Mr BRUCE SCOTT (5:02 PM) —by leave—Today is a very significant day in the life of the National Party. It is a day of sadness when your leader decides to step down from leadership of the party. It is a day of sadness because in so many ways we operate as a family. When something happens to the family there is an inevitable sadness that affects all of us. I observed during John’s address to the parliament this morning that there were genuine tears around this parliament. I know that I felt a lump in my throat and my eyes were wet. You often say to yourself in that kind of circumstance, ‘Why does that happen?’ It happens because it is a day of sadness and because we operate as a family and something has happened to change that family. It has been a happy family and through all the difficulties—as any family would have—we always got to the other side.

John Anderson and I share a boundary between our electorates in New South Wales and Queensland. My electorate might extend a bit further east and little further west than his but we came into the parliament at about the same time. He came into parliament through a by-election and I came in in 1990. In fact, John campaigned for me during the 1990 election. I will never forget the day he came to Goondiwindi. He drove up from Gunnedah and we spent the day campaigning in the southern parts of my electorate. He often used to tell stories at his own expense. As he drove back home that night from Goondiwindi to Gunnedah he suddenly saw, in his rear vision mirror, flashing blue lights. He was speeding to get home because he had another commitment that night and I had held him up—as members keen to be elected to this federal parliament are wont to do when they have someone campaigning with them. He says that as he pulled up he thought, ‘Oh dear, I’m going to be in trouble. I just hope I’m not recognised.’ And as he walked back, pulling his paper licence from his wallet, a rather attractive female constable looked him in the eyes and said, ‘Oh dear, Mr Anderson, we are in a bit of a hurry tonight!’ John is the sort of person who can tell such a story about himself. I will not tell you the rest of the story; that is for you to find out when history is written, or perhaps we will read about it in John Anderson’s memoirs.

John and I have very similar electorates. In fact, we often used to lament the fact that our electorates are probably two of only three or four truly rural National Party electorates left in this federal parliament. Many of the seats that our party holds now are coastal seats, with a very changed demographic from what would have existed 10, 20 or 30 years ago. Those electorates certainly have a different demographic from John’s electorate or mine. The largest town in my electorate is about the size of Gunnedah—about 12,000 people. Our electorates are spread over a large geographic area and consist of many communities and shire councils. We often used to discuss the challenges—for the party and for members like us who represent rural constituencies—in representing those people and having some wins for them. We would often be the butt of jokes around this parliament but to us it was like water off a duck’s back. We were sent down here by people from rural Australia and I know that John has always had a great sense of pride and a love of his own electorate, as I think most members have.

I want to talk through some of the things we have been able to achieve since coming to government which have very much been driven by John Anderson. We are in the middle of one of the worst droughts this nation has ever seen, and exceptional circumstances payments have always been an important element of drought relief for which this party will always stand steadfastly and fight. But there is another element of drought relief which is not often spoken of, and that is the Farm Management Deposit Scheme, which has been of significant benefit to hundreds of farmers and landholders. It was part of the AAA package announced by John Anderson when he was minister for agriculture in our first term of government. The Farm Management Deposit Scheme allows farmers to put away a reserve of money for the bad years without paying tax on it in the good years. When we came to government, that scheme had been gutted by the other side of parliament. We put it back together, only John made sure it was better than in the past. Today that scheme is still helping those farmers who have been able to put cash aside through the worst drought the nation has seen in 100 years. There are significant deposits there. An important element of that scheme is that farmers can put money aside in the good years without having to pay tax on it. There is a lot of money put away in cash reserves to be drawn down when needed, such as in times of drought.

Local government will tell you that Roads to Recovery, which many of us have spoken about today, is one of the biggest issues. They say, ‘Keep the money coming.’ That money goes directly to local councils to be spent on roads that are significant and important to them. It does not go to state governments to be hived off to run their bureaucracies. I know how hard John fought for Roads to Recovery. It is another of the legacies that John leaves to our party, rural Australia and the whole nation.

Improvements in communications have been a long and steady fight which has so often been led by John. Had it not been for John, I think the party might have said, ‘We’ve had enough reviews and we might consider the next phase of the privatisation of Telstra.’ John would listen to the party room and the concerns we would bring from our constituencies. After the Besley inquiry, he was not satisfied that we had delivered on fixing communications in rural Australia. He insisted on another review—the Estens review—which we are still rolling out today. Had it not been for John listening to the concerns of the party room and being able to negotiate with the Prime Minister, we might not have had an additional review. Of course, the improvements in communications since we have come to government have been significant. Whether in the back of my electorate, in John’s electorate, in Birdsville or in some remote community, communications are significantly better than when we came to government.

I know that tomorrow will be a new day, but John Anderson’s contribution to the party will not be forgotten. I admire his legacy and pay tribute to him. John has very strong beliefs and very strong family values. Those family values, which, in a way, he shows openly, reinforce the great policy of the National Party, which is that the family is the cornerstone of any successful community. John has carried that policy and demonstrated it. He has not just spoken about it; he practises it. He reinforces the founding principles of our party.

I thank the House for its indulgence this afternoon. I thank the ministers for giving us leave to complete the testimonials that we all wanted to get on the public record. I wish John well and I wish Julia well. She has been a wonderful first lady for the National Party. I wish John good health and I hope that his lifestyle change in stepping down from the leadership of the National Party will help his health. I look forward to seeing him on the back bench because I know that, so often, the real fights are won on the back bench. We need strength on the back bench to keep those on the front bench on the right track. Well done, John. We salute you.