here this evening, Fran. The State members that are here that support David and work so hard in their local community, whether it’s Denis Napthine or John Vogels or David Koch or Hugh Delahunty.
My former colleagues who have worked and served with David, there are many here and I won’t mention them all. I’ll just mention one and that’s Stewart McArthur, who’s worked very closely with David and Penny over a long period of time in the adjoining electorate of Corangamite.
But to all of you in the Liberal family and those of you who support us and believe in us, I thank you very, very much, for your support of David for over a quarter of a century and your support of us through governments and through opposition, at both a Federal and a State level.
Marilyn asked me to say something about politics, if you like, before speaking specifically about David. So, my son would describe her as a scary lady…I think Senator Ronaldson would prefer the term formidable, so I hesitate to not obey what I’m asked to do.
The other thing is I hope you can hear me. I’m reminded of an experience I had during the 1998 Election campaign in my electorate of Bradfield, which is on Sydney’s upper-north shore. I’m in the interesting situation of turning a safe seat into a marginal one. I was, I think, we were three weeks out from polling day and we were in a hall of about this size, in my own electorate, and we had about 500 people crammed into it. And about three minutes into an address explaining why a GST would be good for Australia, a fellow jammed like a sardine against the back wall is waving his arms and trying to get my attention and he yelled out “I can’t hear” and this woman in the second row stood up and said, “I can, I’m happy to swap with you”.
So, there’s more, but I won’t go into it. There’s one more, given my unorthodox background to become our leader, it was during that same campaign I was handing out what my wife unkindly calls propaganda at a train station and a woman said to me “Dr Nelson you’re doing a fantastic job, you’re the best member we’ve ever had,” she said, “But I’m sorry, we can’t vote for you and we’ve got five voters in our family.” And I thought ‘My goodness!’ She said “We’re all the other way. We’re all Liberals”.
There you go.
I’m glad we maintain our sense of humour, which is one of the great strengths of David’s at a personal level, which I will speak about in a moment. We are in an environment, as you know only too well. We’re not in government federally and we’re not in government in any state or territory across Australia. And at this time, as it is at any time in the electoral cycle, but perhaps more so than ever, it is fundamentally important for us to not lose sight of the things in which we believe.
Every one of us in this room, not only David and I who were privileged to be members of the previous government, but every one of you who supported us and believed in us, have changed Australia. When I say, or John Howard or Peter Costello had said, that after almost 12 years that we are a more prosperous country, more confident in ourselves and our place in the world. It is not only a result of the hard work and vision and sacrifices of those of us privileged, thanks to you, to be members of the Federal Parliament and the Liberal Party in particular, but all of you and all of the things that you did to bring us to Government in 1996 and to sustain us through Government and all of the things we did with the economic and social reconstruction of our country.
I won’t go through them all now, but when you think, in terms of our economic welfare as a nation, you think about the kind of Australia that we were and the kind of Australia that we are today, it happened because of the belief, values and sacrifices of all of you in this room, in your support of David and Penny and in particular your support of our Victorian Parliamentary Liberal Party.
In facing the future, having there been a change in government, the thing that is most important for us to do is to remember every single day, of what it is in which we believe as Liberals.
And it is in part that which Robert Menzies said in October 1944, when he gathered the representatives of the 18 organisations that would found what would become our party, he said emerging from the UAP, that what we must look for is a revival of true Liberal thought. One he said that would work for social justice and security. True Liberals, he said, have great and imperative obligations to the weak, the sick and the unfortunate. And in his vision of a Liberal Australia, it would be one in which this country would owe to every citizen, not only a chance in life but a self-respecting one.
All of the things that we are now doing, everything that you see, hear and feel, this is said by those of us privileged to represent you and our values in the Parliament, is founded on those three philosophical things. Of true Liberal thought, of idealism, that every single thing we do, everything we say, has to be about creating a better future and even better Australia for the next generation than the one enjoyed by ours.
It also has to be about encouragement of and rewards for hard work and self sacrifice in everyday life. In terms of social justice and security, every Australian, whether they live in Wannon or they live in any other part of this nation, needs to hear, feel and see in what is said by the leadership of our party things that resonate with them in terms of their aspirations and their concerns.
And the third is, in terms of a self-respecting life, to make sure that it is about the creation of an environment where there is strong economic management, so that every Australian and every child that we have carries the reasonable prospect of having a job, without which it is the single biggest lifetime cause of poverty. And as the bedrock of our society, the support for small family businesses and families, whilst understanding and reaching out to every Australian, irrespective, as I said, of their circumstances and whatever they may choose to do.
I would also say before speaking specifically about David, and his 25 years of service to this community and to our country, we are absolutely determined.
There are five challenges that face the nation in terms of the prosperity that will be given to the next generation. The necessary reforms to the Federation; the adjustment that we will now need to make to living on environmental interests instead of capital, with our eyes economically wide open as we face the future; the defence of our nation and its interests and increasingly values throughout the world; and fifthly, of course, the cohesion of our society and seeing gambling addiction, welfare without responsibilities, the existential state of aboriginal Australia and many other things being no less important to us than solid economic management.
We are and we will be a group of men and women who are committed to building a better society. And when people say what do Liberals believe in, it’s very clear what we believe in. We believe in the individual, we believe in supporting him and her, we believe in encouraging hard work and self-sacrifice, as I said, of choice in education and health and union membership, solid economic management, the defence of our nation, small family businesses and the fundamentals of making sure that Australians get a fair go in aspirations for their families and their nation.
In David’s case, it was 25 years ago, I think on the 7th of May, David I think if I’m right, that David was elected in the by-election after Malcolm had stepped down as the Member for Wannon. And from Portland and Port Fairy and Port Campbell to the north of the electorate, whether from the Glenelg River, from the South Australian border across to Stawell and Beaufort and all of those many communities that are in between, those families and businesses and individuals and farms that David has emersed himself over 25 years, in representing them and their interests tirelessly in Canberra, to always make sure that he is there as your representative in Canberra, and never the other way round.
Those of us who don’t come from agricultural communities have learnt a lot about wool and sheep and dairying and beef and cattle and ah, docking and shipping and, mulesing - we will be driven by science not emotion. He’s also taught us a lot about tourism in the Western District, about textiles and clothing and tool manufacturing and aluminium smelting and many, many other things. And wine!
For 53 years the people of Wannon have been represented by two men. Both Liberals and both have led, from my perspective, from two positions. They have led from both position and they have led from principle. One as a Prime Minister and one driven by principle and the best interest of his electorate and that of Australia and the other, as we heard in Marilyn’s introductory remarks, David as the 27th Speaker of the House of Representatives.
And David has, in my opinion, many qualities. And I know that many of you here know him extremely well. But I say to you, that I was elected in 1996 and one of the very early things we had to deal with was the tragedy from Port Arthur. And I remember John Howard coming to our Party Room and saying that we would have to pass laws to control the lives of people who had never done anything wrong and never would. It was an environment where generally across Australia it was a popular response to that tragedy.
But in many parts of Australia, including in Wannon, there were many decent, law-abiding people that were going to be adversely affected by that. I didn’t know David Hawker particularly well before then, but I remember him standing up with some courage and considerable conviction in front of all of us as his colleagues, where it was fashionable if not easy in electorates like mine to support national gun control, as I most certainly did, and explain how this would affect people in David’s community.
He did so with intelligence and decency, he was well informed and he carried his argument in a most dignified way to challenge the way that the rest of us were thinking, as he has done with every issue that I have ever known him to have anything to do with on your behalf in Canberra.
When I think of David’s qualities, it is that he is intelligent, he is hardworking as you know, he has self restraint. We spent a few years together on the back bench. I can tell you he has a very good sense of humour…I won’t repeat some of it that he passed onto me at the time. He’s a man who always has a sense of what’s the right thing to do. He always plays the ball and never the man. He’s always a person who’s very considered and thoughtful before he says anything and he’s one of those people in our Party Room in Canberra, that when he gets up to speak everyone stops to listen, which is a reliable sign that the person that is about to speak carries the respect of his or her colleagues.
I consider David to be a person that has an open mind. He has spent much of his life nurturing the inner integrity of his own intellect and I have judged him as do many of our colleagues, by the humanity with which he treats, not only his constituents, but everybody he has dealings with.
When he was the Speaker of the Parliament, he was fair and at times, he upset us and me as a Minister in the then Government and our then Prime Minister. But he also upset the Leader of the Opposition and his front bench. And in the way he carried himself as Speaker, he made sure that we used power and that power didn’t use us.
He also is the success that he’s been and we admire David because of his success, for principle, intelligence, advocacy for you and the issues important to you. But we envy his character, because in the end that’s what really counts. And of all of the things that David stands for, in my view, he is a man of fundamental decency and integrity. He’s also got that look on his face that says ‘Brendan, can you please stop so that I can speak.’ I’m just about to start on Penny!
I asked David today how long he’d been married and he instantly said 35 years. I told him I’d say that. But, none of us can achieve anything in our lives without people who love us and give meaning to our lives and support us through all of the things that we endeavour to do.
Penny is a beautiful person in more than the obvious physical sense. And, wherever I have been in the Parliament, particularly when the times have been tough, or David’s position has required it, Penny has been there. And whatever has been going on, as it does in all of our lives, they have been a very formidable couple, in the sense that it’s obvious when you’re in their presence that they love one another, they respect one another and they are a powerful team.
And I would like to thank you Penny and your children for the sacrifices that you have made to allow David to do what he has done for all of us.
And finally, which David will be relieved to hear I suspect, but finally, Sir Robert Menzies, when he wrote of the forgotten people, spoke of salary earners and store owners and skilled artisans, professional men and women and farmers. Unorganised and self-conscious. He said they were not rich enough to wield power in its own right and too individualistic to be organised for pressure politics. And yet, he observed they are the backbone of the nation. And in their children, they saw the greatest contribution to our country.
When David gave his first speech in the Parliament, having recognised aboriginal people and recognised the service of Malcolm Fraser, he made a number of observations and things for which he would stand. But he said in the last part of his first speech, he said that if we combine together as individuals, our nation will be at its greatest.
In everything that David has done, with and for his family, for the people of Wannon, for the people of Australia and for the Liberal cause, he has lived and reflected true Liberal thought and Liberal values through the 25 years of his public life and I’m very confident he will do it for the next 25. It is an honour to know David, let alone to work with him.
Thank you.