Mr TURNBULL (Wentworth—Prime Minister) (14:05): Fifty years ago on a hot and windy December day at Portsea, the 17th Prime Minister of Australia plunged into the waves he knew like the back of his hand. What followed over the hours and days that succeeded saw our nation faced with one of the most confounding events in our history. A swimmer washed out to sea is an all-too-common occurrence on Australia's beaches. But a Prime Minister washed away without a trace? It seemed impossible then, and even more so today in our age of heightened security. For too long, Harold Holt's uncertain and tragic end has been the defining feature of his life in our collective memory. But today, as we near the 50th anniversary of his untimely death, we acknowledge both the Prime Minister and the man—the profound impact he made as a parliamentarian and as a leader of our nation. In his short time as Prime Minister, Harold Holt led Australia into a new era. Robert Menzies referred to him as 'young Harold', even though they were of the same generation and shared a political history dating back to the foundation of the Liberal Party. Yet Holt was of a different world, and he was the right person to lead a nation poised between the old and the new. As Prime Minister, he ushered in many of the reforms that we now consider so crucial, such watersheds, in our evolution to the modern nation we are today. He oversaw the dismantling of the White Australia policy, throwing open our doors to people from all corners of the world and sowing the seeds for the successful multicultural society Australia is today—the most successful multicultural society in the world. He drove the historic '67 referendum Yes vote, winning the overwhelming approval of the nation to empower the Commonwealth to make laws for Aboriginal people and ensuring that our first peoples were included in the national census. It was in his time as Prime Minister that Australians adopted the dollar over the pound and began navigating the shifting sands of a world with new economic rules and allegiances. In the context of massive global geopolitical realignment he reintroduced Australia to our region and forged deeper ties in Asia. He was driven by his love of travel and curiosity about our region, as well as his charm and natural ability to get on with so many of its leaders, but, above all, by his understanding that our future lay here, where we live, in the Asia-Pacific. Today we also remember and pay tribute to the Holt family, some of whom are gathered here with us today. Their personal grief was shared by the nation. This can be both a comfort and a great burden. Sam Holt remembers it vividly, and says, with typical Australian understatement about Harold's death, 'We're a pretty cheerful family as a rule, but that rather dampened our Christmas.' In a recent speech, Sam described how United States President Lyndon Johnson, who came to Australia for Harold's funeral, first comforted their mother, Zara, before addressing the Holt boys. 'He said to us, "Harold was a great man. You have to be very proud of him." And we are,' Sam told the audience. 'And I hope you are too.' To the Holt family, I know I speak for all honourable members and all Australians when I say that we, too, are proud of Harold. We celebrate his service and dedication, just as we mourn his loss nearly 50 years ago. Harold Holt's guiding philosophy was that passage from Rudyard Kipling's poem 'If'. It reminds us that our time is finite and best filled with purpose: If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And—which is more—you'll be a Man, my son! Harold Holt's time was all too short, but he wasted not a second of it in Australia's service.