Ms WORTH (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education, Training and Youth Affairs) (3:10 PM) —I am pleased to speak on this condolence motion today, particularly because duty called and I was not able to join Carol, whom I acknowledge today, and the Nugent family at Peter Nugent's funeral, where I would very much have liked to have been. Peter's life, as we have heard, was cut short. It is like having a member of the family die when one of us, a sitting member, passes away in such circumstances.

We have already heard how Peter was born on 1 April 1938 in the UK and how he left school at 15 to serve in the British Royal Air Force in the UK, Singapore and Cyprus, a career which would span 24 years. In 1977 Peter retired from the Air Force as a squadron leader and migrated to Australia that same year. In 1980 he showed very good choice in joining the Liberal Party, and in 1983 he stood unsuccessfully as the Liberal Party's candidate in the federal seat of La Trobe in Victoria, a seat which was of course then won by the Labor Party and eventually won by his friend and colleague—who I know will be back—Bob Charles. But Peter Nugent did not give up, and in 1990, as we have already heard, he was elected to the House of Representatives as the member for Aston. He successfully defended Aston—always a marginal seat—in 1993, 1996 and 1998. After the last election he held that seat by a margin of 4.2 per cent, and I noted that Michael Harvey, writing in the Sun Herald last month, said:

You have also heard today what a hardworking and committed member of parliament Peter Nugent was, demonstrated by his record of participation in parliamentary committee work, policy development and all that goes into the debates that we have in this place. He was passionate about helping the indigenous people of Australia. He was a member of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation from 1991 to 1997, and from April 1993 to May 1994 served as the shadow minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs. Peter was a vocal opponent of mandatory sentencing and was one of us who argued against the race debate heralded by the politics of Pauline Hanson and One Nation, saying it caused `damage and hurt'. Peter was also a strong advocate of a national apology to the indigenous people. However, it should be noted that, despite his well-known views in this area, he was critical of Peter Garrett and his group, who wore `sorry' outfits during their performance at the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, accusing them of introducing domestic politics into the Olympics.

I would particularly like to associate my remarks with those already made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, because Peter had a strong interest in these areas. He has been described by the foreign minister as decent, kind, principled and courageous, and I certainly agree with all those descriptions. From 1996 Peter was a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade and chaired the Human Rights Subcommittee. At that time he also took over from Minister Ruddock as the chair of the Parliamentary Group of Amnesty International. This is where I really got to know Peter Nugent, because I too was a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade and Amnesty International at that time. He and I were the only two Liberals on the Human Rights Subcommittee, which I left when I became a parliamentary secretary in mid-1997. That is certainly where I got to know Peter Nugent very well and came to admire him greatly.

The committee system that works across the parliament is very good for giving people an opportunity to work hard in areas where they have great interest, and Peter certainly did that. It was, of course, with the foreign affairs committee that Peter visited East Timor in December 1999 and again this year. After his first visit he told the parliament:

In his maiden speech, back in 1990, Peter talked about the environment. He said:

Apart from his well known passion for indigenous, human rights and justice issues, Peter was also interested in other issues, such as technology and taxation. I am interested to learn, for instance, that he argued against the superannuation surcharge. Prior to entering parliament, Peter worked in marketing and sales in a computing and information technology company. In his maiden speech he spoke of Australia's need to embrace technology in order to prosper. Interestingly, in the late 1970s, before coming to this place, Peter worked for a company called International Computer Ltd and moved to Canberra to install the first computerised Hansard system in the Old Parliament House.

I express my great sympathy to Carol and to the extended Nugent family. While I know that you will have been grieving and miss him greatly, I am sure that you will be comforted by such headlines as `Liberals lose decent and honourable man' and `Nugent an MP of “conscience and courage”'. As the Treasurer said:

The Treasurer also said:

My colleague Michael Ronaldson said that he was just a thoroughly decent bloke. The Prime Minister said:

I agree with all of that, and I also agree with Ross Peake and particularly identify with what he wrote in the Canberra Times:

Today I honour Peter Nugent's memory. We all understand that every politician's greatest strength and support come from their family, and Peter's wife, Carol, was his constant companion. Again, I express my deepest sympathy to Carol and her family.