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President, 14 August 2007 to 25 August 2008
Liberal Party of Australia
Born in 1943 in Maitland, SA, Alan Ferguson (b.1943) grew up on a farm, attending the small local school at Weetulta before completing high school at Scotch College in Adelaide. In the following 20 years, he managed the family farm until fluctuating fortunes brought about a career change and he became an insurance consultant.1
Ferguson’s father, James, was active in the Liberal and Country League Party and later a member of the SA House of Assembly (1963-73). He followed in his footsteps, joining the party at 17 years of age.2 It was not until he stopped farming fulltime that he had the opportunity to be more involved in the party, holding several party positions before becoming President of the SA Division (1990-92).
Although Ferguson stood unsuccessfully for state parliament, he never imagined entering the federal sphere until an unexpected casual vacancy in the Senate prompted him to put his hand up.3 He came to Parliament determined to ensure that rural and regional issues were part of the policy agenda. Believing that the family ‘was the soul of any community’, Ferguson pledged to fight for families, concerned that the pressures they faced, including unemployment and rising living costs, were contributing to the breakdown of the family unit.4
Describing committee work as ‘the lifeblood of the Senate’, Ferguson served on several committees during his time as a senator, including eight years as Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade (1999-2007).5 He was also an official observer at elections in Indonesia (1999), Zimbabwe (2000 and 2002) and Malawi (2004). He regarded his involvement in the 2002 Zimbabwean presidential election as a ‘great privilege’.6
Having served as Temporary Chair of Committees for 11 years (1996-2007), Ferguson was renowned for his extensive knowledge of Senate procedure. Elected President in 2007, he established a reputation as being fair and good-humoured.7 His time as President ended one year later (the shortest of any President) after a change of government saw him and then-Deputy President, Senator John Hogg, reverse roles. Ferguson happily served as Deputy President until his retirement, later reflecting that he and President Hogg maintained a close and supportive working relationship.8
As President, Ferguson fiercely defended the independence of the Senate and ensured, as a colleague later recalled, that it would not be ‘bullied and pushed around’.9 On leaving the Senate he described Question Time as a ‘farcical waste of time’ and called for its reform.10 He returned with his wife Anne to their farm near Weetulta.11
Robert Lyall Hannaford AM
South Australian-born painter, sculptor and conservationist, Robert Hannaford (b.1944), grew up on his family farm before moving to Adelaide in his teens to complete his education. He worked as a political cartoonist for
The Advertiser from 1964 to 1967. Though largely self-taught, Hannaford’s passion for painting was encouraged by Australian artists and mentors, Sir Hans Heysen and Ivor Hele. In 1967 and 1968, Hannaford attended the Ballarat Technical Art School, under the control of the School of Mines, and from 1969 to 1973 was the winner of the AME Bale Travelling Scholarship and Art Prize. Hannaford has been at the forefront of contemporary Australian portraiture, winning the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize in 1990, the Viewer Prize in 1991 and 1998, and was a frequent finalist in the Archibald Prize. He also painted Prime Minister Paul Keating for the HMC. In 2001, he was commissioned to paint the centenary sitting of the Australian Parliament. Hannaford’s portraits of other prominent Australians include Chief Justice Murray Gleeson, Dame Joan Sutherland and Governor-General Sir William Deane. Hannaford was made an AM in 2014 for his services to the arts.
12
Alan Baird Ferguson
by Robert Lyall Hannaford
2009
Oil on canvas
121 x 90 cm
Historic Memorials Collection, Parliament House Art Collections
References
1. A Ferguson, ‘First Speech’, Senate, Debates, 22 June 1992, pp. 4189–93; Academy for Cultural Diplomacy, , ‘The 22nd President of the Australian Senate; Former Senator for South Australia’, accessed 29 April 2021.
2. Academy for Cultural Diplomacy, ibid.; Parliamentary Library, ‘‘Ferguson, The Hon. Alan Baird’, Parliamentary Handbook Online, accessed 29 April 2021.
3. A Ferguson, ‘Parliamentary Representation: Valedictory’, Senate, Debates, 21 June 2011, pp. 3424–30.
4. Ferguson, ‘First Speech’, op. cit.
5. Ferguson, ‘Parliamentary Representation: Valedictory’, op. cit.
6. N Minchin, ‘Senator Alan Ferguson’, Media Release, 4 March 2010, accessed 9 August 2021; Ferguson, ‘Parliamentary Representation: Valedictory’, op. cit.
7. J Hogg, ‘Parliamentary Representation: Valedictory’, ibid., p. 3435; E Abetz, ‘Parliamentary Representation: Valedictory’, ibid., pp. 3437; C Evans, ‘Parliamentary Representation: Valedictory’, ibid., pp. 3440–41.
8. Ferguson, ‘Parliamentary Representation: Valedictory’, op. cit.
9. B Joyce, ‘Parliamentary representation: Valedictory’, ibid., p. 3443.
10. Ferguson, ‘Parliamentary Representation: Valedictory’, op. cit.
11. Academy for Cultural Diplomacy, ‘The 22nd President of the Australian Senate; Former Senator for South Australia’, accessed 29 April 2021.
12. ‘Hannaford, Robert’, A McCulloch, S McCulloch and E McCulloch Childs, eds, The New McCulloch’s Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Aus Art Editions in association with The Miegunyah Press, 2006, p. 496; ‘Robert Hannaford’, High Court of Australia; ‘‘Robert Hannaford: artist statement’; ‘Robert Hannaford’, National Portrait Gallery, 2018. Websites accessed 25 March 2021.