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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
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Members

Evans, Hon. I.F.

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland) (16:31): With the indulgence of the house, I would like to make a few comments about the former member for Davenport. Now that he has left us—in fact, I would have been happy to say it before he left us, I should point that out—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Is he listening?

The Hon. T.R. KENYON: I am told he will be here very shortly. Certainly, his recent leaving has given us—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The Chair acknowledges the former member for Davenport.

An honourable member interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: He still is, that's right. He still is the member for Davenport, and we welcome him to the house this afternoon.

The Hon. T.R. KENYON: It is a good chance to pause to reflect on his time and, certainly, he has been here a lot longer than I have. I certainly enjoyed working with him in my time in this house and as an adviser before that to both the former treasurer Kevin Foley and former minister Paul Holloway. I found him to be a very decent man and a good operator, and I say that in the best possible way—someone who knew how to get things done.

He has a very good policy and political brain, and I think that will be missed because it is a rare combination to have that good mix of a really good grasp of policy and a good grasp of politics as well. As I said, he is a very decent man and a man of his word, and I found him very easy to deal with—but he is certainly more than capable of putting his point of view, sometimes very forcefully but always politely and well, I should say.

I remember once attending, on behalf of the Premier, the opening of an art gallery in the seat of Davenport, and the former member was there, along with his wife. She said something to him which I did not hear and he smiled, and my wife, who was with me at the time, remarked, 'Gee, he's got a really beautiful smile.' What I hope for in his retirement is that he is able to smile like that more and that his wife sees it. That will be a wonderful thing because there is life after politics, and my observation of people who have left politics is generally it is a good life and they seem to enjoy it and, certainly, they smile more than they do when they are in here, and that is a good thing.

Recently, I was on a field trip to the salt pans north of Adelaide with the Environment, Resources and Development Committee. A number of birdwatchers were there, and they remembered the work Iain had done in his time as environment minister and they were very grateful for it. They were obviously very keen for that to continue. I think it was particularly around an attempt to get it made a Ramsar site.

Iain is also very fondly remembered by sporting shooters, and he was able to make sure that not only did they have a venue in which to go shooting but that they actually owned that land, and that is a very important thing. There was some delay in that, and Iain was able to make sure that that did not affect the club financially and that they were able to come out of that as they were originally meant to. They were very grateful for it, as am I, being a sporting shooter. It goes to show that he is a man who is prepared to actually get things done and is well remembered for doing them, so he must have done them in good style.

With those few words, I wish Iain all the best. I hope his business is very successful, seeing as he is working around exports for the state. It is very unlikely that the state could have too many exports, so I hope he has a very successful business and a very enjoyable time in retirement.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (16:35): I rise to acknowledge the effort by the now retired member for Davenport (Hon. Iain Evans) and note that he is in this place. I note that Iain was elected to the seat of Davenport in 1993, after the end of his father's 25-year political career. During his career, Iain held many positions. As minister, he was a member of the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council, and coming from the seat of Hammond, I am obviously very interested in anything to do with the Murray-Darling.

Iain held the ministerial portfolios of industry and trade; correctional services; emergency services; police; environment and heritage; and recreation, sport and racing, and he was also Australia's first minister for volunteers. We all know that the value of volunteers to this state and the nation is something you cannot really put a dollar figure on, and I certainly do not think any government, either here in this state or federally, would be able to afford the massive contribution that volunteers make to keep the state and the nation going.

Iain was the leader of the opposition from March 2006 to April 2007, and some would say that he formed an unlikely political marriage with his then deputy, Vickie Chapman (the member for Bragg). I want to acknowledge a couple of things that Iain achieved during the period when he was leader. One was the position he took in regard to a freshwater recovery for the River Murray. It was a position I was hammering fairly hard, and it was certainly something that hung heavily in the party room.

Even in opposition, we were aware that we needed to make sure that Adelaide had critical human needs water, and we also had to make sure that we did the best we could for the environment and irrigators at a time when the river levels below Lock 1 dropped around two metres. It was a very trying time, and I commend the leadership that Iain showed during the initial stages of the drought that went through to September 2010. It was during that time, in January 2007, that Iain launched our policy for the 50-gigalitre desalination plant, which at the time would have only cost the state around $400 million and which was developed after we had done some research on the desalination plant in Perth.

In regard to other positions Iain held in opposition, I think it would have been easier if I read out portfolios that Iain Evans had not been involved with, either in government or opposition. The shadow portfolios he held were: treasury, WorkCover, industrial relations, small business, consumer affairs, gambling, red tape reduction, volunteers, youth, families and communities, early childhood development, social inclusion, government enterprises, education and children's services, federal/state relations, public sector management, economic development, sustainability and climate change, transport, environment and planning, and finance. If I have missed any, Iain, I apologise.

Mr Williams: Sport, rec and racing.

Mr PEDERICK: Sport, rec and racing? Hang on, I will just go back. I have got that as a ministerial portfolio. He may have done it as a shadow. I thought I had done my homework, but anyway.

What I will speak about, and obviously it has caused a lot of controversy recently, is the marine protected areas. I would just like to acknowledge that Iain Evans put the first sensible plan in place for South Australia's marine protected areas. It was a sensible plan that, if it had been rolled out completely, would have taken a lot more notice of our industries and our regions.

He has always been a valued and vital contributor to the parliament and the electorate of Davenport. Seeing Iain on his feet, I really think he challenged governments over time, and government ministers and premiers, with the way he could be an attack dog, really get onto a subject and take it right to the hilt. It was always entertaining if Iain was delegated an attack grieve. It was great to be in here to hear him put the point of view.

He has given great service to this state. He is a sharp debater and has also been a great support during some of the tough times in politics. He will be missed in this place. I wish Iain, Fiona and his family well in retirement after 21 years of valuable service to this state.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister for Small Business) (16:41): I think Iain Evans was a good leader of the opposition. I have to say, given my position, I suppose people will take it with a pinch of salt, but I mean this sincerely. I was with Iain Evans at a Good Friday commemoration at St George. I think it was the last public event he went to as leader of the opposition. I pride myself on getting to church early. When I got there, he was already there and I thought, 'Bugger, this guy wants to win.'

Matthew Abraham said that Labor always says, 'He was the most dangerous leader.' When you get rid of the next one, we say, 'He was the one we were really afraid of.' But the truth is this: if you ask any ministerial adviser and any public servant in government, when it came to opposition briefings, the one person who asked a question they were never prepared for was Iain Evans.

Why? He had a curious mind. He has a very good mind, a very political mind, a mind used for the Liberal Party's benefit and which will now be put to good use for his family and the people of South Australia in another field—growing our exports—which is good.

Mr van Holst Pellekaan: Fiona is smarter than him.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: He is not interjecting from the Speaker's Gallery, is he?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Fiona is very smart. I ran into Iain and his wife after the election. He was taking his staff out for a meal with his family because that is the type of person he is. We had a drink—Peter Malinauskas, Iain and myself—and it is fair to say he was not happy about the result. I tried to be as courteous as I possibly could without rubbing his face in it.

Mr Pederick: You would have worked at it, Tom!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: No, because I genuinely believed at the time it was not his fault. The election loss was not his fault. I think he has been uncharacteristically fair to people who talk your party down. I think we are all guilty of internal politics—all of us—but there has to be a time when common sense prevails, and I think Iain talked about that in his farewell address to the nation in the parliament.

I really enjoyed working with Iain. When I first got elected in 1997, he was one of the first Liberals to approach me and just say hello. We had a conversation. He was just someone who was being polite. As I watched his rise through the parliament, he was very good in question time as a minister. A lot of you might not have seen him as a minister; I did, and he was very good. I do not remember us ever laying very many gloves on him, and, trust me, we tried. Once we had been elected, we were just waiting for the time when he would become leader of the opposition, because we knew he was ultimately going to be next. Rob Kerin (lovely man) probably felt robbed in the 2002 election. The Liberal Party showed extreme discipline to keep him in place for the period of time that they did, which was a mistake; but that was their decision, and then they made the decision to go to Iain.

I have to say that at that point in time I was not a minister; my job was campaign tactics. My job was to work out how to win elections, what seats to target, who to keep busy, who not to keep busy, where to put resources and that sort of fundamental work, and what seat groupings we wanted to attract. I mean this with the greatest of respect: we were not happy he was leader of the opposition—not happy—because we were worried that this guy is a policy guy and he would have kept his cards very close to his chest and drip-fed policies, and he probably would have done a very good job, but we will never know. We will never know what it would have been like.

I can tell you that I would not like to have seen Iain Evans in a debate with any premier on TV for an hour. Debating is hard as it is. You watch it and think, 'I could do that.' Trust me, it is not easy. I tell you that the one thing I would never want to do is stand in front of a camera debating Iain Evans for an hour. It would not be easy. He thinks fast on his feet, he is dangerous. He comes up with good language, and he knows how to string a sentence together that makes complete and utter common sense to anyone listening, and it is very hard to fight back on. You can see it in the radio transcripts, that the guy has very quick movement in his mind. For whatever reason, the Liberal Party chose a different path and never went back to him.

When he was shadow treasurer in the lead-up to the election campaign, I remember him remarking to me that shadow treasury gets no extra resources, and he had to carry all of you lot with preparation for his funding announcements, and he did that. I could tell there was a little bit of tension, because I was watching very closely on TV for a bit of nervousness. There was a little bit there, but not as much as Joe Hockey's in 2013, when he lost about five kilos in sweat when he was doing his budget costings. So, he is a class operator—class, class operator—and dangerous.

People reading this will probably think I do not particularly like him very much; I do. The member for Newland talked about trust. When I first came here there was question time and then there were the real relationships that went on behind the scenes. There was a time when politicians from both sides of politics could talk about things and solve problems. I learnt that from the current Speaker, the former premier, the current Premier, the former treasurer, treasurer Foley, and I learnt that from people like Iain Evans. You need to have lines of communication that are open, where you can trust each other. I do not particularly like any of the member for MacKillop's policies, but he has my mobile phone number, and every now and then he rings me up and says, 'Can you fix this?' He does that not because he is trying to get a political point but because it is the right thing to do. And they remain, those lines of communication.

What is happening now from Canberra down is that we have become so partisan that we cannot even talk to each other about any issue, and I think that is what I fear the most with Iain's departure. I think he should have stayed. I think he should have seen out the term for two reasons: the people of Davenport voted for him and he owed it to them to stay, but his family come first, so he has gone to do work for them. I think you will miss him. I think the Liberal Party do not realise who has walked out the front door. Walking out the front door is not the same as being on the phone when they need advice. He will not be in the caucus room, he will not be in the shadow cabinet, and from my perspective that is a very good thing, but your loss—his gain, our gain.

So whatever Fiona and Iain do from now on, my door will always be open for people like Iain to come through and speak to the government. He has already given me a call and offered me some free advice, and it is bloody good advice. I hope he remains that type of South Australian patriot, regardless of who is in office, and be available to give advice, because he has a wealth and depth of knowledge that needs to be passed on. I hope there are people in the Liberal Party who just do not stop speaking to people, because I realise, when you leave this place, the worst thing that we will suffer is the silence.

There are people who have come before us who have done a lot of good for the people of South Australia, and Iain is one of them. It is to your detriment if you do not take his advice. I am sure he will pop up somewhere, knocking on my door, asking me to do something completely outrageous for some client he has, and I will say, 'No.' I will only do it if it is the right thing to do. I just think the house has lost a fierce advocate.

We never got a chance to see him in his prime in question time and that is a great loss to the parliament. You saw snapshots of it in his grievance debates. I would be upstairs always listening. I never stayed to watch; I always left, because he focuses on you and he gets you to interject and it gets the juices going, so you do not want to do that. You go upstairs and listen, and he made some very good points.

I am not sure how involved he was in the global campaign within the Liberal Party. I took guesses, I thought about where his influence was and where it was not, and I will probably show him my notes on the election and ask him whether he was involved in this decision or that decision to judge whether I got it right or wrong. He has a lot of time for some members in this house and none for some of you. That probably includes some of us, but he is too polite to say all of that.

Congratulations to Iain on a new part of his life. Congratulations to Fiona for surviving 20 years in politics. It is tough on families. It is very tough on our families and I think we all know how tough it is, especially when you have young families and that is all they know. It is very difficult. Keep an eye, young Stephan, on your family when you are in this business. It is not easy, but I think Iain did it well.

Iain, congratulations on your retirement. I hope an Independent gets up in Davenport so we can prove the error of your ways for leaving. I hope the Liberal Party keep on making mistakes because they have not listened to you and I hope you do not advise them ever again, because they do not deserve you.

Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop) (16:52): It was probably several months ago now that I took a phone call from Iain and he told me that he was about to announce his retirement. My initial reaction was one of great disappointment and I will explain why, but I fully support his decision. As the Treasurer has just said, it is a tough gig and, after 20 years, I think somebody who has served that length of time in this place has probably given a fair dose. I support his decision, but I was very disappointed.

Iain Evans, I think has been a consummate politician in every sense of the word. Iain has a strong philosophical base. He knows what he stands for and he knows what he believes in. Quite often, I come into this place and hear members get up and speak and you wonder on what basis they make the sort of comments they do. I never wondered that about Iain, because I think Iain always knew the fundamental behind what he was saying. He knew what he believed in.

He was a team player, and the Treasurer has said a bit about Iain's game and made the contrast between the way Iain played the game within his team and the way some of the members of his team responded. I have never, in the time I have been here, seen Iain not play the team game and he was damn good at it. I think he could be forgiven if he had not played the team game as well as he did because he was not always rewarded for it.

Iain had a fantastic political mind. Again, others have mentioned this. If anything, I think his political mind was overactive: he never stopped thinking about politics. You might be out somewhere at a social occasion with him and all of a sudden he would say, 'Hey, what about such-and-such? Maybe we should be doing this.' He never switched off from politics. Being brought up in a household with a father as a politician, he probably has not known anything different from politics for the whole of his life.

Iain's analytical assessment of every question was fantastic. He would invariably pick up some nuance which the rest of us, probably on both sides of the house, had not seen—we use that term 'unintended consequences'. Most times we were debating a question and Iain would come up with three or four possible unintended consequences where the rest of us just wanted to bulldoze ahead.

Iain was incredibly diligent, particularly in his electorate. Quite often you will see people come into parliament who are really good on the policy front, say, or really good in the parliament but maybe neglect their electorate a little bit and they are not so good there. As I said, Iain was consummate. He was always doorknocking in his electorate. He would initiate little campaigns about a pothole, for example.

There was one story, and I cannot remember the details, of when he was talking about the amount of delay on a pedestrian crossing somewhere up at Blackwood or Belair. He made the argument that there was not enough time for the older folk to get across the road before the cars almost started knocking them over. Iain would not just go along and talk to the relevant authority to try to fix it up; he would create a mini campaign and generate a couple of hundred letters to the immediate neighbourhood.

He was really good at managing the electorate and ensuring that everybody in the electorate knew that he was thinking of them and their issues on a continuous basis. Of course, by generating those mail-outs, he would harvest the responses and then have a database for later use. Terry Stephens, Iain and I were at a function one night, and Terry introduced Iain and I to a mate of his who was an old Whyalla boy. He commented to Iain that he was a constituent of Iain's. Iain said, 'What was your surname again?' He repeated his surname and Iain said, 'Oh, yeah, you live at such-and-such,' and told him his address—street and number.

Mr Treloar: Scary!

Mr WILLIAMS: It is scary.

Sitting extended beyond 17:00 on motion of Hon. G.G. Brock.

Mr WILLIAMS: As a parliamentarian, I contend that Iain had no peer in this parliament, or at least in the last parliament, and probably in the one before. Since Iain gained his seniority in the political world, since his experience as a minister, probably since the 2002 election he was perhaps the best performer in the parliament on both sides of the house. As I said, his political antennae were always acutely attuned. He never missed a thing that was going on.

His ability to dissect other people's argument and at the same time assemble his own was without peer. His cutting wit and theatrical sense of timing were combined with a dogged determination, where he would leave no stone unturned to carry through all the things I have talked about: his team play, his electorate work and the policy positions he developed. With all this, in the house I think Iain was in a class of his own.

Likewise, in our party room he was a valuable contributor and applied the same sort of political awareness that stood him out amongst his colleagues. I happen to agree with some of the comments made by the Treasurer about what might have been. He has been a great mentor. He was always generous with his advice (as the member for Kavel said the other day, even when it was not asked for). He was especially generous with it sometimes when some of us had done something which he thought was not quite the right thing or was not the smartest thing to do.

When I first came into this place in 1997, and it was the same day as the Treasurer, Iain was just, I guess, hitting his straps. I think he had just become a minister at that time. At that stage, he was a lowly minister sitting over on the curved bench and I was sitting on the crossbench behind him. As the member for Hammond said, he had a number of portfolios, but I think he really hit his straps when he got the environment portfolio. I suspect that Iain Evans (and the member for Colton might not agree with this) is probably the best environment minister this state has had in a long time.

He did upset some of his colleagues in the Liberal Party. Saving the purple spotted gudgeon by banning mining in the Gammon Ranges was probably not the easiest thing to achieve in the Liberal Party.

Mr Goldsworthy: The yellow-footed rock wallaby.

Mr WILLIAMS: The yellow-footed rock wallaby. He probably did not get high praise from Graham Gunn for a couple of these, but he took on those hard issues in the environment portfolio and, I think, made the environment portfolio a key part of the Liberal Party's policy area. We do not have a reputation of being the best environmentalists, I do not know why, but certainly when we had somebody like Iain in charge of that portfolio I think it was an absolutely false accusation that the Liberal Party did not have a good handle on the environment and the issues therein and, indeed, made the right sort of decisions.

The marine parks have been mentioned. Iain was the original architect of the move towards establishing marine parks. He quipped with me one day in the house only a few weeks ago, I think the two issues of the week, and probably of the month, were marine parks and the emergency services levy, and Iain said, 'That's a bit ironic, isn't it? I introduced both of those.' We had a bit of a chuckle about that. Things like the declaration of the leafy sea dragon as the state's marine emblem was something that Iain did.

One of the other things Iain did, and I just checked with him a few minutes ago, was greenways recreational trails. Again, this was a pretty solid argument in our party because it was not universally agreed or accepted with some of our party members. I said to Iain, 'What happened about that? Where did it get to?' He said, 'Well, we got the legislation through but the regulations have never been promulgated, so nothing is happening.' It is at least 12 years ago, 12½ years ago, that the bill went through to establish greenways recreational trails, but there has been 12 years of neglect by the current government to bring those into being.

The member for Hammond mentioned that Iain was the minister for recreation, racing and sport. Iain turned around the relationship between government and the racing industry in South Australia. He was responsible for changing the legislation under which the racing industry operated and, again, that would not have been an easy thing to do from the Liberal Party's point of view. I suspect a former Labor minister for racing, one Michael Wright, was sorely disappointed at the changes Iain made because Michael was always wanting to become the minister for racing and by the time he got to be the minister for racing the relationship was much different to what he would have expected.

On a personal level, one of the things that disappoints me—and I think I mentioned this the other day—is that when I came in here, I was obviously much younger and Iain was much younger, and a lot of our colleagues were probably the age that I am now, or even older, and a lot of those colleagues on my side of the house, at least, used to call me 'young Mitch'. Iain is the last person around this place who, almost on a daily basis, called me 'young Mitch' and I will miss it. Next time I get called 'Young Mitch' in this place I will know it will be in a mocking fashion. So, I will miss that.

There are strange relationships formed and not a lot of trust is built up in this place, but Iain is one of the people in whom I have had absolute trust. I have always totally enjoyed not only his integrity, his work ethic and his thoroughness but he has been an inspiration to me as somebody coming along behind. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Iain, and the way he has applied himself not just on behalf of the Liberal Party but on behalf of his constituents and the greater community of South Australia, and I have particularly enjoyed being able to call him a friend.

I wish Iain and Fiona and their family all the best for the future. I am absolutely certain that he will be able to do things now that he has not had the time to do because of the amount of dedication he has always put into his job. I will sadly miss him, and I do already. I sit here by myself at the moment, and it is not a lot of fun. The best thing that happened to me today was when the Speaker asked me to leave, so I went and had a cup of coffee, again by myself. So, I wish Iain all the best for the future. I am sure that Fiona will be greatly relieved to have him out of politics, but a lot of us will miss him sorely.

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton) (17:07): I rise to be very brief in paying my congratulations to Iain Evans on his retirement and not just his retirement but on the very outstanding contribution he made over 20 years to this parliament, to the people of Davenport and to the people of South Australia. I think he and his family have lots to be very proud of in respect of Iain's contribution. I agree with a lot of what 'young Mitch' said—I beg your pardon, the member for MacKillop—with respect to quite a few things.

The Hon. S.W. Key: That is a first.

The Hon. P. CAICA: That's right. I remember speaking to some of the new people who came into parliament on both sides of the house, and without providing gratuitous advice said, 'Look, for what it's worth, I think the best thing you can do is sit down for a while, soak it all in, learn how the place operates, look at the people who you know have been here for a while and the way they operate, and learn from them. Learn about how this place operates.' I said that because in my first four years here from 2002 to 2007 that is exactly what I did. I spoke as many times as I could, learnt about how people operated, determined who were the good operators and who were not the so-good operators, and tried to emulate those who were good.

One of the things I learnt very quickly was that Iain was very, very competent at what he did, and I agree with the Treasurer that he, probably in my time, was very hard done by in not once being able to lead his party to the election, because he was an outstanding contributor and an outstanding leader of the Liberal Party during his time. It is a credit to the man that it would have been easy to drop your chewy, spit the dummy and say, 'Well, I've been done over'—like so many of you have been on that side—and take the bat and ball and go home. To his credit he did not do that.

Mr Knoll: That's coming from you, Paul.

The Hon. P. CAICA: Well, I am still here too. I certainly think that that is a sign of the quality of the person, one who continued to contribute to the party in which he believed and which he served so well.

Anyway, getting back to those first four years, I do remember that something I did not quite enjoy too much was some those late nights and the battle between Iain and Michael Wright at that time. I remember saying, 'What the bloody hell are we doing here at 4 o'clock?' You went home, and the birds were chirping. Of course, it was a payback for that period of time when I was not here, when Michael had done exactly the same thing. It was a lesson to those people who were sitting there, that if you have something to say, say it in a more concise way and not use so many hours.

The other thing I learnt from Iain too related to sitting down here and interjecting. You can tell who is a good operator. You would interject, thinking that was pretty funny, but it really was not, it was quite stupid, because for the next 15 or 20 minutes you would be the focus of attention during the contribution of Iain Evans, with his referring to how stupid was your interjection. So, again, sit back, be quiet—and I learnt that very quickly—and do not give people the quality of Iain Evans the opportunity to reinvigorate the debate through focusing on something that was nothing more than an inane interjection. There is a saying, 'Don't poke a sleeping bear,' or 'Don't poke a snoozing bear,' and I have certainly learnt that about Iain.

During the first four years, from 2006 to 2010, when I was fortunate enough to be a minister, the day came when premier Rann said, 'We're going to change your portfolios through a reshuffle. You'll get agriculture, food and fisheries, but I want you to do industrial relations as well.' It is safe to say that I was very happy and pleased to become the state's industrial relations minister, but I was less than pleased that the opposition shadow spokesperson happened to be Iain Evans because, out of all the people on the other side, the one you did not necessarily want was Iain, because of the forensic nature and intelligence of the man.

But I also found too that you were able to do business to a great extent with Iain, that if an idea was a good idea, he would support it. He was a man of his word, and he remained so throughout his career. If there were things he disagreed on (for example, the transfer of powers to the commonwealth, something he has been consistent about over a period of time), you were left in no doubt about his views on those particular matters.

Of course, subsequent to that, I was minister for water. I thought, 'Bloody hell, I've got Iain again,' and that was with respect to SA Water and all those type of things. I would often provide and offer briefings to people, but I never had to offer them to Iain because he knew exactly what it was that he would like to briefed on. There was no doubt in my mind, and no doubt in the mind of the public servants and my advisers who might have been there, that they had to be bloody properly prepared for a briefing that was being provided to Iain because there were questions I am sure even the department had not necessarily thought would be asked.

I was lucky enough to have responsibility for quite a few portfolios that Iain had during his period of time, such as environment minister. I agree with the member for MacKillop with respect to marine protected areas. Had Iain become premier or remained the environment minister, I, unlike the member for MacKillop, expect that we would have got the outcome we have today, which is a very good representative marine park system which is going to preserve those areas without having a detrimental effect on those people who forge a living out of the marine environment. It was sound policy when it was introduced by Iain, but it was then subsequently, for whatever reason, changed significantly by the party that had committed to the way it was when Iain was the environment minister leading into 2002 and the then premier, Rob Kerin.

The other thing I want to say is that I spoke to some people recently, and I acknowledge the comments that were made by Iain in relation to Allan Holmes, which I fully support. Allan Holmes was an excellent public servant, and all public servants should implement what the government of the day says is its policy, and Iain highlighted that with respect to Allan.

What I did learn through my time with the environment department is that Iain was very supportive of the promotion of women to senior positions within the department, and I congratulate Iain for that. We still have women within our department who might not have had that opportunity if it was not for the fact that Iain promoted people on merit, and fortunately a lot of those people who deserved those positions were women. That is feedback I got from someone about Iain just recently.

I am going to say to Mrs Fiona Evans: congratulations, you have your husband back. You never not had him but you are going to have him in a different form. Iain did great work for the people of South Australia while he was in parliament. I imagine that it was frustrating from time to time. I do not know how frustrating it is to be in opposition but I expect it is, because this is where the action is over here. Iain was one of the few people who tasted what it was like to have your hands on one of the steering wheels and to be a shining light in that area.

I think his decision to retire from politics, from Iain's perspective, was a wise one. His contribution was significant. I also believe that, as the Treasurer said, family comes first and that was one of the determining factors but I also believe that the contribution of Iain Evans will be of greater value to the people of South Australia through the role that he is undertaking now than he could have possibly ever achieved with another four years on that side. To that extent, I congratulate Iain and look forward to the contribution that he will make to the economy of South Australia in his role in private industry.

I will conclude. Again, I say to Iain: congratulations on your contribution; it was outstanding. I think there was a lot more you could have done had circumstances been different. You can hold your head high and be very proud of what you have achieved.

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (17:16): I rise today to make a contribution to the valedictory speeches for the former member for Davenport. I know it is probably not protocol or appropriate to mention people in the Speaker's Gallery but it is great to see both Iain and Fiona here today. Welcome along for this last hour or so.

I have a feeling that the member for Davenport may have called me 'young Pete' from time to time. I am younger than the member for MacKillop, and slightly younger than the member for Davenport, but really not that young at all, but it was nice to be called 'young Pete'.

Many of us who have watched politics from a distance over a period of years all knew of Iain Evans. We all knew of the member for Davenport. He was always at the forefront of public life and public debate in this state, and it was a real thrill for me when I was a candidate in 2008, 2009 and early 2010 to slowly get to know Iain. I did not get to know him well at that stage but there was an occasional phone call and an occasional word of advice and we, as candidates, really appreciated that.

Of course, I then had the privilege of being elected as the member for Flinders and had the privilege and honour of serving with Iain for a full term of four years and a bit of this year. There was a lot to admire about the way Iain went about his job, and much of that has been referred to already today. From my point of view what struck me in the first instance was particularly in the party room. I know it is not necessarily right to talk about what happens in the party room but what Iain was able to do during those debates in the party room was to cut to the chase, always. He got to the nub of the problem, often very early in the discussion and he made everything clear and made so much sense with his contributions.

I saw that as one of his great abilities. He was good on his feet in this place. I saw him as a shadow minister and some saw him as a minister in a previous Liberal government and he was always good on his feet. He was a good speaker, so much so that I would use the word 'orator', quite seriously. Iain, I saw you orate an occasional grieve and it was marvellous to hear.

He told me once that he could debate any point, any point of view, any position. I think that was a skill that was honed over many years. Digging down a little bit, I think that was probably something that came from his family life and his parents' family life in politics. That was probably part of the honing of that ability. Iain referred to that in his valedictory speech but he also shared with me a couple of years ago that, as a boy (as probably quite a young boy) he would lie in bed at night and rather than read Phantom comics or Enid Blyton books, he actually read Hansard. That is probably quite telling, I guess.

Mr Williams: Child abuse.

Mr TRELOAR: Child abuse—but it was his choice to read Hansard. He probably did not realise at the time how good Hansard made us all sound but, anyway, it was really beginning a political life.

He has been incredibly loyal to his constituents, he has been incredibly loyal to his party and he has been incredibly loyal to his family all the way through, without question. In fact, with regard to him representing his constituents, I have a former constituent of the member for Davenport in my electorate now. I suspect he votes the other way to us, but he had nothing but praise for Iain Evans and it was praise for him as a local member and the fact that he was so diligent in his constituency work. We like to give the impression that we are everywhere all the time and, from what this fellow was saying, Iain was. He was such a good local member, but also a valued member of the party and the parliament.

From 1993, Iain, it has been 21 years—an extraordinary chunk out of your life and an extraordinary contribution to this parliament. I have been reading your profile, three pages in relatively small font, of all that you have achieved. I know the member for Hammond ran through a few of those things, but it is an extraordinary parliamentary career. He has been the leader of the Liberal Party, he has been a deputy leader, he has been a minister, he has been a shadow minister, and has sat on many, many committees in this place.

I had the privilege of sitting, for a little while at least, on the Economic and Finance Committee of this parliament with Iain. When I first arrived on that committee, an overwhelming number of papers arrived in my pigeonhole and he said, 'Young Pete, always do your reading,' and Iain did. He was always well researched and always had his questions ready. It was that little bit of mentoring, nothing too deliberate or offensive, that he gave all of us as new members all the way through and 'always do your reading' was good advice.

Aside from mentoring it was simply the example that you gave us, Iain, as new members. The member for Colton mentioned the fact that when you arrive you look at some members and watch the way they do things and try and learn from that and Iain was certainly one of those.

Iain, you have chosen to retire now. That decision is right for you. We are going to lose a lot of corporate knowledge from our party and from this parliament but, as I said, it is the right decision for you. You said in your valedictory speech that way back, when you first fought pre-selection, you told the assembled members that you were a family man, a businessman, a team man and a Liberal and you stayed all of those things, and I would suggest, Iain, you can continue to be all of those things, and that is what we would expect. We wish you all the best for the future and it has been a privilege to work with you. Thanks, Iain.

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (17:22): I am very pleased to be able to contribute to this debate because in the time that I have been here, both when we were in opposition and also in government, I have had an opportunity to see the member for Davenport in action in this place, but also, when I had the privilege of being the social justice minister, actually working with him on different, very tricky constituent issues.

I was really impressed with not only his stamina in those issues but also his absolute determination to try and come up with maybe not the solution that the constituent was looking for, but certainly making sure that there was some solution. I have to say that all of us try and do that in our electorates, but Iain really did stand out in my view. Having the sort of portfolios I had as social justice minister, which included child protection, disability, ageing, youth affairs and the status of women, it was really important I think to see him in action.

Also, I must compliment the Davenport staff. I have always found them to be really helpful and I know they were a very good team in the electorate office, and the staff in the Ashford electorate office wanted me to say how helpful they had found the Davenport staff. Although we might be in different parties, I always encourage the staff to talk to people in other electorate offices, and if there is an issue we could work together on then let's do it. I have to say that with Davenport, amongst some of the other electorates that are represented in here on the other side, we tried to come out with an outcome.

There were also a number of occasions when people my husband or I met socially had issues and we found out that they lived in Davenport. I remember a couple of occasions with Kevin's walking group, where some unfortunate things happened to one of the walkers. One of the walkers died, and I said, 'Look, I really think you should ring up the Davenport electorate office.' This was to the wife of the walker. We had to work through getting a coroner's report, and I must say that this particular woman was very grateful not only for the support she got from Iain and his staff but also for an outcome. That is just one of the many examples I can cite where, with all of us working together, we could actually get some results.

The other area in which I enjoyed working with Iain was on committee issues. Of course the most recent was the Environment, Resources and Development Committee. I still think that a natural disasters standing committee is a good idea, despite the fact that I will be very unpopular on this side by saying that. I still think that is something we should aim for. I think the whole committee structure—and I know that Iain agrees with this—needs to be redrafted and looked at again so that it is up with 2014 in the sorts of issues and priorities we now have.

Also on the environment committee, when I first came into this place I had the pleasure of being on the Environment, Resources and Development Committee, and it was interesting to note the work that Iain did as a minister in that area. I think he is probably a secret greenie (and I am talking about before the Greens came into any prominence); I think he is secret greenie.

The other thing I find interesting about the Evans family is that apparently the Evans boys and the Key boys went to the same high school, and I understand that my brother, who is a plumber, is also in the same business as Iain's brother. Amongst the Liberal Party they share clients with regard to who does their plumbing; I think the member for Heysen made it very clear that she is very much in the Evans camp as far as getting plumbing and hardware advice, and other members (who I will not mention) go to the Key plumbing service.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. S.W. KEY: No; I am pleased to say that my brother does not vote Liberal. I know that they have a great respect for each other, but there is this interesting competition in the Hills plumbing area.

I also understand that Iain's father and my mother served on many committees in the Adelaide Hills. My mother, Steve Key (her real name was Sheila but she is actually called Steve Key), was very well known in the Hills because she was the health worker up there. She was also very involved with the 1983 bushfires as the social worker who coordinated some of the support that was needed for people who were affected by that terrible tragedy. I guess, because of that, I do understand the concerns that have been raised about natural disasters. My husband's house was burnt in that fire. Fortunately no-one was killed in his particular street, but people got out really only by the skin of their teeth. The issues that have been raised about disaster management, and even traffic management, with regard to the Adelaide Hills, in particular, are still of ongoing concern, and I thank Iain for the submissions he made to the Natural Resources Committee on that and a number of other issues.

As far as social issues are concerned, I think it would be fair to say that probably Iain and I had opposite points of view. I do not think that any of the private members' legislation that I have introduced or intend to introduce would be supported by him, but I guess the good thing is that he was always happy to debate those issues with me.

There were a number of private members' issues, particularly to do with smoking and what we might do about people who smoke nicotine in particular, and I think some of the initiatives that he had are ones that probably need to be revisited in this place, so I will keep in touch with you, Iain, on those ideas that you brought forward.

On behalf of the electorate of Ashford, and certainly the staff in Ashford and my family, I would like to thank you very much for your contribution. You will be greatly missed and I hope that we do see you around the place. I wish you and your family all the very best in the future.

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (17:30): I, too, rise to congratulate Iain for an illustrious career, not just as a South Australian politician, a South Australian MP, but as a well-rounded person, a well-rounded bloke, I think we could describe Iain as. He is a great example of someone who is dedicated to what he sets his mind to doing. Twenty one years as an MP in Davenport, and the people in Davenport who I have spoken to and listened to are very proud to have a proactive member of parliament representing them. But really his biggest supporters are obviously his wife Fiona and his four children, Staten, Fraser, Alexander and Allison. I think they have aspired to watching their father be a great person.

I know that many people have told stories about Iain in this house, in this parliament, as an MP, but I think there is more to Iain than that. He is a good family man, a good politician and a good representative. I have noted that Iain has not only been active as an MP and as a representative of a community but he has also been active right from day one as a local community person.

He was the youngest ever state and national president for Apex. I think it has been pretty well documented that he rode a push bike from Adelaide to Perth to raise funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. I think that that is a prime example that, essentially, it is not about Iain, it is about the people he represents, it is about his mission and his statement in life that, when he puts his mind to something, he attacks it with gusto based on his principles in life.

I must say that he is a passionate supporter of sport, and in the early days I used to always see him at football and local cricket. I note that his young fellow, Fraser, is playing for Sturt so I think Iain and Fiona would be very proud. I know Fraser is a very good lad and a friend of my son as well.

I also thank Iain. On entering this place, Iain was one of my paired seats and he gave me great advice and financial help. I am not one of those people who goes to anyone in particular and rattles and asks lots of questions. My grandfather always told me that you have two ears and one mouth—twice as much listening and half as much talking—so that has always been my motto and that is something that I have followed intently. Whether it is in the corridors, whether it is in the party room, whether it is out and about at functions, I have always intently listened to Iain and the way he approaches the discussion.

I have worked with Iain for 4½ years. I have not always had a very close relationship with Iain, but in listening to Iain I think I have had a closer relationship than perhaps I give myself credit for. Again, he is a deep thinker. I have noticed that he is always willing to listen, always willing to be a part of the discussion, but he listens first then speaks later. Obviously he is part of the conversation, part of the debate, but he makes the contribution once the debate or the conversation has been had. As the member for Flinders said, he cuts to the chase, he gives his view and always states why he is giving his view. That is something I have noted with great interest since coming into this place.

We have said many things about Iain, all of which I think have been well documented: that he is a great MP, a great representative, but it is all about Iain Evans' brand, brand Iain Evans. As a state MP, as a representative for Davenport, he has a strategy with everything he does. Whether it is wearing the same clothes so that people recognise who he is, that is his brand; whether it is making a campaign around traffic lights or the Scout hall, whether it is a campaign around any strategic exercise, he does it with intelligence, and that is another thing I have put into my memory bank.

I have noted that he has dealt with more than 40 portfolios in government and opposition, so he is a very rounded person as far as how this place runs. I have picked up, with my new shadow portfolio of investment and trade, sport, rec and racing, all of which Iain has held, that he is held in such high regard. People always in conversation make reference to Iain Evans—when he approached them or met with them—and there is always that reference to his being a strategic thinker. He listens with interest, he talks with interest and he advises with interest. One could say that his political antennae are always fully extended and are always in constant mode.

In our last sitting week I sat with Iain and Fiona and they shared some of the great stories of events they had been to, and things that have happened over time. Iain and Fiona work together as a bit of a two-stage act sometimes. I picked up that Fiona has a memory just like Iain's—just like a steel trap, absolutely. That was very evident. Iain, I wish you well in your next chapter; Fiona I wish you well in Iain's new chapter, you being a closer part of it. Obviously your next chapter is all about having an export life, so good luck with your Chinese language lessons, and gambei!

Mr TARZIA (Hartley) (17:37): I also rise today to pay tribute to Iain Evans in this series of valedictory speeches. One thing is for sure: the next member for Davenport certainly has big shoes to fill. We heard today and last week about the fierce advocate that was Iain Evans, about the strong campaign brain Iain Evans has, and about the plethora of portfolios, both in government and in opposition, that Iain has held. It is great to see him here in the chamber today and great to see that so many of his friends and family were present the last time we spoke about this issue.

To complement the speakers today, I wanted to draw on two real-life examples of my interaction with Iain Evans. One was the very first time that I met him, and one was towards the end of the last campaign. He probably does not remember this, but I do. Iain Evans was the first MP I met in real life as a year 7 student at Rostrevor College. I think the local member was Joan Hall, and it was probably the Coles electorate back then, before it became Morialta. I remember Iain like it was yesterday. Iain was a much younger man; obviously I was a child. I have a few memories from that day that really stand out, and one was how Iain Evans was telling us all why he ran for politics. He told us that he did it because he felt extremely strongly about his community and he wanted to make a difference.

I remember him saying, like it was yesterday, that he came from the hardware industry and he was not a political hack. He came from the business sector. He decided to run for politics not because the money was good—the money was great in what he was doing—but he ran for politics to make a difference. That was the standout issue, from my point of view. It is also a take-out, I suppose, for members here: you have to be careful what you tell kids and students because one day they might run for either your job or one of your colleague's jobs. I cannot help but think a little bit of Iain Evans rubbed off on me that day. I also remember that he was extremely passionate about campaigning and the strategy of campaigning, and that, to this day, has certainly stuck in my head.

The second memory I wanted to speak about, in particular, occurred during the campaign in Hartley. I remember it was about 30° and Iain came to the electorate. By the way, he always made himself available to talk to a community club or sporting club in the electorate. That was Iain. It was about 30° and I remember we were on Glynde Corner. I think we had just had a sandwich and were talking to some business owners. We were walking and saw this guy's car had run out of gas or the battery was flat. I said, 'Iain, what do we do?' and Iain said, 'Let's go over and give him a push.' It could have won me the election, there were that many people on the Glynde Corner that day. The next thing I remember is that we rolled our sleeves up and pushed this car, right in the middle of Glynde Corner, onto safer ground.

That, to me, is symbolism for Iain Evans. Iain Evans was not afraid to do the heavy lifting for this party, for the state and for the people he represented. He did it as a government member and he did it as an opposition member. As a new member, for the first couple of party room meetings I did more listening than talking, and Iain Evans is one of these guys who, when he spoke, you thought, 'You know what? That's a really good idea.'

He has always been a fantastic strategic brain. He never rested. That day when he visited me in Hartley, but also along the way, he had great campaigning sense, and we have heard examples of that today. I know, in my time with him, he was never slow to come up with some kind of strategic way of thinking or a way to amplify an issue to your advantage in the electorate. In a marginal seat, it was certainly great to have him around. Especially as a younger colleague, I always appreciated that. In my office I have an Iain Evans shopping bag and an Iain Evans stubby holder. Iain Evans understood branding, as we have heard, and he understood campaigning, and he certainly set a great example for younger members in campaigning.

I would like to thank Iain and also Fiona for her support of Iain throughout the years. I know there are some family members in Hartley so I will be doing my best to make sure that we continue to represent them well. I wish him all the very best in his future endeavours and all the best of health, wealth and happiness in the next part of his journey.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (17:43): I will be fairly brief because much has been said. Unlike Iain, before I got involved with this work, I had never had anything to do with politics or the Liberal Party. I had been a Liberal voter all my life but I did not have any of that background, so I came in and met a whole range of new colleagues, quite a few of whom I had met through the election campaign, but Stuart is not right around the corner so I had not met the majority of people and certainly had not got to know them well.

I think Iain's great strength is being so well rounded. Much has been said about the details of abilities, etc., but the fact that Iain Evans grew up in a political family yet at the same time had led a genuine, real life and was involved with the community and in business and he had done a very wide range of different things while growing up in a political family, and had done those things before coming into politics directly himself, I think is really the secret. I think the secret to what Iain Evans has had to contribute is the fact that he grasped the full extent of what is involved in politics, and that has come from the fact that he has all this other experience.

As the member for Hartley just said, at the same time as he was the shadow treasurer, which is one of the most difficult jobs that anyone could ever take on, and while he was travelling the nation talking to premiers, treasurers and people all around Australia trying to get advice and develop policies, check things and get numbers that were not readily available to him directly in South Australia, he was helping push cars that ran out of fuel off the street. That should be an instinct that anyone in this place has. Not one of us should ever forget how important those little things are: important from the fact that what we do is about helping people and supporting a community, but also not missing the point that, on a very busy corner on a hot summer day, it would not be the worst thing in the world to be seen helping that person.

Never ever losing touch with the wide realm of things that contribute to this work I think comes from his background beforehand, and that is represented by the fact that he has retained a strong, loving, special family around him, and members here know that that is not always the case. It does not always work that way. Often, it does not, and so I think that is probably your greatest achievement, Iain. Not that it was necessarily a problem or necessarily hard or anything, but when I look at you, and I have said a few things to you quietly as a friend, I think that is your greatest achievement: that you have come here and done all the things that everybody else has spoken about and, through all of that time, you have raised a family. You are close to your family, and when you were all there the other day, it was very clear that all of the things that have been spoken about in this chamber today and a couple of weeks ago when people were contributing—that's this much. Well, family is that much—it is much, much more. I think that is a great credit to you.

I am especially pleased to see you going on to what will be another whole phase of your working life. I do not see you moving on, dabbling around in something, messing around for a little bit, maybe making a little bit of money and then saying, 'That's good, I'll put my feet up.' I think that you have spent 21 years or whatever it is in here; well, there might be another 21 years of your work life ahead of you in a different realm. Your family will be with you all the way, grandkids will be there, and you will be the same person contributing the very best that you possibly can to whatever you are doing at the time. It is lovely to have achieved so much, but you are not nearly at the end of the road, so congratulations.

Mr WINGARD (Mitchell) (17:47): I rise today to speak as well in the valedictory of Iain Evans, and I will be brief. I only worked with Iain for a very short period of time, having come in at the last election, and, as you can hear today in all the words that have been spoken about his reputation and the respect and high regard in which he is held, it is just a credit to the man and what he has achieved.

The story I would like to tell is of Iain's retirement. At the time, in our party someone else had left in different circumstances. I had not been in politics long when this happened and it was one of the most incredible things I had ever seen, and not in a good way. This person had left and, to my mind, shown no loyalty to the party or the team. Coming from a sporting background, loyalty is very big where I am from. After that, I heard Iain Evans in his retirement speech, and I have been fortunate enough in a past life as a journalist to have been at a lot of retirement speeches by very highly qualified athletes, athletes who have achieved great things, and other people in this world who have achieved great things. I have heard a lot of creditable, emotional and honourable retirement speeches in my time, but to hear Iain Evans' speech was one out of the box. It was the best that I had ever heard in the way he summed up party and team.

Iain Evans was very much a team player, and it was evident on that day when he gave his speech. I walked away from that realising how important team is and being a unified team, and Iain Evans exemplified that in his retirement speech. I would just like to commend Iain for that because at the time he was still working out where he was going to go.

From the outside looking in, Iain made a very brave, courageous and team-oriented decision to step away at that time to allow a change to come through, given that there was already going to be another change. He could see that making his decision for the betterment of the team was going to be very stabilising and beneficial to the team, and that is the key thing I will take with me from Iain Evans in my time in this house. I think it is imperative that we learn something from that.

It was with great pleasure that I was able to say I was there. I was not there at the start, but I was there at the end. I hope that some of the man I saw and the way he presented himself on that day can rub off on me because if I can walk away from this place singing the same tune Iain Evans sang on that day I know that I will have given a lot to this parliament and, hopefully, we would have had success as well. Again, to Iain, Fiona and your family, thank you for that.

The final thing I will say is that when Iain did that, and moved his seat in this chamber, as a result he perhaps helped me get a promotion into the position I have today. Knowing that Iain was there, and knowing that he will always be there on the phone and that we can contact someone with that great experience, is very reassuring to me. Trust me, Iain, I will be on the phone.

The SPEAKER (17:51): Iain Evans joined the parliament in 1993 or, rather, he took his seat in 1994 but had been elected as part of the landslide against my party in the 1993 election. Of course, the seat of Davenport is a strong Liberal seat and so I do not think there was any doubt that Iain was going to be elected, whatever the outcome of the general election.

I had long admired the Evans family machine. I spent quite a bit of time at Brighton Parade at Blackwood because my aunt and cousin lived there; in fact, my cousin joined the Young Liberals in the Blackwood area merely because that was the best place to meet young men in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She now hands out Labor how-to-vote cards on the Unley booths. I always remember reading the local rag, the Courier, and up there in what they call the 'ears', the top left-hand or top right-hand corner, would be a picture of Stan Evans and the slogan, 'Fight inflation and socialism.' You just do not get slogans like that anymore.

I was always impressed by Iain's accounts of the state district of Davenport being the family business. Everyone was expected to serve in the family business, so if Iain wanted to borrow Stan's car on a weekend he would have to do so many letterboxing areas beforehand—and that is no mean feat in the Hills. I always tried to apply that in my own family, with almost no success. Iain achieved an outstanding primary vote in Davenport and an outstanding two-party preferred vote, and I think he and I had a common interest in keeping first the Democrats and then the Greens out of the state district of Davenport.

My message to the Labor Party and those who may come after me is that there is absolutely no interest for the Labor Party in turning Liberal seats into Greens seats, even temporarily; it would very much a Pyrrhic victory. I think with Iain's absence from Davenport that the seat will revert to not quite such a safe Liberal seat. I would not say that the Labor Party has any chance of winning the by-election, but it is not quite as good as it looks for the Liberal Party without Iain Evans.

I attended his father's testimonial at the Blackwood Football Club. I put my bike on the train at Croydon, changed trains in the city, went up to Coromandel station and then rode my bike to the Blackwood Football Club. Indeed, I was the only Labor Party person there, I think, and I was certainly the only Labor Party speaker. It was a very good night and I learnt quite a lot from Stan's personal assistants on whose table I sat.

Obviously Iain and I profoundly disagreed about the case of Thomas Easling and that caused some estrangement between us but all that is on the Hansard. Whenever Iain rose to ask a question in question time, a frisson of fear went through the government front bench and one hoped it was not for the minister but for some other colleague who was going to cop it. One had to listen to the question very carefully because it was always tricky. There was some catch in it and, if it was simple, we did not see it as such. We were always looking for the catch.

After the Labor Party used raising a matter of privilege to devastating effect against Graham Ingerson, when the Liberal Party were in office—and I think a matter of privilege had not been used for many years before that incident—I think Iain was determined to level the score. Iain was very good with matters of privilege, in particular I think he rattled John Hill early in John Hill's ministerial career by raising a matter of privilege that went to a privileges committee, and I think John felt that his career hung in the balance for quite a long time.

I think one of Iain's specialties was to say the minister must have known something because it was in some document that would be in the minister's office or on the minister's desk. I know with me during the Crown Solicitor's Trust Account, Iain pursued me month after month—indeed, probably year after year—saying that in my incoming minister's brief which was about 2,000 pages at page one thousand seven hundred and something in a dot point table of administered funds in the Attorney-General there was a dot point that said 'Crown Solicitor's Trust Account' and I had told the Auditor-General honestly when he asked me, 'I have never heard of this account.' I remember Iain on radio with one of the afternoon programs saying, 'He will know about it. All ministers, all politicians, are voracious readers.'

Iain was an outstanding parliamentarian and has been an example to all members of the house. I wish him well in his next career and I look forward to walking those streets in Davenport that he walked as a teenager some time in late January.


At 17:58 the house adjourned until Tuesday 18 November 2014 at 11:00.


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