Address to the Federation Chamber, Private Members' Business

Monday 25 August 2025

I rise today to contribute to the messages of condolence on the late John Stone AO. John Stone served in the other place from 1987 to 1990, representing the great state of Queensland, and also served as the leader of the National Party in the other place. He was shadow finance minister at a time when questions on our economy and national finances were daily topics of robust debate. He was also a longstanding public official, joining Treasury in 1954 and spending considerable time with the IMF and the World Bank before famously serving as the Secretary of the Department of the Treasury from 1979 to 1984. He was no shrinking violet, often appearing in the media of the day, providing commentary on any economic issue. To a child of the seventies and eighties, the persona of the public service mandarin seemed to be somewhere between Sir Humphrey Appleby and John Stone.

It was in this role that John Stone sat at the very beginning of the great economic reforms of the Hawke and Keating partnership, even though it's fair to say that he was not a strong supporter of those changes or the governments which shepherded them through. The Hawke-Keating years were a heady time of political change marked by the accords. Economic liberalism was matched by generational investments in the social contract. It was my experience of Labor governments during those times that started me on the journey that ultimately ended here. It was a time marked by a contest of ideas, and the outcomes of this process shaped our nation.

John Stone was an active participant in that contest. He had firm, sincerely held views and put these views forward forcefully in the public discourse, and even more so after resigning as secretary of the Treasury six days out from the 1984 budget. He was an economic rationalist during the time of the emergence of the third wave of social democratic and progressive politics. He was a sceptic on aspects of immigration when modern Australian multiculturalism began to come into form. He was a foundational member of the HR Nicholls Society and then later the Samuel Griffith Society. Don Dunstan famously described his ascendency in Treasury in the mid-seventies as being 'the Stone Age'.

His contributions to debate in the other place were always robustly informed by his personal philosophy and his extensive education and experience in public policy. His debates with the late Peter Walsh as finance minister were frequent features of the business of the Senate during that period. John Stone was very much a product of his time and his extensive education. His contributions to important debates on public policy helped shape outcomes in important ways during an incredibly important time of national reform and change. He resigned from the Senate on 1 March 1990 to run for the seat of Fairfax but failed to win the seat at the elections later that month. His career as parliamentarian might have been over, but he continued to make a significant contribution to public life.

It's not an exaggeration to say that I did not share John Stone's world view or philosophy—quite the opposite!—but it says something deeply profound about the fundamental decency of our democracy and the need for debate that I can stand here and respectfully reflect on the life and contributions of someone with whom I had deep disagreements. This sort of contribution is impossible in many other places around the world, but it's a normal and expected part of public discourse in our national parliament. I believe this is a good sign of the health of our democracy, a democracy that John Stone actively contributed to, not just during his time in parliament but before and after parliament.

But, above all, John Stone was a dedicated servant of his country, and he leaves behind a family which can, with justification, feel pride at his service and achievements over many decades. To his family, I convey my deepest sympathies and condolences for their loss. Vale, John Stone.