Senator FAULKNER (Leader of the Opposition in the Senate)(6.56 p.m.) —I rise, at this first opportunity, to pay a brief tribute to the contribution that former Senator John Coates has made in this chamber, in the parliament more generally, in the Labor caucus and in the Australian Labor Party. Senators will recall that John Coates announced his resignation on 20 August, on budget day. He did it in a way that typified the man: it was done without fanfare or fuss, it was straightforward and done in consultation with the Labor Party. That is what John Coates was all about. He is a person who has made a very significant contribution to the Labor cause. His contribution covered very many years. He was a member of the House of Representatives as the member for Denison throughout the life of the Whitlam government and was defeated, along with so many other Labor members, in the general election in 1975. He came back into the parliament as a senator in 1980 and his resignation occurred just a few weeks ago.

John Coates made a very significant contribution and handled his resignation in a way that meant it was difficult for any of us at the time, given that it was budget day, to acknowledge his contribution. I did not ask John Coates whether he thought it appropriate that I now place our appreciation on record. I suspect he might have said, `Oh well, you can take it or leave it,' because, although thinking of resignation for some time, he did not join with other senators during the valedictory speeches that occurred at the end of the last sittings.

John Coates's contribution has been one that we ought to record in this place. His committee service in the Senate has been enormous. I do not know of anyone in the Senate chamber, during the time I have served, who had a better understanding of the workings of this place.

While he was not a person who regularly jumped to his feet and took points of order, when he did, they counted, because there was not a person in this chamber who had a better understanding of the standing orders and the procedures in this place. I suspect his long service on the Procedure Committee and in a range of other guises led to the development of those skills over a long period.

He was also a person who made a very fine contribution to policy development within the parliamentary party. He was a factional colleague of mine. There are many of us on the left of the Labor Party who also acknowledge his great loyalty to the cause of the left of the Labor Party over a very long period. Again, he took the same approach in relation to that commitment as he did to his loyalty and commitment to the Labor Party.

I found him a person who gave me a tremendous amount of personal support, which I always appreciated. But fundamentally, this was a man whose absolute commitment was to the Labor Party and the labour movement. He demonstrated that through thick and thin. He was a person who had the courage of his convictions within the forums of the party and within the caucus. He was a person who at times was willing to take the leadership of the party on when he felt strongly about an issue. That is always difficult in any political party. It does not necessarily mean that quick advancement is going to come your way when you do that. But he did have the courage of his convictions. He expressed his views without fear or favour, and did so for a very long time.

John Coates is a person who is going to be a very great loss to the parliamentary Labor Party. I am sure he will remain an active member of the Labor Party in Tasmania. His retirement will be a loss for Tasmanian Labor as well. He has been a great servant of our party. I think so many of us in the Labor Party are delighted that such a capable replacement for John Coates, in Kerry O'Brien, has been preselected by the Tasmanian branch of the Labor Party. It was so typical of John Coates, as we had a number of functions to farewell him and thank him around this place, that in every single contribution he made, he acknowledged Kerry's preselection and the role that he believed he would play.

So John Coates is going to be a great loss to our party. He has made a fine contribution. I wanted to say, on behalf of my Labor colleagues in the Senate and many colleagues in the federal parliamentary Labor Party, that we will miss him. We believe that his contribution, firstly as a member of the House of Representatives and then since 1980 until very recently as a senator in this chamber, has been a very significant one for our party.

While he is a great loss to us, I am sure all of us wish him every success and an interesting future career. I know he is very much focused now on what he is going to do in the future. He has had an interesting career in the past. Before he came into parliament he worked as a scientist, as a biochemist; he has worked as a teacher at university. Of course, he also worked, in those tough years after the defeat of Labor in 1975, as an electorate assistant to Ken Wriedt, who led the Labor Party in this chamber. So he has had a very wide ranging experience outside the parliamentary arena. But we remember his long and very valued contribution in the parliament, in the caucus and in the Labor Party. On behalf of my colleagues, I say to John Coates: thank you. Thank you for the loyalty, thank you for the contribution, thank you for the dedication over the years. It is very much appreciated by us all.