Mr ABBOTT (Warringah—Prime Minister) (14:00): I move: That the House record its deep regret at the death on 14 March 2014, of the Honourable Warwick Raymond Parer AM, former Senator for Queensland from 1984 to 2000, places on record its appreciation of his long and meritorious public service, and tender its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement. Warwick Parer was born in Papua New Guinea in 1936. He was educated in Brisbane at the famous Nudgee College before obtaining a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne. He became a member of the Senate in 1984, and from 1996 until the 1998 election he was the Minister for Resources and Energy in the Howard government. I have to say that this particular ministry was a natural fit for someone who had a long history in this sector and who had played a pivotal role in the development of the Queensland coal industry. But while he had a long history in that particular industry, he was never one to seek a handout for business or favourable treatment. As he said in his maiden speech back in 1985: … examples of unwarranted and harmful intrusions by government into the economy are legion. I need only mention the distortion effects of featherbedding inefficient industries at the expense of more productive enterprises, of tariff walls and of subsidies to favoured groups. Yet the vested interests which enslave governments, when engaging in their special pleading, can always point in their defence to some other groups in receipt of similar artificial advantages. Such interests … need to be exposed to the disciplines as well as the advantages of free markets. Well that statement of Warwick Parer back in the 1980s certainly resonates to this day. He was a man of principle who talked straight in his first speech, and that, Madam Speaker, is how he stayed. He stayed in the Senate for 16 years before retiring in 2000, but following his retirement he continued to be active in public life. He was the president of the Queensland Liberal Party from 2006 to 2008, and since 2010 he has been the chair of the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital Foundation. Warwick Parer will be well remembered by many in this House. He was deeply compassionate and grounded individual who, as a youngster, had been evacuated from wartime PNG where, tragically, his father was killed in a Japanese airstrike. He was someone whose life in business, someone whose life in the community grounded him and gave him a great sense of perspective. In common with so many of his generation, he had a strong sense of duty and, accordingly, his life was marked by duty and service. Warwick Parer credited his calm and affable nature, his strong and good character to the stability that comes from a loving wife and family. Today our thoughts are with Warwick's wife, Kathi, their four daughters and their three sons—Carol, Martine, Helen, Sonia, Warwick, Justin and Rowan—and their many grandchildren. Madam Speaker, I place on record our acknowledgement of Warwick Parer's life and service, and our thanks for his lifetime of service to this parliament, to the community of Queensland and to Australia.