Mr VAILE (Deputy Prime Minister) (2:23 PM) —I speak in support of the motion moved by the Prime Minister expressing the condolences of the government, and for my part on behalf of my wife, Wendy, and my party, to Barbara and family on the sad loss of Peter Cook over the weekend. I do that on a number of bases. Obviously Peter and I shared a passion for what we engage in professionally, and that is not just politics but our pursuit of a better set of circumstances as far as the global trading regime is concerned. Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the great contribution that Peter Cook made in that regard in terms of initially building the case and the argument within the Labor Party that this was absolutely necessary and right for Australia, for the future of the country and the place it needs to take in the global economy in the future. He did that extremely well.

Secondly, there was a strange circumstance only four weeks ago. Members would be aware that I was hit with the news that I also had been affected by a melanoma type cancer, and very quickly I was advised by my medical practitioners to go and get it seen to. I did that in the Mater Hospital in Sydney four weeks ago. Having had the operation in the morning I was, at about lunchtime, very groggily coming out of the anaesthetic and who should appear at my door but Peter Cook in his wheelchair, being pushed by Barbara. It was a fantastic gesture. I had already built quite a warm and strong professional relationship with Peter as my opposite number in my earlier days as Minister for Trade, back when we both travelled to the WTO meeting in Seattle in 1999 and then Senator Cook was part of the official Australian delegation. But I must admit it was moving that, in the condition he was in, he took the time to come around and see how I was, just having had an operation. I know that others in this place have been affected in the same way, but I share the concerns that he expressed through the committee work that he did on this issue in the Senate. I certainly look forward to working with the Minister for Health and Ageing and within the government in responding to the recommendations of the committee report. It is a very frightening prospect to be confronted with one’s own mortality and realise that you are not bulletproof. You get to an age—you go through your life thinking that nothing can happen to you and then something does, and it causes you to reflect.

I am aware of how hard and in a very focused way Peter Cook fought the disease that he had for a long time. It obviously sapped a lot of energy from him but he kept on going. That was a reflection of how he undertook his professional life as a very senior minister in what was a very long term Labor government under prime ministers Hawke and Keating. To have had the ability to serve in the diverse range of portfolios that he did—industrial relations, resources, industry and trade—certainly stands as testimony to his ability and his intellect. That was certainly very apparent to all of us who had the opportunity of working with him.

During the Uruguay Round of negotiations he established a position for Australia—a platform, if you like—from where we have been able to take Australia forward as a key player in this global regime of the international rules based system of global trade. Notwithstanding the fact that we are a country of only 20 million people and about the 13th largest economy, going forward from those days we have been able to establish that. Ironically, the news of Peter’s passing came to me when I was sitting in a meeting in Geneva on Saturday with a number of ministerial colleagues in preparation for the next round of negotiations in Hong Kong in a week’s time. We reflected on the great contribution that Peter Cook made in establishing that, in concluding the Uruguay Round that went on for far too long and in delivering Australia into a circumstance where we have collectively been able to take ourselves forward in terms of influence and prominence in the global trading regime and in terms of the counsel, I suppose, that is sought from Australia on these matters.

I know that Peter felt very strongly about not just the benefits to Australia from trade liberalisation but what it meant for the poverty-stricken countries and people of the world in terms of opening up markets and giving them opportunities. Of course, there is the complexity of the system. I understand that he authored a book to give guidance to many of those developing countries so that they could better understand how they could exercise their rights within the organisation. Certainly his contribution to the global trading regime and the rules based system is a legacy not just to Australia but also to the organisation itself, and that certainly will be well and truly remembered. I should also make comment on the fact that Peter was, during the time of the debate in this place, after we had negotiated the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement—although he may not have agreed with every aspect of what we had negotiated—supportive of the fact that it was an important pillar in our economic relationship with the United States. I understand that he argued that within the councils of the Labor Party at the time, and we certainly appreciated that.

So I add my condolences and sympathies and those of my wife, Wendy, and express them to Barbara and family. It is a sad loss to Australia, but we should also recognise the great contribution that Peter Cook made in a personal and professional way to Australia, particularly in this latter period in his life when he did not just cave in and give up to the disease that afflicted him but went on to try to put down a bit of a platform for broadening our thinking on how we should help people to manage their lives when confronted with cancer. As I say, I certainly look forward to continuing that legacy and intend to work with the health minister in the government’s response to that report.