Tony Windsor's Farewell BBQ

Dot and I travelled to Tamworth yesterday to attend a thank-you barbecue for our retired federal Member of Parliament, Tony Windsor. I particularly wanted to go because, in my opinion, he was a great representative of the New England electorate, one of the most impressive politicians of the last decade, and a long-term friend. I've known Tony for perhaps 20 years or more and, during that time, he has represented seats in both State (NSW) and Federal parliaments as an independent, not one of the major parties. And he excelled in what MPs should do: listen to their electorates, develop considered positions on issues of the day and proposed legislation, and do this on the basis of facts, not party-room dictates. In short, he was a true independent and we need a lot more of them these days.

The event was held in Bicentennial Park in Tamworth, 110 km south of here on a lovely sunny and warm day (about 26 C). It was very well attended by people from all over the New England electorate. And just to give you a feel for the sizes of rural electorates, ours is about 450 km (280 miles) from north to south and 200 km (125 miles) from east to west. That makes an area of roughly 90,000 sq km (or 35,000 sq miles). That means a lot of travelling by road to attend regional functions and talk to people, which must be very wearing. Tony can now retire to his farm at Werris Creek and enjoy life with his family.

Perhaps 250 people attended the free BBQ and Tony laid on a good spread with the local rotary club providing the sausage sizzle and a mobile Barrista providing the coffee, tea and chai latte. Participants reflected a cross-section of rural society, with academics, farmers, small business-people, service workers and trades-people rubbing shoulders. Basically, we all admired someone who reflected our concerns and conveyed them them independently and articulately to parliament rather than vote on party lines. He also held the balance of power between the two blocks in the last parliament and was in a unique position to influence (a) who governed and (b) the success of their legislative programs. Remarkably, but predictably for me, he chose to support the ALP, despite representing a conservative electorate. In my view, this was because he had an in-depth grasp of key issues and a realisation that the Liberal-National coalition had a set of antiquated views and a purely negative platform. And the ALP was hardly an old-style socialist party. In fact, during their term of office Australia reached number 3 on the Heritage Foundation's index of Economic Freedom - way ahead of the US and the UK!

Here are some pictures of the event. I think they're self explanatory, so I've avoided individual commentary.

AS