Mr TIM FISCHER (Deputy Prime Minister)(6.16 p.m.) —I would like to add to the remarks of the Prime Minister (Mr Howard) and the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Beazley) by recounting this quote from the late Sir Hubert Opperman. He states:

All I ask of you all is that whatever action you may contemplate in your political life the interests of Australia will always be regarded as paramount to your own.

I think that was the sort of guiding light that he brought to his representation as the member for Corio over all those years and to all of those other activities that he undertook through that busy life; that proud life which saw him win so much in France and around the world with his attributes, starting on a Malvern Star bicycle and moving up from there.

In a speech made on the supply bill on 11 May 1967, Sir Hubert said, `Perhaps one of the most progressive and appreciated steps taken while I held the immigration portfolio was the relaxation of the procedures relating to migration from Asia.' That is not an exact quote but a paraphrase of part of his speech. He was very proud of his work in commencing and initiating the abolition of the White Australia policy. He can rightly walk tall in regard to that contribution which he made to this parliament.

Mr Winton Turnbull—a former member for Mallee who never missed a division over all the years that he was a member of this House and a whip for the then Country Party—led the adjournment debate just before Oppy headed off to become the Australian High Commissioner to Malta. Winton, who I gather had a great turn of phrase, for those who knew him all those years ago—and I know the member for New England (Mr Sinclair) would fall into that category—said to the House on that particular occasion, `The important thing is that the principles for which men stand will continue.' He said of Hubert Opperman:

They will withstand the kingdom of decay. When time is over and worlds have passed away, cold in the grave the withered heart may lie but that which warmed it once can never die.

On behalf of the National Party, I extend my sympathy to the family of Sir Hubert Opperman, a person who made a giant contribution to the wellbeing of this nation.