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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-04-28 Daily Xml
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Condolence

LAIDLAW, HON. D.H.

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:03): I move:

That the House of Assembly expresses its deep regret at the death of the Hon. Don Laidlaw, former member of the Legislative Council, and places on record its appreciation of his meritorious public service, and that as a mark of respect to his memory the sitting of the house be suspended until the ringing of the bells.

Earlier this month, I was saddened to hear of the passing of Don Laidlaw on 14 April, aged 85. Don Laidlaw provided long and distinguished service to South Australia's business community and to the state as a manager and director of some of our best known business and industrial enterprises.

He served as a legislative councillor from 1975 to 1982 during the governments of Don Dunstan, Des Corcoran and David Tonkin, but perhaps Don Laidlaw is best known in this place for his act of political courage in 1979, when he and two of his Liberal Party colleagues crossed the floor and voted with the Labor government against legislation that would have cleared the way for Alan Bond to take control of Santos and, indeed, the Cooper Basin resources.

Donald Hope Laidlaw was born in Adelaide on 6 August 1923. He was educated at St Peter's College and the University of Adelaide, where he attained a law degree. He also completed a Bachelor of Letters at Oxford University's renowned Magdalen College, whose famous alumni include King Edward VIII, Oscar Wilde, our own Sir Howard Florey, Lawrence of Arabia and Dudley Moore.

Upon his return to Adelaide, Don joined the army and initially served as a filing clerk with the intelligence corps at Keswick, and at Rymill House on East Terrace. He described his daily filing routine as 'an incredibly dull existence' but, in order to overcome the tedium of the first six months of his army career, he began to study the Japanese language in his spare time. That led to his appointment as a Japanese interpreter based at the Loveday internment camp near Barmera.

In his autobiographical memoirs of that period, Don Laidlaw recalled how he arrived at the camp on his first evening and was provided with some threadbare blankets and a hessian sack which he was instructed to fill with wet straw that was lying outside. That was to be his bed, inside the very rudimentary army hut—quite different from the quarters being constructed right now out at Edinburgh.

He also recalled another valuable life experience he gained when staying as a guest on the Sewell family's property at Barmera. He wrote:

At my first breakfast I was confronted with a jug of iced yellow liquid sitting on the table alongside the milk, stewed fruit and corn flakes. It turned out to be iced sweet sherry [for breakfast] and Mr Sewell assured me that it was a regular 'starter' in the Riverland—

I will have to ask the member for Chaffey about that—

and that on hot summer days one needed a little stimulant to get out to work in the orchard.

In early 1943, after six months of working as an interpreter at Loveday, Don Laidlaw successfully applied for a position with the Central Bureau Intelligence Corps, based at General Douglas MacArthur's South-West Pacific Area headquarters in Brisbane, MacArthur being the head of allied command. There is his famous press conference and statement at Terowie when he got off the train and said, 'I have come out of Bataan and I will return.' All of us feel like that when we go to Terowie, that we want to return. He worked at General MacArthur's headquarters for the next 2½ years, helping to decode Japanese radio signals.

After the war, Don Laidlaw made his mark in South Australia's rapidly expanding industry sector. In 1956 he joined Adelaide firm Perry Engineering, which later became Johns Perry Limited and is now part of the Boral Group. Don served as managing director of Perry Engineering from 1962 to 1973 and was a member of the company's board of directors from 1966 to 1988.

He was appointed president of the Metal Industries Association, which was the forerunner of the Engineering Employers Association, and, following his retirement from Perry in 1973, he served as director for a number of companies, including Quarry Industries, Bennett and Fisher, and Adelaide and Wallaroo Fertilisers.

From 1977 to 1995 he was chairman of Adelaide Brighton Cement, and from 1988 to 1995 he was a director of Western Mining Corporation, during that critical time of the development of the Roxby Downs Olympic Dam mine. Indeed, Don Laidlaw maintained an active role in corporate South Australia before, during and after he was elected to the state's upper house.

Having been a member of the federal Liberal Party's manufacturing committee, as well as the party's state treasurer from 1974, he was elected to the Legislative Council on 12 July 1975. In his maiden speech, delivered the day after his 52nd birthday, Don outlined the two wishes he held in relation to his parliamentary career. He stated:

First, that I can help maintain a high standard of debate in this council, and secondly, that no-one will ever say after my time in parliament is over that I ever lost my sense of humour for too long a time.

He was regarded as one of the Liberal Party's most influential members during his seven years in the Legislative Council. He was the only South Australian member of the federal government's Economy Watch Committee that was established under former prime minister Malcolm Fraser.

In 1978 he counselled Dean Brown (later to become a very distinguished premier of this state) against mounting a challenge to David Tonkin's leadership of the parliamentary Liberal Party. A newspaper article at the time, written by Greg Kelton in The Advertiser, reported that many ALP members described him (Don Laidlaw) 'as the only Liberal they could talk to rationally on industrial and economic issues'.

During his time as a legislative councillor he served as chairman of the Industries Development Committee. Interestingly, given contemporary events, in that role he assessed the financial plight of the South Australian Jockey Club—it sort of keeps on keeping on. He was also involved in negotiations with the South Australian National Football League that led to the financing by the Labor government of lighting and new grandstands at Football Park, now known as AAMI Stadium. So, those who visit AAMI Stadium should think about Des Corcoran, Geoff Virgo and Don Laidlaw.

As I mentioned earlier, he was one of the three Liberal legislative councillors to vote with the government to protect Santos and the security of South Australia's gas supplies. It was a sign of his influence that he was the only one of those three not to be punished for taking that principled stand. I have to say I was around at that time and I remember being in a room when Hugh Hudson was meeting with Alan Bond to tell him that, under no circumstances, would he be allowed to take control of Santos and that, if necessary, the government would pass legislation to prevent him from doing so. Of course, it was only recently that this government agreed to a request from Santos to remove the shareholding constraints that were imposed three decades ago because of Don Laidlaw's vote in the upper house after we sought and received assurances from Santos as to its ongoing corporate presence and contribution to our state.

In announcing his retirement from the Legislative Council in 1982, Don noted that he was no longer able to balance his parliamentary commitments with his ongoing business interests. He said—and this is a very interesting quote—'There is no longer any room in the upper house for a part-time member with outside interests.' How true is that?

Following his retirement from parliament, he not only maintained his numerous corporate directorships but he also continued to make a significant community contribution in a number of other areas. He continued to enhance his reputation as a vigneron, having initially planted 185 acres of vines near Waikerie in 1968. He went on to establish the 15 hectare Warrenda vineyard in the Barossa Valley with his youngest daughter, Sonia, in 1990. In 1995, along with his wife, Peg, and his daughter Diana he planted the Pancake Estate vineyard at the Warrenda property.

Don Laidlaw was also a significant supporter of St Mark's College in North Adelaide. He served as the inaugural director of the Playford Memorial Trust for 14 years from 1982. In 1996 he was honoured by the University of Adelaide for his work with the trust, with a three-hectare plantation of native eucalypts and acacias established at the Waite campus and named after him.

Don Laidlaw was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1989 for services to industry, parliament and the community. In 1996 his corporate contribution was recognised when he was named by the Australian Institute of Company Directors as the inaugural South Australian director of the year.

Of course, he is also the father of the Hon. Diana Laidlaw, who served in the Legislative Council from 1982 to 2003. She served with distinction and was a minister for the arts and transport in the previous Liberal government. Having followed her in the arts portfolio, I know that Diana Laidlaw was and continues to be a passionate supporter of our artistic communities who made a significant contribution to art and culture in South Australia during her tenure as minister, and continues to do so in a number of areas. I have no doubt that her father was immensely proud of all that she achieved.

Upon learning of Don Laidlaw's death, I wrote to Diana to express my sincere condolences and our deepest sympathy. On behalf of all members of this house, I extend my condolences to Don's wife, Peg; to his daughters, Diana, Susan and Sonia; and to all of his family and friends.

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Leader of the Opposition) (14:15): I rise to support the motion and thank the Premier for his kind remarks. South Australian businessman and parliamentarian, Don Laidlaw, is remembered fondly in this parliament. He died on 14 April this year, and he will be missed. I indicate to the house that the Liberal Party in the other place will make a similar but more lengthy condolence motion than in this house.

Don Laidlaw was a champion of the Legislative Council and he will be forever remembered as such. Don retired as chairman of Adelaide Brighton Cement in 1995. He was also a director of Western Mining Corporation. As we have heard, Mr Laidlaw was a Liberal member of South Australia's Legislative Council from 1975 to 1982, and he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1989 for his services to industry, parliament and the community. Don is remembered on this side particularly for his kindness, his tolerance, his commitment, and his capacity for friendship.

After attending St Peter's College, Don started a law degree before the war intervened. As we have heard, he joined the Australian Intelligence Corp, learning Japanese with the help of Japanese internees at Loveday Internment Camp in the Riverland. I understand that, after the war, he wanted to go on to learn Russian, but other events intervened. For the next 2½ years, Don was a code-breaker, decoding Japanese radio signals.

After the war, he resumed his law degree and, at law school, met and later married fellow law student, Vivienne Perry. They had three children together. Don's eldest daughter, Diana, was also a Liberal member of the South Australian parliament from 1982 to 2002. In June 2005, Diana Laidlaw followed her father's footsteps once again by being made a Member of the Order of Australia for services to the parliament, the arts and for improved transport systems. After Vivienne's death, Don later married her sister, Peg, and enjoyed 41 years of happy married life.

Don spent 20 years as a manufacturer, manager or director of various South Australian-based companies involved in engineering, cement, quarrying, fertilisers and chemicals before his parliamentary career began. He was elected on 12 July 1975, and he was an MLC until 5 November 1982. His maiden speech on 7 August 1975 concentrated on his experience in industrial development and industrial relations.

As we have heard, a significant contribution in the parliament was his decision to support the Labor government's legislation to restrict voting rights in two local companies (the South Australian Gas Company and Santos) from predatory interstate purchasers, because he believed the security of gas distribution and resources was absolutely vital for the future development of the state. I can tell the house that I did receive a couple of animated calls from Don during our consideration of more recent Santos legislation. His advice was forthcoming and certainly—

Ms Chapman: Unrestrained.

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: Well, welcome. He was a member of the State Industrial Development Council almost from its inception and served on a number of committees with respect to industrial relations, including several with former prime minister Bob Hawke. In 1995, when Don retired as chairman of Adelaide Brighton Ltd and as a director of Western Mining, he planned and planted the Pancake Estate vineyard in the hills above the Barossa Valley, between Lyndoch and Williamstown.

Mr Goldsworthy interjecting:

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: I hear the member for Kavel applauding that decision by Don. He utilised all of the experience he had gained over 36 years of involvement in vineyard management in his post-working life endeavours. Pancake Estate was the third successful vineyard undertaken by Don Laidlaw and his family. In his life post parliament, Don was also the president of the South Australian Liberal Party and the first chair of the Playford Trust. As a director of Western Mining company he relished being involved in the development of Roxby Downs and the Olympic Dam mine. He traced his family history and wrote about his war years.

In 1996, Don was named the inaugural South Australian director of the year by the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Diana observed that his interest in business loomed large in his life to the last, still requesting the Financial Review to be delivered daily to him in intensive care at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

Don was a champion of the parliament and the Liberal Party, and he will be remembered as one of a generation of members of parliament who stepped forward from the business community and community life to serve in the parliament, almost as a duty, almost as a calling, and almost as an obligation, in the belief that he should return something to the community, having already accomplished a great deal and having led a very successful life.

This was truly in the spirit of the founding years of this parliament, when so many very well established and well regarded South Australians saw it as their calling, to step forward to the parliament and, without remuneration and without reward, to serve the people of this great state. In that respect, Don was a very special example of many on both sides of the house who have served this state with distinction.

On behalf of the state Liberal Party and all Liberals across the state, I express our condolences and warm regards to the family. It was a great privilege to attend Don's funeral service along with many of my colleagues, present and past. He was a champion. To the family I say that they should be very proud of all that Don achieved. We remember him.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Treasurer, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Federal/State Relations) (14:22): One thing in politics and parliament that I discovered is that you cannot help but like the Laidlaws, certainly the Laidlaws whom I met. I do have a fond spot for Diana, even when I was in full attack mode in opposition. It was difficult not to like Diana.

I got to know Diana's father when he was chairman of the Adelaide Brighton Cement company, then in my electorate. I had a long association with Adelaide Brighton Cement prior to even coming into parliament because my best friend's father used to work there, and I used to play in the Adelaide Brighton Cement versus Portland Cement company annual footy match. It was a moment of no great merit at all, to be honest. I always went along to the Adelaide Brighton Cement footy day, with free grog and free food, and I met Don at one of those picnics.

When I got into parliament, Don was very quick to meet me. In fact, I had some dealings with him when I was an adviser to the opposition. I should try to recall that as carefully as I can. When I was an adviser to the minister of industry, Lynn Arnold, there was an attempt by another cement company to enter into South Australian waters and set up an operation in South Australia.

Back in the eighties, of course, the Adelaide business establishment—I use this term in the kindest way—was very good at ensuring that governments of the day understood what was good for business and what was not good for business. Clearly, overt competition for cement against Adelaide Brighton Cement in Adelaide might not necessarily be in the best interests of people who were employed in South Australia.

Of course, as a government, we could not enforce any anti-competitive measures to stop the said company, which I will not name, from actually setting up a depot in competition to Adelaide Brighton Cement. It is just that, in those days, we owned the marine and harbours, and the wharfage charges that we told the new entrant they would have to pay were somewhat larger than what Adelaide Brighton Cement was paying—whatever it took in those days.

Of course, the world has since changed, and those sorts of things could never happen now, but it was done with the right intent. Don Laidlaw, of course, the great board member and chairman of that company, ensured that Adelaide Brighton Cement maintained its position, in market terms, in South Australia.

Don invited me on a number of occasions to the plant. We had a lot of issues to deal with in my electorate where, every now and again, Adelaide Brighton Cement would have a blow-out in its stack and a whole lot of stuff would fall on the roofs of residents. I would get a phone call at two o'clock in the morning from residents telling me that their roof was full of 'whatever'—and I will not use the word they used—that came out of Adelaide Brighton Cement. I would often ring Don the next day or Adelaide Brighton Cement's management, and they were always good in terms of addressing those issues.

Indeed, under Don's chairmanship, from memory, a lot of money was spent by Adelaide Brighton Cement to clean up its act in terms of its emissions and covering the large stockpile of various sands that it puts into its processes, and that is now all covered. In fact, Adelaide Brighton Cement has gone a long way towards embracing alternative energy. Whilst this may well have occurred after Don's chairmanship of the company, they have now undertaken the use of renewable 'stuff' to go into their kiln to make concrete.

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: As you can see, I am technically very literate when it comes to the process of—

The Hon. J.D. Hill: Fuel is the word you are looking for.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Fuel. Of course, Don Laidlaw had a great association with the Perry family, and I did not realise how close. Perry Engineering was a great South Australian engineering company and, for those not familiar with my career before my civic duty of coming into this place and lending this parliament the skills and acumen that I have to offer, I worked in the steel industry.

In my early days in the steel industry, going back to 1976, I had a lot to do with Perry Engineering. They were one of the great engineering companies of this state and they held out against every market force that was eventually to see the demise of that company because, in those days, we had a large number of heavy structural steel, engineering companies in South Australia. We had the O'Connor Group, Perry's, ATCO Construction (in those days), Malco Engineering—a lot of large engineering companies.

People like Don Laidlaw were the people who built these large industrial entities into what they were and maintained them as the most competitive workshop they could until, in the end, a lot of these workshops were not cost-competitive. Either they were too large and their overheads were too large; imported fabrication had become the order of the day with big oil rigs and the big constructions, and they tended to be fabricated—if not in whole, at least in part—in Indonesia, Korea and other parts of the world where it was cheaper to do so.

I remember Don Laidlaw fondly. Of course, the Premier and the leader have spoken about his role with Santos and Western Mining. If I was a Liberal and I looked at Don Laidlaw's legacy, I would say that he was one of the great gems of the Liberal Party, not just in terms of his ability to straddle both business and politics—and, indeed, he is held affectionately in the Labor Party—but also as somebody who perhaps, unlike some of us, never really got into the more aggressive confrontational side of politics but really provided his business acumen and made South Australia a better place. Clearly, he made the Liberal Party a better party for having been a member of it. To the Hon. Diana Laidlaw and her family, the family of Don Laidlaw, it is with great regret that he has passed. He was a truly great South Australian, and I honour him here today.

The Hon. M.J. WRIGHT (Lee—Minister for Police, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:29): Don Laidlaw was born in Adelaide on 6 August 1923 and, sadly, passed away on 14 April, aged 85. He served in the Legislative Council from 1975 to 1982. In his maiden speech, he said that he intended to concentrate on two subjects in which he had expertise. The first was industrial development; the second was industrial relations. Don Laidlaw had many years of involvement with South Australian based companies involved in engineering, cement quarrying, fertilisers, chemicals and mining. In 1989, he was awarded an Order of Australia for his services to industry, parliament and the community.

Don was a member of parliament during a very turbulent time. It was a time of corporate raiders, and Santos was one target. In 1979, he and two of his Liberal Party colleagues crossed the floor and voted with the Labor government against legislation that would have cleared the way for Alan Bond to take control of Santos. Mr Geddes, a shadow minister who crossed the floor with Don Laidlaw, was sacked as opposition spokesman on mines and energy as a result of his opposition to the legislation, but no action was taken against Mr Laidlaw.

Don Laidlaw was chairman of Adelaide Brighton Cement and a director of Western Mining Corporation until his retirement in 1995. In 1968, Don and his wife, Peg, planted 185 acres of vines on their property along the River Murray near Waikerie. Some 20 years later, this large enterprise was sold to Penfolds and subsequently to Southcorp. In 1990, Don, with his youngest daughter Sonia, planted a 14.8 acre vineyard on Warrenda.

In 1995, when Don retired as chairman of Adelaide Brighton Ltd and a director of Western Mining Corporation, he initiated the Pancake partnership, and progressed a plan to plant the Pancake vineyard, utilising all the experience he had gained over 36 years of involvement in vineyard management. Don's eldest daughter and former Liberal minister, Diana Laidlaw, took an active interest in the management of the vineyard and all responsibility for the sales of Pancake Estate wines—very good wines, I might add—since her retirement as a member of the South Australian parliament.

Don Laidlaw was a man of great intellect. My father often spoke fondly of him. Dad used to say that you could always talk with Don and you could negotiate with him. Of course, during Don's time in here, my father would have been either minister for industrial relations or shadow minister for industrial relations. I know that dad and Don had a very healthy respect for each other and dad used to always say that, if Don gave his word, you knew it would stick. I also pass on my condolences to Don's wife, Peg, his daughters, Diana, Susan and Sonia, and to all family and friends.

The Hon. J.D. LOMAX-SMITH (Adelaide—Minister for Education, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (14:32): I also endorse what has been said about the Hon. Don Laidlaw. He was a truly courageous and great statesman and a consummate industrialist who understood not just the fine detail of business but the broader picture and the impact internationally and nationally. We were privileged to have him serve in the Legislative Council, and the impact he had, I think, was far broader than many people would have realised.

Of course, he was intelligent, articulate and educated. I know we say very often at these moments that these people were respected by both sides of politics, but in the case of the Hon. Don Laidlaw I think that was genuinely true. He had friends on both sides of the chamber and was respected not only in here but as an industrialist and, I believe, respected by his staff as well. His employees spoke well of him. He was held in high esteem and was a man to be admired for his standing in the community and his service to us all.

It is also worth noting that Don had the capacity to speak to anyone at any level. I must have attended luncheons with him dozens of times over the last 15 years, and I would often seek him out and try to sit next to him because I enjoyed his company. He was a fascinating man, with stories to tell, great intellect and a vision of what a better world would be. As I say, we were privileged to have him serve in the Legislative Council. We are all saddened by his passing, and I pass on my condolences to his wife, Peg, and his daughters, Sonia, Susan and Diana.

The SPEAKER (14:34): I also add my personal condolences to the Laidlaw family. I will ensure that a copy of this afternoon's proceedings is forwarded to the Laidlaw family. I ask all members to rise in support of the motion in the customary manner.

Motion carried by members standing in their places in silence.


[Sitting suspended from 14:35 to 14:45]


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