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‘Father-of-the-house’ retires after 43 years

AAP

AAP

Surveying a near 44-year career in federal politics, Philip Ruddock recites a long list of achievements – national security legislation, defamation reform, reconciliation and of course border control.

As immigration minister under the Howard government, he was handed the challenge of restoring integrity to an immigration program he said that was driven by fraud and family reunions.

One man was so poor at relationships that he sponsored nine partners from the Philippines.

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“What I am most proud of is that today we have an immigration program that is supported by the Australian people as a whole, that is now seen as an economic program that is about nation-building,” he told parliament in his valedictory speech.

Mr Ruddock remains perhaps best known for his implementation of the Howard government’s hardline approach to soaring numbers of asylum seekers arriving by boat.

philip ruddock

Colleagues flanked Ruddock after his final speech. Photo: AAP

He said we always had to be as humane as possible.

“But I believe if we do not manage our borders, we cannot manage an immigration program in the national interest,” he said.

Mr Ruddock said there were times he thought he would never make it to the frontbench, or even remain in politics, especially after crossing the floor to vote with Labor against the coalition’s proposal for a discriminatory immigration policy.

John Howard subsequently told delegates at the subsequent Liberal convention that all MPs had an opportunity to cross the floor on a matter of conscience “and of course at the time of preselection you have the opportunity to take that into account.”

Mr Ruddock, 73, is the father of the House of Representatives, the longest-serving MP in the Australian parliament and second-longest in Australian federal politics, exceeded only by Billy Hughes.

He was elected in 1973, serving as a shadow minister and then as ministers for immigration and indigenous affairs and Attorney-General under Prime Minister John Howard.

With parliament soon to be dissolved for the election, Mr Ruddock asked what’s likely to be his last question time question (on national disability insurance funding) and presented his final report as chair of the parliamentary human rights committee.

Watched by family members, including six-week-old grandson Bligh, and parliamentary colleagues from both sides of politics, he paid tribute to friends, colleagues, his wife Heather and daughters Caitlin and Kirstie, who famously went on national television in 2002 to declare she was so distressed by her father’s tough immigration policies that she left Australia to work for an aid organisation.

“I never brought them up to be parrots,” Mr Ruddock said.

– AAP

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