Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the coalition, I join with Senator Conroy and the government in extending our sincere sympathies to the family of Peter Durack upon his death on 30 July at the age of 81. Regrettably, I did not have the opportunity to actually serve with Peter in this place—his term ceased on 30 June 1993 and mine started on 1 July that year—but I certainly knew Peter personally and held him in extraordinarily high regard. He was one of the most accomplished senators the Liberal Party has produced and I think was held in the utmost respect right across the political divide. His contribution to Australian politics and the Senate are significant, are valued and should be honoured today.

He made a very big contribution, as Senator Conroy has noted, to the Liberal Party in his home state of Western Australia and was a member of one of the most significant and well-known families in that state. He co-founded the University of Western Australia Liberal Club while studying law in the middle of 1945, stemming from his strong and understandable admiration for Robert Menzies. He contested and won the seat of Perth in the WA Legislative Assembly in 1965 and held that seat until 1968, when he became President of the Liberal Party in Western Australia until entering this place in 1971. So he is one of those few Australians who have served at both state and federal parliamentary levels. He was, as Senator Conroy noted, a very successful barrister and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1978. He did make a huge contribution to the Liberal Party in Western Australia, both in his service to the organisation and as a mentor to party members in that state, and to Liberal parliamentarians right across the country. Indeed, I knew him in my capacity as an official of the party’s federal secretariat and knew well of his mentoring role.

As has been noted, he entered the Senate in July 1971, having been elected in 1970 at one of those very rare things, a separate half-Senate election. He was to become one of the most outstanding Western Australian Liberal senators, serving for the lengthy period of 22 years in this place. He held numerous frontbench positions for our party, in both government and opposition, and was one of the most senior figures for much of his time in the Senate. He saw the change of government in 1975 and then, of course, opposition in 1983. But in both opposition and government he was a very senior figure. He was a member of the opposition shadow ministry from only three years after he came here, in 1974, until we came into government in 1975. He served as Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate from 1978 to 1983, as deputy to the great John Carrick. Then after the defeat of the Fraser government he continued as deputy leader—in this case in opposition—from 1983 to 1987, under the great leadership of Fred Chaney, his colleague from Western Australia: a rare double act from the state of Western Australia. Then, with an interregnum, he again became the deputy leader, from 1990 to 1992, under the leadership of then Senator Robert Hill.

I certainly remember well the occasion on which, after the 1990 election, it was widely expected that Peter Durack would become the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate. But, to everyone’s surprise, my South Australian friend and colleague Robert Hill won that leadership, and Peter was elected the deputy. Fred Chaney, his friend and colleague from Western Australia, has described Peter as having ‘a wonderful combination of a great depth of legal knowledge with a terrific understanding of the political system’.

Peter Durack was a Senate man: he really understood and respected the role of this place. In particular, having entered the Senate when the committee system was in its infancy, he was a strong advocate of the importance of estimates committees and the very thorough examination by this place of government legislation. He did have many achievements in the Senate as a minister. He held, in all, four ministerial positions in the Fraser government. But, as Senator Conroy has noted, he is most particularly remembered for his service for six years, no less, as Attorney-General from 1977 until our defeat in 1983. He will be remembered, I think, as one of the most accomplished Attorneys-General and the most significant in our nation’s history, particularly, as Senator Conroy has noted, for his record and his historic act of introducing the Freedom of Information Act in 1981. Former Prime Minister John Howard has said of Peter Durack, his former cabinet colleague in the Fraser government, that he was ‘a terrifically thoughtful contributor’ in cabinet meetings and in shadow cabinet meetings. Anyone who knew Peter would understand exactly what former Prime Minister John Howard meant when he said that.

Peter’s contribution to parliament and public life was significant. All those who encountered him in the chamber speak of his strong intellect and his great integrity. He was indeed a great asset to the Senate and to the Liberal Party in Western Australia. I am pleased to extend to his wife, Isabel, and their children, Anne and Philip, and their families, our great appreciation of his long and meritorious public service. We tender our sympathy to the family in their bereavement.