Windsors Way is the literary equivalent of spending a glorious, sunny afternoon chatting to Tony Windsor over a cup of tea or something stronger. As you read, you hear his voice laconically telling you yarns about his life. Ever present is his wit and wisdom. Tony always manages to make laughing and learning go together. This book presents in a very no nonsense way some of the biggest policy dilemmas of our age and one mans attempt to make the right history making choices. Tony is a wonderful Australian character and his common sense, decency and love of our nation, particularly the land that lies beyond the capital cities, shines through on every page.
Julia Gillard, former Prime Minister of Australia, 201013
MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY PRESS
An imprint of Melbourne University Publishing Limited
1115 Argyle Place South, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia
mup-info@unimelb.edu.au
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First published 2015
This edition published 2016
Text Antony Windsor, 2016
Design and typography Melbourne University Publishing Limited, 2016
This book is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means or process whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publishers.
Don Watsons letter was originally published in 2013 in The Monthly.
Every attempt has been made to locate the copyright holders for material quoted in this book. Any person or organisation that may have been overlooked or misattributed may contact the publisher.
Cover design by Philip Campbell Design
Typeset by Megan Ellis
Printed in Australia by McPhersons Printing Group
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Windsor, Tony, 1950 author.
Windsors way/Tony Windsor.
9780522870503 (paperback)
9780522870497 (ebook)
Includes index.
Windsor, Tony, 1950 Australia. Parliament.
LegislatorsAustraliaBiography.
PoliticiansAustraliaBiography.
AustraliaPolitics and government 21st century.
328.94092
FOREWORD
I have a number of fine memories of Tony Windsor as a person and as a parliamentarian.
He has proved conclusively that minority governments do work in Australia. It was incredible that the Gillard Government survived for three years with a majority of just one, and with some of the supporting team being fragile and unreliable. But Tony was the cornerstone of stability in keeping it viable and active. Even his fiercest detractors have to admit that he acted with wisdom and authority and in the final analysis the volume of legislation that passed through the parliament exceeded four hundred items. It should have been expected that he would provide reliability of that quality as he had kept the minority Greiner Government in power in the NSW Parliament for four years also. And that proves his independence and integrity, as Greiner was Liberal and Gillard ALP.
Over the years he turned the New England electorate into a stronghold of independent voters who deserted the major parties to join him. He achieved far more for rural Australia in his twenty-two-year political career than the National Party achieved in a century. Indeed, through Windsors influence within the Gillard Government, the bush received more money than at any time since Federation. He embedded in the minds of voters nationwide that there are better alternatives in politics than being rusted on to major parties.
In the final analysis, Tony Windsor is solidly trustworthy, and a genuinely decent man. Few in that mould have ever graced the Federal Parliament and, for this reason alone, people all over Australia will want him to return to public life in a significant role other than political. I look forward to the day and will regard it as an honour if he invites me to join his team in whatever nation-building endeavour he undertakes.
Everald Compton AM
CONTENTS
To my mother Ruth Windsor, who passed away in February 2015,
and my wife Lyn Windsor.
And to the memory of Fred Pursehouse and Bob Peake.
Loyalty is a casualty of politics.
BUSINESS AS USUAL
I WAS IN MY Tamworth electorate office a few weeks after the 2013 election, but by then it was Barnaby Joyces office. He was the new member for New England. It was odd being on the other side of the desk, the one I had used since being elected the Independent MP for the area in 2001. During the recent election I had had a coffee with Barnaby and proposed we meet to ensure a smooth changeover of constituent issues and key electorate projects. I had announced previously that I wasnt re-contesting the seat and in that circumstance it was a given he was going to win. The aim was to brief him about the ongoing files. This was a different approach to my predecessor, who cleaned out the office of all pens, paper and every constituent file. When that happened I had to put out a media release calling for anyone in the electorate who had unfinished business with the previous government to make contact with me so we could keep working on their case. So much for representing your people.
To his credit Barnaby accepted my offer and there we were in his new/my old office. Despite me being at ease about leaving politics and him being relaxed about being given a background briefing, it was a little bit uncomfortable to start with. After all, I had called the man a fool on the 2010 election night and we had had the odd head clash during the last parliament. I had always been disparaging towards him ever since he sold out country people on the full sale of Telstra just after he became a Queensland Senator in July 2005. So understandably we were both a bit standoffish to begin with but then we settled into having a yarn and going through a number of important issues.
I commended him on employing three of my former staff. Barnaby had not lived in the area for many years and they were clearly going to be a great support in providing him with continuity of constituent issues. He told me he was glad the campaign was over, saying it had been stressful. That struck me as odd because he didnt have any competition, but clearly aspects had been difficult. I had heard him on the radio some days earlier talking about the Tamworth-based British Aerospace Defence Force Basic Flight Training contract issue that was expiring in 2016. There were rumours it would be taken away from Tamworth and transferred to Sale in Victoria. Barnaby had stumbled with the details and I had wondered why he hadnt been better advised. We talked about it and how to deal with the issue in a strategic sense and the key people to contact.
We also discussed the upgrade of Chaffey Dam, upstream of Tamworth. It had been a long-running saga. While the dam is important to the people of Tamworth for its water supply it was not a national issue, but it suddenly became one in the week prior to the 2010 election. Senator Penny Wong, the Minister for Water, announced funding for the upgrade. Two days later the Leader of the Nationals, Warren Truss, matched this funding. This indicated something very interesting: polling by Labor and the Nationals must have suggested a closer result than any of us realised, and hence they began to pay attention to the issues that Independents had been arguing for over a number of years.
