Ms O'DWYER (Higgins—Minister for Revenue and Financial Services) (14:15): As we near the 50th anniversary of the death of the Rt Hon. Harold Edward Holt, the first member for Higgins and Australia's 17th Prime Minister, it is an honour to stand before you to commemorate his life and his many achievements. Firstly, I'd like to warmly welcome Prime Minister Holt's family, in particular Sam and Robert, and I wish to acknowledge that, for this family, this occasion remains, of course, very deeply personal. We are joined today by many special guests, including the former member for Higgins and Treasurer, the Hon. Peter Costello AC, who wrote the foreword to Harold Holt's well-known biography. It is deeply sobering that Harold was just 59 when he died, but his early death also serves to amplify the extraordinary contribution he made to our nation during the 32 years that he had in Australia's parliament. In his own words, Harold was driven by a desire to make Australia 'a good country for men and women and their children to live in, to prosper in, to be happy in'. And he did just that. Entering parliament aged just 27, for many decades Harold was Australia's youngest ever minister, being appointed at just 30 years of age. As a minister, Harold Holt came to be known as the godfather to one million Australian children after introducing universal child endowment—the first Commonwealth payment to be paid directly to mothers, and the precursor to the family payment system. As Treasurer, Holt established the Reserve Bank and introduced decimal currency. The latter involved one of the few occasions when the Menzies cabinet diverged from the will of the then Prime Minister. Sir Robert wanted our new currency to be called 'the royal', whereas Treasurer Holt argued for 'the dollar', demonstrating strong vision for our economy and our nation. I think we can all agree that we are glad that Harold won the day! Harold was a fierce opponent of communism and an unflinching supporter of Australia's action in Vietnam. It is noteworthy that even in 1935, in his maiden speech, he railed against tyrannical aggression, in that instance in the form of Mussolini's invasion of Abyssinia. On becoming Prime Minister, he appointed the first woman, Annabelle Rankin, to a federal ministry, brought on the referendum to include Aborigines in the national census and dismantled the White Australia policy. Harold Holt was a true Liberal. He was forward-looking, seeing Australia's future in Asia and our economy as an open trading nation. These were not just words. In less than two years as Prime Minister he visited 11 South-East Asian nations. Fifty years have now passed, yet Harold Holt's life, cut short, still inspires us to use the privilege of service wisely and thoughtfully and for the future of our fellow Australians.