E&OE....................................................................................................
Ladies and gentlemen, when I became Prime Minister and had the first
opportunity to address a gathering of the Liberal Party organisation
I acknowledged the fact that I was a creature of the Party organisation,
that I had devoted all of my adult life to the service of the Liberal
Party and that what I had achieved in politics was largely due to
the courtesy and the good favour of the Liberal Party. And tonight
in honouring Tony Staley I'm in a sense doing so because not
only does he have great personal qualities but what I'm about
to say about him is in a sense a metaphor for the affection that I
feel for the entire Liberal Party of Australia.
As the video we've just seen demonstrates, Tony is a person possessed
of three very great qualities and characteristics. First and foremost
and indisputably he has immense personal courage. Anybody who survives
what he went through and came back to leave a mark on national political
life is an extraordinary individual who has extraordinary qualities.
The second of his very great qualities is that he's possessed
I was about to say and he's demonstrated it beautifully,
he's possessed of a great sense of humour. And you need a sense
of humour to be Federal President of the Liberal Party, and I'll
return to that in a moment. And the third thing is that he's
also possessed of considerable grace and eloquence. And his speeches
are always entertaining. They are always beautifully delivered and
they are always very eloquent. And it is a joy to listen to him as
a speaker.
Ladies and gentlemen, there are sort of categories of Federal Presidents
of the Liberal Party. There are those who reigned as Presidents during
the great years of government - people like Phillip McBride and Jock
Pagan and Bob Cotton, people who presided over those long, unending
summer years between 1949 and 1972. And I think it's fair to
say that John Atwill, as Federal President, presided over a sort of
a return of those summer years during the period of the Fraser Government.
But there are those others who had to do the hard yards in Opposition
people like Jim Forbes and Ashley Goldsworthy, who's with
us tonight. And it's pretty joyless being the head of the organisation
when you're in Opposition. And Tony Staley is one of those who
endured three years of Opposition as Federal President before we came
back into office in 1996. And during that time he did a number of
things that other Federal Presidents hadn't done. He controversially
but very decisively intervened in a public fashion in matters relating
to the leadership of the Parliamentary Party. People will debate the
propriety or otherwise of that but who can argue that in the long
run his interventions were courageous, his interventions were moulded
by his desire to serve the Liberal Party and to achieve the best outcome
for the Party. And sometimes you do have to break with tradition and
break with convention. Now, as you know I favour doing that on some
occasions and in relation to some issues and not with others. But
Tony, Tony decided in relation to that particular matter that it was
desirable to break with tradition. And in doing so he demonstrated
an intelligent commitment to the future of the Party and an intelligent
understanding of its histories and the needs of the moment.
It was a great privilege for me to have Tony with me in that suite,
the Australia Suite, appropriately, at the Intercontinental Hotel
on the evening of the 2nd of March 1996. And for him to
be there at the Wentworth Hotel when Janette and I and our three children
came in to formally claim victory after, and in so doing to end 13
very baron and frustrating and unhappy years of being in Opposition,
years to which none of us ever intend to return, do we.
But, ladies and gentlemen, Tony throughout his presidency has been
a great servant of the Liberal Party. He's always put the Party
first. I couldn't have asked for a firmer friend and ally in
the time that I have been Leader of the Federal Parliamentary Party.
We don't always agree on every issue. We will have arguments
and lively debates about particular issues. But as the head of the
organisation he's been a wonder to work with. And he's been
the President for a number of years. He brought us back into government
and that's a huge achievement. He's produced a well oiled
Party machine. He's worked closely with my office. He's
worked closely with the Parliamentary Party. He's worked closely
in a partnership, first with Andrew Robb and more recently with Lynton
Crosby and always through those years with Ron Walker, our indefatigable
Federal Treasurer. And he has been a great servant of our Party. He's
done great things for Australia. He's overcome great difficulties.
And I really am very proud as Prime Minister and as Federal Parliamentary
Leader of the Party to express to you, Tony, our affection, our gratitude,
our thanks, our admiration and, above all, on behalf of the Liberal
family throughout Australia our great debt to you for what you have
done and the way in which you've led the organisation so skillfully
and so effectively over the last six years. Thank you.
[Ends]